Millennial Mage Nove Chapter 375: Alone

Chapter 375: Alone

Tala hesitated as the arcane fox-like-manLisaregarded her with greater scrutiny.

After a mont, he grunted, I suppose I should not be surprised that you are aware of the triune state of existence. I taste iron on the air around you. Because of that, it would be my guess that you have sohow acquired a connection with reality that your fellows find acceptable. He briefly gave a wide grin, They are much better at cutting out that rot when it crops up than they used to be. Beyond that, you obviously have magic, and your morieseven the few I sawcontained so of the void. Given all of that, your ntors were wise to help induct you into the reality of existence...

He paused for a mont at that.

Then, he shrugged and continued, And the magic of existence

His smile returned, full of mischief.

And the fact that existence is void and empty at its core.

Tala had never thought of it in those terms, but it fit rather beautifully. As she contemplated how well it fit, she felt her aura strengthen, her magic deepen, and her advancent move marginally toward Paragon.

The side of Lisas mouth pulled up slightly, indicating that hed noticed the change, Regardless, we are getting off the path, even after finding such a promising one. Let us return to the item I am offering to you: A purifier of magical power. To be clear, a purification of the magic within your sanctumand an ongoing maintenance of that puritywould not affect the magic of your sanctum, so your dinsional storage would remain bonded to you and intact.

Tala had been considering, and she nodded, grinning, I think that would be rather useful, yes.

He nodded once in response, Now, what do you have in trade?

I do believe that I have so credit with you.

Lisa waved his hand. It would be highway robbery if I were to use this to cancel that debt, and such things are hard to fractionalize.

She frowned, then shrugged. What do you want? What type of thing are you looking for?

Items of magic and power, of course. The strangerthe more uniquethe better.

Tala considered for a mont. Well, Im not giving him the sword, I barely just got that back from Master Clevnis.

-What about a needle? We have quite a few of those, and we dont really have much use for them.-

Tala nodded to herself. That was a good idea. What about an infinitely sharp, unbreakable needle?

Lisa blinked a few tis, before his eyes narrowed, seeming more focused on her than he had been during their entire conversation up until that point. Let

see it.

Hesitantly, Tala reached for her waist, only to rember that she didnt have Kit with her. Oh, ummm Would a mory do for demonstration? If it is acceptable, Id have to go get it.

He hesitated, then nodded slowly.

Alat?

-Sharing a small part of the encounter in the cell, now.-

Lisa had already pulled his Archive connection artifact back out and placed it on his temple, his each movent crisp, precise, and controlled.

A mont later, he let out a hiss, followed by an incredibly aggressive cackle, Sole? His cell has resurfaced? Lisas lips pulled back in a horrifying mixture of gleeful grin and murderous snarl. For mories of your encounter with him, I will give you the item we are discussing. I do not need one of the needles for this transaction.

Well Rust. Talas eyes widened, and she opened her mouth to refuse. There is no way I can let him know where the prison is.

But, before she could say anything in response, Lisa continued, seemingly interpreting what she was thinking, I do not want the location of his confinent, just to witness the clash that you obviously had with him. You are here, he is not, so he must have been defeated, and that is sothing I dearly wish to witness. Depending on what I see, there, I will negotiate with your City Lordsexcuse , City Headsfor the location. That will not concern you.

She hesitated, incredibly uncertain.

-I am already asking Mistress Ingrit.-

That is wise. Thank you, Alat.

-Oh, that was fast. She says sharing what he asks is fine.-

Tala was still skeptical, but after a monts consideration maybe two, she shrugged. This decision seems above my advancent, so not my problem. Im glad that I dont need to consider all the possible implications.

Master Lisa was waiting expectantly.

She slowly nodded, It seems that that would be acceptable.

The vulpine eyes glowed.

But!

The predatory gaze narrowed, and Tala felt a chill run through her very bones.

I think that the mories of the encounter are more valuable than a single item.

He huffed. Negotiating, then? Fine. But calling it a single item so dismissively is ridiculous.

Is it more than one item?

No, but calling it simply a single item is like calling the operating fund for the city a bank account. The description is technically accurate but insulting in the implication.

I suppose Ill need to take a look, then. Lets see it.

Very well. One mont.

Without further warning or fanfare, the fox vanished.

Tala caught flashes of his quick actions as he moved stone and starward on the axis of magic as easily as shed take a step forward or backward.

In less than a minute, he was back, simply appearing before herbehind the counteronce more.

How did you do that?

Do what? His slight smile made it obvious that he knew what she ant, but still wanted her to say it.

You moved along the spatial axis of magic.

He nodded. I thought you were aware of that. The answer is almost insultingly simple. I have the muscles to move in that direction. He shrugged. I have so dinsionality in those directions, so I can exert force to create movent. You exist in those directions as well, but you dont have any leverage to create movent well, most humans dont; I cant say Ive actually analyzed your physical or magical makeup.

Tala grunted, contemplating.

Imagine being able to freely move stoneward or starward.

-Sounds dangerous.-

After a mont, Tala found herself nodding. Yeah, yeah it really does.

Are you ready to see it? The item? Lisa arched one of his eyebrows.

Tala shook herself slightly, refocusing. Yes, please.

With a flourish, he seed to stick his arm into his chest, but Tala could tell it was, in fact, reaching starward. When he withdrew his hand, it held a rock.

Well, her mundane sight saw just a rock.

Her magesight saw another thing altogether.

If the most complex magic Tala had ever seen around a person was a hedge maze, what was revealed before her was a three-dinsional labyrinth that seed to connect in ways that defied dinsionality.

But that made sense, as the spellform crossed many layers stoneward and starward, the physical dinsions stretching to allow the magics to avoid interacting with the items already stored where the rocks natural magics wished to be.

Tala couldnt comprehend it at all, and while it seed well filled with power, it was just as obviously inactive.

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You are welco to stare at it as long as you like, but without bound power, it wont do anything.

She chuckled, then opened the iron on her hand, purposely forcing power out and away, despite her link with Kit wanting to pull the power through their connection and to the sanctum.

As soon as her power left her tightly controlled aura, the rock began to glow, the magic being imdiately pulled inside.

Tala couldnt follow the spellforms working, but in less than a second an exactly equal amount of power ca back out of the rock. Now, however, it was natural magic, not Talas own.

A small fraction of power was pulled from that provided by the vestiges in the room into the rock in order to refill its own reserves.

Her eyes widened.

She could see the City Stones.

She could see how they filtered the magic coming from the uncounted human gates in their cities.

She could see that they were not very efficient in that transformation.

This stone seed to have near perfect efficiency, requiring only a drop of power for the burst that it had cleansed.

She was in awe. Where did you get this?

Master Lisa opened his mouth with a wicked grin, then paused. Finally, his face fell, Well, I was going to charge you double for the story, but the mories of the encounter you offer are worth this and the background behind it.

He nodded as if to himself.

So, will you take the trade?

The item does what you claim? What it seems to? And my soulbound sanctum can integrate the magics for permanent use?

It should be able to integrate them, yes. If it fails, I will restate the sa under a truth detection. Otherwise, yes.

Then, yes. I agree. The mory for this item and the story and background behind it.

Master Lisas voice didnt change, but it suddenly seed to resonate with the entire building, Bargain struck.

Tala swayed back briefly, pulling her thoughts back together.

Before she composed herself, master Lisa began to speak, Now, the background. A Sovereign owed soone he detested a boon. The person in question demanded an item to purify magic of any ownership. The Sovereign agreed to make the item but made the owed aware that he couldnt make them accept it. The Sovereign further stated that if the item was rejected or abandoned, the owed lost all rights to it and could not ask for another boon.Lisa nodded along with his storyThe owed agreed. So, the Sovereign attached the magics to a rock, hid themselves and followed the owed. Then, one random dayabout a week laterthe Sovereign threw it at the oweds head. The owed of course deflected the rock, cursing the random passerby who had thrown the rock.

Tala shook her head, smiling slightly. That was a rejection.

That was a rejection.

Her eyes widened, looking at the rock again. Wait this is the boon of a Sovereign?

Master Lisa barked a laugh, No, no, funny human girl. Your mories are not that valuable. That is just why such items are now traditionally made attached to rocks.

Tala huffed. So, the background.

Precisely.

The story, then?

This rock was on the road outside the first ho I built among humans. I needed a way to ensure that I could sustain myself. At the sa ti, I was required to divest myself of power. It had to go sowhere.he shruggedI saw no reason to cause strife by cracking a City Stone with too much power flowing into it at once. So, I used my magic to forge this.

Tala gaped. You can make one of these?

Master Lisa cocked one eyebrow. No. I did make one of these. This one. I no longer have the power to do so, and it would be both incredibly inconvenient and violating of my word to gather enough magic to do so, now.

And youre willing to trade it away?

He gestured to the six corners of this room. As I am sure you have seen, I have found other ans to sustain the allowed level of power. This is now rely a further redundancy I have no cause to keep around. I took so long to return because I had to rinse off the dust.

Tala looked at the rock again and noticed that it did, indeed, seem damp. It was literally collecting dust

Here you are. I trust the mory will be along

-Done.-

Thank you.

Ah, there it is. He nodded once. Is there anything further?

Not at the mont. Though I would love to flip through your books, to get an idea of what you have.

Master Lisa nodded distracted, waving his hand. Behind Tala, the door reappeared. At the sa ti, the illusory version of master Lisa returned. Do as you wish. I have so mories to savor.

Without another word, he simply vanished.

Tala went to the books on the long counter and quickly flipped through them, Alat copying out what Tala saw to the Archive for later perusal.

Less than five minutes later, Tala left the shop, the rock tucked in a pocket grown specifically to hold it, the top sealed afterwards so the valuable item couldnt be lost.

She had much to think about as she rejoined Rane for their next etup, continuing the whirlwind of sociability that was their ti in Bandfast.

* * *

Tala and Rane briefly saw Lyn and Kannis once more that evening, as it would have been odd not to, but Tala didnt bring up the artifact and arcane goods shop. It would have caused more questions than it was worth.

Finally, Tala and Rane stopped through to see Mistress Odera on their last evening in Bandfast.

That was a shock to say the least, even with Mistress Aproa there to help smooth out the interactions.

Mistress Odera was looking older than ever, and she had lost much of her previously demonstrated gracefulness in age.

She still had her intellectwhen she had the energy to use itbut more than anything, Tala was left feeling hollow and torn. It was painful to see such a proud, powerful, wise woman nearing her end.

Still, the very fact that the effects of aging were becoming visible and she still hadnt succumbed to binding a star was stark testant to her continued resiliency.

They didnt stay too long, as Mistress Odera was easily made tired.

Even so, while they were there, the Mage condensed an Archon star in ice, ford from moisture in the air.

It was quite obviously an unconscious action, with Mistress Aproa destroying it behind her ancestors back by dropping it into what was clearly an artifact made specifically for that purpose.

Even with all that she saw and learned, what stood out most to Tala was what her newly established sight showed her.

The womans gatelocated just one incrent starward as all gates seed to bewas slowly developing natural magics of its own.

Tala had recognized the spellform imdiately, even before Mistress Odera had created a simpler version of it in a different dium.

An Archon star.

The gate itself was becoming a sort of complex, interlinked Archon star.

No wonder everyone succumbs eventually.

-No kidding.-

Though, honestly, Tala didnt know if Mistress Odera was undergoing sothing standard, sothing that only happened to those who resisted for an incredibly long ti, or sothing unique to her.

Regardless, the inevitable result seed obvious to Tala.

She briefly entertained the idea of using her iron to disrupt, distort, or otherwise ss with the glacially forming natural magics, but it didnt even take her newly enhanced mind to realize how catastrophically wrong that could go.

Even were she an expert in natural magicswhich she decidedly was notthe act of altering a spellform to specifically change its function as it was coming together was colossally foolish.

That was assuming she had sothing to change it to, which she did not.

Thus, she left well enough alone.

Rane and Tala bid Mistress Odera goodnight and goodbye, with Mistress Aproa seeing them to the door.

As they were leaving, Tala felt like she was fighting within herself, but what she felt was right finally won out, and she pulled Mistress Aproa aside, I cant explain to you how I know, but I believe that she only has days left, in the best case.

The Archons eyes had widened in shock, and shed imdiately opened her mouth to ask a question, but the woman paused to consider first. Finally, she nodded, Thank you, Mistress Tala. I dont know if you are hedging around strictures by telling

this, or if sothing else holds your tongue, but regardless, thank you. I will gather what family I can, and well stand vigil for the next week. She smiled wanly, If sothing hasnt happened by then, I will assu you were mistaken, but knowing you, I dont expect that to be the case.

The urge ca over her, and Tala stepped forward and embraced the sowhat older woman.

Mistress Aproa was clearly startled but lacked the ability to resist.

I am so sorry for your loss. She was a woman without peer.

The Archon sucked in a breath, sothing about Talas words striking to the heart of the circumstances.

Mistress Aproa hugged Tala in return, her whole body shaking as she began to sob uncontrollably.

Rane noticed and quietly moved around them and back toward Mistress Odera, so that the Mage would not be alone while the other two won talked.

Tala ended up staying another hour as Mistress Aproa talked about growing up with Mistress Odera as a role model, sharing so of her favorite stories, laughing, and crying.

Eventually, Mistress Aproa had pulled herself back together enough to hug Tala again and thank her profusely.

Tala hugged her in return, still feeling sowhat startled at the reaction her initial hug and simple words had unleashed. Though, with a monts consideration, Tala decided that she couldnt say that she regretted the outco.

Mistress Odera was an important person to her, and Tala regretted not getting more ti with her. The least she could do is give a little emotional release to the woman who had been there for Mistress Odera.

But her last days should be with family.

-It is important to be with those you love at the end.-

They went and got Rane, where he had been sitting and reading aloud to Mistress Odera as she slept.

Tala and Rane said another round of quiet goodbyes and left.

As Rane and Tala walked back toward the Archon Compound where Kit still rested, Tala found herself drawn inward, so investigations and experintation being completed while Tala was still in town.

I am going to outlive almost everyone I know. That felt much more real than it ever had before.

Alat tried to help, or at least tried to offer another perspective, -That is the nature of death. Either you outlive and must say goodbye to all those you love, or you die and leave them without you.-

Or you dont make such connections. Tala felt herself hunch inward. Wouldnt that be better? Wouldnt that hurt less?

-Thats no way to live. Thats hardly a life at-

Rane put a hand on Talas shoulder, interrupting her internal back-and-forth, Tala? Are you alright?

She turned to him, looking up into his eyes, knowing there were tears in her own. I no, Im not.

He pulled her into a hug right there on the side of the street.

Traffic moved around them as he held her close, and she wept tears of confusion and frustration.

It was mid-afternoon the next daywhen they were almost back to Alefastwhen the ssage ca in.

Mistress Odera had sohow slipped out, despite her small ho being packed with relatives.

The citys defenses had noted her leaving toward the south-east, alone.