Ilyz listened in as the minotaur from another village asked his village chief for his help. Of course he was ‘resting’ in his hut and only listening in with magic. They hadn’t had travelers in a long time. Of course he knew what they were, even if he had never explained it fully to the people below. What good would it be for them to know about technomagic, if he couldn’t help them achieve anything with it?
Some had left with travelers before, but it was exceedingly rare. It was unusual for outsiders to even reach them. The travelers usually explored the fringes of their fractured world, most overrun by monsters or a trapped castle of old, acting as what they called a dungeon. Some would find riches, but as the years went by, they became fewer and fewer to venture to their lands. There was less treasure after each successful ‘dungeon dive’, but still, the dangers persisted, as monsters would always multiply.
It was only natural then that they would stop. Few dared to travel inwards, jumping from fractured land to fractured land, like they did. They were used to their beasts of metal and technomagic. They didn’t know how to navigate these lands. And so they were rare, here, close to the center. Center might be misleading, as it constantly shifted and moved. But it was the closest point most of the time.
As he listened in, they spoke of three travelers that had landed on their lands, fleeing a horde of monsters. Apparently, they had lost some of their companions and were asking for their help. Of course, they all knew the dangers of untamed fractures and hesitated to help these strangers. Rare were the travelers that had been worth helping. They only came here out of greed and had nothing to offer.
He knew he wouldn’t have helped them himself, but he was fine to offer his wisdom to this other village. Maybe even go over there to help with the monsters if it came to that. He just hoped the village wouldn’t send their own warriors to help. The travelers had come here all on their own, and if they were in trouble, it was their own fault.
He didn’t have any love for the ones who had left for the stars, and he stopped to think about it for a second. It wasn’t hard to lie to yourself, but it was something he had tried to stop for eons. So he looked at his distaste for these strangers, trying to pinpoint its origin. What had they done to invoke his ire?
These ones had obviously done nothing wrong, but if he looked at it, he still resented the ones who had abandoned his world for the stars, envied them also, but mostly resented them. And that did color these strangers in a bad light in his eyes, despite him logically knowing they hadn’t done anything themselves. They were born eons later, with no choice in the matter.
Still, the feeling lingered, but at least he knew why he disliked them. Not them in a literal sense, but their people, for leaving them. He knew he was being unfair, but what was life, if not unfair? Had any two people ever been equal in the world? The answer was obvious. Even if two people's perceived value would become equal, or close to it, they would still offer a vastly different pool of talent and skill.
Take two basic [Construction Workers] for example, both could have exactly the same skills, and thus the same perceived value, but they would still be fundamentally different. One might be socially nicer, lifting the spirit of his team with jokes, and simply be easy to work with, while the other might be a harder worker, being more efficient. Who was better? It was an old question he had argued with many sages and other philosophers, and there was no definitive answer. They were both different people, bringing something different to the table.
Value was, after all, an economical construct to make trades fair, and not a natural law of the world. Of course that didn’t mean valuing people’s skill was useless, far from it. You’d rather hire a level 30 expert than a level 10 beginner for a job, if the pay wasn’t a factor.
He had strayed quite far from the subject in his musings it seemed. Not something new, but it was more frequent these days, as solitude was harder to bear than ever before. Some days he feared to be the last immortal left. And maybe he was, but it saddened him greatly to have outlived the other immortal races if so. To have none with a similar perspective to speak with was lonely.
Mortals didn’t plan for more than a year at most after all, if they even planned at all, so focused they were on the present. Which was both beautiful and a curse, for sometimes it felt like they didn’t live in the same time. He remembered having told this to a mortal once, and the confused face she had made. He had even been accused of kidnapping her while in truth, she had been the one to follow him in secret.
He remenissed in the fond memory before being painfully dragged back to the present. The visiting minotaur was outside his hut, asking someone what was the proper way to ask for an audience. Of course he could hear everything, but it still amused him somewhat. It was always nice to be appreciated. Just before he was about to knock on the door, he called out a clear and calm ‘Enter’, which took the minotaur by surprise. It was his guilty pleasure to surprise mortals in small ways.
“Lodjek Greets master Ilyz.” He said as he bowed, his horns almost touched his rather low roof.
“Greetings Lodjek.” He said as he bowed his head lightly. It wouldn’t do to offer too much respect, but respect given should be given back to some degree.
“I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news, master Ilyz, but our village has encountered travelers.” The minotaur started with a grimace. It seemed he wasn’t the only one who disliked their kind.
“They narrowly escaped to our lands, telling us of comrades left behind, now urging us to help them rescue their friends.” He clearly didn’t like to ask for his help. And it was obvious he already knew what he wanted as an answer.
“I’ve been sent by the village to seek your counsel and wisdom.” He finished, bowing his head lightly once more. He paused as he thought for a second, they had sent him, who was clearly against them helping the travelers, in hopes of what? It simply didn’t make sense. Why try at all if this was who they sent. There had to be something more to it if some of the villagers had managed to convince enough people that they needed to seek his counsel.
“I fear I cannot in good conscience give a verdict Lodjek, as you have failed to present all the relevant facts to me as of yet, or so I suspect.” He smiled up at the big minotaur who flushed red, stammering a bit in his response.
“I-I’m sorry master Ilyz. Anger has clouded my judgment and I am humbled by your wisdom. It is as you say. In my haste I have forgotten some important details.” Lodjek said hastefully.
“These travelers… They claim to have knowledge of an ancient factory of metal and magic.” He paused and seemed to hesitate on how to continue.
“Let me guess, they claim it can produce spaceships?” He asked the flustered minotaur.
“Yes master Ilyz. They claim it would be able to produce flying beasts of metal, and in enough quantity to let us all leave.” He finished with a bowed head.
“How did their friends get split up, and how many are there?” He asked in the ensuing silence.
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“Five of their friends were left behind in a cave. They collapsed the entrance to survive the monsters while the three had been out scouting. They spotted the beasts from far away, but part of the horde noticed them and they ran for their lives, or so they say.” He listened to the story. It sounded possible, if convenient so far. How would they know where a factory was, or was it a spaceport? He knew the minotaur might have altered the story without meaning to, it was a second hand account of their retelling after all. And he might not make the distinction of a spaceport or a factory.
It seemed he would have to travel after all. He had never left the old world and he had grown curious to the new world out there. But he was old and cautious. One didn’t live thousands and thousands of years by taking risks. He had encountered travelers before, and had the opportunity of joining them on their ships if he so wished, but he had always dreaded the ships. What if there was a problem? He didn’t know enough about them to repair them, so he was at the crews’ mercy. Something he very much disliked.
But if he could study and learn how the ships worked before going into space, then it would change everything. He had tried once before, but the ship had been too damaged, and with no one to explain even the basics, it had been hard to do more than guesswork. It had still been interesting, but this presented a new opportunity. If it was a factory, he would be able to know every part of a ship, and if it was a spaceport, he would have enough different ships to be able to take a few apart, hopefully in good enough condition.
So he slowly stood up and looked the minotaur in the eyes. He sighed dramatically before opening his mouth.
“It seems my weary bones will have to move once more. Something this significant cannot be left out to luck.” The minotaur nodded solemnly. After a brief pause, he gestured for the towering figure to lead the way.
“I never asked which village you hail from.” He said as they left the hut and were walking down towards the village.
“I come from Nightblink.” He said as he half turned to him as they walked. Ilyz’ face stayed neutral despite his disgust at this revelation. He hated that place. He still remembered the bright flashes of light at night. The worst part was that the flashes of light were annoying to ward off. The light seemed as magical as everything around here and had pierced his first attempts at warding off the annoying blinks. He didn’t know how that village wasn’t sleep deprived, but somehow they had adapted. He just hoped the magical flashes hadn’t changed too much from last time and the magical ward he had experimented with would still work.
They soon arrived in the village square, or central spot. There were very few people left as they had all gone back to their tasks. This village was one of the few where you could occasionally see someone milling about, as it was both the largest and the safest. If you counted the farms growing food as part of the village, they currently used almost a tenth of the land. It wasn’t as big as it could be, but it was also clear it would be severely limited in growth.
The village would simply never be able to grow into a proper city. There wasn’t enough land for it. Maybe with skills and such they might be able to grow to a rather large village, or a burgeoning city, but then what? Once they hit the maximum amount of food they could grow, what then? Food wasn’t the only thing that needed to grow either. For they would need clothes, wood and other materials to meet their needs.
It was something that made him sad to see and realize. He longed for the big cities of old, filled with exciting sights. They would naturally develop entertainment, and he wondered what they might come up with in the strange and magical lands they now lived in. But he knew that might be in another thousand years maybe, with the slow rate at which the village grew. Too many died defending their home year after year.
As they walked through the village, he could almost see the verdant green pasture it had originally been, before they had built primitive houses. He had chosen this spot because he had known it had potential. One of the calmer and safer lands, large enough to farm, with enough wood to build something. He didn’t envy some of the other villages that lived in the jungle or much more dangerous lands, where nests of beasts still existed.
He remembered his astonishment when he had arrived here after wandering for so long. No monsters in sight, only smaller creatures or rodents. A river with some fish did go through part of the land. Like a glimpse of a once beautiful and stable world, waiting to be colonized. And they had, with his guidance. But even with such optimal conditions for civilization to flourish, monsters had come from other lands when they inevitably drifted too close.
They were soon out of the village proper and walked over a small bridge. The river wasn’t wide and had never been. If anything, it had been getting smaller over the years, ever so slowly. Too slowly for any of the mortals to notice, but he knew in time, they would need to find a solution. He turned his head to look where the river came from. With his eyesight, he spotted the edge where the river magically appeared. It still made no sense to him but he had long since stopped trying to figure out this place. Magic still held secrets, even to someone like him. Which was fascinating in its own right.
They continued to walk towards the edge of the land. He had barely noticed when the Lodjek’s companions had joined them in the village, so absorbed he had been in his musings. Of course the minotaur hadn’t come alone. A group of five had joined them and he wondered who had the skills to enable traveling from land to land.
They soon came to a stop near the edge. He didn’t come here often, no one did. It looked like the edge had been ripped apart clumsily and not in a straight line. He saw it even made the others in the group somewhat uncomfortable. How could it not be? What they saw beggared belief. They saw countless other lands floating out in a cruel storm of magic. As unpredictable as dangerous.
What made it even stranger was that the magic was so thick, even a mortal could make out magical currents flowing haphazardly. Some even flowing in the strangest way, forwards yet backwards at the same time. It made his head hurt just trying to understand it, and he had tried. A flow of inverted time he had concluded after many headaches. A deadly trap for any being as you would not be able to make any conscious choice. Forced to forever do what you had while becoming younger until you would cease to exist. A cruel fate he wished on no one.
Other lands were as fantastical as they seemed dangerous. The whole group was clearly tensed at the sights, while only one of them was truly concentrating, looking for something. They waited for a minute or two while the [Guide] worked. No one wanted to urge him on, as a single mistake on his part and the whole group would disappear forever in a fate maybe worse than death. It was hard to know for sure around here.
The [Guide] finally started moving and put his hand out, past the strange barrier that existed between every piece of land and whatever was out there. A magical flow went through his hand like it wasn’t even there while he concentrated. Suddenly he stopped and grabbed something. Like a strange string not of this world, he held it there and turned to them. Ilyz couldn’t help but take a better look at it, making sure the [Guide] had made no mistake.
This string did lead to another land, smaller than this one, but stable. Which was the most important part. Some had tried to surf or ride the wild currents of magic out there, but only one person had ever succeeded a long time ago. No, these days, everyone traveled with a much safer method. The [Guide] drew on the string and started adding his own magic, letting it flow to another point of the string. His brow creased together in concentration as the tier 5 spell slowly formed. It was rather complexe for mortals, but here, it was obvious they didn’t have much choice. A magical doorway soon materialized as the [Gate] spell took form, and Ilyz checked that the other end had ended up where it was supposed to with a small scrying spell.
He sighed as he saw the other go through and soon followed. They hadn’t arrived in Nightblink yet, and he knew they would need at least a few other jumps to make it there. If their guide got too tired, they might even have to camp in the wilderness, or he might just take the initiative and get them there himself.
It certainly did not make him miss the old way of moving around that people had used before this far safer method had been developed. But even if you knew the right direction, jumping from piece to piece was beyond dangerous and took a lot more time. Most of the time you would have to wait for the fractured lands to get closer together. Of course, people only jumped where they hadn’t seen any magical currents, but the funny thing about magical currents was that they were sometimes invisible.
Following the guide, they went through the next lands they were on from one edge to the next, where he repeated the feat of casting [Gate]. It seemed they had sent a rather good one too, as it only took them a few hours to arrive at their destination. He just hoped these travelers weren’t full of lies and disappointment, or he just might throw them out of the edge himself.