Chapter 333: His Story

Chapter 333: His Story

Tala turned her attention to the other things within the folded space as Mistress Kep flared with power and slowly rose into the air.

Tala wasnt quite able to tell what magics the Paragon was using to lift herself, but she didnt think it was direct air manipulation.

Probably not that important.

Opposite the cliff, in the roughly fifty-foot square of reality, was a weathered stone building, the interior of which was accessed by an open archway.

The ground looked very much like the ground outside the folded space with knee-high grass, interspersed with low bushes and the occasional small tree. Apparently, the soil wasnt that good for trees.

There were some insects, but no trace of animals, even though Tala had seen evidence of quite a few little crittersfrom mice and rabbits to small songbirds and grass-dwellersin the valley outside.

I suppose if any were caught within the bounds of this space, theyd have long since left, unable to return. Their descendants are likely outside, none the wiser.

Master Limmestare and Mistress Vanga were moving toward the small building, just behind Mistress Cerna.

Masters Clevnis and Girt had cleared a ten-foot circle, cutting the grass down to about ankle height, and were stretching and moving through a series of magical manipulations that Tala had learned they used to limber up their gate, will, and mind.

That had been a relatively new concept to her, though it made sense. How many times had she felt her thinking was a bit off, or her will a bit sluggish? A series of truing up movements with her magic might have just been the thing she needed for those occasions.

Toward that end, shed been joining them to learn, but this time, she was more curious about what was in the little building.

The structure was well constructed of dry-fitted stone. There was no magic woven though the building, but there was magic within, which surprised Tala. The surprise vanished almost instantly as Mistress Cerna made clear the reasoning.

The Refined unit leader sighed. We have a harnessed fount.

That got everyones attention.

The Paragon called down, Let me know if you learn anything specific. Otherwise, Ill continue, here.

Mistress Cerna waved and spoke back, trusting the other woman to hear, Will do.

The other two Refined stopped their practice and moved to follow Tala into the building.

Therefloating in the middle of the spacewas a fount processed in the arcane manner.

It was an orb, fully embedded with ingrained purification scripts, but set in the way of artifacts, rather than simply inscribed as most arcane-used founts were. The working rendered the power easily accessible without tainting that which it powered.

The harnessed fount only seemed to be powering three things.

The first was a pedestal in the middle of the room with the obvious outline of a hand atop it. It was seemingly carved from a single piece of white marble, shot through with veins of obsidian. The hand outline was of the same black, volcanic glass, indicating that on the whole, the material wasnt naturally this composition.

The second item powered by the fount was a stylus, resting just above a plaque. The stylus was a red stone, bound and embellished with gold. The plaque was also gold, and the odd lettering on it was a deep, almost crimson red.

The final item was a shield that leaned against one wall, below another plaque. This plaque was a matte grey metal, the lettering a white so bright that it almost seemed to glow. Similarly, the shield was a matte grey, stylized and enhanced with a bright white.

Unfortunately, both plaques were illegible to Tala.

Another language.

-Thats so odd. Why would you want to speakor I suppose in this case readsomething else? I mean, if there were just two languages, thered be large swaths of people you couldnt talk to. Think of all the books that youd never be able to understand! This is madness, Tala.-

A person could learn to converse and read more than one language, like Mistress Kep.

-Thats silly. Everyone should just speak and read one language.-

Well, we do. It seems right to us, because it is what we know. But honestly? We probably dont understand the true measure of things, because this is all weve ever known.

-Fine. Youre probably right. Since when are you the voice of reason?-

Well, since you are me as well always?

-I can accept that.-

Aside from the obviously magical stuff, there were a few small strongboxes, which were easily opened, revealing gold, silver, and copper.

So, lions share goes to Alefast to cover expenses of the waning, Tala nodded to herself, speaking out loud, but we get a finders fee. Correct?

Mistress Cerna was busy itemizing what theyd found, so Master Clevnis turned toward Tala. Thats right. Generally, if any of us have a specific use for a magical item, here, that would be that persons portion. Finding magical items isnt rare, but it doesnt happen every time. This is a bit odd, though. Such items are usually in some sort of stasis to preserve them, rather than being actively powered. But that is off track. Honestly, the percentage is just a bit extra on top of the bounty for the new-cell-investigation and the extra pay for being out of the city for a few days.

That made sense to Tala, so she didnt really have any follow-up questions.

Aside from the items and strongboxes that shed already seen, there wasnt really much to look at, since no one was willing to start playing with unknown, ancient magical items without at least knowing a bit about them.

True to promise, it was actually pretty boring.

Thus, the unit mainly putzed about, entertaining themselves however they saw fit.

Masters Clevnis and Girt returned to their cleared circle in the grass.

Mistress Vanga pulled out an Archive slate and began reviewing what Tala would bet were patient anatomy informational summaries.

Mistress Cerna counted and recounted the precious metals in the boxes, then sat down to knit a woolen scarf in midair without knitting needles.

Talas eyes widened. More than a hundred different languages?

The Paragon shrugged. There were thousands, apparently. Ill get these uploaded to the Archive, and this will actually be a great key toward assisting in the deciphering of some of these other languages. Did you see that the words were written out near the floor?

Tala hadnt, but she had been standing back a bit.

Mistress Kep shook her head slowly. This is an incredible find.

Tala frowned. Then why dont you sound happy?

The woman grimaced. Because they went to a lot of trouble to leave this warning. That generally isnt done. There are no depictions of the prisoner, nor any mention of his name. Basically, all that I can determine about the prisoner himself is that he is a he, by the warnings. The languages that have differing indicators for age, status, or other features have stripped those away, using vagaries and generalities instead.

So? Master Clevnis interjected to prod, What are we dealing with?

Mistress Kep sighed. Ill want to verify, then double and triple check before we make our attempt, but I can give you my best guess. This is a mind-worm propagator. Specifically, he uses stories to worm his way into your thoughts. By the very act of telling the stories, he is naturally associating himself with the stories he tells you, which gives him greater power. If I understand correctly, when he dies, if he was killed, he subsumes the body of the one most conceptually linked to him and his stories.

Tala frowned. So, we could just kill him, now? We know nothing about him

Her eyes widened.

Oh, thats She shook her head as everyone looked her way. Hes a prisoner. Hes marked as a threat, and thus, one of us killing him would be a significant boon to humanity.

Master Limmestare was nodding in understanding. That very act would link the killer to him, conceptually.

Master Clevnis finished, a grimace wrinkling his nose, Giving him an instant path to using someone elses body to reforge himself.

They all stood in heavy silence for a long moment.

Finally, Master Girt shrugged. So, we dont kill him, and we have Mistress Vanga scatter deadly plagues about so he might or might not die after we leave? We tell no oneor erase our own memories of the eventso theres no impact on humanity until some other group comes back to check on the cell. Even then, theyll just find it intact and depart, none the wiser.

Mistress Kep was already shaking her head. Indirect killing doesnt work. They even tried starving him, a dozen guards cutting him, only one with a poisoned blade so many things. It doesnt matter. Connections are formed.

Tala found herself nodding. All are tied, and all actions forge threads of existence, bindings made of reality itself. She remembered the links within the Doman-Imithe. His soul must somehow travel down the strongest one if he is killed.

The Paragon shrugged. Thats a theory, but I have no idea. They also warned that they are guessing on his death having to be caused by others. They are fairly certain, however, because he could have killed himself to get free when they first put him away, if hed had that ability. Even so, we need to be careful. Form no bonds.

So, we shouldnt let him speak?

Mistress Kep sighed. Whoever prevented him from speaking would be saving the others from him, thus creating a connection in that manner.

Mistress Cerna cleared her throat, interrupting what was clearly ramping up to be a veritable storm of ideas, Mistress Kep, what do we do, then?

The Paragon smiled gratefully. Again, Ill want to verify, but right now, my thinking is this: Go in, keep him from leaving, and have a perfectly mundane interaction with him. Dont let it be special in any way, either from what happens, or what doesnt. It isnt perfect as the very environment of the interaction makes it special, but thats the best that we have, and dont kill him.

There was a moment of silence before Mistress Kep nodded, almost to herself, and turned back to the pedestal to keep working.

Tala cleared her throat. Whats going to happen to the fount?

That drew everyones attention.

Mistress Kep sighed, turning back once again. It will be kept with the magical items until they are claimed. At which point it will be analyzed to see if we can determine the most humane course of action.

That make sense, thank you. Tala hesitated, then added, I apologize for the interruptions.

The Paragon smiled and waved that off, turning back to the pedestal, and beginning to go through all of the recorded messages, seemingly storing them in the Archive through some means or other.

Come on. Master Clevnis clapped Tala on the shoulder as he walked by. This is going to take even longer than usual.

Tala had to admit, from what little she understood of the situation, it seemed like they would be here for a while.

While Mistress Kep worked, they broke apart their improvised vehicle and stored the parts that were useful, distributing the rest around the valley outside the fold.

Then, they all retreated into the folded space and closed it behind them, making it so they wouldnt have to deal with the outside world until they were done with this odd creature, locked away for the safety of the world.

Even so, Talaand presumably Mistress Kepstill had ready access to the Archive.

-Ahh, blessed updated Archival link. How useful you are.-

Indeed.

It was getting toward night, and Tala was eating the last of her supper surrounded by her unit, but she couldnt get something out of her head. She knew she was likely missing something obvious, but it just wouldnt leave her alone.

Mistress Petra had prepared everyones mealsthe unit had gone shopping for supplies for the woman the day beforeand Mistress Cerna was over the moon at having fantastic food even outside the city.

But that isnt what Tala was hung up on. Mistress Vanga?

The healer swallowed her current bite, regarding Tala, Yes, Mistress Tala?

I understand how this guy isnt really killable, but why does it matter? Why did he need to be imprisoned?

The Refined set her tray to one side, seeming to consider. Finally, she nodded to herself, Well, in most cases a brief outline of the reason would be here, along with the explanation of who the prisoner is and what they can do. So, youre right to ask as we generally would know. In this case, however, his story seemingly is what gives him power and access, somehow. So, telling us what hes imprisoned for would be counterproductive. That said, I would guess that he used his ability to reincarnate quickly when killed in order to do things that would get him killed. She shrugged a bit helplessly, Honestly, even if he never did anything specifically wrong, each time he died, he effectively killed someone else to avoid the consequences of his actions.

Ahh, yeah. I can see that being a problem.

Mistress Vanga smiled in return. Indeed.