Ends of Magic

Nathan was faster in the air than Stella and Aarl, but not by a huge margin. Which once again showed the power of magic - all they had was the [Fly] spell, while his flight was enabled by a unique Talent boosted by multiple skills.

He reached the fight before they did, finding a half-dozen elites battling a golem. They were trying to bait it into overextending, and the cracks and chips taken out of the stone showed they’d had some success. But the exchange hadn’t been entirely one-way, and several fallen elites were scattered around the space. Most looked like they were only injured, but at least one’s chest had been crushed.

The golem lunged forward, but its movement was interrupted by Nathan colliding with its shoulder. His momentum was enough to stagger the construct, and he struck it a few times with an elbow and open palms before darting away. His antimagic-boosted attacks left scars in the animating magic, and the golem’s head rotated around to lock onto him.

That’s when Aarl arrived, the Questor-sourced black blade swinging in a flurry that cut the golem into a pile of twitching stone.

Void of Magic has leveled to 566! You and your allies have destroyed a rogue golem!

Nathan looked down at the remains of the golem. “I think I’ll leave future golems to you. They’re a pain for me.” Then he turned to examine the wounded elites, putting pressure on bleeding wounds and directing others to do the same.

“I can heal those.” Stella said, landing nearby. The elites regarded her carefully and one raised a weapon, but another elbowed him.

[Moderate Curing]

Stella pressed the glowing magic into the man Nathan was tending to. His wounds quickly sealed up, and she went around to repeat the magic a few more times.

A minute later Khachi rounded the corner behind at a dead sprint, followed by the formation of elites from the gates. He skidded to a halt, eyes taking in the wounded before he spoke a quick benediction. “By the strength of my faith, they shall be healed.” His aura expanded to fill the space, pumping healing energy into every wound, no matter how small. Nathan retracted his own aura to avoid interfering with the process and every elite was healed to perfect health in moments.

That left Khachi standing over the body of the elite with the crushed chest. The man's wounds hadn’t healed, and the wolfman stared down with deep concentration. He cast aside his hammer and shield, which clanged to the cobbles. Then he knelt before the dead man, interlacing his fingers and holding them over the corpses' torso.

Stella sidled up to Nathan and cast a quick [Hush] spell that just encompassed the two of them. “He reached 243. [Shield of Hope].” She waved the spell aside.

Nathan nodded, watching Khachi as he bowed his head and closed his eyes, seeming to pray over the dead elite. This wasn’t something he’d seen his friend do before. Did it have something to do with his new class, demanding he pay respect to the dead?

Then Khachi started intoning a prayer, his voice resonating with the world in the way it did when he used his divinity to its fullest extent. “Through the divine spark blazing within me, I invoke sacred authority over this man’s fate. He fell in valor, defending chosen kin against a fearsome foe. By my power, by my flame, I decree that his path is not yet ended. Arise, arise and reclaim your place! Let life’s labors ignite in your mortal frame once more!”

Everybody watched, spellbound, as power spilled out of the fabric of Davrar. It was more than Khachi could have conjured himself, enough to change the nature of the world with its very presence. The night was lit like a gentle noonday sun by the power suffusing the air, and even Nathan felt his spirits rise from the presence of so much benevolent divinity. Khachi’s words wove the power together, the spellwork growing ever more complex with every sentence he spoke. On the last line it gained extra depth and vibrancy, impressing a new reality onto the fabric of Davrar.

Yup, that’s wizardry all right. Not sure what to call divine wizardry. A miracle, maybe?

“Dragon’s breath…” Stella whispered, staring open mouthed at the spell before her. She and Nathan both watched, entranced, as the magic sunk into the body of the dead elite. Khachi trembled, as if holding up an enormous weight with his clasped hands.

The elite awoke with a gasp, the mortal wound vanished as if it had never been . He looked around with wide eyes to the gasps of the onlookers.

Khachi got slowly to his feet, almost staggering. He let out an exhausted sigh and tilted his head back as if feeling rain on his face. His aura dimmed and the street became almost dark, especially compared to the brightness of earlier. Then the cleric looked down, his eyes opening slowly to reveal glowing orbs. He bent over carefully to pick up his hammer and shield, then turned to Nathan with a tired smile. “A new deed for me. But a tiring one. Is there a place to rest for the night?”

Nathan nodded, resisting the urge to slap his friend on the back in congratulations. “We need to talk anyway.” He turned to Gasc, who’d been commanding the elites fighting the golem before Nathan arrived. “Is there anywhere we can crash? Doesn’t need to be anything fancy. Just somewhere central so we can help in case of an attack.”

The man swallowed, darting glances between Nathan and Khachi. “Ye- yes. We set aside a master’s quarters for you. Come with me.” He led the Heirs a short distance deeper into the district, seemingly wanting to ask deeper questions but too intimidated to do so. “Do you need food?”

“No.” Sarah spoke up, having melted out of the shadows to join the group. “We have our own provisions. A roof over our head, a fireplace, maybe even a bed and our bones are settled.”

“Here.” Gasc said a moment later, directing them to a door to a comfortable-looking cottage that was sandwiched between two warehouses. There was a bloodstain right outside the front foor, but no body in evidence.

“Thanks.” Nathan replied, ignoring the blood and gesturing for the Heirs to enter. “Don’t hesitate to get us if there’s any attack. We need rest, but please wake us if you spot a mage or golem so much as heading in this direction.”

Gasc nodded jerkily, and Nathan let him go. He could probably have pushed harder on that, but he was starting to feel the exertions of the past… week? It had been a while since he’d slept a full night, and most of the rest of the time had been high-tension subterfuge or straight combat.

The door closed behind them, and Nathan plopped down onto a padded bench. He rubbed his face, letting loose a long, exhausted sigh. Then he looked up at the rest of the Heirs and braced himself for the conversation that was to come. He'd need to tell them about Badud, and what the Questor had said before he died.

Something on Nathan’s face must have shown his mood, since Stella began weaving privacy magics around the room. She wasn’t capable of anti-scying magic like her father was, but Nathan’s could handle that angle so long as she prevented mundane eavesdropping.

Aarl was busy feeding the banked fire in the fireplace, rummaging through kitchenware as he prepared to cook them all a meal. He called over his shoulder. “So, tell us the tale of the Ascendent Academy, and the Questor you defeated!”

“In a moment.” Nathan said, eyes on Khachi. “You can raise the dead now. That’s incredible.”

The wolfman nodded tiredly, sitting down across from Nathan. “My flame burns bright, but many things made that possible. The man was dead for very little time, and he died valiantly defending those he considered family. His body was mostly intact, and all around wished him to live. It drew my divine spark to the limit regardless, though I believe it will become easier with repetition.” Then Khachi looked up, eyes curious as they met Nathan's. “Where is Faline? What occurred?

Nathan waved his hand absently. “She should be around somewhere. She…” He trailed off, not sure how to explain things. After a few seconds, he shook his head and plowed forward. This wasn’t the news he needed to sugar-coat. “She tried to make me kill children, so I split off from her.”

The all Heirs reacted differently to the news, with Stella wincing, Aarl sighing and Sarah’s face turning stony. None of them compared to Khachi, whose lips peeled back in fury. His aura flared with harsh light, twisting in a way that reminded Nathan of the fire elemental that had wanted to burn them all alive. The wolfman bit out two words, fangs flashing in the radiance. “Explain, please.”

Nathan sighed once more and rubbed his face with his hands. Dried blood came away under his fingers, and he looked down at it and grimaced. He was tired. So much had happened - and none of it was important. The Questors were what was important, and the thought had been bubbling in Nathan’s head for the last day, waiting to be verbalized. But he closed his eyes and centered himself. They had time - at least tonight. He could explain himself to his friends, and tell the story as it happened. He pushed away thoughts of Questors, of Endings and Davrar itself, and recalled the time he’d spent in Giantsrest, and what the Heirs needed to know.

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“Faline and I entered the city and started assassinating rich and powerful mages, focusing on stirring up tensions between rivals. She’s incredibly good at gathering information, and between our abilities we were able to impersonate the Nails and stage the assassination of a major figure during a party. That stirred up a lot of conflict in the city. We almost had various factions fighting each other, but then Badud called all of the mages into the Academy to mediate the conflict.”

Nathan chewed on his lips, unsure why he was providing all of this context. He didn’t need to justify Faline’s actions - except he did. The Heirs needed to understand that Faline wasn’t somebody who killed for pleasure. Every time she’d killed, she’d had a reason for it. Her actions were those of a desperate rebel, not a depraved murderer.

She and I disagree about what is justified in fighting Giantsrest. But how many students died in the Academy’s collapse?

“We needed to interrupt the gathering to prevent the mages from comparing stories and scouring the city for us. Faline said it was suicide to go into the Academy, so she took me to the mansion of archmage Gergar dho Ka. She didn’t tell me what we were there for, but I assumed it was to take something precious, or maybe retrieve a powerful weapon. Instead, she took me to the nursery.”

The Heirs kept silent, listening attentively while Nathan told his story. Aarl was still preparing food, but he was taking pains to keep quiet. Khachi was laser-focused on Nathan’s words, with the mein of an interrogator listening for a key detail.

Nathan continued. “She wanted me to kill the archmages' children, because it would interrupt the summit and probably make him lash out blindly. She said it was necessary, and they were all going to become mages anyway. When I refused, she tried to use social skills to convince me to do it, then tried to do it herself.” He shrugged. “I stopped her, relocked the door and left. Without her. I didn’t know what to do, so I went into the Academy.”

Khachi waited to see if Nathan was going to keep talking, mulling over what had been said. His expression relaxed fractionally, though his eyes retained a fierce light. “Then no evil deeds were done? No innocents were murdered?”

The wolfolk’s gaze intensified as Nathan paused.

Most of the people we killed were mages directly involved in slavery. Archmage Gerger dho Kav’s son Rodril was just eighteen or nineteen, but he was an asshole and did attack us first. Even if Faline baited him into it.

“No.” Nathan replied. “We killed only mages who were directly involved in slavery, or attacked us.”

With a nod, Khachi relaxed. “Then I will not swear an oath of judgment upon her. But I will tell my mother, for she has suspected Faline of many evils committed inside the walls of Giantsrest. I expect she will demand an explanation under the aegis of her own magic.” Khachi eyed Nathan carefully for a moment. “Do you object to this?”

“Honestly, no. We have more important things to talk about.” Nathan said tiredly.

Stella could restrain herself no longer, and interrupted. “Like the Academy! How did you get inside? How did you bring it down?”

The closer he got to describing Badud’s words, the more tired Nathan got. It was like his body was trying to give him an excuse to give his friends another night of hope, another night without confronting what Nathan suspected about Davrar. But he forged onwards, answering Stella’s question directly. “I Developed my [Assassin] class, picked up several stealth and disguise skills. I don't have more social skills past [Inspiration].” He looked around, raising an eyebrow to invite commentary.

They didn’t, beyond some impressed nods, so Nathan continued. “I disguised myself as a student to blend in, and made friends to learn things about the Academy. There was a lot to learn.”

Stella looked like she wanted to interrupt, but shook her head and gestured for Nathan to continue.

“The Ascendent Academy was actually a giant dungeon called ‘The Grave of All Giants’ that had been tamed by the Questors after the Ending of Elements, when they founded Giantsrest. The dungeon tracked every person inside of its walls, and only opened doors for those allowed to be there. That’s why it’s never been infiltrated by assassins. It also had a force of golems to kill those who don’t belong - the same kind as the two you’ve fought so far in the city. They’re smarter and more advanced than what Giantsrest can make, and I think each one is some kind of tomb or housing for an individual Giant's intelligence.”

“That explains the notifications I got.” Aarl cut in, leaving the kitchen to claim a chair. “But why are they rogue?”

Stella chuckled. “It’s as clear as flawless gems. Nathan destroyed whatever enchantment was keeping the dungeon tame.” She cocked her head. “But then did it destroy itself, or did Badud destroy the awakening dungeon to prevent it from attacking Giantsrest?”

“What a dungeon of fools…” Khachi was aghast. “To build your city around such a powerful dungeon, when it could break free. Madness.” He frowned, and turned towards Nathan, opening his mouth to ask more questions about why Nathan had decided to unleash a dungeon on a city.

Nathan cut him off. “It wasn’t so simple. I tracked down the core of the dungeon, but I thought it was a power source or control center for the Academy that I could break to cause chaos. Only when I reached it did I realize it was intelligent. It was a person,Khachi, and they’d enslaved it with the most complex and comprehensive enchantment I’d ever seen. I freed it and tried to talk to it, but it was insane. It attacked me, even after I helped it against Badud.”

The wolfman’s frown didn’t go away, but he nodded, accepting Nathan’s explanation.

“How long were you in the Academy?” Sarah asked.

“A while.” Nathan said. “ I attended classes during the day, and then explored at night. I was discovered by a couple lecturers and high-tier students, but managed to kill them before the alarm was raised. That scared them, when people started being killed in the Academy.” Nathan chuckled darkly.

A magical academy, rife with tension as people are murdered in the night. What a trope.

The Heirs looked at Nathan quizzically, but he waved it away. “Eventually I learned enough to be able to move freely through the Academy. I developed my antimagic quite a bit, and started assassinating archmages. That was last night. Got four of them, then broke the enslavement magic on the core. Badud showed up and destroyed the core, then attacked me. He kept using bigger and bigger spells to try and kill me, without caring about the damage to the Academy.” Nathan shook his head, remembering some of the spells Badud had been throwing around. “Some of them were pretty potent, but he just kept escalating when I survived. I think the last one was some kind of divine artifact. [The Last Arrows of Olita]. It almost killed me, but it definitely killed the Academy.”

Stella opened her mouth to interrupt again, but Nathan held up his hand to forestall her. He was almost to the critical point. “Badud thought I was dead, and I was able to get the jump on him. I couldn’t cut him off from magic, but I certainly damaged his mana pool. Then I killed him.”

The Heirs exhaled as one, as if they hadn’t believed the Questor was dead until Nathan had said it.

“But.” Nathan spoke into the silence, his head bowed. “Before he died, he said that he would start the Ending of History when he respawned.”

Status of Nathan Lark:

Permanent Talent 1: Arcane Nullfield 6

Permanent Talent 2: Immortal Body 4

Permanent Talent 3: Airwalking 7

Class: Void of Magic level 566

Deepened Stamina: 15171/17280

Void of Feeling

Antimagic Momentum

Raging Thrill

Implacable Inertia

Unarmored Resilience

Magic Anathema

Airborne Agility

Hand-to-hand Expertise

Voluminous Aura

Denial of Wizardry

Mana Severance

Class: Spellslayer level 437

Regenerative Focus: 4470/4470

Catastrophic Blows

Battle Stealth

Mage Infiltration

Forgettable

Sneaky Blow

Antimagic Stealth

Magical Manipulation

Lethal Index

Wizard Resistance

Magic Jammer

Controlled Failure

Utility skills:

Wizard’s Meditation 7

Inspiration 5

Acceleration 8

Wizard’s Detection 5

Alertness 9

Wizard’s Understanding 6

Effortless Dodge 6

Mental Vault 2

Tutoring 3

Parkour 7

Visibility Control 2

High-tier Disguise 2

Mid-tier Battle Cry 9

High-tier Aura Manipulation 7