Chapter 458: Crazy Enough to Work

Chapter 458: Crazy Enough to Work

Tala, Rane, Terry, and their defensive unit were all soaring toward their next assignment, a cell in need of maintenance.

They’d finished their ‘welcome back to active duty’ celebratory cake and had fallen into casual discussions.

The Paragon who was accompanying them had their rapt attention—all save Mistress Cerna, who was piloting their craft, while still obviously listening with interest—as they waited for her explanation as to what she’d meant when she had said that she technically didn’t bring any magics to bear.

Blessedly, Mistress Terra didn’t make them wait long. “I specialize in the unraveling and dissolution of magics and workings. I believe that even the most formidable chain is only as strong as its weakest link. I wield that certainty to undo the magics of those I oppose.”

Rane’s eyes went wide. “Wait... You’re a specialized Mage Breaker? I thought there was only one who’d achieved the advancement of Paragon.”

“There is.” Mistress Terra gave him a convivial smile.

If it was possible, Rane’s eyes widened even further. “But... she founded the Mage Hunters.”

Mistress Terra chuckled. “Well, I don’t usually advertise that, but yes, I did. Though that was long ago.”

Tala gave Rane a curious look. “You seem to know a lot about her, but you didn’t know her name?”

He grimaced. “There are people with the same name, and ironically, I know of two other Mistress Terras who are Paragons.”

His face heated slightly and he looked away. That caused Tala to grin, as she immediately understood. “You thought they were her, eh?”

He scratched the side of his chin, clearly a bit self-conscious. “I was a lot younger then... and it was rather embarrassing.”

Mistress Terra chuckled. “Ahh, yes. I can see that. Master Grediv likely did that purposely. He does find it so entertaining that three Terras all reached the same high advancement.”

Mistress Cerna cleared her throat. “So, am I to understand, then, that your specialty is the safe removal of magics in one form or another?”

“That’s right.”

“But you’re still able to repair cells?”

The woman nodded. “The technique for restoring a cell’s seal isn’t really a function of a specific magical focus. It is more closely aligned with...” She hesitated, then shook her head. “No, I apologize. I forgot myself. None of you are Paragon, so I should not say more.”

Tala sighed. “So, it has to do with the purification of the soul, or something of that nature.”

Mistress Terra gave a half smile. “I will neither confirm nor deny.”

Tala grinned in return. “As you say, Mistress.”

-Is that supposed to be helpful?-

No, obviously not, but it’s fun to theorize, right?

-...yeah. I do get an inordinate amount of enjoyment trying to figure out what we’re going to learn as we advance.-

Yeah... me too.

Soon, they arrived at a lovely copse of trees, and Mistress Cerna settled their vehicle down on the plains—flattening the tall grass beneath them—just outside the outer trees.

They all piled out, and Tala pulled the heavily modified stone platform into her sanctum by opening a portal below it and allowing it to drop inside.

Terry squawked in faux irritation, flickering from his perch atop the glass windscreen to Tala’s shoulder.

Mistress Terra led the group a little way past the treeline before she concentrated for a moment and, with a gesture, opened the way into the cell’s atrium.

This particular entrance manifested in the side of a tree trunk, the bark seemingly folding inward to reveal a forest glade of surpassing beauty.

They stepped through, and Tala willed a small portal into existence for Irondale on the Zeme side of the entrance, thereby leaving that portion of her dimensional storage outside.

It wasn’t even a human-sized pass-through, but Kit was already set up with conditions that would allow it to open to a full-sized exit at need. That, combined with the teleportation array and Archive link, let her, yet again, feel fully confident in the safety of the Irondale citizens.

That complete, Tala joined her unit and Mistress Terra within the entry space before the cell.CHeCk for new stories on no/v/el/bin(.)c0m

This atrium was a large clearing that hadn’t been visible in the copse at all before the door was open. Around the clearing were a number of standing stones, each with words and images cut into them before having been filled with various pigments to provide color and contrast to what was displayed.

It didn’t take long for Mistress Terra to fully analyze the writings and pictograms. “Huh. Well this is a new one for me. The prisoner is an immortal elk.”

That brought everyone’s attention back to her and away from their own pastimes. Paragons usually took at least hours to analyze the information left behind to learn about the prisoner in any given cell.

Master Limmestare closed his book and placed it within his own storage before wandering toward the Paragon like everyone else.

Once they’d gathered, Mistress Terra continued. “This is apparently a son of the Spirit of the Forest who watches over the Leshkin woods. He was growing in power within the gated-human wilds too quickly for us to react properly, and he was binding more and more of the plains we call home to himself, transforming the rolling grassland into forest. It was obvious that he would have eventually joined his sire in power as a god-beast within a few hundred more years.”

So, he would have been one for at least a millennium by now.

-So it seems, yeah.-

Master Girt raised his hand, causing the Paragon to pause and focus on him. “Yes, Master Girt?”

“Well, why would the Spirit of the Forest allow this?”

“Ahh, well it’s not widely spread, but it is well known and not really a secret. One of the things that the Spirit of the Forest embodies is that individuals are of little consequence. He is only really concerned with the progression and maintenance of nature as a whole, specifically his own forest. He is concerned about whole species becoming extinct, but that is an entirely different scale. He would have welcomed this elk as an ally if he had achieved the required power, but the Spirit of the Forest’s view is generally that if things cannot, themselves, grow, survive, and seize a place in the world, they aren’t worth bothering about.”

Master Girt grunted. “Harsh, but I suppose I can understand the basis for the mindset.”

“Yes, quite. Regardless, the elk reached the power range that we would call Reforged before its entire region was bound within this cell.”

That caused laughter to ripple through the group.

Mistress Terra was clearly quite occupied with the dialogue going on through the Archive. So the unit went back to doing their own things, be it training, reading, or something else.

Tala, Rane, and Terry sat off to one side.

She was quite content as she pulled out a meat hand pie that Mistress Petra had made for her earlier that day. When Terry gave her a longing look, Tala pulled out another—this one with ingredients not steeped in her own magics.

As she went to take a second bite, she saw Rane’s own big eyes, and that made her laugh. “Fine, fine.”

She took the bite and opened a portal that dropped a pie for Rane into the big man’s hands. “Thanks, Tala.”

“Of course.”

Rane took a bite, closing his eyes in enjoyment. Once he’d swallowed, though, he met Tala’s gaze. “Are you sure about this?”

“The meat pies? Yes. They’re amazing.”

He gave her a flat look.

She sighed. “Fine... Yeah, I think? I mean, if the Paragons and Reforged think it’s a workable idea then I think it should work just fine.”

“But... why?”

She shrugged, then. “Expanding Kit isn’t the easiest thing to do since I became Refined, and cells are the easiest way to do that. This one seems uniquely useful as it will essentially come with its own guardian spirit.”

When he frowned at that, Tala grinned.

“You see, cells aren’t standard dimensional spaces.”

He nodded. “Yeah, they’re hung in the void rather than stoneward...” His eyes widened. “You don’t want to reorient it. You want to leave it like that?”

“That’s what I’m thinking, yeah. Alat is filling in the Paragons and decision makers about the ideas. But being able to study such a means of expansion is just one of the things I hope to gain. We know some about cells, but it isn’t a branch of dimensionalism that has been thoroughly explored.”

“Oh?” He leaned in, clearly incredibly interested.

“Yeah. It’s considered risky without an established space, and this would be that. But even aside from that avenue of utility, I want to travel, and more protection available for my sanctum and Irondale can only be good. This would all be subject to negotiation with the elk—so it might be impossible at the start—but assuming that he’s amenable, there is a lot to be gained. If something crazy happens in Irondale, then I can reattach the spaces, and the elk could clear out the problem.”

Rane gave her a skeptical look, but given all her caveats, he didn’t seem to have a good reason to contradict her.

“Magical creatures, generally, are so antagonistic to humanity, I don’t believe that very many—if any—have been studied closely, let alone over a long term.”

He blinked at that before shaking his head. “I do sometimes forget how analytical and long range you can think at times.”

She narrowed her eyes at him in faux outrage. “Oh? As opposed to usual?”

He shrugged, grinning unabashedly in the face of her glare. “Yes. You usually think quickly and decisively. It just seems like it's pretty rare for you to have the time to consider things in this manner.”

“That’s... fair.” She sighed, letting her false irritation vanish. “Regardless, as to the elk? Since Terry will never be a typical magical creature—nor will any familiar—I would need one from elsewhere to...” She coughed. “For reasons.”

He arched an eyebrow at her.

She didn’t remain silent for long. “Well, I have a theory that we each interact with existence in different ways and see different sides of it. I want that different perspective.”

“That’s more than just studying the immortal elk.” He raised an eyebrow skeptically.

“It is. Ideally, I would like to learn about the world from his perspective by talking with him.” She huffed a laugh. “He was on a sure path to become a god-beast, Rane. Can you even imagine what insights he might have?”

“While true, there are other options. One that comes to mind is Anatalis. He could provide that information.”

“If he will. Master Grediv told us that he doesn’t like sharing information surrounding advancement, and as helpful as he is, if we have a potential secondary source of information, he might be more willing to trade what he knows.”

Rane grunted at that. “That’s true enough. Yeah. As soon as there is more than one potential supplier of something, it becomes easier to get it across the board.”

“Beyond that, I’ve had my elk-leathers for almost as long as I’ve been a Mage. I feel like... I feel like I’ll have a kinship with the immortal elk.”

He gave her a flat look. “You feel a kinship with it.”

“Well, I feel like I might.”

“...Because you’re wearing one of its descendants?”

She hesitated at that. “I didn’t really think of it that way? More like I’ve been wielding a portion of magic that has immortal elks as its origin.”

Rane sighed, shaking his head. “I could see that going either way.”

“...Yeah... I suppose you’re right. But I guess we’ll see. I’ve never actually met one before. Besides that, gaining an ancient, curated forest for Kit?” Her eyes practically sparkled. “Can you even imagine?”

“And you’ll just carry that around with you.”

“Well... no? That’s sort of the point with void-hung expanded spaces. They are nowhere. Without this atrium, there would be no way to access the cell, unless it drifted close enough to connect elsewhere. Absorbing this in its entirety might even let me figure out how to do something similar with other parts of Kit.”

Rane blinked at her a few times. “So, your sanctum would become the atrium for the cell?”

“Essentially, yes.”

Rane huffed a laugh. “You know? That might just be crazy enough to work.”