Ends of Magic

Nathan looked back at Kia across the table. It wasn’t like looking at a mentor, it was like looking at a divine avatar of judgment. The woman felt larger than life - and Nathan’s mana sense told him that an incredible amount of divine mana lay under the woman’s skin, waiting for his answer alongside the mortal woman.

I knew this was going to be a problem.

His forehead creased as the thought came.

No. Don’t think of it like that - I’m not trying to say whatever I need to in order to escape Kia’s wrath. I can trust her. She doesn’t answer to a uncaring god - she is that god. She’s never steered me wrong and she’s always been honest. If she’s trying to say something here, it’s for a good reason - and I should listen.

“Only one - Histol dho Fulku.” Nathan replied.

Kia frowned at him, tilting her head. Her gaze was heavy, and it was clear that she was waiting for more. The divine presence inside her felt like an executioner’s cleaver, poised to fall.

Extrapolating from what’s going on with Khachi - I think this is a question close to her divinity. She’s not threatening me, but her Path demands she figure out if I’ve become a mass-murderer.

He sighed deeply. “I’ve killed a lot of mages since I gained the class. Thirty-two Mages of Giantsrest in all. They’re the evil I’ve sworn to fight - and it was war. Was I supposed to try to capture them all?”

The holy warrior’s golden eyes lay on him for a moment longer before she spoke. “In battle, fight to win. I would likely have killed many of those mages myself, for Giantsrest breeds evil into its mages as a muckgrabber breeds filth.

“Once you are in battle, it is too late to choose. But beware where your path takes you - if you continue without thought you may betray yourself, and those who depend on you.”

Khachi said something similar. I guess I know where it came from.

Nathan’s response was a bit clipped. “Khachi’s warned me about the dangers of seeing people as sources of levels. I swear to you that I won’t go crazy for power and start killing people just for the levels I’m rewarded with.”

The divine presence felt like it approved of his answer - and a very slight smile appeared on Kia’s face. “True aim. But I would ask one question more. Can you say that every person you killed deserved your Rage? Are you certain?”

Nathan opened his mouth to protest, but Kia cut him off with a small gesture, and he let her speak.

“It is impossible to always be correct, and in battle you must fight to kill. That is the reason to seek righteous battle. You will make mistakes - but the alternative is to do nothing, to cede the initiative and allow your enemies free movement.” She paused, making sure he was following along.

“But to act, to kill those who do evil is to take on the heaviest responsibility there is. If you err, then you have killed an innocent, a crime unforgivable.”

She leaned forward, and the light shining from her eyes was harsh. It was a direct conduit to an ancient power of righteousness and glory. A shard of a god, scavenged by a mortal woman and bound by principle and duty to serve her purposes - but it had left its own mark on her in turn.

“So, Nathan Lark. Weigh your deeds. Count your actions such that the good you deal, the people you free, outweigh the innocents you kill. Beyond all, never assume your goals justify any act. That is the way of the monsters you hunt.”

The light started to dim, the mana ebbing away. Kia’s faint smile grew somewhat crooked. “I hope Algoa’s luck rides with you, and you never drift from your Path. My own demands that I be certain in my judgment - it is why we fight monsters that cannot be mistaken.”

The divine presence receded entirely, and Kia’s last words were soft. “Do not become one.”

Nathan grappled with Kia’s words for a moment as the Heirs and their parents looked on. Aarl bit into a crumbly pastry and it dropped crumbs all over his lap. He tried to surreptitiously brush off the crumbs, but the motion made Nathan snort.

It also broke the tension, and everybody reached for food and drinks that had been abandoned when the conversation had turned serious. The pause gave Nathan a chance to internalize what Kia had said without feeling like he was under quite as much pressure to respond immediately.

That’s a good way to put it. Killing people is bad - but sometimes necessary. But when you go down that road, you take on the responsibility of being right. If you go all utilitarian and do terrible things for a greater good - then you’d better be damned sure that your terrible actions are both effective and necessary.

He sighed and reached out for his own drink, continuing to mull this over in his head.

What I’m doing, killing bad people - it’s necessary, because otherwise they’ll keep doing evil things. But it's on me to make sure I don’t go too far - not every action is justified, even to take down Giantsrest. Especially if there’s an alternative.

He looked up to see Kia still watching him, her gaze focused but not unkind. He met her eyes once more, seeing the divine will that dwelled within, a banked ember that could flare into an inferno.

Nathan gave her a slow and serious nod. “Yeah. I agree - no goal justifies every act.”

She smiled in response, the expression sad but warm. “I’m proud to call you my student. Welcome to the realms of the elites, Nathan Lark. May your battles be just.”

The last slivers of judgemental energy dissipated, and Kia relaxed back in her chair, reaching for her drink.

“Does that mean the rest of us are elite adventurers too?” Stella said from the couch.

Stanel shook his head. “What Kia means when she says elite is different from what a normal Adventurer would mean. To her, anybody can conquer a dungeon, or slay a monster. The elites are those who change things. Break an empire. Steer a culture.”

He ruffled Aarl’s hair. “By the tally of your deeds you’re all elites in the guild. If it didn’t happen when you fought off the Agmon raid or an archmage’s ambush, it was when you defeated an army of Old Gemore constructs. Conquering Halsmet - that has only stoked the flame.”

“Then what of Questors. Are they elites to you, Kia?” Khachi said, looking pensive.

Kia drew in a deep breath, her eyebrows moving down. “Questors stand alone, apart from all. I do not know what it is like in their home, but when they visit us - they do not accept the consequences for what they do.”

She sighed. “Because they leave. Some try to help, but they do not know this place - they do not understand the conflict between Gemore and Giantsrest. But we cannot turn them away either, for then a Questor allied to our rivals would conquer us.

“I sometimes believe the Ending of History is not all dungeons awakening life, but a battle between all Questors over deeds so old as to be history. But I cannot reach a prophecy about the Endings, so I do not know.” Kia settled back farther into her chair, taking another drink of the syrupy purple liquor.

“We should talk about Questors, if you’ll be dealing with one.” Stanel said, looking around at the other Guardians.

“Agreed.” Dalo leaned forward, panning his gaze around to impress on the Heirs that this was serious.

He doesn’t do the ‘serious glare’ thing as well as Kia does.

“We only know of a few Questors, but they’re all different. They have different builds, different personalities and different weaknesses. Some speak with magic, others will grant grand Insights to those they find friendship with.

“What is petrified in place is that they will never value your lives.” He set his hands carefully on the table. “A questor will fight a dragon at your side, and may even help you with items and Insights. But they will be free of regret if you die in battle. To an allied Questor, you are an asset, not a person.”

Stanel picked up the thread. “To an enemy Questor, you are an obstacle.” He indicated Nathan. “Or a rival. I hope the presence of Brox distracts Badud from you all. But - we should describe Brox’s abilities to you. I am afraid we know nothing of Badud.”

Stanel shrugged. “Brox seeks glory, and excitement. If he sees a foe it would be fun to fight, he’ll run for them. He won’t consider deeper strategy, and he won’t stick to a plan. He’ll charge an enemy it would be wiser to be cautious of. But for all that - he’s a dragon on the battlefield. He doesn’t use magic, just his two enchanted blades, and his build is all about speed.”

Stanel tilted his head back, recalling a memory. “I’ve seen him run from one side of the battlefield to the other in a breath, striking down dozens along the way. His blades are as the wind - but they are not unstoppable. I can match him for five strikes, but it would push me to my limit.”

Dalo was next, a flare of actinic light in his eyes. “Brox is not unkillable. He dodges magic, but when he jumps to strike airborne targets he cannot maneuver. If Kullal was unable to cage him in force, I would tempt him to jump and then strike with an unstoppable magic as soon as he was airborne.”

Oh yeah, that reminds me - I need to talk to Kia about [Airwalk].

His wife reached out to caress the mage’s cheek. “But we do not have to fight Brox, unless we raise the past without reason.”

Stanel took a drink and then wiped his lips, looking surly. “I’d trade him for Badud in a blasphemous instant. Badud seems a plotter, and in a Questor that is dangerous. Brox is just a delving idiot.”

Nathan waited to see if the Guardians were going to say anything else about Questors. When they didn’t, he turned back to Kia. “I ranked [High-Tier Slow Fall] up to rank 10. I’m ready to Develop it for [Airwalking], but I wanted to ask your advice.”

Dalo had been in the middle of a drink, and he started coughing vigorously. “What…” He patted himself on the chest and finished clearing his throat. “You’re going to have [Airwalking] now?” The mage turned to Kia. “It took you two decades! It’s been two months since you taught him the first Insight.” He started grumbling. “Flying Antimage… blasphemous build.”

Kia’s lips turned up slightly. “I did not liberate a city.” She turned back to Nathan. “Well done. I will repeat what I said then - consider your Insight, but do not trigger the Development until a suitable fight. The greater the Insight and the more impressive the deed, the better the resulting Talent will be - it will use less Stamina and let you push harder.

“If Algoa’s luck rides with you then it will be a dangerous fight where [Airwalking] grants you a substantial advantage and enables you to win where you might have lost otherwise. I developed my Talent in a fight against an Agmon legion, using it to strike down their commander.”

She shrugged. “Such a fight may not occur for a time - especially if you take Brox on patrol. If necessary, just have Stella throw you into a fight and then Develop the Talent, using it to drop down and strike an enemy. It may benefit you to keep it reserved - an unexpected ability is often the key to winning a difficult fight.”

Yeah, like when I Developed [Perfected Body] and became immune to poison.

Nathan took in the advice, thinking for a moment. “Should I hide the Talent from Brox? It might be a helpful trump card.”

Stanel nodded. “Yeah. If he knows you’re trying to Develop it, he’ll want to be part of it. Then he’ll want you to show it off. Don't tell him - but do not expect it to help if you fight him. The man jumps like a striped wolf.”

“Pardon my ax, but is that the end of Adventurer business? We have fine drinks and better pastries to enjoy.” Kullal broke in gently, her expression expectant.

“We’ll miss the meal hiding in the bushes.” Sarah said, leaning forward to grab some more of the meat pies and chow down.

The tension ratcheted back down as the Heirs and the Guardians chatted about small things, happy to avoid talking about the recent conflict or the foreboding future.

After a little while, Nathan looked over at Stella. “Hey Stella! Dalo and Kullal too - I recently got a really good look at one of the most impressive force spells I’ve ever seen. Can I try to explain it to you?”

Kullal looked at him and blinked in confusion. “Do you wish to teach a mage to light a fire? I taught Stella all she knows of force magic. It is a different tradition than used by Giantsrest.”

“Yeah, but I think I got some Insights that might help your force magic too.” Nathan said.

Both of her parents looked doubtful, but Stella was excited. “Just listen. Nathan’s good at explanations. He’s got a teaching skill, and his mana sense is better than mine.”

Yeah, because I can jump into any spell and not get vaporized.

Dalo raised his eyebrows and waved his hand, clearly humoring Nathan. “Go ahead, we’ll listen.”

“Ok, so when we charged the square there was this old Artisan mage - I think his name was Thulio dho Pelogi. He cast this big force dome that let spells pass through one direction but not the other. It was also the most efficient force shield I’ve ever encountered.”

Kullal frowned. “That name has been spoken before. I think he enchanted the shield-stones on the raiding parties. You killed him?”

“Yup. He killed Delric Enesto first, and tried to kill Khachi.” Nathan replied, remembering the old man’s [Crushing Force] spell.

You really can’t just be a fighter on Davrar. You need something else - magic, or Faith, or a powerful enchanted item. Otherwise a mage will just flick their fingers and squash you.

“Anyway - the spell. There were a few really impressive parts of it - first the part that let magic through in one direction. Beyond that, it had a structure that reminded me of something on earth called a geodesic, which helps spread force out so it doesn’t break the overall structure. Let me remember how it worked…”

Mental Fortress 3 achieved!

He guided Stella through assembling a miniature version of the dome shape, then tried to explain the way that it had actively distributed force around the structure, using the reinforcing struts as channels to guide mana to where it was needed.

She started to get it, and Kullal grew interested in the explanation as Nathan explained how the dome had healed itself.

Then he moved on to describe the one-way properties of the spell. This was harder, and took a lot more analogies.

“It was kind of like it was in a very specific phase, that caused interference with spells coming from the outside, but not from the inside.”

Stella scrunched her face up to try to understand, but her mother just looked completely confused.

Fair - I’ve taught Stella about phases and interference, but Kullal doesn’t have a clue.

He tried again. “Ok, let’s do this more practically - can you cast a force spell? I’m going to try to use my antimagic to destablize it in a specific way so that you can understand what I mean. It’ll only work for an instant before the spell breaks, but it’s like a specific vibration - though a vibration of the mana, not the spell itself.”

They kept at it for almost an hour, continuing to eat and drink the entire time. The other Adventurers prodded them for doing work, but Kullal prodded right back. “Don’t smother our fire. This is fun.”

The fox woman decided to cast a dozen subtly different [Force Blocks], then have Nathan indicate the one that was the closest to what he was looking for. After a bit longer, she cast a shield that wavered unsteadily.

Nathan pointed at it. “Close! But the mana structure isn’t stable because of the way the bands are arranged. If you take out this flow then the instability goes away and it will start being permeable to mana.” He reached out with a tendril of antimagic and cut loose the offending portion of the spell, causing it to stabilize for a second before the whole thing melted down.

Kullal’s brows drew down as she stared at where the shield had been. Then she cast another spell - this one was almost more purple than blue. Then her mouth dropped open in shock. “I just Developed [Mana Tuning]. I’ve had that skill at max rank for twelve years.”

Congratulations, you have developed the [Mid-tier Lecturing] utility skill into [High-Tier Lecturing].

Utility skill: [High-Tier Lecturing]

This skill will help you explain concepts, smoothing over gaps and aiding greatly in explanation and understanding. It will help your students connect their own knowledge to what you say, but will not fill in details you do not know, and will not help you suppress people’s doubts about what you are teaching.

“Huh. I just developed my teaching skill. It’s High-Tier now. Nice.”

Dalo turned around, blinking at the commotion. “What occurs? Did you Develop a skill, dear?”

She nodded mutely, gesturing at the purple shield. She flicked a [Force Bolt] at it - and it went straight through.

His jaw dropped. “Blasphemous Endings.”

“Hey!” Kia said from farther down the table, rolling her eyes. “None of that.”

Kullal turned back to Nathan. “I am free of regrets for your teaching.” She turned to her daughter. “Is this what it’s like all the time?”

Her daughter shrugged, tilting her head from side to side. “Not always. But often.”

There was a knock at the door, interrupting them. Dalo muttered something, checking the spells on the door. “It’s your freed Nail. Do you wish to speak with her?”

“Let her in.” It was Sarah, standing up and moving to the door.

Dalo waved his hands and the door unsealed. Sarah opened it, revealing Egall on the other side.

She addressed Nathan. “Myrla wants you. They’ve brought in all of the slaves from the outlying villages. It’s time to free them.”

Oh. I can’t believe I let that slip my mind.

“I’ll be right there.”

He got up, draining his drink and putting it back on the table. The Heirs started to get up but Nathan waved them back down. “I can handle this. Stay and chat with your parents. I’ve got the elites with me.”

They sat back down, and as Nathan moved to close the door he saw Aarl reach into his pack.

“I want eyes on this dimensional ring from a…”

He turned to Egall. “Lead on.”

Status of Nathan Lark:

Permanent Talent 1: Aura of Antimagic 6

Permanent Talent 2: Perfected Body 7

Talent 3: High-tier Slow Fall 10

Class: Implacable Antimage level 210

Deepened Stamina: 6524/6600

Antimage’s Impassivity

Antimagic Momentum

Raging Thrill

Implacable Inertia

Unarmored Resilience

Improved Antimagic

Strenuous Agility

Hand-to-hand Expertise

Class: Assassin of Gemore level76

Regenerative Focus: 860/860

Catastrophic Blows

Stealthy Movement

Infiltration

Forgettable

Unsuspecting Strike

Utility skills:

Battle Meditation 8

Leadership 4

High-tier Sprinting 7

Magical Perception 6

High-tier Notice 10

Magical Intuition 3

High-tier Dodging Footwork 9

Mental Fortress 3

High-tier Lecturing 1

High-tier Tumbling 7

Mid-tier Noticeability 6

Low-tier Quiet Movement 4

Low-tier Disguise 4

Mid-tier Battle Cry 1