Beyond?

“And the children of the dragon brought their fire into our land. It proved that they had inherited the dragon's power and turned it into their own.”

-Old Nomad.

***Eastern Plains***

***Azir***

“What do you want with the coin?” Narcus glares at the spinning coin as I catch it, but then his attention is back on me immediately.

“Nothing. It's just for a spell. You know rituals right? Sometimes a spell is easier to cast if you rely on a physical object as a carrier.” Each time the coin spins in the air, I infuse more of my mana into it. The charged coin's movement seems dulled and heavier than it should be, as if it is slowed in time.

Narcus walks closer until he is ten metres away from me. “Then let me explain the rules. We'll use only magic. No physical contact with the other party. The one who breaks that rule loses his honour.” His eyes wander to our spectators.

I try to wrap my mind around his strange idea of a magical duel. When you are in a fight for life and death you normally use everything at your disposal. The dirtier, the better. You use the most simplest spells and the fastest ones. There is no time for fancy hocus pocus when your opponent can simply raise his finger and kill you with a fireball, which he learned in his first class of school.

Straining my eyes, I try to look at my opponent. And I don't mean his outer appearance. This time I am really looking at him. The fine veins of energy which are fanning out from his brain and heart. There is the dagger at his hip, which is flaring in a bright white light. This convinces me that my hunch about the dagger has to be right. It's The Emperor's Wish and belonging to the Tinn. To command the shadows and walk among them. I don't remember much of what I am told, but when it comes to artefacts and machines, I never forget.

I gesture for him to start. “I'll leave the first move to you, since I've already started to cast my spell.” The coin wanders between my finger and I infuse more mana into it, reforming it's inner structure. Then I flip it again to let it cool down. Pushing so much magical force into a small object causes a serious amount of waste heat.

My opponent starts circling me carefully. “I'll start slowly. Otherwise I may not be able to enjoy this.” He raises his hand and I notice magical energy flowing along the veins of energy within it. The mana forms a simple spell which I use myself quite often. Reading the magical formation I step out of the missile's path as it is fired. The spell shoots past my left upper arm and I flip the coin again, reforging and refining the spell within it. “Oh, please. I thought you wanted a real magical duel. There isn't a person in the world who doesn't know the arcane missile spell.”

The chief's eyes turn into thin slits as he circles me and I notice mana flowing down his feet and into the earth, where it remains in a small tight package. A magical mine?

He leaves one of those packages behind for each step he takes. “I'll show you a real spell then. You seem to be at least a halfway decent magician.” He raises his hands and pours mana into his surroundings while humming a melody, influencing the magic through the use of his voice.

I try to find out what he is doing while I am gathering the mana from my surroundings around me. Narcus seems to be a decent magician, though his focus on my age shows that he misunderstood something vital about magic.

A sentient mind can take in only a limited amount of information and knowledge. If you remember your entire life, you would turn insane. My guess is that twenty to thirty years are the absolute maximum of remembering something without practising it.

You should never be too confident whether your opponent is thirty or a thousand years old. All it takes is just a little mistake or misconception.

A genius should be able to learn the most important stuff about the workings of the world within twenty years. When I dodged his missile, he should have been alarmed.

Suddenly his magic surges forward and engulfs the entire area. I start feeling light and as I flip my coin, it doesn't return and shoots straight upwards instead. “A gravity spell?” I feel my feet disconnecting from the ground and a moment later I am floating in the air.

Narcus grins. “Let's see how you intend to dodge now!” He sends a burst of compressed air towards me and I open my mouth in order to not get my eardrums damaged. His spell isn't particularly strong and only pushes me away from my position. Narcus kept walking while he executed his spells and now he manoeuvred me directly above his waiting balls of compressed mana.

No, I don't want to be here. I strike my fist in his direction and send a burst of condensed mana against him while forgetting about fortifying my own position. The recoil pushes me away from the waiting mines and I exit the danger zone as he makes a gesture.

Gravity returns and I send mana through my feet to land on the ground. He even increased the gravity and my soles dig a few millimetres into the earth.

“You are better than I thought.” He disperses his magic. “Whom did you learn from? Nict doesn't have such outstanding masters of magic. You even saw though my trick with the mines.”

I smile wryly. “Then you've never fought a clan head. Are we done with measuring each other up?” Sensing the strong power inside my returning coin, I hold out my hand and catch it.

Flipping it again I start to explain. “I was so excited about your proclamation that I even decided to show you a real spell. This coin is a part of it. It's a very powerful spell which ends the life of any chosen opponent. The only problems are the requirements for the activation. First I obviously have to flip it a hundred times, as you see. That's a bothersome restriction, but the effect makes it worth the effort. The second is that I have to explain the conditions to the target, which is you, before I've flipped the coin fifty times.”

His stupid grin vanishes and is replaced by a more calculating one. “How often did you flip the coin up until now.”

This time it's my turn to grin. “Who knows?” Flip.

He bursts into action and casts an arcane missile, while simultaneously pouring his mana into a magic formation to his feet. I focus the mana around my free hand and swing it to divert the missile while walking forward, closing the distance.

The mines which were placed by Narcus blow up and envelop us in a cloud of dust. Suddenly a shadow appears in the corner of my eye and I strike instinctively at it.

***Eastern Plains***

***Stella***

“But he can't do that! What is he thinking to throw himself into danger like that!” I try to free myself from my father and Sola as the magical duel heats up. All parties retreated from the negotiation when Azir went for the dagger without asking anyone else about their opinion.

Lucas holds me in a firm grip. “His rash decisions are bothersome, but it also seems like the dagger is the real deal. Who knows how much control the chief has over it? Azir seems to be our best chance stop him before he can use it against us. He purposefully directed the chief's attention to himself.”

Helen and the Great Shaman are still shielding us against the battle, which proves to be fortunate as a ball of energy leaves the dust cloud and impacts on our barrier. The wall of energy around us deforms, but holds as an explosion scorches the ground around our party. A few of our guards are battle mages and assist Chuck by pouring their mana into his ritual.

My mother turns around and slaps me. “Get a hold of yourself. For all we know the dagger is a very powerful tool for assassination. It's possible that the chief could have killed us easily. Now assist with the barrier. Those two are hurling serious powers around, I only saw the Zait clan head do so up until now.”

Another explosion lights up the big dust cloud and a ring of fire travels outwards from it. Sola and Lucas let go of me to pour their mana into the Shaman's ritual. I join them.

***Eastern Plains***

***Azir***

“Whew... that turned into a real brawl of power.” I flip the coin again. “Are you under some kind of time pressure?” Flip. “But I admit that I am amazed by your ability.”

The dust cloud settles and I kick the magical core of the last earth golem while evading the huge fist, which is striking down at me. The chief summoned a whole group of these self repairing man-sized manikins. Luckily they can't regenerate once I destroy their cores.

Though the golems aren't bothering me that much. What's bothering me is this. I raise my hand and fire another orb of condensed mana at Narcus.

He does nothing to evade the attack. Upon making contact with the orb his figure turns black and the orb passes right through him. I notice that he is tracking every spell very carefully with his eyes. Maybe his protection isn't automatic? He has to activate it.

I frown. “That's troublesome. Some kind of space shifting by the dagger? What can I do if none of my spells are able to connect?” I flip the coin again. “Doesn't matter. I simply have to finish the last few flips. But while I do so, how about this?”

He laughs. “Isn't this little artefact magnificent? Nobody can harm me while I have it! I am a god! So what do you think you can do with a stupid coin! Come on! Show me! I am right in front of you. Nothing you fire at me has any effect!” He spreads his arms to invite me.

I raise my hand and pour a part of my mana into a new magic formation. The dew point is the temperature at which the water in the air condenses. It's influenced by the concentration of water in the air, temperature, pressure and the cohesive force of water molecules, which are dipoles and essentially little magnets... if you want to put it in a very simplified manner.

There are about twenty to thirty grams of water in a cubic metre of air. Given that it's a normal day in a wet and hot region. If I play with those variables just a little it is possible to dry the air and force the water to condense suddenly.

Today is a hot day at thirty degrees and this grassy landscape doesn't exactly lack water. So I am safe to assume that the water content in the air has to be high.

I pull the mana and energy out of the chief's surroundings by using my clan's ability. The temperature drops rapidly to under five degrees, which in itself is enough to force a large amount of the water into its liquid form. But I use the won mana to influence the other parameters further. A slight increase in pressure. Adding a little more cohesive force to the water molecules.

The environment isn't changed in a way which would be lethal to a living being. The temperature is still bearable, if only a little cold. The pressure isn't a concern either, nor causes the slight increase in the cohesive force any immediate problems.

Yet most of the water within the air around the chief condenses from one moment to the next. Water droplets start forming on the grass and rocks on the ground. The chief's clothing turns moist within a moment and a heavy, dense mist forms in the area around Narcus.

A thin film of water lays itself over the inside of his lungs, which hinders his breathing and causes an unpleasant feeling. He starts coughing audibly from within the dense, opaque cloud, inhaling more of the water droplets and increasing his problems.

I pour a great deal of my power into the following attack and hurl an orb of condensed mana into the cloud. The resulting explosion is ear deafening and I have to shield myself from the debris which is hurled away.

Suddenly a black shadow emerges from the explosion and a moment later the chief is freed from the shadows which were covering him. He looks burned and worn down with countless wounds on his upper body. One of his eyes is closed and bleeds heavily.

A pained scream escapes his lips and he draws his dagger, his remaining eye searching for me.

Then he is... gone?

Suddenly something impacts the shield of mana which is surrounding me. Sparks of energy fly left and right while the attack wanders over my chest and scrapes at the shield. Originally aimed at the centre of my body, the invisible object penetrates my shield a little further to the right.

Something stings between my ribs and a burning feeling spreads from the right side of my chest. I look down at myself and frown as I notice red blood spreading on my robe.

Then the chief materializes in front of me. “Got you!”

He twists the dagger and I flinch.

“You cheated!” Coughing up blood I grin. “But you still failed to deal the finishing blow. One hundred.” I flip the coin and open my hand, expecting to catch it.

Narcus snatches the coin casually and pulls the dagger out of my chest. I put on a shocked expression and stumble backwards while I cast a healing spell and pour magic into the wound at my side.

He grins. “I guess that's it for your wonderful spell! Didn't get to the last throw after all. Though I wonder what would have happened?”

“Bwahaha-” My laughing fit is ended by coughed up blood and I press a hand onto the wound in my side. “I didn't think that you are this stupid, so I already thought about what I could try next to get through your defence.

I already expected something annoying from the description I got about the dagger. So I prepared several ideas to fight someone who could slip away from attacks at will. But you fell for the most obvious one first! It's not even funny to call yourself a great wizard after such a performance.”

His expression turned dark during my laughing fit, but then frightened when the coin started to glow in a blue light. He tried to throw the coin away as his hand lost its colour, but the coin simply stuck to his skin, which started breaking up. “What's this! You said that you have to make a hundred flips! Why is the spell activated?!” The light in his hand grows stronger and the rapid decay of his body speeds up.

I smirk and try to stand a little straighter, which isn't easy with the wound in my side. “Isn't it obvious? I lied! The hex curse on the coin was ready when I told you the conditions for the spell. All I needed you to do was to touch the coin, hence the lie. If I had thrown the coin at you, you could have used your ability or evaded it somehow else.”

Narcus's eyes widen and his face turns grey. The hex curse is forcibly breaking up molecular bonds within his body as long as there is a supply of mana available. He could stop the curse by forcibly emptying his mana pool, but that's what the coin is there for; as a mana supply.

It's obvious that he is fighting the curse which is invading his body. The task would be simple if the curse had been applied without the coin as a recasting source. I watch the mana centre in his heart being taken over and increase my distance to him. His body is crumbling away at a rapid pace until his left leg gives way and he falls.

The scream on his lips is silenced when he impacts the ground and a cloud of white ash bursts away from him. I watch the mana in his body disperse until I am sure that he is dead and the curse no longer active.

Then I bend down to collect the dagger, its sheath and the coin. Chuck would be angry if I left his gift behind.

Somehow I feel dizzy and the wound in my side hurts despite the healing spell. A whistle calls ghost closer and I mount the warcat. The nomads are already retreating to their army, which looks like it is about to start a mad charge at us. I guess the negotiations failed?

Quinn's transporter is also rapidly retreating. The vehicle has a few ugly dents and the colour is completely scraped off in some places. I guess they received a few random spells.

I reach the rest of my group who retreated from the fight, but there is no time to celebrate as a mad army of nomads is on our heels. So I try my best to cling to Ghost's fur until we finally ride through the gate of our fortress.

When my mount stops Stella is immediately at my side and pulls me rather unceremoniously from Ghost's back. “What did you think you were doing!? We have to check the wound for the nomads' poison!”

Xander joins her in her efforts and places his hand on my side. Soon after, a warm feeling spreads from it. “There is manatite in the wound, but he received it not too long ago. We should be able to scrape most of it out before it enters his blood.”

“Scrape out?” I look at Xander, but my sight is blurry and tends to tilt sideways. All I can focus on is the trowel-like spoon with sharp edges in his hands. He got it from a pouch with different surgical tools. “No. You won't...” That's barbaric!

“Don't worry. I am an Eddin, flesh wounds are nothing to me. I can overpower the remaining poison once most of it is gone. Hold him still.” Xander gestures for some of the soldiers, who aren't quite sure of what to do. Then he sighs. “He has no magic right now, so he can't do anything.”

“No! Stop that! No! I am not some kind of cattle. Isn't there a nicer method? The dagger wasn't pleasant, don't come close to me with that spoon!” My struggle is to no avail as five guards are holding me down. One for each limb and one for the body.

***Eastern Plains***

***Stella***

I have Azir in a wheel chair at my side and we are all back on one of the towers to watch the nomads. His expression is gloomy and his chest is bandaged. Luckily we got most of the manatite before it could dissolve and enter his blood stream. Normally the poisonous crystals are crushed into a powder and applied onto a weapon. Once inside the wound they dissolve and spread through the body. The victim loses his ability to use mana and in cases of strong exposure you are paralysed or might even die.

He wheels closer to the parapet and tries to look down by pushing himself up out of the chair. I push him back down. The nomads are swarming around our fortress like angry ants. Azir turns his attention to Xander. “How long did you say?”

Xander shrugs his shoulders. “Between one and two months until you can cast spells again. The poison remains for a long time inside the body. That's why the nomads like it so much.”

Azir's eyes wander gloomily to the dagger in my mother's hands. She stores it away in her pocket. “I'll protect it until we are back home. As you are now even a child could take it away from you.”

He stares at the constant magical attacks which are impacting the barrier of our fortress. “Bugs...” Azir reaches into his pocket and pulls out a flat, hand-sized card.

The Great Shaman bends forward. “What's that?”

Azir grumbles and puts the card onto his lap then he presses its centre and a screen of light appears in front of him. “A miniature light sculpture. Originally I created it for normal citizens, so that they can access the net wherever they want.”

Helen nods. “Ah, right, the mana net. Actually I want to talk with you about that when you have time. Though it isn't urgent under the current circumstances.”

He nods and continues to manipulate the light sculpture on his lap. “Once I am done with the infestation.” Suddenly the floor under our feet rocks and tilts.

“Azir?” I grab his wheelchair, so that he can't roll away. “What are you doing?”

“What we should have done in the beginning!”

The fortress rocks another time and I find the landscape around us moving! A look over the parapet confirms that the whole fortress lifted off the earth and is now slowly rising from the ground.

Helen holds onto the parapet with both hands. “Azir? I thought we agreed on not testing your changes to the fortress until our troops are all gone and just a skeleton crew remains!”

Azir pulls at his lower lip. “Actually I think the wording was as follows. Don't test the changes unless there are grave circumstances.”

“Which there aren't!” Helen hisses.

Azir shakes his head. “But there are! The nomads lost their respect for us! What about all those poor villages at the border. That chief said himself that it doesn't matter what we do once we turn into foes without honour.” His expression changes into a grin. “A flying fortress! What's better to restore their respect for us? And then we wipe out their army with a single strike! Call me names if they come anywhere close to our border within the next hundred years. Lights on!” He spreads his hands and the sky darkens.

At first nothing else happens, but then I notice that the spells which are impacting on our shield are lessening. It seems like the sun dimmed and the world is plunged into a strange twilight.

A strange silence surrounds us until the screams start. I try to take a look over the parapet, but the ground is bathed in a blinding light. It's so bright that I have to avert my eyes.

The screams seem to originate from the thousands of warriors under and around our fortress. They increase into a horrible crescendo until they finally die out.

The sun returns to its former brightness and I take a look over the parapet to find a scorched, burning landscape under us. A perfect circle of two kilometres around the fortress is black ash. There are a few nomad troops at the fringes of the devastated area, but the main body of their horde is gone.

Azir is trying to take a look over the parapet at my side. “Are they well done or scorched?”

I grab his ear and pull. “Those were sentient beings!”

“Ow, Ow... don't rip it off! They started it!” Azir grabs my hand to stop me from pulling. “And don't forget that their culture seems to respect only strength! Should we have targeted one of their villages? Burning those who are attacking us seems perfectly fine to me!”

I let go of his ear. He is right, but the way he did it was wrong! I turn my attention to the sun. “Azir, what happened to the sun?”

He shrugs his shoulders. “The fortress is a gigantic magical circuit to redirect light. The redirected light had to be taken from somewhere. Imagine it like standing under a gigantic lens. Don't worry it's absolutely safe.”

I bend down to whisper into his ear. “But the diminishing sun reminded me of your story about your... old world.”

He blinks and smiles. “Don't worry. That wasn't the reason.”

.