Building a magic system on threat of destruction

Escaping the white void and returning to the surface of Drowl was strangely nice. looking at the messed up world bending upwards in the distance still made him nervous, but honestly, he felt like he would go crazy if he had to stay in the sun any longer. He came to in the usual basement, laying on the table he had first come to the world in.

Jack sat up and saw that the three bore-bots, Jeler, and Riniox were all there. Riniox smiled at him, but there was tension in her face as she looked at him. Jeler on the other hand was full of obvious relief. He seemed like he hadn't slept very well, weariness emanated from his body as he smiled wide at Jack.

Reph spoke first. "How are you feeling, Jack? After Jeler got your message we had to put you back together in a hurry."

Jack took a moment to examine his robotic body, a body that was growing more and more familiar to him. "Everything feels fine. Need me to do some movements or anything?"

Glimm nodded, "Just to be safe. Step over here please."

She led Jack through a series of movements in order to make sure all his joints were functioning and his mana was flowing. His body moved smoothly and he was reminded how impressive the three bore-bots were. Even reassembling his body quickly, they had done a great job. Glimm led him back over to the others once they finished up.

Riniox nodded at them, "Well you certainly caused us some trouble with your extended vacation. We've got an angry king waiting for you, not to mention a whole host of travelers and pilgrims waiting to meet you."

With everything that had happened, Jack had almost forgotten that he was due for another royal visit. "Well I hope they didn't bring any assassins this time." he joked. Jeler flinched slightly at that, but Riniox's smile sifted to genuine amusement.

She slapped Jack on the back with enough force to make him stumble forward. "That's the right attitude! Besides, you can handle an assassin or two now, can't you?"

Jack stood up straighter and nodded firmly, confident that he could at least run away if a dangerous situation came up. Jeler fell in beside Jack as Riniox led them up the stairs. He clapped Jack on the back, "Glad to have you back." His mood was infectious, and Jack felt himself feeling relief that he was back. It had been touch and go, and the future was uncertain, but right now Jack was glad to be with friends.

By the time they made it up the stairs, Riniox had switched to all business. She talked authoritatively as she walked. "Alright, we need to show you around camp a bit. People have been wondering about your disappearance and we want to reassure them that we didn't lose you or anything like that." She reached the front door and barely stopped to open it, walking out into the compound. "We'll send an envoy out to King Drent, let him know you're out of seclusion. He might charge in here to meet with you, but we'll try to delay him until tomorrow."

"Why delay him?" Jack asked. "Hasn't he been waiting longer than we intended anyway?"

Riniox snorted in derision. "I'd keep him waiting for another few weeks if I thought I would get away with it. He's been nothing but a pain in my side since he showed up."

Jeler leaned over and whispered to Jack. "He's been super aggressive and rude, no respect being given at all."

Jack frowned at that. At least the Queen of Cheria had shown respect on the surface. Jack was rather fond of the mercenaries, they had done right by him and he didn't appreciate people trying to strongarm them.

As they passed through the compound, many mercenaries came up to clap Jack on the back and welcome him back to camp. There were some mercenaries who wanted to be granted statuses, now that they had seen what the system could do. he made some promises to help them out, but couldn't take the time to stop and do it now. Riniox brought him over to her central work building and sat him down inside. She had very spartan furnishings, with a simple desk and chair in the back. The rest of the room only had a few chairs stacked up against the wall.

Riniox turned back to the mercenaries that had started following after them, all of them clearly wondering what Jack was going to get up to this time. "Get back to work! Jack will be out later!" Then she slammed the door with a note of finality.

Jack could hear people scramble off in a hurry, clearly not wanting to get in trouble. Jeler grabbed two chairs and set them down in front of Riniox's desk, holding one out so that Jack could sit down. Riniox sat down in front of them, shuffled through a few papers, then put everything down and sighed. "So what kept you, Jack?"

Jack sat silently for a long moment. He and Plexion hadn't come to an agreement on what Jack should tell people. Jeler was his own consideration, but Riniox was still slightly unknown to him. She seemed trustworthy, she had even saved his life. But did that mean she would be okay with Jack confronting the god of this world? Jeler had said she agreed with Plexion's ideas, that Deis was too overbearing.

"There were...some circumstances," Jack spoke slowly and carefully, still gathering his thoughts.

Riniox raised an eyebrow. "What kind of circumstances?"

"I met Plexion, or his soul anyway. We've been...working together."

Now Riniox's expression was one of shock. Jeler joined her, staring at Jack with disbelief. Riniox took a moment to collect herself before speaking again. "Does that mean he's working for the High Deity?" Her eyes narrowed, clearly put off by the idea.

"Not exactly." This was the part where Jack wanted to tread carefully. He studied Riniox's face intently as he continued. "He's been helping me with the finer points of the system. De-the High Deity doesn't know. Whatever magic Plexion made to hide from the High Deities' sight worked even after death."

Riniox leaned forward, her hands clasped in front of her face. "Tell me more about that."

"The magic Plexion used? It was apparently the reason that the High Deity asked people to go after him. It makes a blindspot so that the High Deity can't see the magic's user or their surroundings. I...have a natural ability similar to that."

Riniox studied him for a moment before leaning back against her chair. Her fingers drummed on the table and she stared into the air, clearly deep in thought. Jack waited for her to finish thinking. Jeler already knew part of this, Jack had told him that the High Deity couldn't see Jack or his surroundings, but he hadn't mentioned meeting Plexion directly.

Jeler was fidgeting as he waited for Riniox to speak again. Clearly he had questions, but he knew better than to start talking while Riniox was concentrating.

After a minute or two Riniox turned back to Jack. "Can it be taught?"

"The magic?"

She nodded. "It would be a resource. Whole cities could become safe havens from the High Deities' oversight."

Jack hadn't considered that. Plexion hadn't gone into the finer points of what his magic entailed, but it if could be widespread...

Jeler chimed in at this point. "It might actually cause more problems though."

They both turned to him, confusion on their faces.

"Well the High Deity basically gave permission to kill Plexion because of that magic, right? So if it became common knowledge, then there might be a holy war."

That would be very bad. Jack really didn't want to be the reason people got killed, especially in some insane war where people were fighting for Deis' sake.

Riniox responded, "Well it's a moot point if it can't be widespread. Can you look into it for us, Jack?"

"Yes, of course!" he responded enthusiastically. "We can take our time thinking about how to use this after I talk to Plexion."

Riniox visibly grew interested at this point. "Can we talk to him?"

"Not in any easy way. Besides that, we aren't ready to let people know that he's involved with the system yet."

The disappointment was clear on both Riniox's and Jeler's faces. "So we shouldn't mention him at all if we can help it?" Riniox asked.

"Right, it would be dangerous to reveal him at this point." This was a part of Plexion's plans. By making his existence a secret, they could keep people from asking too many questions. The longer they could hide what had happened to Deis, the more chance they had to figure out a solution.

Riniox and Jeler nodded seriously. Then Jeler suddenly perked up. "Oh hey, that reminds me. I found one of your butterflies."

Jack had totally forgotten about that. "Oh perfect! Riniox, are you okay if I go take care of this?"

She waved him off, and Jack and Jeler left the building. Jack idly hoped that the system bug wouldn't signify any problems.