Draith
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Chapter 15 - Secrets of Telthen
🕑 Added 2025-02-24 23:00:03 +0000 UTCWhen Nexxa and I made our way out past the throne room, we found the snake back in the throne in its human form. I couldn't help but chastise myself for falling for the obvious setup. Of course a thousand-year-old wizard wasn't going to sit around on a throne all day. He had more important things to do.
Only when his personal attention was required did he spare time for us. Even that could've been delegated if he'd wanted.
It was a lesson I intended to remember. Especially for speeches.
We were quiet all the way to our gondola. The song was bittersweet today. Love that burned bright, but faded too soon.
"Did father really not give you a choice?" Nexxa asked when we were halfway back to the guest house, a flight of colorful songbirds skimming past us, low above the water.
"Not much of one," I said with a shrug as my gaze followed the birds as they disappeared into one of the city’s many side channels. "Could've been worse."
"I… a Magus Dominus isn't supposed to be something that's forced. You were so excited, it didn't even occur to me that father had… had been so dishonorable." Nexxa thumped her hand on the rim of the gondola hard enough to cause the gondolier to startle, proving then and there they could be interrupted.
It only took our gondolier a moment to take up singing again, though I noted it was a more upbeat melody.
As the birds disappeared, I turned towards Nexxa. She had her fists clenched, and she was biting her lip as she stared west. Reaching over, I took her hand, making her jump slightly, before meeting my gaze. "Look, it doesn't matter. Are there other things I might've enjoyed more? Maybe. But I am looking forward to this. Besides, I made the oath, and confirmed it right beside you. Even if I could, I'm not one to back out of a promise."
"That's not… the point is that father shouldn't have forced you into it. Becoming a Magus Dominus is an honor. And a terrible responsibility. Especially when serving under a foreign king. We've revoked our family name. You understand what that means, right?"
"I was wondering about him calling us 'of Althon'," I replied, letting go of her hand to run it alongside the boat as I considered her words. "Guess it's a good thing we revoked his name then, since he obviously wasn't deserving of us."
"I… you're impossible," Nexxa said, pushing me away from her. But she was smiling.
After that, we continued chatting about everything we’d seen in the City on the Water until the gondola pulled up to the guest house. Just at the top of the stairs, Calbern was waiting for us.
"Greetings, master Perth. A package is waiting for you in the study," Calbern said, an unusual warble in his voice as he spoke.
"You don't think?" I asked, looking towards Nexxa before rushing up the stairs.
"He's a Dragon-souled wizard who walks in and out of paintings. I'm making no assumptions," Nexxa said, shaking her head as she followed me.
"Master Perth?" Calbern called from behind us. "Is everything okay?"
As I reached the library and found a grimoire shaped package wrapped in glistening blue paper, I couldn't help but smile as I replied, "Yep. Couldn't be better."
I stepped forward, peeling back the wrapping and staring down at the grimoire of a true wizard.
Nexxa came up next to me, her smile nearly as wide as my own. "Well, what are you waiting for? Open it."
I took a deep breath, my hand running along the platinum surface, inspecting the fine filigree and sapphire set in the center of the cover. Then I took it by the clasp…
“Ahem, I assume you are the new Magus Dominus?” A voice asked from behind us, causing Nexxa and I to spin around. Behind us, wearing a cloak similar to Nexxa’s, though with accents of blue and green instead of her purple and gold, was a tall man with a sharp nose, his hands folded before him.
“Who’re you?” I asked, taking a half-step in front of Nexxa before I could think about it.
Nexxa slugged my shoulder, stepping up beside me her hands crackling with sparks. I hoped she wouldn’t actually need any spells considering how much mana she’d already used.
“Magus Dominus Bentel of Althon, though you shall call me Books. Our domains share borders,” Books said, nodding towards Nexxa.
“Wait, seriously? Books? Just Books?” Nexxa asked, shooting me a glance.
I gave her a minuscule shrug. I’d heard far weirder names back home.
“Yes. Is that going to be a problem?”
“No problems here,” I said, offering him a slight bow in return. “My name is Perth.”
“Yes, so I’ve been informed,” Books replied, pressing a single finger to the middle of his nose. Then he frowned, moving his hand to the side. “Althon thought you two could use some help getting familiar with your new duties. As your time is limited, he sent the only Dominus capable of addressing your obvious inadequacies, which are many. All mist, no water, as the locals like to say.”
“Say that again,” Nexxa said, cracking her knuckles, an arc of lightning shooting over our heads. “Real slow, so I can make sure I heard it right.”
“That is what I meant,” Books said, frowning as he waved his hand in the direction of Nexxa’s flashing lightning. “Impeccable spellwork. Excellent presence. Atrocious response to hostility. Poor situational awareness. Inability to remember instructions.”
“What instructions?” I asked, stepping between Books and Nexxa again. It occurred to me that Nexxa unleashing torrents of lightning next to Althon’s grimoire might not be the wisest idea.
“At the party, you were given a list of people you were to talk to. That list included me,” Books said, crossing his arms. “Neither of you so much as approached me, nor several of the other contacts on my list.”
“List?” I asked, glancing at Nexxa who simply shrugged in response. “What list?”
“The…
“I believe this is what the Dominus is referring to, Master Perth,” Calbern said, holding out a folded piece of paper.
“That is precisely what I was referring to,” Books said, taking the book from Calbern’s outstretched hand. Then he stepped forward, grabbing my wrist to press it into my hand.
“Oh, the-” I started, finally recognizing the little booklet Althon’s familiar had given us at the party. I never got to finish as a bolt of lightning slammed into Books.
I didn’t know exactly what happened, other than registering a brilliant blue flash.
When my vision cleared, I was relieved to find the grimoire was okay. And so was Books, who was picking himself up off the far side of the room, glaring at Nexxa.
“Keep your hands off my brother,” Nexxa ground out, her eyes narrowed.
“Typical kingdomer,” Books muttered, wobbling slightly as he got to his feet.
“Althon did mention a mentor,” I said, pulling on Nexxa’s sleeve. “Maybe don’t antagonize him… any more.”
Nexxa blinked at me. Then she glanced down at the booklet. Finally, she shifted to take in Books, who was brushing the singed edges of his cloak with a frown. The ever present sparks cut off as she offered me a small shrug alongside a mumbled, “Oops?”
“What say we start again?” I suggested.
“While I am not surprised by your barbarity, I shall hardly be forgetting it,” Books said, stepping slightly to the side, putting Calbern between himself and Nexxa. “It seems this shall be a challenge, even for one with such considerable talent as I.”
“Speaking of challenges,” I said, unable to keep myself from looking back towards Althon’s grimoire. “I was about to delve into whatever mysteries Althon might’ve shared. Don’t suppose your lessons can wait until after?”
Books tapped the side of his long nose with a single finger, looking between Nexxa and I for several seconds, before finally nodding. “Very well. I shall return anon, after this one has had a chance to… settle.”
Next to me, Nexxa’s cheeks flushed brightly even as she clenched her hands into fists. But she kept her mouth shut, and gave a brief nod.
So I escorted Books out of our guesthouse, politely reminding him to have Calbern announce him properly next time, then returned to Nexxa. She gave me another small shrug, but her eyes were locked on Althon’s grimoire. I really couldn’t blame her.
I stepped up to the ornate tomb, running my hand over its surface once more. Then I set my hand on the clasp, sharing a wide grin with Nexxa.
And cracked it wide open.
Despite wanting to do nothing but peruse Althon's grimoire, Nexxa and I had a lot to take care of before we left. In addition to our lessons with Books, which Nexxa had managed to put off until we set out, all the supplies I'd brought with me were now basically useless.
On the plus side, I had brought a lot of high value trade goods that would be worth a lot more on this side of the gate. Unfortunately, with a recent gate activation, many of those products weren't as rare as they otherwise would be.
Worth enough to pay for the essence materials I’d need to scribe the spells from his grimoire to mine. Still, the cost made me wince. Thousands of gold per page.
I'd known it was expensive, but it was only as I paid for the materials myself that I understood just how much I’d spent. Scribing a single spell cost more than a citizen of Althon's capital city spent on food in their entire life.
Also, even with only the goods we’d brought with us, I was stupid rich.
The sort of rich that ignored things like passports and criminal prosecution back on Earth. It almost made me sick.
Thankfully, Nexxa kept me on track, reminding me it was my duty to use that wealth to help the folk who would live beneath my protection.
It helped.
As did the realization that the ingredients for scribing spells could be grown. It took dedicated attention from a mage with the appropriate affinity, but it could be done. Which meant the ingredients I’d used back at the family estate had been much cheaper than what was available for public purchase in the City on the Water.
Obviously, I had Calbern procure several additional bags of seeds to keep in my ring. The ring's importance had blown through the roof after understanding how remote my domain would be.
More than half of the storage ended up dedicated to seeds, most of which had unique alchemical uses or provided essence for scribing. The rest were for particularly hardy or nutritious plants.
Scurvy was still a thing, even if mages could learn a spell to cure it. Given the scarcity of mages, for the average person, it was cheaper to just grow the right fruit.
Calbern managed to locate an elven mage who was willing to cast Tongues on us, while giving us a set of books to practice with. All for the low price of three bottles of wine from our family's vineyard. It would've barely amounted to a hundred golden Thorns back home, so I considered it a great deal.
We spent the second day picking up the language and making fun of each other's horrible accents. Even Calbern took part.
There were three basic spells I acquired from Althon's grimoire. Two first order spells, Water Breathing and Water Purification, as well as a single second order spell, Create Ice.
The prime choice, and what took up the majority of my time with the grimoire was a third order spell, Secrets of Telthen. The notes indicated that Telthen was a fallen city that Althon had visited once in his youth.
It was only a little disappointing that most of the spells in the grimoire were water or ice based.
Disappointing but not surprising. I could admit that I'd been hoping for a lower order worlds spell. But my desire to keep the affinity secret had outweighed my desire to outright ask for one.
Which was why I’d chosen Secrets.
Not only was Secrets a Worlds spell, it was the first third order I’d seen. Even though most of the runes were beyond my understanding, the operation was simple enough. Secrets of Telthen had two aspects. The first was the creation of small pocket realms the caster could access. It required pools of still water, no larger than ten feet across. When cast, Secrets would make the water stiffer. A bit like a thick jello, if I was reading it right.
After a realm was formed, the caster could use a specialized version of the Access Storage spell to activate it, drawing in the caster and anything in their immediate vicinity. Including other people. Though that seemed like a not so great choice, since each one was only large enough for three people, and that, only if they were willing to snuggle very close.
From within, the occupants could monitor what was going on outside, like looking through lightly frosted glass.
While I could see uses for the first part, it was the second that caught my attention. After establishing at least two of these pools, a caster could move through them. The range was only a few miles, but it was another piece of the Worlds magic puzzle. If I could master Worlds magic it would certainly go a long way to make up for the remote location of my domain.
But that was a long term goal. Very long term. And I didn’t have the power or skill to keep from ending up locked away, no matter how wizardly Althon may have seemed.
It felt a little closer when I felt the space inside my core shift. It had been shifting by small degrees every day, slowly expanding, but never enough to fit the simplest of first order spells.
On the third day in the City on the Water, that changed.
As soon as I felt it, I stopped scribing and spent an hour slotting in Access Storage. Then I cast the spell without having to infuse my grimoire. My blasting rod dropped into my hand after only three seconds.
I swayed in place at the sudden emptying of my mana pool, fighting to remain conscious even as a giant grin stretched across my face.
At some point, I must've lost consciousness, because the next thing I knew, Nexxa was shaking me awake. "Perry! Perry, are you okay? What happened?"
"First spell," I muttered, the words coming out slurred due to the right half of my mouth not working properly. I wiggled my tongue for a few seconds before trying again. Thankfully I was much clearer the second time around. "First spell."
"Oh, thank the goddess. I should've known not to leave you alone when you were getting so close."
"I'm fungin," I replied, grimacing at my traitorous mouth. "Fine. I'm fine. Just a little mana exhaustion."
"Yep, yep. Let's top you off, just to make sure."
I nodded and accepted her crackling mana. It felt just a little easier than the last time she charged me. I wondered if my storm affinity had increased, or if it was just the result of my mana core being a little more stable.
"There you go. Now, give it another shot," Nexxa said, standing back with her arms crossed.
"Now? Weren't you just busting my balls about expending all my mana?"
Nexxa tilted her head to the side, mouthing my words to herself. Then she shook her head. "No. I was upset you didn't come get me. We're going to spend the next two weeks working up your affinities. If we work all the way until the river head, we should be able to unlock at least two more impression slots."
"I… that fast?" I asked, my mouth hanging open. Everything I'd learned through Perth's lessons said that sort of growth was impossible. If we maintained that speed, I could be Astral-souled in a little over a month. Assuming I could assemble a solid framework once I had all five spell impressions unlocked.
"Yep. Prodigy, remember?" Nexxa said, flipping her hair while giving me an exaggerated wink and a smile. A smile that quickly faded. "It's not going to be pleasant though."
"As a wise man once said, we don't do these things because they are easy. We do them because they are hard," I replied, paraphrasing the last truly great president.
"I… I like that. Totally stealing it," Nexxa said, giving me a long look.
I glanced towards the grimoire, then back to Nexxa. "Can you give me half an hour. I'm almost done scribing Water Breathing. Then I'm all yours."
Nexxa leaned forward, tapping her fingers together. Then she threw her head back, cackling madly.
I was suddenly not looking forward to the next couple of weeks.
