After my conversation with Lady Gwen, the one where I revealed we could likely fix her half-cast status, we went for dinner. It was basically mandatory, given her sudden need for knowledge. We stayed up late, visiting long into the night. In addition to her own questions, she filled me in on everything that had been happened to her in the City on the Water.
It turned out Althon had brought her as a consultant because she had an excellent mastery over all the different elements and spells, especially the low-level ones. I could immediately see the use of that sort of skill and was wondering if he would take my offer of fixing her as an attempt at poaching.
Not that I wouldn't accept Lady Gwen if she decided she wanted to come live in Aeternia, but I hardly wanted to upset one of the few decent Dragon-souled I'd met. Well, decent for a certain definition of the word.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t tell Ari the good news. Either our proximity to the wall or the City’s barrier prevented the caster from connecting. I intended to ask Althon about it when I saw him.
That particular dragon-souled summoned me early the next morning.
I rose, letting Calbern fuss over me prior to meeting the Dragon-souled. If ever there was a time to be at my best, this was probably it. Starbreaker was sitting at a table having breakfast with Tresla as I passed through. I noted he'd been on particularly good behavior ever since we'd entered the dome. Other than diving under the water, obviously. For him that felt like it was good behavior.
“Meeting with the big boss, huh?” Tresla asked as I moved past, grabbing a bowl of the crunchy fiber she was chewing on.
Seemed to have some sort of sweetness to it, almost like honey. I nodded as I crunched on the food, quickly checking over my outfit. I hadn't been able to get the flap in place for the last week or so, Calbern having been somewhat distracted though he hadn't told me why. Glad he’d done so that morning. “That's what the messenger tells me.”
“It’d be best if you were careful boy,” Starbreaker said, leaning away from his own meal. “He's known as the Deceiver for a reason.”
“Yeah you'll understand why I take it with a grain of salt when people like you refer to someone as a deceiver,” I said, before throwing back the rest of my bowl. “Anyways, best get going. A wizard is never late.”
“A… wizard?” Starbreaker repeated as I dashed out the door. “Does he think he’s one of those hermits who-”
As soon as I was outside the mansion-like apartment, walked down the white stone steps to the waiting gondola. Technically, I could’ve flown. Yet flying in the City on the Water seemed impolite. Even most of the Magus Domini took the gondolas.
The gondola took me directly to Althon's palace. Gwen was waiting, hands folded neatly in front of her, her dress a flowing number that felt very on theme for the city. She escorted me inside, leading me to Althon's fake throne room. I had to endure ten minutes of pageantry as his snake familiar went on about my many achievements and how they reflected upon the glory of Althon and the City on the Water.
I sort of tuned it out.
Once he was done, he dismissed his court and escorted me down the hall to the painting with a picture of a cabin on it. Much like Gwen had earlier, now Althon stood waiting, leaning on his staff.
The old man's eyes swept over me. I felt laid bare in a way I hadn't in at least a week. Between Astralis, the matriarch of Fores’thall and Bahama, I was getting kinda used to this whole powerful masters stripping me bare with a look thing.
Honestly, none of them could measure up to Ari’s mild frown.
“Your foundation is surprisingly stable,” Althon said after several minutes of quiet inspection. He stroked his long white wizard beard, giving a slow nod. “It is good that you did not rush for the sake of rushing. When I heard how fast you had ascended… it is of no matter. Come we have much to talk about.”
I followed him into the picture. This time my understanding of the principles was a lot further along. I recognized some shared properties with Secrets of Telthon. It wasn't a teleportation to another area so much as we were stepping into a highly compressed dimensional area. The painting wasn't a painting; it was a dimensional space compressed between half an inch of wood. That knowledge was a little bit uncomfortable but I dealt. I literally turned myself into lightning just to save a little bit of mana to get home. Even if I didn’t, it was far from the worst thing I’d subjected myself to.
“I see you haven't been idle,” Althon said as I snapped my attention away from the picture frame. “Already tearing apart my enchantments. Had I half a dozen apprentices as capable as you, we wouldn't be in this bind.”
"What bind is that?" I asked, looking back. “The monsters?”
“If the monsters were the only threat I faced, I would have already dealt with them,” Althon grumped out, hitting the ground with his staff. “It's Felor and her fanatics causing most of my problems, though Astralis and his ilk haven't made things easy. At least Velos does his part.”
“Felor? The golden weapon Dragon-souled? The one that goes around chopping people in half? What’s she doing?”
“You'll find there are a lot of Dragon-souled who go around chopping people in half,” Althon said, shaking his head as he led the way up the path towards his cabin. “Once you reach a certain level of strength, it's more a matter of making sure you don't.” He paused on the wooden step, instead of leading the way inside. He gestured to a nearby bench, taking a rocking chair next to it.
Lady Gwen, who’d remained silent, immediately sat down on the bench. I took a position between her and Althon.
“Here we are, under siege from enemies that brought humanity low, fighting and snickering like rabid dogs,” Althon said, shaking his head as he stared out across the rolling fields of compressed space.
“Yeah… Yeah, I can sympathize with that.”
“Oh? Do tell.”
After explaining everything I’d been dealing with in Aeternia, from House Fores’thall, to the clans, to the Sahevin, it was Althon’s turn.
“Here it's rival Dragon-souled, monsters from beyond, and now these damn silver fliers that keep destroying sections of the dome in seemingly random whims.”
“I hear you.”
Althon and I might have gone into a slightly self-indulgent commiseration over the inability of others to see past their noses. Only slightly self-indulgent though.
Thankfully, Gwen brought us back on topic before we wasted too much time. “Gentlemen.”
Althon grabbed his beard, stroking it while rocking in his chair. “So you got this gate network working for mana costs that are reasonable?”
“Reasonable? More like cheap.” I summoned a copy of calculations, handing them over to the man. “It's possible I could make improvements to the gate system too.” It was a risk, showing him the numbers. One I was hoping would pay off. If I could investigate the gates, there was a lot I could learn. “Of course, I’d have to inspect it closely to confirm it.”
Althon nodded slowly, pushing out of his chair. “I think that can be arranged. You didn't have anything else for today did you?”
“I mean I’m trying to get home but I suppose since we're here…”
Honestly I'd been wanting to take a closer look at the gates ever since I passed through them. As much as I wanted to get home, without there being an emergency to get back to, looking at the gates might very well solve the issue of being able to punch past whatever anti-magic effect the wall of flesh was imposing. If we could do that we could establish trade directly with the Forgelands. Even if I wasn't insanely curious I would’ve been able to justify taking a closer look.
None of that passed through my head at the time. No. The only thing that occurred to me was that I was finally, after more than a year of contemplating it in the back of my head, getting a chance to investigate how the gates worked. Wasn’t regretting my choice to focus on worlds at all.
Instead of going out to inspect the Gate, Althon took me to a small shelf in the back of his cabin, littered with some of the most valuable books I’d ever gotten to see. An archive of world's magic. I did my best to hide my excitement, though I doubted I was successful, considering how quickly I went back and forth between them. The quick way to do it would have been to scan the books and go into my Memory Palace and retrieve the information.
And yet, while my hand did go to my grimoire, ready to channel Review Scrolls, I found myself paging through them first.
“It is gratifying to see such exuberance in the young,” Althon said, chuckling softly from where he stood over by the same table where he'd laid out the maps that proclaimed my name in Nexxa's futures. Futures we'd already shifted.
“Do you even know what this is?” I asked, holding up one of the thinner books. It wasn't a magic spell book. It was a technical manual written in a language I vaguely recognized as being from Earth. I was pretty sure it was French though it could equally have been Spanish. What it did have, though, was diagnostics and statistics for some sort of interdimensional drive and the maintenance procedures for them. And the measurements were in units I recognized, even if it was metric.
“I have some vague idea,” Althon said, gesturing to the much thicker book that sat next to the thin technical manual. I cracked it open, flipping through the pages. Sure enough it was a translation from the former into Elinder. As I went I quickly compiled a list. Even if I didn't know the language incredibly well, with my Memory Palace I'd be able to go back in and double-check to see if the notes lined up. It seemed a trip inside was going to be happening either way. That was a secondary thought as I read through the bigger book. It wasn’t merely a translation.
It looked like his own notes. There were comments on probable uses, origins and construction methods. One of the first things I noticed was that it didn't use any affinity material. I was glad he let me get lost in the book.
Gwen cleared her throat after I'd been pouring through the collection of books for nearly twenty minutes. “Would it not be wiser to peruse these in enhanced time?”
she asked, looking between the two of us.
Althon chuckled. “Perhaps there is a certain physicality that I've never felt, got captured inside of a Memory Prison.”
I stopped turning the look at him. "Memory Prison? There's no way that was an accidental turn of phrase.”
“That is what they were originally designed for: to trap people, keep them away from civilization without killing them. At least from my research.” He gestured at another of the books on the shelf. “I've always thought that perhaps it was some sort of subtle torture or retraining device as well.”
I nodded but I also thought about what prisons had been like back when I'd been around. They'd been a way to extract value from the inmates. I'd heard that over in Europe there were prisons that properly rehabilitated people. Maybe Memory Palace had been intended for that type of restraint. It was all just guessing.
Instead of sitting around, I did as Lady Gwen suggested, using my spell to scan the books. Then we made our way into memory. At least, I attempted to, taking a seat in one of the big leather chairs near the bookshelf to cast the spell, only to have it fizzle.
“You won't be able to do that here, boy,” Althon said, tugging my arm. “Last person I had try that was Books.” He pat my shoulder, chuckling softly. “How's the boy doing? He's all right, yeah?”
I knew he had spies in our territory. He probably knew more about Books than I did, given how rarely I interacted with the man. Still, didn’t hurt to answer. “Yeah he's doing well. He's taken on the role of Magus Librarium.”
“Oh, I'm sure he must love that. He was a good Magus Domini but he always did prefer his books,” Althon said, shaking his head and running his hand through his long luxurious beard. “Now then let's get you someplace you can get studied up. Then we’ll see about visiting the gate.”
I nodded, following along, though I was only half paying attention, once more diving into his notes.
“Shall you peruse my collection within my Memory Prison?” Althon asked once we’d reached a small garden. At some point Lady Gwen had split off, so it was just the two of us.
“When you phrase it like that, I feel like the answer should be no,” I said, snapping the book closed, looking around the small room.
“Not so enamored as I feared, then. What do you know of the Memory Prison line of spells?”
“Depends on the spell. There’s vulnerability in joining one. Or in letting others into yours.”
“Simply using the spell can allow you to be trapped within,” Althon said, gesturing for me to sit across from him. “However, there are variants that are… shall we say, more robust. If you’re going to continue relying upon it, it would be best you have such.”
“Does that mean I get to peek at your grimoire again?” I still remembered how much I’d gleaned from one of his lesser grimoires, and I’d only had that for a couple days.
Althon stroked his beard, a smile tugging at his lips. However, he shook his head. “I haven’t even allowed Books to view my true grimoire. Yet there are ways to share spells outside grimoires.”
My first thought was Thozgar’s library. Then the many spellbooks kept preserved in the Aranor family’s library. That was something I hoped our research institute might emulate soon.
“I see you’re familiar with the concept,” Althon said, chuckling at my distraction.
“Sure. Lots of ways to do it. A grimoire’s different though.”
“Indeed, it is.” Althon clapped his hands, and a page unfurled next to him, the ink setting into place even as it drifted towards me. “However, there are ways to quench one’s thirst for knowledge without giving away the river.”
I accepted the scroll as it dropped into my hands. It only took me a few seconds to realize it was a version of the spell he’d mentioned, annotated with his personal thoughts.
Althon’s Fortress of the Mind, Ascending.
Books my boy, if you’re reading this, congratulations on reaching Hydra-souled. If someone else is reading this, I suspect I’m either sitting across from you, or I’m about to flay your soul from your body.
You’d best pray it’s the former.
This spell has been stripped of many of its most formidable components, so that you may make use of it as you ascend. However, I have done so in such a way that you will not need to rescribe each version separately, but instead simply incorporate the new components as you ascend.
If anyone can appreciate the complexity of such a feat, I’m sure it’s you, my boy.
With this spell, you may ensure that your mind is every bit as much of a fortress as the keep you’re so fond of.
And just like that keep, it is a spell you’ll be building as you grow.
Guess the old man really did care for Books. Was hard to imagine putting in this much effort for anyone who I didn’t consider family.
A glance at Althon’s wizened face, and I suspected he felt the same. Even if he hadn’t admitted it yet.