The following is this humble scholar's confrontation with the being known as Conflict, whereupon I extracted a retelling of the period shortly after my first entry in 'The Last Magelord of Ro'an.' This account came at great risk to my health. To even speak to it, I was forced to face one of the devil's metallic minions. This ordeal I survived through my wit and skill, despite Institute's continual refusal to provide funding for adequate equipment.
–Artemis Lunark, Scholar of History at New Ro’an Interplanetary Research Institute.
***
Lunark took a deep breath as he stared at the broken form of the murder machine. It looked like a spiked fruit, except with blades and wheels.
And it had nearly killed him.
Rattling chains drew his attention to the being that had brought him so close to death. Conflict rose into the air, the being settling into a sitting position. It glared down at him with eyes that smoldered as hot as the nearby foundries. "You have proven your right to take the trials. And one lesser favor."
The favor. He hadn't been sure it would be real. He didn't have to think about it, and made his request. “The Last Magelord. What happened after he fought after the Frost Riven invaded?”
"You wish to know of the reforger after he nearly lost Aeternia and Inertia both? Very well.
"After the attack on the then unrefined Magus Dominus’ mountain, he discovered the intruders had used soul magic to secure their captured. A prudent decision, if foolish in the reach of my brothers.
"It didn't take the reforger long to realize he needed assistance, and thus recruited such. An assistant named Tamrie. This should have been a footnote, yet weak are the hearts of men, and her weakness pushed him to find a way to reforge her into a mage."
"Wait, reforge her? The records said she'd always been a mage." This was good. Exactly the sort of thing Lunark was there to uncover. "What sort of sick experiments did the last magelord perform just to help his lover?"
Conflict leaned forward, the chains swinging over Lunark’s head, somehow carrying a note of chiding. "The reforger did not need to conduct such. He plundered the knowledge of others and turned it to his own ends.
"Of course, this was not the reforger's sole focus. His minions, the Tethered, started taking to the skies on simple kites, barely enchanted or engineered. Even his apprentice Bevel rose. More importantly, they repaired the Waygate network and began construction on a crude airship. Not that either stayed operational. But one cannot expect perfection from anything, least of all such young mortals."
Lunark held up a hand, earning a flash of deep orange light from Conflict's gaze. He almost didn't ask his question, swallowing loudly before pressing onward. "An airship? I thought that came later?"
"It was a crude prototype. One they would not have completed had they not come to eliminate a pest who infested what they call the Wyvern Peaks. For if not for that sordid task, they might never have discovered my domain. Not being complete fools, it wasn't long before he and his Knight Exemplar Calbern came to reforge themselves.
"As the weather became less cooperative, the Howling season in full effect as they called it, they continued building and even exploring. It was during this time they regained access to the Golden Halls of Ascension, where my brother Depths lay buried."
While the devil hadn't mentioned it, Lunark knew that was when the last magelord first discovered the title Magus Protectus. He wasn't certain when exactly the man had started calling himself such though.
"Not long after, the reforger left to visit his sister Lenexxa, carried upon the power of the storm. While there, he helped develop her infrastructure only to convince her to abandon it. Ever do mortals struggle with efficiency. Though it is hardly limited to your kind. My brother Tender has the same flaw. How fitting then that the reforger encountered them upon his return. During one of my brother's trials, the reforger's apprentice Bevel was healed. A reforging of the mind as much as the body. I believe there was some other significance to the pair, as well."
“His daughter?” Lunark interjected.
The machine devil paused, tilting its head as its orange eyes flared bright enough to briefly overwhelm the scholar's shields, despite the rigorous training the institute requires all their scholars put in to strengthen them. Lunark wisely shut his mouth.
"It wasn't long after that he and his pet Forgeborn launched their crude airship. Instead of the myriad of useful purpose they could have set it to, they turned into a ferry for mortals. As though a single ship could save those fleeing the monsters sweeping across the continent. As it always does with mortals, taking in refuse did not end well. The refugees were not simply disruptive, one even managed to destroy the very airship carrying them to safety. A most inefficient experiment."
"The reforger didn't allow the former Magus Dominus to pose a threat, robbing them of their strength while they were incapacitated. He even allowed his stone minions to dispose of him. An efficient solution."
That... Lunark wanted to chastise the last magelord for that, but he'd read the accounts of Magus Dominus Balthum. The atrocities the man had committed were half the reason the scholar had been certain he'd find more about the last magelord he was investigating.
Conflict flicked its fingers, sending a clang echoing through the room that rattled Lunark's shields, breaking him out of his thoughts.
It leaned down towards him, its permanent grin seeming to stretch despite being etched out of metal.
"And then, as expected, the Barrier Pillars failed."