Beyond?

“First acknowledge your past, then plan your future.”

-Andur the Wise.

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

***Azir***

“So he is weakened by your curse? And he'll probably attack again because the stars are in a beneficial constellation to practice summoning magic?” Ryland looks at me with a doubtful expression while he is resting his legs on the table in his office.

The room is fairly large with a table for Ryland and a couch in the middle of the room. The walls are littered with shelves. All of them are filled with documents of one sort or the other.

I nod eagerly while I survey the room. Quarma is sitting in a comfy chair, wearing a grumpy expression. It seems like she is assisting Ryland. According to what I heard she has a long history with hunting black magicians.

Karsen and Talia are guarding the door while leaning against the walls, looking bored.

“That raises the question why you know so much about summoning magic?” Ryland looks at me with a raised eyebrow.

“Errm.” I scratch my chest. “I like reading books about summoning magic.”

“Books? Where did you get them?” Ryland squints his eyes.

“The library!” That's a good excuse. The library has tons of books. They don't even know what they have in their hands for the most part, since nobody understands the books.

“The library has books about a forbidden art?” Ryland keeps digging.

“I think you can let this go Ryland. He is my daughter's son after all. Every clan has at least some knowledge about the forbidden arts. You can't fight what you don't understand.” Quarma grumbles from her chair.

Ooh. Thanks old hag, though I am quite sure that she did it for the clan and not for me.

In that moment the door flies open and Stella rushes in. “Azir? Are you okay?”

I turn around and smile. “No injuries. I just ran into a dark magician. Why are you even here? It's late at night, you should be at home.”

“The entire campus is talking about the explosion! And that you were involved.” Stella waves her arms.

Another person enters the room. “Brother!”

I sigh as my little sister flies to my side and hugs me. She entered the university herself recently and she matured quite a lot. She is still a head shorter than me and wears her light blue hair as a braid. Her horns became similar to an elongated turned omega, running backwards above her head. They are a little curved too.

If it wasn't for the horns I would think that she is a younger version of my mother. In a few years she'll have the same beautiful, but sharp eyes as her. Though at this point she still looks a little childish.

“It's okay, nothing happened. You can let go.” I try to get her off, but she doesn't let go. My mother created a monster when she ordered her to keep an eye on me.

“But I wouldn't know what to do if something happened to my brother! Mother would kill me.” Finally, she lets go of me. “Grandmother! What happened? How could you let my brother get involved.”

The old granny doesn't answer and smiles instead.

I stand up. “Okay? How about we all go home for today? The search is on and we can only wait for its conclusion anyway?”

As if to mock my words the whole room vibrates a little. It's like a minor earthquake, so I doubt that another explosion is the reason. “Okay? I take that back. Undo the earthquake, I want to go to sleep.”

But my prayer isn't heard. A moment later the door opens and one of Ryland's helpers steps inside. “The floor of one of the auditoriums caved in!”

Ryland stands up. “Casualties?”

He runs out of the room, Karsen and Talia on his heels. Quarma follows with my little sister right behind her. Stella follows them too.

I am left behind alone. “Guys? Isn't something on that scale the army's job?”

***

Goodbye, Professor Agate Eddin. I'll keep you in my memory.

Our group was led to the room where I should have had my lesson about artifice. But instead of the auditorium, there is just a big deep hole where the floor should be.

“There should have been thirty four students in that lesson.” One of Ryland's subordinates supplies him with information while others light up the hole with spells, but there is just a pitch black tunnel. It leads down into the earth at a steep angle. There are about thirty of Ryland's agents searching the area.

“Thirty three! I am here!” I lift a helping hand to correct the guy who informed Ryland.

“This is big. To think that they would take such measures.” Ryland grumbles and jumps down into the hole.

Quarma follows him with a bitter expression. “It seems like they were using the old basement vaults of the university. I thought they were properly sealed!”

“Twenty with me! The rest guards the entrance!” Ryland calls up from down in the pit. Fourteen women and six men follow his command without question. Even Karsen and Talia jump down into the hole.

My little sister steps forward too and I grab her at her tail. “Hey! Hey! What do you think you are doing?”

“Following the law. If someone uses magic for dark purposes, everyone who can has to stop them. Since we are members of one of the great clans, we can't hide from this responsibility.” She slaps my hand away and jumps down into the pit.

Stella smirks at me. “A chance to gain fame!” She follows them.

I watch them disappear in the dark hole, which leads down into the earth. Memories of dark tunnels and confined spaces well up inside my mind. “Aw! I hate this idea. Can't we wait for them to come out?”

Fighting against my instinct, I jump down into the hole and follow them through the tunnel. It narrows after a few feet to a width of about three metres. I summon a light globe and make haste to catch up to the leading group.

At first the walls of the tunnel look like something clawed its way through the stone, but then we reach a section which is stabilized with bricks. “What's this. Something like this was under the university?”

“The catacombs and vaults under the university are from the time of the Empire. The university buildings were simply built above them. But to my knowledge all of them should have been collapsed or sealed.” Ryland explains.

I don't like this at all. “Great. Please dismiss the guy who brought you that information for collaboration with the enemy. I hate having something like a cave system under my feet.”

Stella snickers in front of me. “Today I've learned something new. Azir dislikes confined spaces.”

“Shut up. There is no way to tell what we'll encounter down here. It would be great if it doesn't know in advance that we are coming.” Quarma complains and the group goes silent.

We have quite a few people down here. I take a look back down the tunnel and then forward again. If something bad happens it'll be hard to retreat. But there is nothing we can do about that, we might need the fighting power for what awaits us.

And who says that there is just one enemy?

A few minutes later we encounter a small cavern with three possible tunnels to choose from. Ryland stops and curses.

Quarma looks down each tunnel. “We have to split our group to search faster. There is no way to tell what could happen to the captured people if we take too long.”

Splitting up inside a tunnel system is a shitty idea. How often can you do it until your fighting strength is reduced to nothing? Now we would need to divide into three groups. What if those groups have to split up another time?

“It's the one to the left.” All eyes turn towards me. Sorry for having experience with tunnels and cave systems. Don't look at me like that. “It's the only one which was used recently. Can't you see the dust particles moving in the air?”

I focus the light which is emitted by my light globe into three tight beams and point them down the tunnels. Only the tunnel which I indicated is filled with dust particles. The air in the others is clean after a few feet.

Quarma squints her eyes while glaring at me. “How did you see that?”

I point at my eyes. “Mana Sense.” A convenient lie. It's simply long honed experience in judging the air movement against one's skin.

Ryland isn't that suspicious of me and enters the tunnel I pointed out. We follow and wander deeper into the earth.

I keep staying on guard, concentrating all my senses forward and even using my mana sense to scout the tunnel ahead of us.

After a few minutes of walking I sense someone in the tunnel ahead of us. “Stop.”

Quarma curses. “What now?”

“A guard. Fifty metres ahead of us.” I point into the darkness ahead of us.

“I can't sense anything.” My sister complains.

“Then you don't have the range. He is there. I'll go and take him out. His aura doesn't seem that strong. Give me a little time and follow.” I cast a physical enhancement spell and take off before anyone can stop me.

None of them is stupid enough to call after me. My decision might seem rash, but there is something amiss about that guard. Something that seems strangely familiar, though I can't place it.

I run down the corridor while being as silent as possible and dispel my light globe. If my hunch is right, then speed is of the essence. Increasing my speed as I am closing in, I cast and illusion spell, drowning the area in front of me in darkness. I am affecting myself too, but I don't need my vision.

A pale figure appears in the darkness in front of me. But I don't take my time to comprehend what I see and strike the enemy's throat. A quiet gurgle escapes the pale figure and I shape my mana, forming a dagger in my hand. It works perfectly fine and I jab it into my opponents chest. He goes down without another sound.

Staring into the tunnel ahead of me I keep my silence. But there is nothing. No movement. No sound. After several long moments I allow my eyes to wander down to my opponent and recast the light globe.

A naked pale white figure is under me. The earlobes are long, reaching down to its shoulders. Huge dead eyes are staring at me, still filled with hatred. Countless scars cover its body, forming strange nonsensical runes and symbols. It looks skinny and starved, but I know that they all look like that. It's at least one head larger than me. Ah, how long has it been since I saw one of their kind?

“What's that thing? A demon?”

“There is a light ahead of us.”

I turn around and see that the others caught up. “We have to go and stop whatever they are doing.” I let go of the dagger which was formed by my mana and it disperses like it never existed.

We continue on our path until we enter a big round room. There are no other exits, but there are more of the white figures, facing an altar with a red portal above it. It seems like they are praying.

A one handed man raises a head above the altar and mutters something. Probably a formula to keep the portal open. I know that head, I think it belongs to a girl from the artifice course.

In the corner of the room are several bound and gagged people.

Then one of the white creatures turns around and hisses, alerting the others and the one handed man. He turns towards us and reveals a red glowing amulet on his chest. That artefact calls up memories. He points at us. “Kill them!”

Ryland draws his sword, while the others are entering the room. There are thirty of the white creatures, but they are in a tightly packed formation.

I raise my hand and cast. A small blue orb penetrates their ranks and bursts apart like a fragmentation grenade. It's one of my personal creations. If my clan can create something like a tentacle from mana, then why not weapons? And taking it a step further, why not condensing mana over its threshold and shooting that at your enemy?

Karsen steps forward and roasts the opponents by shooting out flames from his hands. My grandmother conjures a ray of light which incinerates an opponent.

But our enemies aren't slow. They lunge forward with incredible speed, some of them jumping onto the ceiling or crawling over the walls. Most of them are unarmed, but some have nasty looking rusty swords and axes. The fight turns into a bloody mess as both parties clash.

We may have enough people, but our numbers are worthless. Most of us are still in the tunnel behind us.

Ryland realizes that the situation can't go on like this and gives the only command possible. “Charge!” He jumps into the mess of skinny white figures while a yellow aura is encasing him. Hacking and slicing wherever the opponents offer a piece of flesh to him.

I summon up all the mana in my vicinity and encase myself in a blue layer of mana. Another thought forms a spear in my hands and I charge into the enemies to create enough time for the rest of our people to leave the tunnel.

One of the things jumps at me, clawing with futile effort at my exposed back. I sent it flying by ramming the blunt end of my spear into its jaw. Then Stella is beside me, nailing one of the creatures with an arcane lance.

The man at the altar realizes that our offence is overwhelming his minions, but he is still grinning. A fireball appears in his hand and he aims it at the entrance as Ryland reaches him. I try to free myself to stop him from casting, but the creatures around me are too annoying.

The summoner is still grinning while his head is being lopped off. The fireball rushes off towards the entrance and impacts right above the supporting arch of the entrance.

People and creatures alike are blown through the air like puppets. The entrance caves in, but that's not the worst of it. Cracks are beginning to form in the ceiling. I ignore the enemies around me and send long tendrils of mana out to support the structure of the room. Other fighters realize what I am doing and jump to my aide and protect me.

A big stone loosens and falls down, hitting Stella, who was occupied with and enemy. She goes down.

“Stella!” I call out for her, but I am occupied at the moment. Luckily one of Ryland's subordinates deals with Stella's opponent.

Other tendrils shoot up to the ceiling and stop the cave in for the moment. Looking for the origin, I find my sister imitating my attempt on stopping the cave in.

Moments later the fighting stops and is replaced by silence. Only the moaning of the wounded and the muffled crying of some captives can be heard.

I slowly walk over to Stella, keeping my concentration on the supporting tendrils. Luckily she is just unconscious. The stone gave her a big bump on the forehead though, so I pick her up in a princess carry.

“Shit!” Ryland inspects the entrance while his subordinates are freeing the captives.

I feel pearls of sweat forming on my forehead. Keeping my tendrils in this form is very taxing. “We have to get out of here.” Surveying the room, I find all the people who are known to me still alive and well. Only Stella is out cold.

Even Agate survived somehow. Boot! Why didn't the summoner sacrifice her first?

Talia walks up to the caved in entrance. “We need to dig.”

“Stop it!” My sister calls out. “Did you take a look at my brother and me? We can't hold the ceiling for much longer.”

My eyes wander to the red shimmering portal. “That's the only exit.”

My grandmother gasps. “Are you insane!? Who knows where that could take us.”

I don't answer and return my concentration to the ceiling. There is only one escape route. They'll have to admit it when the first rocks are coming down on their heads.

“A chance with the portal is better than being crushed.” My sister admits and starts retreating towards the portal with a strained face.

For a moment I consider to simply teleport out of here. I could save Stella. Maybe I manage to take my sister too. But that's it. I can't teleport all of them out of here before the ceiling comes down on their heads. There are tons of rock and earth above our heads.

Ryland nods. “Through the portal. All of you. The people who can fight first, then the students.” He keeps watching while everyone disappears inside the red maw with horrified expressions on their faces.

Me and my sister are the last to step through the portal. We nod to each other and then she is gone.

While I am taking a last look behind me, the ceiling starts to crumble. But the only ones who are left behind are dead bodies.

Then I walk through the portal with Stella in my arms, loathing where it will take me.

.