World Walk

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"Taras." Laurelle said flatly. "Don't argue with me. I'm a thief. I know how to distract people. If you try to stop Magus with brute force, he'll roll right over you. This is no time to be selfless. I'm the best person for the job." She turned to Demi and quickly kissed her, trying not to linger. "Wait for me in Velaria, love. I'll be there, eventually." Then she followed Taras ito the hallway and pushed him aside, ignoring any objections he gave. She looked down at the passage where the cloud of magical objects was visible clogging the room. The Magister wouldn't be stopped with attacks. Laurelle had quite often ran interference to distract people from where her colleagues were working during her operations, and she knew that even though she couldn't fight Magus, she didn't need to. Taking a deep breath, she chanted under her breath. The surge was barely audible, but the results were. Voices came from one of the doors; Lavender directing the group, replaying her explanation. It sounded convincing enough that it would misdirect him. Then she turned to the closed door that her friends stood behind. Aware that her time was running out, she placed a difficult charm on it that left her panting for breath. The door was now inconspicuous--if Magus looked at it, he wouldn't give it a thought, and combined with her illusion, it would lead him away. But there needed to be more. He might still double back and find them. The light mage drew her knives and hid behind the door she had placed the illusions toward. Another plain hallway. A moment later, the clang of Foci heralded his approach. The door opened. The archmage was glowing subtly--why, Laurelle didn't know. His expression was enraged. He pointed his staff at her and firmly spoke a spell even as she spoke hers. She dematerialized into a spectre of incandescent light, causing the burning blue bolt of energy to pass right through her. She looked over her shoulder and shouted behind her into nothingness. "He's here!" Then she turned and sprinted down the hallway, toward who knows where. Magus followed her, not quite as fleet of foot but still keeping pace. She gritted her teeth.
Stay safe, Demi.

The gem fought back against Demi, the sealing magic assaulting her mind and agressively attempting to beat her back. For a moment it was winning, but then Lavender also placed her hand on the gem. The moment seemed to hang in time--two minds joined in a battle against the arcane. The pain was excruciating; the gem attacked the part of the mind that "heard" magical sound and flooded it, making hearing, or even thinking, impossible. The two mages couldn't process anything except the fight, their wills against Magus's magic. Slowly, they overcame it. For several moments they fought, even as the sound of Laurelle's "battle" with the Magister outside rang out. Then finally, the magic snapped. It fell backward, dissolved. The gem glowed, then expanded like the previous one, until there was a blue curtain hanging in front of them. Lavender jumped through it without hesitation, vanishing into the blue.
 
"'Selfless'?! You're one to talk of selflessness if you're prepared to leave Demi all—" Taras cut himself off because he knew that Laurelle wouldn't have heard any more as she ran past him, evading his grasp. She actually thinks she's some romantic hero, he thought of the thief sorely. How callous could Laurelle be to do something like this? Was she as numb in the emotions as she was from pain? He hated it. He hated her for doing this to Demi, his friend who would surely never be the same.

"Laurelle?!" Demi, against any semblance of common sense, lingered outside of the portal in anticipation of Laurelle's return. "Laurelle!! Come on; it's open! Hurry, Laurelle!"
A second passed. Another second passed. Taras counted them, one by one, until ten more had elapsed.
"Sorry, Demi," he said as he grabbed her swiftly in both arms, lifting her off the ground. She kicked and tore at his grip in vain as he heaved the both of them into the portal.
"LAURELLE!!!"
Taras hated Laurelle because it meant that Demi was now going to hate him.
 
Skye hesitated a second after Taras pulled Demi through. Her head ached. The shock of Magus's ritual, physically and emotionally, had left the knight numb. Now Laurelle was rushing to her death to save them. Skye knew that the thief had a point; The Knights of the Blue Sword were trained for straight-on warfare and battle magic. All Taras would have done was cast a few spells attack magic that Magus would have blocked, then he would have died. Laurelle had a chance. With misdirection and experience, she could lead him away, and maybe, just maybe, she'd find her way out. The wind mage wanted to believe that the thief would evade Magus and meet them outside the Tower, but no matter how hopeful she was she knew that it wasn't going to happen. Sighing, Skye stepped through the portal.

Laurelle jumped straight through the door, her hovering, incorporeal form ignoring the physical presence. Behind her, the gateway exploded into splinters as another bolt struck it. It led into what seemed to be a storeroom--silver, gold, and previous stones stacked to the ceiling. There wasn't another way out, but that didn't concern her. She simply dropped through the floor, passing down to the room several stories down. This appeared to be some sort of workshop, for shaping soft metals, like a mint. Magus did not teleport or alter the floor to follow her--he simply tore it apart. Debris and precious metal rained from the now opened ceiling, but Laurelle kept running. However she heard a surge as she reached the door, and she jumped into it only to be thrown backward, rematerializing and crashing into the floor, dazed. The exhaustion of the incorporeality spell instantly catching up to her. In that form she had unlimited endurance, but as soon as it ended she was crippled, unless she used it in Prismsphere where she could take the hit. Magus calmly stepped toward her. She struggled to her feet and vainly lunged at him, daggers in hand, but instead of casting a spell, he just slammed his staff into her stomach. She fell, and it came down toward her head. The last sound she heard before being bashed into unconsciousness was the tinkly clink of the Foci hovering above her.

-

The portal led to the edge of the lake just beyond the pillars and Anchor that led into the tower. Skye had just arrived when she heard a familiar voice shout. "Thank God, someone made it out!" She turned around to see Fen--or perhaps Vance-- running toward them, panting. He stopped, leaning over and taking a breath. "He did it, didn't he? I was too late... Quick, follow me. I'll tell you everything I can." Then he blinked and vanished, his thought lingering in the air for them to follow. Lavender took the offer decisively, and Skye followed without much question.
The scholar's dimension was dark. They appeared on a stone platform that provided solid ground in a stretch of marshy terrain. The place was forested, but the trees were evil-looking, withered, and hunched. The leaves were black and blended into the darkness. The whole place radiated a rather uncomfortable feeling of dread.
"Down here." Vance said, descending a set of stairs leading underground.
 
Demi did not need to do anything to follow after Vance, being transported along with Taras thanks to the arm still around her shoulder that she made no effort to shrug off anymore. They appeared at a dead place: fitting. As soon as she had known that Laurelle wasn't going to make it out the same way they had, Demi had felt like dying. Her escape felt as though it had no purpose: she could not possibly hope to stop the likes of Magus from taking over the world. Taras's consoling whispers that Laurelle could have escaped through some other avenue meant nothing. Before, she couldn't possibly think of anything worse that could happen to her than losing every single thing she owned, every trinket and treasure down to her name— including her focus. But now, she felt like dying.

Taras, meanwhile, had his sword out, heaving it in his left hand as his right arm was now doing most of the work supporting Demi's weight: it was grim fortune indeed that she happened to be so light. "So, Fen... or shall I say Vance." Just by the tone of his voice, he was already laying some of the blame for what had happened upon Vance. "If you knew what was going to happen, why didn't you tell us when you had the chance?!" He looked to Lavender. "The same goes to you! We were the only ones who could resist Magus's ritual. Why couldn't we have entered the tower armed with that knowledge?" He didn't care that they likely wouldn't have trusted Lavender had she approached them with friendly intent earlier, but he was as frustrated at the senseless loss of a friend as Demi was shaken by it.
 
The stairway led down into a well-lit, well furnished underground chamber. The black stone was smoothed and glossy, a stark contrast to the marsh above them. "You would not have believed me." Vance said matter-of-factly. "Magus was an illustrious figure in your mind. A legend. The father of magic. To pit my word against his would be futile. It would have changed nothing and only served to discredit me."
"And I didn't know." Lavender said calmly. "I was only ever told enough to do my job. Since he had hired me I knew he was up to something, but I didn't ask what. Besides, would you have believed me either?"
"I'm sorry for your loss." Vance said sincerely. "I had hoped to...to minimize casualties, captured or killed. I had everything planned out..." His voice trailed off. When he picked up again, it was very quietly and almost as if he was talking to himself. "I would use a spell to carry the crowds here. I would cast a mass spell using Hawke's ritual, infuse them all with the immunity you had. I had everything laid out. I just needed to collect the components for the dimensional transportation spell and arrive at the tower before the mages. But then... Hendricks attacked. I was pinned down for too long fighting that senseless battle. I couldn't leave the city or send people out to collect what I needed. After I killed him, I finished my work as quickly as possible. Then I made haste for the tower, augmenting my speed with teleportation and movement magic. It was draining. But I...I was too late. I arrived after the mages. They fell into Magus's trap." He shook his head despondently, sitting down on a couch. "Now Magus is...too strong..."

Lavender stepped up to him and abruptly slapped him across the face. The scholar muttered an "Ow" and recoiled, but was cut off as the assassin began to speak. "He's not invincible. We can still do something. A dagger in the back is a dagger in the back, Magister or no. Kosma will support us. Alixies will support us. We just have to convince them of the threat."
Vance shook his head again, ignoring the welt on his cheek. "Even if we did, Magus would tear Kosma away from us. They respect magical strength above all else. Once he defeated Noir, their armies would be his. Alixiens may be good mages, but they don't make good soldiers."
"Estillia then!"
"We will never be able to draw them away from their war. Velaria is too weak, and Arandland doesn't have the magical ability to stand against the Kosmans."
"We have to do something!"
"...There is one thing we can do. My project. I've been formulating a ritual to bind permanent enchantments to objects. A way to create artifacts. It isn't far enough yet that I know the materials I'll need, but if we can mass produce them, then an Alixien army armed with artifacts could defeat Kosma. And even if we can't, an elite few can use them to take the fight to the Magister. It will surely be a fight fraught with death, but there's a chance that power could overcome his magical power. But it would be a difficult endeavor."
"Difficult isn't impossible. Now, what a--"

Skye interrupted their conversation, speaking for the first time in a while. "Long term plans are well and good, but how do we know Magus won't find us and kill us here?"
"This dimension is one of the most fortified to exist." Vance answered her. "I've hidden from the man long enough to learn every way to guard a Plane from other mages. Short of following my own thought here, no one can enter this place. Bear that in mind if you wish to leave."
 
"Hear that?" Taras murmured to Demi upon Vance's letting them know that there was no easy return here once they had left. Whatever they had to ask the scholar would best be asked now. Demi gave some semblance of a nod: all Taras could do was continue holding her close.
"If I had even a little bit of power to my name, I would consider some sort of coup in Estillia," Taras said absentmindedly. It was a completely absurd thing to say, but he didn't care for the moment about how much sense he was making. "But as it is, I would be better off trying to recruit other errant knights." His eyes flashed toward Skye as he thought of causing an instigation of some sort in his home country. Perhaps he could use his surname of Ashur in a summons of some sort, passing it off as a war-game proposed by his father, a mid-rank court strategist. From there, he could... No. He had no idea what to do. "Scrape together an elite force, giving each member an artifact... It's as good a plan as any," he finally said.
 
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"That's not a bad idea." Vance responded to Taras. "Even if our number of artifacts is limited, it could never hurt to have a larger force. If you can throw your weight around in Estillia to garner support for us, I could get word around among the scholars I know. The average arcane scholar isn't very good at fighting outside of his home dimension--those are usually set up like deathtraps,"
Lavender interrupted him with a murmur. "Believe me, I know..."
"...But we could speed our research by pooling our minds. If the ritual is expensive, find more efficient components, and the like. ...And I also have connections to a number of retired Velarian spies. If we need information gathering, they're the best of the best. It's not well known, as well it shouldn't be, but Velaria usedto have the best intelligence network on the planet. Nowadays that title goes to Kosma, but some of the greats are still from the fractured nation."
"You may not like them," Lavender said. "But I can scrap together a band of mercenaries. People I know and people I can buy. I have extensive authority in the underworld of the Fragments, and even in some more civilized places. Gold is probably the only limitation on how many troops I can afford us."
"I still know the location of Hendricks's cachés." Vance told her. "If he's as good as his word, they're extensive."
"Good."
"And also on this topic, I should mention Aaron. He may have seemed to only be the makeshift lieutenant for the battle against Hendricks, but he and I have known each other for a long time. I'm sure he could gain us the support of some Arandish noblemen and their soldiers."
"This is shaping up to be quite a force." Lavender mused.

Skye finally spoke again. "Yes, but it won't mean a thing against Magus. He could single-handedly wipe us out. It's pointless anyway."
"That's why we work from the shadows, kid." Lavender told her. "I know knights don't really understand the concept of stealth, but if we play our cards right we won't have to reveal ourselves until we're ready to put a knife in his throat."
The wind mage leaned against the wall, looking despondently at the stone floor. She didn't respond.
"Any thoughts on this plan, you two?" Vance looked to Taras and Demi.
 
Demi shook her head, signaling that she had been listening but not much else.
"I'll return to Estillia and impersonate my father," Taras decided. "He's a military tactician— we look similar enough that I'll be able to recruit some knights for our cause that way and tell them it's some sort of special operation." He looked pointedly at Skye. "And if you're going to spend the whole time being a cynic, Skye, you can come along and return home. If you aren't arrested as soon as you step foot into a town." He knew that there was a good chance she'd be going with him anyway, since she was an Estillian knight whom he could use to further the illusion that the strategist Ashur had called for a party of knights to embark. "Demi, is there a chance that you could recruit any of your cohorts from Asimi's academy of magic?"
Demi looked up to think for a moment, then shook her head. "They wouldn't believe me," she concluded.
"I can say that I'm looking for a party of knights and mages to perform special operations," Taras explained. "You and Skye could pose as recruits and spread the word. The more people seem interested, the more legitimate it will appear."
 
"Sounds like a plan." Vance said. "But we're all tired, still in shock, or both. So let's all get some rest. There are enough rooms in this little underground fortress to accomodate all of you. I'll keep an eye on the time. I have several Anchors to specific points on the material plane, so I can warp back without being close to the Tower."
"I could do for some sleep." Lavender admitted.
"Tomorrow I'll contact Aaron and we can begin collecting our forces." The scholar said.
Skye didn't say a word but mutely went to the room Vance directed her to. The various bedrooms were spacious and furnished with all a person would need, as well as having a tiny crystal on the wall that, when touched, toggled a magical light originating from the ceiling. The beds were comfortable enough but were still only heavily cushioned stone, so there was not much to be said about their luxury.

-

Vance had just returned from checking the time--it was just past midnight--when he felt a surge like someone leaving the dimension. Startled at the prospect of one of them actually leaving without informing him, he was too late to catch the thought on its way out, and without having experience in any of their dimensions could not follow them. Panicking a little, he quickly made his way to the room closest to his; Lavender's bedroom. He peeked in on it to find the assassin soundly asleep, so he made his way to the next one.
The scholar poked his head through the doorway. The light was off, but he could see the bed was empty and the blankets disturbed. Stepping inside, he tapped the crystal and turned on the light. The white glow cast a glare across the room that revealed a space devoid of anyone besides him. An elegant sword, set with sapphires and with wings for a handguard, stood innocuously against the wall.
Skye was gone.

-

He woke the group up and gathered them in the main room to break the news.
"Skye left. I checked her room and only found this." He held up the noble sword. Its silvered hilt looked out of place against his black cloak. His expression was dark and troubled. "You could try following her, but she could have found one of my Anchors or left for her own plane. She could even have Anchors in her dimension, so she could be anywhere by now. If she didn't take an Anchor then we could possibly chase her to her plane, but if she doesn't want to help..."
Indeed, if Taras or Demi attempted to divine Zephyrhome, they would find that wards had been set in place; they were relatively rudimentary, but neither of them had the experience in the plane to break them, having only been there once or twice. The knight was gone.
 
Frustrated by the prickly greeting that his thoughts of divination were met with, Taras sighed in anger, shaking his head. "I guess she took my suggestion of going home a little too seriously..." He took the sword from Vance lightly, holding it as though it would snap in two if he so much as looked at it funny. Being a user of more hefty weapons, elegant swords such as this one had always seemed overly dainty to Taras. "This is her sword, so..."
"She's really given up," Demi said, her mind filling with disdain for Skye. Here Demi was, having lost her most valuable possessions and the best friend who had loved her— even now, Laurelle was ever on her mind, like an instrument always playing in the background of a song. What could Skye have lost to make her want to give up and leave, leaving her sword behind to make her point even further? "But if she goes home, she'll..."
"Brandt," Taras said. "That's the knight commander who betrayed her. If he still has any power... could Skye be going for revenge?"
"That wouldn't explain her leaving her sword here."
Taras looked down at that: there was nothing more to say. Evidently, Skye had decided to try to return home and settle back into her life as if nothing had happened. Perhaps she thought her father could clear her name... but if that didn't work, then she was surely destined to be sent to prison on Brandt's recommendation. The reason why I set out into the Fragments in the first place, scurrying back to be imprisoned again, he thought, although he was more annoyed at Skye's rashness than angry at her. "You should hold onto this for now," he said, giving the sword to Demi. What would she do with it? Hopefully be encouraged to pick up more skill in physical combat, Taras hoped. Though the lightning mage was still obviously downcast, there was a chance that she would become inspired to fight so she could find Laurelle rather than live the next few years in idle depression, and Taras intended on doing all he could so the former and not the latter occurred. Understanding, Demi took the sword, holding it at her left side after taking a moment to examine its intricacies.
"So, we'll get in touch with Aaron so we can get our little campaign started?" Taras asked. "No reason to delay any further, right?"
 
"...Right." Vance said. "Except he's probably asleep right now. I don't know if any of you could get back to sleep, but I think we should wait for the morning."

~
A month later, Cygnus Town Hall

Vance, Aaron, Demi, Taras, Lavender, and Hawke sat around a large round table, various papers spread out before them. Letters, maps of the Fragments, Alixies, and Kosma, parts of the in-development Artifact Ritual, and other papers on the Arcane written by various scholars. They had gathered to discuss the latest piece of news they had received. By now, they had recruited a decent force, including a sizable group of mercenaries, a couple crime lords headquartered in the Fragments, a patchwork of Estillian knights, several arcane scholars, and three Velarian spies. There would be surely be more to come. The group was now housed in this town, deciding somewhere closer to the Estillian border would be ideal. It was still only temporarily; ultimately they would likely move to Alixies or somesuch. But location on the agenda today. One of the spies, who had been keeping tabs on Magus as best they could, had reported that the Magister had finally left the Tower and was en route to Kosma. This meant that they had to speed things along and start setting up real resistance, as the Kosman armies would be against them soon. They had, of course, sent messengers to all the major kingdoms, but so far had unsurprisingly been dismissed without reply for the most part. Only Alixies had responded, and it had been a politely-worded letter saying, in short, that they would never believe a figure like Magus would do that.

"We need more troops." Vance said frustratedly. "We certainly can't fight a war with what we have."
"I've exhausted Hendricks's gold, remember?" Lavender said. "We can't afford more mercenaries. Our other funds have to be used for maintenance."
"Yes yes, I know the logistics."
"A few replies from several Arandish noble houses finally arrived." Aaron said. "We'll have their support, but they'll take a while to move their armies here. I told them to bring what coinage they could, too. They believe me--Arandish knights would never question the word of another of their kind. We can use their gold to hire more mercenaries, so they're bringing more than their own troops. They'll significantly bolster our forces when they arrive."
"And more reliable messengers. Most mercenaries aren't good at carrying messages. They either forget it, lose it, or pass it off to someone else when they get drunk." Lavender put in. "When we have more people to send letters, I can get in touch with more of my connections, meaning that we'll be able to pick up a few more crime lords from various countries. And they'll have their gangs with them."
"I'm still working on the rest of the spies. Naturally they're a tricky bunch to find, but I've got quite a few leads." Vance said.
"I've sent magical messages to several more scholars." Hawke finally spoke. "They should be here soon, and we can seriously get started on this ritual." The eccentric man had sobered somewhat upon being delivered the news, but on his good days he was still his old self.
"Everything is in motion, then..." Vance said quietly.

"Soon, the battle will begin. And whether we're ready or not, the Grand High Magister will attack. As the only bearers of the truth, it's our job to stop him. By any means necessary. It will be a long battle, and it will be a difficult one. People will die. Nations may collapse. But we have to win. For all that has been and will be lost."

~To Be Continued~
 
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