Book 2: Chapter 48: Forbidden Knowledge

Book 2: Chapter 48: Forbidden Knowledge

In disbelief, I read the screen again.

New Domain established!

[Error: Insufficient power.]

“No way...” I said, too shocked to be bothered by the return of my insufficiently powered nemesis. Everyone was in a loose circle surrounding me and, one by one, their eyes cleared.

“A Domain...?” Theo asked. “What on Kallis is that...?”

Ellis started writing with a shaky hand. He looked up, staring at nothing as his pencil pressed into the notepad. With a soft snap, its tip flew off.

“Domains,” he said, his voice distant, “were thought to be long extinct. The capital’s tomes mentioned little about them, other than that they were something to be feared.”

“Feared?” Barry took a step forward. “Is it something we should be worried about?”

Ellis’s eyes focused, slowly drifting to Barry.

“Something we should be worried about...?” A smirk slowly spread across his face, and low, steady laughter flowed from him. He raised his face toward the sky, his arms wide and chest heaving as his laughter grew hysterical.

When he could speak again, he wiped his eyes, shaking his head.

“No, Barry. Not us... them.”

The weight of his words hit me, and a silence stretched across everyone present.

“Just to clarify... you don’t mean everyone, right?” I glanced back through the trees toward Tropica. “We’re pretty close to the village.”

Ellis shook his head, still smiling.

“No, not everyone. A paragraph from a book in the royal library springs to mind. Its pages were old, more than half of them lost to the ravages of time.” He clenched his jaw, a hint of fury crossing his face. “I swear, if I could go back in time and throttle each archivist that failed to re-transcribe the texts, I’d likely need a lifetime to strike them all.” He took a deep breath and held up a finger toward Keith, whose mouth had opened. “I know, Keith—I’m getting off track. The book is titled: ‘On Warfare and Cultivation’. Page 245, chapter seven, paragraph three.”

He cleared his throat.

“On fighting within another’s domain, there is only one tactic that can produce reliable results: don’t. To enter the Domain of another is to forfeit control. Perhaps you are lucky and the Domain is one of little power. In such a case, your abilities may only be dampened. If you are unlucky, however, and the Domain has matured over the course of decades, if not centuries, your life—and those of your followers—will be forfeit.”

Again, Ellis’s words caused a silence to stretch over the clearing, the only sound that of the bees buzzing above our heads.

“So that’s all we have to work with...” Barry sighed. “Usually, I’d say we should do some testing, but in this case, I hope we never have to.”

Ellis nodded, and as if just remembering the events that set the Domain’s creation into being, his gaze snapped to mine.

“Have you had enough time to process your experience, Fischer?” He removed a sharpener from his pocket—because of course Ellis carried a sharpener in his pocket—and started twisting his pencil within it. “I would appreciate getting an account of what happened while it’s still fresh in mind.”

“Uh, yeah—give me a second.”

I spun on the spot, facing the tree. Even before looking at it, I could feel a sort of connection there, like the spirit was just waiting for me to call out. I reached out with both hands to press my palms against the blue tree trunk. The moment we connected, my awareness expanded. I faintly sensed the spirit within the tree, its network of roots, and what I had to assume was the Domain. A bubble of aura bloomed out from the clearing, encompassing a vast swathe of land. I furrowed my eyebrows, and the spirit joined with me, helping me navigate. The domain’s bounds stretched from the middle of the bay to the mountains west of Tropica, and just as far to the north and south.

I pulled back, returning to my body. The spirit let me go, and I opened my eyes, gazing slightly up toward where I knew its main body was located within the trunk.

“Is it okay with you if I tell them what I saw?”

A leaf sprouted before me, and as she made it wave up and down in a nod, I felt a surge of... emotion? I didn’t know how to describe the sensation, but the meaning was clear.

Yes.

Perhaps a simple yes wasn’t enough to encompass the message; she held an indescribable amount of trust for me, which was also communicated with the surge she sent my way. I leaned forward and wrapped my arms around her trunk. In response, I got shock, surprise, then contentment from our mental link.

Trust. Trust. Trust, she sent, and I squeezed her trunk tighter.

I let go, pressing my back to the blue bark as I spun back toward everyone. A sea of raised eyebrows, smiles, and generally amused faces greeted me.

“What?” I asked. “Like you guys have never bonded with an ancient tree spirit before...”

Ellis’s gaze bore into me, and if looks could kill, he may have accidentally drilled a hole right through me.

I chuckled.

“Don’t break your pencil again, mate. I have her blessing to tell you all about it.”

I took a deep breath, sent a surge of appreciation through my back toward the tree spirit, and started talking.

***

In a room high above the capital city of Gormona, lit only by the afternoon sun filtering through a small window, a screen blinked to life.

Some would consider this event—the reawakening of a dormant artifact after millennia—as rather noteworthy. In this room, however, it was becoming more and more commonplace. So, as the guard watching the room caught sight of the blinking screen, he merely raised an eyebrow before leaning back on another relic that was currently serving as his daybed.

“Huh. Another one.”Gét latest novel chapters on nov(e)lbj/n(.)c/om

The door swung open, the guard posted outside poking his head in.

“What was that? I heard a noise.”

“Oh, I was just speaking to myself.”

Effect: 20% Suppression, 20% Bolstering, 20% Growth.

Local Domain detected.

Effect: 5% Suppression, 5% Bolstering, 10% Defense, 5% Growth.

The king’s world tilted sideways, and the next thing he knew, muscular arms were lowering him to the ground. The man who had been lounging in the room had caught him. He peered down at Augustus with... was that pity?

The king tried to sit up—it was a mistake. The guard caught him again and softly lowered him back down to the ground.

“Don’t rush back to your feet, frien—er, king,” the man corrected. “There’s no shame in a little dizzy spell—you just have to rest a moment.”

Too disoriented to lash out with fury, Augustus Reginald Gormona, king of this continent and ruler of these lands, laid on the bare stones, being gently patted by one of his guardsmen.

***

Luke straightened, pouring with sweat and taking heaving breaths.

He had just conquered the last of the stairwells, and he ambled on shaky legs toward the relic-filled room. He cursed his fitness, not at all looking forward to the chewing out that would come his way. When he finally caught sight of the guard outside the door, Luke straightened his back and forced his legs to walk straight.

The guard opened the door for him, but before Luke could enter, the guard jolted.

“King!” he yelled, running into the room.

Their ruler was prone on the floor, and when the guard reached him, the king slapped away his extended hand.

“I’m fine.”

“He just needs a little space is all,” the lackadaisical guard that was already inside answered, squatting by their king’s side and petting his shoulder.

A spike of adrenaline coursed through Luke, banishing his weariness.

“What... what happened?”

The king’s eyes flashed with annoyance. He took a deep breath before letting it out slowly, then sat up and looked at the man that was now supporting his arm.

“What is your name, guard?”

“Deklan, my king.”

“Right. Thank you, Deklan.”

“You’re welcome,” he replied with a wide grin.

Luke narrowed his eyes at the lack of deference, but before he could chastise his subordinate, Augustus Reginald Gormona’s gaze met his.

“What happened, Luke, is that the spirit beasts have created a Domain within our—no, my lands.”

Luke swallowed.

“What does that mean, king?”

“It means that things are worse than any of us could have possibly imagined. The ascendant creatures must be working together, and they are advancing at an incredible rate.”

“H-how?” The question sounded stupid even to himself, and Luke cringed inwardly.

“Wow. That’s kinda wild, huh?” Deklan asked, raising his eyebrows. “How’d they do that?”

“Wild indeed,” the king answered, patting Deklan’s hand in thanks as he sat up. “There’s only one possibility: they have a master—someone is leading them.”

“A... a master?” Luke asked, his eyes wide. “A cultivator?”

The king tilted his head, then let out a soft chuckle.

“No, Luke. Don’t be absurd. A human could never hope to tame a spirit beast.”

“Then... who?”

The king’s eyes hardened, all mirth disappearing from his face.

“There can be only one answer.” The king clenched his jaw. “It has to be Lizard Wizard—it takes a being of incredible arcane might and knowledge to establish a Domain.”

At the pronouncement, the room went still—except for Deklan.

“What’s a domain?” he asked, scratching his head. Suddenly remembering his company, he gave the king a wincing smile. “Sorry—is that a dumb question?”

“No, not at all, Deklan.” Augustus patted his hand. “It is forbidden knowledge for anyone but the royal family—which is why you will all keep it to yourselves.”

Luke dropped to a knee, bowing before his lord.

“Of course, my king. What shall we do?”

Augustus Reginald Gormona answered immediately.

“Recall the expeditions. It’s time to go on the defensive.”