Beyond?

“What you think of as good is sometimes bad and what you think of as bad may be good.”

-Old wisdom.

***Free City States of Nict, Capital***

***Azir***

I am still dancing with Stella when I notice a strange person opening the main door to the ballroom. He speaks to one of the guards who stiffens and points at us. The newcomer is violating the dress code by covering himself with a rugged old cloak and even his face is hidden. Why isn't the guard throwing him out? Is he someone important?

The beggar ignores the guard and heads directly towards me and Stella.

We stop dancing to face the approaching person who is ignoring the troubled voices of the people around him.

“Are you Azir?” The person asks with a deep voice. I still can't recognize his face.

“Ye-”

My answer isn't even finished as a fiery sword flashes forward and embeds itself in my chest. I feel my mana being sucked out of me and the beggar retrieves his sword while the people around us start screaming. Stella jumps forward with a scream, but the beggar waves his hand at her and she is thrown backwards like a toy and impacts the wall ten metres away.

Dropping to my knees I spurt blood and look up into the man's eyes. They shimmer in several different colours as he looks down on me. Then he turns away to face the approaching guards, but they can't stop him as he cuts a path for himself towards Helen. “Stay put! And to your knees! Honour the blood oath to your ancestor!” He calls out and Helen, who was dragged away by Lucas, loses all her strength, kneeling down.

I drop to the ground and try to gather my mana, but there is nothing. That's strange. I've been healed from the manatite poison for a month now. Ah, I have no time to gather mana. Everything is turning dark.

“Azir!” Suddenly Valeria is at my side and presses her hand onto my chest. “H... Heal!”

Mana flows into me and I grab her hand, reaching for the small clock in my pocket. “Sorry. Val... don't... resist.” I forcefully tap into her mana pool and take control of it. Then I pour all of Valeria's mana into the spell, emptying her completely. Her lifeless body drops onto me as the clock in my hand reconfigures the raw power into a huge, spinning magical circle.

The beggar turns around and raises his hand. “No!”

The magical formation spins at an incredible speed under us, but slows down rapidly until it comes to a creeping halt. Time freezes all around me and everything is silent. For a moment the universe is in perfect equilibrium. I keep my hand firmly shut around the clock and pat Valeria's head. “Don't worry. You'll be back.” The circle starts spinning again, this time counter clockwise and with it time is flowing backwards.

The world around me rewinds itself to a previous state and I with it. Only the clock stays in my hand. Valeria opens her eyes and retreats backwards from me. The beggar and Stella return to their previous positions. His sword enters me once again, returning my mana. Then it retreats, closing the wound. The beggar walks backwards away from us and out of the ballroom.

A few moments later I find myself dancing with Stella.

“Is there a problem?” Stella asks while we are dancing.

I purse my lips. “If you call your ancestor killing me and crashing the party a problem, then yes.”

“Ha?” She looks at me dumbfounded.

Smiling, I shrug my shoulder. “Sorry, could you excuse me for a moment? I have to kill someone in a very ugly manner, then we can continue to dance.”

I let go of her and bow. Without waiting for an answer I head towards the entrance of the ballroom where Jeremiah will appear. Gathering mana to prepare myself for the encounter I stop there and wait, watching the main door, while I count the seconds. One moment before the door to the ballroom opens I raise my hand sent a fireball at the door, blasting it apart to reveal... nothing?

The other guests look at me, shocked, but I ignore them and scratch my cheek. Did I get the time wrong? No. I am sure that the clock worked correctly, it just has a problem with the generation of waste-heat. This was a gamble since I didn't test the clock properly, but it works.

I activate my mana sight and search for something strange. Raising the small clock I take a look at it. “So much time and there is still not enough of it.”

***Free City States of Nict, Capital***

***Traveller***

I'll do this fast. Returning the place to its natural order should be a piece of cake. This building is reminding me too much of the old times. I'll only be here for as long as necessary. The guards around this place aren't the problem, their minds can be easily swayed.

The only thing that has to be done is killing this Azir. According to the people whom I talked to he is the force behind Nict's progress.

Afterwards I'll instruct the current caretaker of my country to stop her ambitions and I am done. It was a big mistake to take a two hundred year long leave. Resting for a while was necessary and the north was the perfect place for that.

I place my hand on the door to the ballroom and stop. Images of my death flash through my mind and all my senses howl that something isn't right.

Retreating my hand from the door I step backwards. My prophetic ability isn't without fail, but it kept me alive until today.

I turn left, but a shiver runs down my spine. Next I attempt to walk back the way I came, but an image of my twisted and broken body appears there. In the end I take the corridor to the right. What's wrong with this place? Normally it's enough to change a single decision in order influence the future and avoid the bad end.

The corridor leads around the ballroom and I turn my attention to the row of windows to my right. Again I am repelled by a horrible scene in my mind and continue on my way instead.

Almost at the end of the corridor I am intercepted by a young man in the official robes of the royal family.

“Look. That's your fault.” He is looking at me accusingly and holds up a piece of metal on a chain. It's a clock and it seems to be almost at the point of melting. The metal is glowing like it came right out of the furnace and the artefact is a little deformed. “Now it's useless. Do you have any idea how long it'll take me to repair it?”

My forehead develops several wrinkles and I take a closer look at the man's face. “Who are you, Boy?”

He grins and bows. “Azir.”

I hesitate for a moment, but my foresight doesn't warn me off this time. Encouraged by the good sign I draw my sword and engage.

The Emperor's judgement is a fine and powerful weapon. The thin, silver blade flows perfectly through the air and the golden handle may not be decorated with jewellery, but the glowing runes make up for that. It imitates the powers of an Anja and can ignite mana at will. If wielded by an Anja its a perfect addition to their ability of manipulating fire.

But since it is so powerful at manipulating mana, the weapon is very useful to anyone else too. Just the mere contact with the opponent's skin is enough to deprive them of their mana reserves. The weapon simply takes whatever it can get to store it for later use. The Emperor's Judgement is a very mana hungry device, which has to be wielded with great care.

I point the tip of the blade dead centre at the man, but a dagger appears in his hand from seemingly nowhere. It's the Emperor's Wish! My son's weapon.

Our weapons come in contact and sparks fly, but instead of retreating, Azir steps closer and grabs my cloak. “Revered ancestor, please be so kind and retire from your position.”

This fool! To think that a youngling like him could do anything to someone like me! But he made a mistake by taking me head on! From this position I just have to grab his upper arm and apply a small curse while evading the dagger. As long as the dagger is in contact with my sword the two weapons cancel each other out.

I reach for Azir, but suddenly he is gone!? Something hits my knee and I realize that he is under me. Trying to get away I start casting a spell and open my senses, something tugs at my magical formation and it falls apart like a house of cards.

Azir hurls his elbow with magical enforced muscles into my belly and I am being lifted from my feet.

The world starts spinning and I cast a defence spell just in time to shield myself from the impact. Dust and debris fills my vision as I tumble through the air. Then I touch the ground and slither several feet. Azir sent me flying right through the corridor's wall and into the ballroom.

Frightened people retreat from me as I get to my feet and orient myself. Azir is following me calmly with the annealing clock in his left hand. The dagger disappeared again.

I frown and decide to make this quick. This person can't be underestimated. Raising my hand I cast a vortex ray and combine it with a dimensional shifting spell. All I have to do is to variate the resonance of the shift and my spell is able to penetrate any defence.

Azir casually raises his hand to intercept my spell with his palm. My spell sheers off upwards and cuts a harmless rift into the ceiling. In the meantime he kept walking and smiles at me without a care in the world.

No... that's not without care. That's the expression of someone who found something disturbing in his house and wants to get rid of it!

I raise both hands to conjure my strongest spell. It doesn't matter if I have to take down the entire palace!

But my magic doesn't form! I try to force it into existence, but only a moment before I am done the magical circle falls apart. It's him! He is a Zait and he destroys my magical formation by deforming the parts which aren't under my conscious control! How? He would have to know me very well, know my habits in spell casting exactly.

This means that I have only small spells and raw power available to my arsenal. Pointing my palm at him I release my mana in a concentrated burst!

The shockwave parts in front of Azir and he keeps coming. This is so surreal! He isn't even casting magic and all my spells get countered or deflected.

I take hold of my sword with both hands and step forward to meet him. The dagger is probably still in his hand, it's just invisible like before. Swing, parry, feint. We exchange a few blows until we lock our weapons with each other. I see my chance and change the angle of my sword. It's much longer than his dagger. All I need to do is to touch him!

He moves a moment before my muscles follow my commands. My blade cuts empty air and Azir stands within my defence.

The dagger embeds itself in my left thigh and my legs are swept away from under my feet. I topple forward while the back of my head is being grabbed. My head is pushed and I see the dance floor coming closer at an alarming speed!

Darkness...

Something slides into my shoulder and wakes me up! I raise my head from the dent in the dance floor and scream, spurting blood and teeth. My jaw seems to be broken, everything hurts.

From the corner of my eye I see the Emperor's Judgement nailing my shoulder to the floor. The blade is sucking the mana out of me to fuel itself for future use! “Have to stop it.”

I try to push myself up, but something... or someone kneels on my back! The blistering clock enters my vision. With the chain it looks like an amulet, but that doesn't concern me right now. Whoever is on top of me placed the hot metal directly under my head and is pressing me down towards it.

As I have no mana this is a fight of my muscles alone. “Why? How?”

“Because you crashed my wedding party, you rat! It took me a while to find out that I have to hide my killing intent! Then I had to learn how to fight you without killing dozens of innocents. My girl wouldn't stop bickering if she ever learned that I could've done this better!” Azir's voice hisses angrily into my ear and he doubles his efforts in pressing me down, but the heat of the clock alone repels me.

Small flames and smoke rise from the wooden ground as it gets charred. “I don't understand! What are you talking about!?”

“Don't you see it!?” The voice hisses at my ear.

Then I realize the strong lingering effects of magic within the clock. The strong heat and the emitted light masked it, but now it has cooled enough to see.

The spell which caught me is strongly imprinted into the artefact. I had lost the moment I failed to kill him instantly. It's efficient. It's clean. The numbers and the magic, it all adds up! I understand it now!

“It is beautiful!”

“You say that every... damn... time!”

My burning muscles give in and my forehead is pressed against the clock.

***Free City States of Nict, Capital***

***Stella***

I slowly approach Azir who is sitting on top of the strange man. The other family members are right behind me. Azir seems to be furious for some reason and I don't get what's going on. I have never seen such an angry expression on his face and it even seems like he is enjoying hurting that poor beggar.

Everyone said that I should go and talk with him since he is my husband. When I looked to Valda for help, she folded her arms in front of her chest and shook her head. She looked at me with an unwavering expression and said, “As of today I refuse any responsibility for him. The ownership was transferred to you, so learn to keep him under control.” So I have to deal with this situation.

A few moments ago he excused himself and then this beggar came flying through the wall with Azir following him. The beggar seems to be a strong mage since everyone could feel his power, but somehow Azir intercepted all his spells, no matter what he did.

“Azir? Love?”

Azir looks up and his expression turns into a forced smile. “Stella! It's a nice party, isn't it? Please give me just a few more moments. I am busy here.”

The person under Azir is screaming like a child. All his limbs flail in random directions and smoke is rising from his forehead, where he is being pressed onto the hot metal. Azir doesn't let go, showing no mercy.

I fight the urge to retch as the smell of burnt flesh reaches my nose. “Love? Who is that?” I point at the crying person under him.

Azir licks over his lips, thinking of an answer. “Oh, Sugar. That's nobody important.” He shakes his head and fights to keep the man down. “Just Jeremiah Draco, the son of the first Emperor. I guess you could call him your ancestor. The guy whom they are calling the Saviour?”

Then Azir grins. “Ha! What a joke! Just continue with the party. I have everything under control.”

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