Ends of Magic

It took a second for the Heirs to parse what Nathan had just said, and they all went through the same progression of confusion, dawning comprehension and horror.

Aarl was the first to break the silence. “What does that mean?”

“It means.” Nathan said in a gravelly tone, “That the Questors control the Endings. It means, Questors can’t die. It means…” He stopped himself mid-sentence.

It means that this entire world, Davrar itself, is probably a game. That somebody designed every aspect of it to be ‘fun’ for the Questors, from the ways Talents, classes and skills work to the dungeons and the Endings themselves. Davrar might be a simulation or it might not, but it feels real enough that it makes no difference. And more importantly, real people ae living and dying in this world, which makes it real enough for me.

But he couldn’t say that to the Heirs, not yet. Telling them that their world was fake - that Davrar was built entirely to please the Questors - that would not be an easy revelation. It could destroy Khachi’s Faith, and disrupt Stella’s thirst for magical knowledge. After all, it was a different thing to explore a magic system that had been designed to one that existed naturally.

They have the right to know. Not telling them is a small betrayal, it means I’m not trusting them to handle the truth. But I don’t think it’s vital I tell them this instant. I’ve known about this myself for less than a day, and I haven’t slept in way too long. I could also be wrong. There might be another explanation. Maybe it started as a game, and spun out of control. I don’t know.

“It means that Questors are more than just powerful people from some far-off empire. They have some kind of unique power over Davrar, and could do just about anything with it, especially if they work together. He mentioned that he needed Sarya Pamaris' agreement to launch the ending, but seemed sure he could get it with a large enough price. They seem to enjoy travelling around to use nations as pieces on a game-board.”

“They’re entertaining themselves.” Sarah spat out, eyes hard.

Aarl’s face was creased into a deep frown, but he looked up sharply at his sister’s words. “Not all of them. I don’t think Brox was lying, when he talked about the weight he carries. Some Questors protect people from other Questors. From the Endings. Maybe they can speed the Endings up, but not slow them down."

Stella spoke quietly. “But even Brox would sacrifice us all to the Ending of History.”

“If we believe Badud.” Nathan cautioned. “But he seemed certain. He also said he would bring the Ending to this continent early. Not everywhere. So Endings can happen on different continents at different times, and maybe that’s what he bargained. Maybe they moved it backwards somewhere else in exchange.”

“How long?” Khachi’s voice was a deep rumble that cut through the conversation. He glared challengingly around at them all. “Giantsrest has fallen. If we unite the continent, can we defeat this prophecy of death?” His burning eyes settled on Nathan. “Did he speak of the nature of the Ending?”

Nathan didn’t need to reach into his mind palace to remember Badud’s words. He’d burned them into his mind already, and recited them easily. “A hundred years, a hundred and fifty, and then all of the horrors of history will awake and scour the land clean. Have you even delved into the depths? Looked for the hidden fortresses in the sky? I anticipate watching joyfully on the day Gemore drowns in ancient magics and monsters beyond imagination.”

The Heirs let out thoughtful noises. Khachi spoke quietly. “There is time, then.”

“The depths? Fortresses in the sky?” Sarah quoted, disquiet clear in her voice. “There is more unknown wilderness than anything else on our continent, all of it full of dungeons. North is the blasphemous blight, with its own dungeons. Waking giants, a hundred years is not enough. We don't know how far the southern desert reaches."

“It’s enough time to evacuate.” Aarl replied. “Abandon the continent. Go somewhere else.”

Stella snorted. “Or.” She turned to look Nathan in the eyes. “We go after the Questors. Make them change the Endings. Or stop them entirely.”

Nathan smiled slightly. “Yes. We swore to stop the Endings. Now we know the Questors are the key to that, and Brox told me where to find one. Sarya Pamaris in Keihona, and we can take a ship there from Litcliff. We should tell Sudraiel and the council about all of this, then leave and try to address the problem at the root. At a bare minimum find out if Sarya sold us out. ”

The Heirs thought about that for a second, before Khachi replied slowly. “A hundred years - or more. That is a long time. We can stay here for a year. Free the people of Giantsrest and protect them until they can protect themselves.”

Aarl shook his head. “Our fires will dim in less time than that. Fifty, sixty years before we are too old.”

“I’m already immune to aging. Between my knowledge, Stella’s magic and Khachi’s divinity we’ll figure out a solution.” Nathan said airily, brushing aside the problem of old age. “But I don’t want to stay here for a year. This may take ten years or a hundred, but we don’t know. Davrar is huge.” He waved a hand vaguely upwards, encompassing the lands revealed by the night sky. “If there are Questors across all of it, then we may need to journey for a thousand years to meet them all. The sooner we start dealing with the problem, the sooner we'll be able to answer these questions.”

The Heirs rocked back, all somewhat taken back by Nathan’s assertion that they’d all be ageless. Or maybe it was the scope of the task he’d laid out before them - the base assertion that if this took a thousand years they'd all buckle down and get it done. None of them had a quick response, so Nathan continued.

“But the point is we don’t know. I don’t want to go out there and fall short by a year, or a month, because we spent that time here. Preventing the Ending of History is far more important than trying to stabilize Giantsrest. Furthermore, the other Questors will respect our deeds - because we did what Brox could not, and toppled Giantsrest.”

“You did.” Aarl said with a roll of his eyes.

Nathan conceded the point, but kept going. “If we wait a year, it will not be so fresh in their minds. We need to speak to the Questors before the impact of that deed fades, or else they will ignore us.”

Brox was treating everybody like NPC’s. Entertaining ones, sure, but he didn’t really see us as people until the end, when we made him. That's when he explained himself. Even then I’m not sure he’d put a lot of weight on us even then.

“But surely, Questors must remember such deeds across the ages.” Khachi trailed off, then twisted his face in a grimace. “No, my bones say that one such as Brox would forget the actions of others quickly.”

Sarah glanced at Stella, speaking bluntly. “We’ll likely meet Brox as an ally again. Will that smother your fire?”

“I’ll show him blasphemous destruction.” Stella said sharply. “Seeing fear and respect in his eyes will settle my bones.”

Sarah nodded hesitantly, but didn’t challenge the statement. She turned her attention back to Nathan. “Then when do we leave?”

“I’m fine with spending a few weeks here, but not more than a month. You all know that Giantsrest will need Adventurers for protection, and that's a neverending task. We need to do what we can and then leave without getting stuck taking care of routine problems.”

Stella was nodding along. “How do we kill this problem as quickly as possible?”

Khachi clasped mailed hands together, the metal of his gauntlets creaking with the strength of his grip. “Free all of the slaves. Kill all the Archmages. Let the people here begin with fresh fuel, uncorrupted by the legacy of the Academy.”

“It'll earn us a blasphemous amount of levels.” Sarah said approvingly. “And grant us all some claim to the destruction of Giantsrest.”

Nathan looked around at the other Heirs, who all exchanged a series of shrugs and nods to signal their agreement to the plan. “That’s a place to start, but there’s going to be a lot of details. What do we do with all of the artisan mages, who don’t want to fight us? How do we organize the slaves? First we should call in reinforcements so we can go hunt the archmages who fled, and people to handle everything else. Stella, can you [Message] Egall? I want to get Olad out here to manage the newly freed elites, along with any adventurers who can come. Myrla herself, if she wants to run Giantsrest.” He thought for a second. “How are the antimages doing? I’d love to get them out here to replace me for freeing slaves, but I don’t know if they’re ready for that.”

“I’ll message Halsmet, and the other Adventurers.” Stella said, putting her hand to her temple and closing her eyes.

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“I can break slavery spells.” Khachi said calmly. “My aura allows me to destroy vile magic, including compulsive mental magic.”

“And the undead!” Aarl said with a grin. “They just fall apart. More effective than dragon’s breath.”

Stella opened her eyes again, frowning. “The spell isn’t working.” She looked up at Nathan. “Did Giantsrest disable [Message] inside the city?”

“Oh, I think that’s my fault.” Nathan said sheepishly. “I have a new class skill that inhibits communication, scanning and scrying magic around me. I might be able to control it.” He closed his eyes and focused on his intangible abilities. Not his aura, which felt as natural as a third arm at this point, or his magical senses, which were as fleshed out as vision, but on something newer. He hadn’t had the luxury of exploring his new class skills, since he’d gained them partway through his rampage through the tower. But he’d learned how to manipulate new abilities before, and after a moment of attention he found a new sensation buzzing away in the back of his mind. It took him a minute to figure out how to control it.

Seems like I can’t direct it, but I can turn it down. That’s nice. It would be a little bit inconvenient to permanently jam Stella’s messages. I should pay attention to that sense, it might tell me when somebody tries to cast [Message] around me or tries to scry me.

He dialed the ability all of the way down, then opened his eyes and looked back at Stella. “Try now.”

She grunted. “It works now.” She hunched over, focused on the communication spell.

Aarl got back up and returned to the fireplace, squirting some oil into the heated pot before tossing in the ingredients he’d cut up earlier. “The antimages are doing well. Raf is the highest-level of them, but he fights like you. Takes too many risks. Two on his team have died, and he is covered in scars. Shai is smarter, and has built herself a fine tally of missions without terrible risk.”

“You’re blinded by her light.” Sarah said, mixing humor with scorn. “She relies on her teammates for most things. She can fight well and is immune to magic, but has not learned to fight with her antimagic.”

Aarl shrugged, stirring the stir-fry. “She wins all the same.”

“Glad to hear it.” Nathan said, recalling the intense young man and the flirtatious beauty “But what about Hetal and Shom?”

“They stick to each other like stalkers of the same pack.” Khachi replied with an approving nod. “Hetal has learned to imbue her antimagic into weapons, and Shom has focused on cursebreaking and fine control of his antimagic.”

A bit of tension released from Nathan, one he hadn’t even realized was there.”I’m just glad they’re all alive. I worried they were going to get killed, trying to follow in my footsteps.”

“Hear me, Raf should be dead.” Aarl said with a disgruntled snort. “But [Regenerate] is a weighty Talent, and he’s survived wounds to kill a castlebear. His team killed a northern wyvern after it tore him in half. They should have waited for…”

They all fell silent as Stella opened her eyes again. “The Giantraiders will be here just after dawn. The Old Hands and the Oath of Tulin are coming, but not quickly. Egall said she’ll speak to Myrla tonight, but they won’t send me a [Message] with their plans until tomorrow.”

The redheaded mage sighed deeply. “Now I should speak to my parents. Hear me, but I’m not going to mention the Endings, or leaving the continent. Not yet.”

Nathan winced. If there was anything that was going to derail their plans, it was Stella’s parents. Well, not just them. All of his friends’ parents were elite Adventurers, and they’d spent their entire lives defending Gemore. They might not approve of their kids gallivanting off into the wider world on his word.

There’s Sudraiel too. She’s definitely not going to be happy about the news of the Endings, but I don’t think she’ll try to stop us. The Guildmistress of the Adventurer’s Guild is a pretty sensible woman, and I think she trusts me. Besides, she doesn’t really have the authority to directly command people, even if she's working to turn the Adventurer's Guild into more of a military association.

“We have a chance at food and rest.” Aarl said, sprinkling seasoning into the pot he'd been working over. “We should seize it while we can, then plan to blaze a path tomorrow. The Giantraiders can work with the freed elites to protect this area and provide [Message] support, and we can range across the city to kill mages and free more people. There should be less chaos and more clearly-defined targets.”

Nathan scrubbed a hand through his hair. “I’m too tired to argue with that. We’ll need to be ready if there are attacks in the night, but I need a night of rest.”

“We are in good condition.” Sarah said comfortingly. “We can protect this area. We’ll only wake you if there are mages we cannot handle.”

Khachi nodded decisively. “You have accomplished a deed beyond prophecy’s hold, but we are a team. Allow us to bear this weight.”

“Is it really beyond prophecy’s hold?” Aarl called over from where he was starting to dish up food. “I recall Kia’s prophecy saying that ‘Ruin will be brought to an ancient city by a mage beyond Endings - and the outcome will determine when the Ending of History begins.’” He shrugged. “We’ve hit that target in the center. Badud - a mage beyond Endings - brought ruin to Giantsrest to try and kill Nathan. Then he changed the date of the Ending of History when he lost.”

“Hah, bitter loser.” Sarah said with a wry chuckle. “It does suggest that he succeeded in convincing the other Questors to start the Ending early.”

Stella sat back up from casting [Message], shaking her head and looking around brightly. “My parents didn’t lecture me! They just asked me to be careful.”

“Are the Guardians coming to aid us?” Khachi said with a raised eyebrow.

The redhead shook her head sharply. “They’re needed in Gemore, with so many Adventurers in Halsmet. The northern tribes raided Woodsden and Agmon is moving on the Treeborn of the plains. More Adventurers will come, but we’re the elites here.”

She looked around at the group, repeating her words and savoring them. “We’re the elites.” Then she looked down at the plate of steaming food in front of her. “Oh, thank you Aarl!”

He gave an elaborate bow, the motion shockingly smooth in his armor. “I serve only elite Adventurers.”

Khachi’s eyes were far away. We are responsible for Giantsrest.” He said softly, looking vaguely sick to his stomach. “Tens of thousands of people, and they are our responsibility.”

Nathan looked up from inhaling his food. “Only if we accept that responsibility. We can help them get started on their own, give them the chance to determine their own future. It may be better than dictating it for them.”

The woflman hummed thoughtfully in response, but he didn’t comment for the rest of the meal.

As Nathan ate, he felt his eyelids grow heavy. He knew this was a good time to catch up with the Heirs, to plan and relax. But all he wanted to do was fall asleep on his plate.

I could keep going, keep pushing, but it’s more important I’m functional later. I can only put off sleep for so long. I've finally relaxed and the tiredness caught up with me all at once.

Nathan finished eating, then bid the Heirs a muttered goodnight and set his eyes on the staircase, which seemed the natural place to find a bed. At the top of the stairs he found two bedrooms, one unused and the other messy with dirty clothes.

He stumbled into the messy bedroom and collapsed onto the bed, falling asleep in moments.

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: 15942/17280

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

High-tier Aura Manipulation 7