Chapter 15: Puzzles of Magic

Chapter 15: Puzzles of Magic

There were a few moments of awkward silence, as the guy whod opened the gate shifted from foot to foot. They were waiting for his compatriot to return with somebody who could tell the Heirs what was going on.

He seemed to want to ask a question, but held back. He looked from Aarl to Stella, before his eyes landed on Nathan and he relaxed and opened his mouth. Hows it be, goin wit da Heirs?

Sarah chuckled as Nathan was once again reminded that he didnt fit in with his teammates. They were known as the children of some of the most powerful people in Gemore, and all were bedecked in enchanted armor and weapons to look the part. He wore cheap clothes, simple shoes and carried very few possessions. Hed gotten in the habit of leaving his spear in Aarls dimensional bag, and bore no weapons. With defined muscles and not much else, Nathan looked like he could be a laborer.

He smiled back. Its a good time. Ive seen some pretty incredible things, traveling with them. Theyre good in a fight, too.

Uh. The other man blinked, formulating his words. Hows it happenin? You travellin wit dem?

Nathan was saved from having to find a polite response by the return of the girl whod run off. The growing crowd split respectfully before her, and it wasnt until they had entirely moved out of the way that Nathan saw they werent moving for her. They were getting out of the way of a small woman who must have been the widest Knuld Nathan had ever seen.

Her skin was a pale orange, like clouds barely tinted with a red sunset. Her clothes were rich brown, falling in layers from a tasseled hood that framed a face stuck in a permanent disappointed frown. She was shorter than the average Knuld, standing barely three feet tall, but making up for it in width. Her hand grasped a gnarled wooden staff that seemed so old it might have been fossilized.

The girl tried haltingly to introduce her, but the Knuld woman spoke quickly and loudly over her. I be Qinven. Youd be da Adventurers I sent fer. She looked them over, then snorted. Good ta get da value from ta food we send em. Youll do. Getcha waitin for da next attack.

The Heirs were a bit blindsided by the verbal assault, but Khachi once again proved his equanimity and role as the partys voice. We shall be ready for the next occurrence. Can you tell us of them?

The Knuld woman - Qinven - pursed her lips, then nodded. She tapped the staff against the ground and sat on the delicate chair that had sprouted to receive her. Stools appeared behind each of the Heirs, and Qinven gestured for them to sit. She looked around at all of the onlookers. All got aught to do? Getcha to it!

The crowd scattered, though some stayed to spectate.

Qinven turned back to the Heirs, who were gingerly taking their seats on the stools. Nathan poked his, and it started blackening and disintegrating from his touch. He sat on the ground.

Wood mana. Cool.

The guy whod asked Nathan what he was doing with the Heirs looked between Nathan and the disintegrating stool, mouth hanging open.

Qinven gave him an exasperated glance, before dismissing it and explaining what was going on in Farfield that needed their attention. It didnt seem like there were many more details that hadnt made it into the previous report. Weird colors, keening sounds and randomly moving objects marked the events, and anybody too close was dragged inside and vanished. Clearly magic was at work, but beyond that the hints were few and far between.

Qinven had tried breaking the illusion of scintillating color with her own light magic, as well as growing trees into the middle of the disturbance. Her spell had been torn apart by hostile magic. Shed volleyed wooden spikes at it to much the same effect. There was usually one each day, sometime in the mid-morning. The events had started farther out and were slowly moving closer to town. If the pattern held, the next one should be only a few hundred feet out of town.

The next steps seemed clear - the Heirs would be ready the next morning to go after the event next time it happened. Qinven would have somebody in the watchtower who would ring a bell and point in the direction of the anomaly. All the Heirs had to do was follow a pointing finger.

They didnt discuss specifics with others watching, just nodded and agreed with Qinvens strongly suggested plan of burning it to a crisp.

Later that evening, they talked about the plan in quiet voices. Plan A was still the Flying Nathan Special, while other contingencies depended on what happened after that. If Nathan couldnt deal with the problem they could back up and let Stella and Sarah barrage from afar, or close the distance to allow Khachi and Aarl to deliver firepower from close range. Or both!

The problem was that they didnt know much, and only had second-hand accounts to go off. Nathan and Stella both had abilities to discern details of hostile magic, and they planned to try to evaluate what was going on as quickly as they could. But there was only so much they could do with what they had.

As Aarl summed it up, the plan was, Well give the waking Giant a look, then probably throw Nathan at the problem. It doesnt grab people who are too far away, but it can move towards them. Well need to react quick and think quicker.

Nathan agreed. Thats the goal. Learning how to react properly to unanticipated events. Another nugget of wisdom from The Art of War - When all else fails, retreat. We need to be ready to admit that this is beyond us, if it is. We can retreat, evacuate the town and protect the villagers while we call in heavier firepower. Thats always a contingency to keep in mind.

The Heirs nodded solemnly, and they spent some more time discussing other potential plans before retiring for the evening. Nathan found himself calmer than the previous day. Jitters had given way to confidence, and meditation only made him feel more certain that theyd be able to handle whatever happened tomorrow.

Breakfast was a sedate affair of vegetable soup. It was rather heavily spiced, but the Heirs drank it down all the same, poised to leap into action should the alarm sound.

But nothing happened. The Heirs camped out underneath the watchtower, sitting around and talking about small things. They still had a sparse audience for much of the day, with various kids and farmers loitering around. They werent necessarily there to watch the Heirs, but more because they expected action and didnt want to miss it.

A few hours later, right before Nathan was about to suggest lunch, the bell started ringing. Nathan looked up and shaded his eyes against the sun. The hunter in the tower was pointing directly towards the front gate. Right beyond the gates!

The delay didnt slow the Heirs reactions, and they took off towards the front gates. Beyond the walls they could hear a cacophonous wailing, like the sound of a dozen bagpipers walking across hot coals. The gates were closed, but it was the work of a moment for Nathan to throw aside the bar and yank both panels of wood aside.

He led the way out of town, and the magic was immediately obvious. An oblong bubble of pearlescent light rested on the ground about two hundred feet away, with waves of color rippling through it from various points. Rocks and fence posts hovered in the air around it, orbiting with an eerie smoothness and occasionally jerking to new locations.

Nathan blinked at the image before him. It was just so magic. Like what hed describe if somebody asked him to imagine a weird magic anomaly. And looking closer - nothing was coordinated. The colors didnt correspond to the sound, and the orbiting objects didnt move on their own. Nathan focused past the illusion, and his unease grew. As far as he could tell, there was nothing there except magic.

Nathan, Stella? Commentary? Khachi was keeping the Heirs grouped up, ready to run back to the gates if anything especially weird should happen.

Stella sounded intimidated. Theres light, dream, darkness, gravity, force and sound mana in there. Its like a half-dozen different spells in the same space.

Nathan looked around for more details. The thing in front of him felt like a distraction. An obvious one whose purpose was to draw attention away from something else.

Mid-tier Identify 8 achieved!

Yup. Distraction. Time to look for the thing it's supposed to be distracting from.

His eyes landed on a faint patch of hazy air occupying an innocuous gap between crops. It was about a hundred feet to the side of a direct path between the Heirs and the magical anomaly that was clearly supposed to occupy their attention.

Mid-tier Notice 10 achieved! Congratulations, you have maxed out this utility skill! It cannot be improved any further. You must achieve Insight into this skill to develop it to high-tier.

That looks like an invisibility spell. A good one, too.

He turned back and fixed the rest of the Heirs with an intent gaze, signaling for their attention and keeping his voice low. Something invisible at 10 o clock, between the vegetable patches. Lets pretend we dont see it and head towards the anomaly, circling towards it a bit. Ill lead, and when we get close Ill stomp my left foot and charge to start the attack.

He got a series of firm nods. Theyd expected something like this. Only a few seconds had passed when Nathan turned around again. The scintillating orb of color had grown a little brighter and a little larger, as if displeased hed turned his back on it, however momentarily.

Nathan kept his eyes and body language fixed on what he was convinced was a distraction as the Heirs cautiously moved forward. He left the path and stalked through the low vegetable patches, acting like he was trying to hide from the orb and circle closer to it.

He broke free of the garden and stood in the clear space between patches for a moment. The magical bubble of light and sound was still some distance in front of him, but just forty feet to his left was the bubble of invisibility. Nathan waited a second for the rest of the Heirs to file out of the rows of vegetables. Then he stomped his left foot and spun to charge.

The Heirs spun with him, and Stellas hands sparked with electricity. Sarahs guns came up, waiting for a target. Aarl was beside Nathan, and Khachi just a step behind.

Nathan dove in front of his friend, taking the beam of sickly light in the face. He resisted the spell, breaking it down to its component parts. [Disintegrate] was a tightly woven braid of void, shadow and force mana that sought to tear apart molecular bonds. Flakes of skin peeled off his face and were quickly replaced by [Perfected Body]. Nathans stamina ticked up a hundred points.

Magic Absorption 8 achieved!

That certainly felt better than the last time I got hit by one of those. Hes definitely not trying to capture us anymore. At least not Khachi.

Nathan got to his feet and was just about to resume his headlong dash towards the hated foe. His Rage was pushing him to keep running, to not spare a moment until Taeols brain matter decorated his fists. But - if he attacked without thinking, that put the Heirs in danger. He looked around at them.

Stella was wiping blood from her nose as smoke rose from an amulet around her neck. Sarah was shaking her head to clear it of the barrage of mental spells that would have left a normal person catatonic. Aarl was getting to his feet, having been just healed by Khachi, whose face was a grimace of pain as his arm smoked and bled.

Nathan felt a surge of concern for his friends. He slowed his run, focusing on that feeling and pitting it against the Rage that was pushing him onwards without a care in the world. Nathan remembered a meditation technique called loving kindness and focused on his benevolent desire that the Heirs live and thrive. The Benevolence warred with Rage for a moment, for how could such a calm emotion coexist with the all-consuming desire to rip and tear?

Then Nathan felt clarity. They could coexist - his Rage empowered him, but it also blunted his reason. If he held his desire to protect what was dear in mind, it channeled his Rage, focused it on those who would harm his friends without cutting its blazing intensity. Nathans flash of Insight showed the path to transform his Rage from a ballistic artillery shell to a precision-guided weapon.

Congratulations, you have developed the [High-tier Focused Mind] skill into [Battle Meditation].

Utility skill: [Battle Meditation]

This skill will allow you to remain focused and undistracted in the harshest of conditions.

With his newfound focus, Nathan thought quickly and spoke to the Heirs even quicker. Im going for the Archmage. Aarl around the side, hide in the tall crops, ambush if they move. Sarah, snipe the green robes, Taeol's got a hell of a [Mage Armor]. Stella, keep their heads down. Khachi, cover them. Nobody die.

High-tier Earnestness 5 achieved!

Sparks jumped from Stellas eyes in response. Sarah snarled assent as she loaded an enchanted round into her rifle. Aarl saluted with his blades, while Khachi bared his canines.

Status changes:

Permanent Talent: High-tier Regeneration

This Talent will automatically spend stamina to very rapidly heal wounds. Larger wounds and replacing greater amounts of missing flesh will take longer and cost more stamina. Regeneration will not prevent you from dying of grievous wounds, and will not protect against poison.

Permanent Talent: Perfected Body

You have achieved precise control of your body at a miniscule level. This Talent will automatically spend stamina to efficiently and immediately heal wounds. You can spend Stamina to make innate changes which include banishing poison, countering aging and restructuring your body on a miniscule level. Larger wounds, and greater changes will cost more stamina. Perfected Body will not prevent you from dying of grievous wounds.

Utility skill: High-tier Focused Mind

This skill will help you attain a focused and undistracted state under most conditions. Cannot be maintained under stress.

Utility skill: Battle Meditation

This skill will allow you to remain focused and undistracted even in the harshest of conditions.

Status of Nathan Lark:

Permanent Talent 1: Magic Absorption 8

Permanent Talent 2: Perfected Body 1

Talent 3: High-tier Slow Fall 4

Class: Spellbreaker Juggernaut level 67

Stamina: 201/770

Juggernaut's Wrath

Antimagic Momentum

Raging Thrill

Juggernaut's Inertia

Unarmored Resilience

Utility skills:

Battle Meditation 1

High-tier Earnestness 5

Mid-tier Sprinting 7

High-tier Spellsense 4

Mid-tier Notice 10

Mid-tier Identify 8

Mid-tier Dodging Footwork 6

High-tier Enhanced Memory 5

Mid-tier Lecturing 5

Mid-tier Tumbling 3