Ends of Magic

In the seconds before he impacted the street, Nathan briefly considered landing on Faline, killing her without warning in the way he’d killed so many mages. He discarded the idea, instead deciding to land intimidatingly close to the assassin - and without slowing himself down very much.

We’re on the same side, but I’m never going to trust her again.

Nathan’s feet cracked stone as he slammed to the ground just feet away from the assassin. She dodged backwards, but not far. She wasn’t especially fast, just sneaky, experienced and vicious. In a straight fight he'd certainly win.

He greeted her flatly. “Faline.”

The knives she’d drawn vanished as suddenly as they had appeared, and she smiled up at him. “Nathan! Your presence sparks my courage.” Her disguise came off in a flurry of cloth as it vanished into her dimensional bag to reveal tight leather underneath. Her dark hair grew out and became silky with iridescent streaks as her face and body morphed into statuesque beauty, and the smile became truly dazzling. “You did it. The Academy has fallen. How did it happen? Are all of the mages inside of it dead” She blinked up at him, lips parted slightly.

If Nathan’s approach had intimidated her, she wasn’t showing it. He studied her impassively for a long moment, ignoring her physical charms and looking for nervous tells. He didn’t see any.

She’s been a spy and assassin in Giantsrest for a damned long time. If she was anything less than perfect and lucky she’d be dead. This isn’t a game you’re going to beat her at.

“The Academy is gone, and most of the mages in it” He confirmed flatly. “The building itself was a dungeon the Questors had tamed. I broke their control, and that’s why the golems went crazy. Badud destroyed the entire place trying to kill me.”

She nodded to herself as if confirming a theory. “A dungeon under the control of the archmages.” She looked back up to Nathan. “Your antimagic was the light that allowed you to hide inside, in plain sight as you killed mages.”

It hadn’t been spoken as a question, but Nathan answered it as one. “It did.” He didn't give her the details she was fishing for. =Instead he cut to the chase, and asked the question that had been on the tip of his tongue ever since he’d seen her. “Why are you here, Faline? You said you were returning to Halsmet, and Giantsrest has fallen.”

Without you.

Her answer came quickly, lightly. “Not all of it. Mages and archmages remain, and they must burn.” She gestured over Nathan’s shoulder, towards the Chokiz estate and Aarl hovering overhead, watching them talk with uncertainty writ across his face. “Now that we can act openly, it is time to cleanse Giantsrest. I can train…” She moved to step around him, waving up at Aarl as she did so. Then she stopped abruptly as Nathan held his arm in her path.

“No.” Nathan said, his voice growing venomous. “You won’t train any more assassins here. I’ve seen how you treat your students. Stay away from the people I’ve freed. They don’t need you.”

Faline’s eyebrows crinkled in genuine-seeming confusion. “So long as a single mage of Giantsrest survives, they are in danger. I can protect them, and teach them to protect themselves from those that enslaved them. You’re angry enough at me to endanger them?” She looked him up and down, taking a performative step back. “Did your Rage class Develop so far?”

She’s trying to make me doubt my own anger towards her, imply I'm letting my skills influence my opinion.

Nathan was unsure how to address her implication. In the end, he decided to go with the simple, unvarnished truth. “I don’t trust you, Faline. You manipulated and betrayed me, and I don’t want you influencing the freed slaves of Giantsrest.”

Her mouth opened in genuine indignance. But then again, she always appeared genuine. “Please, explain how I betrayed you. We fought the same enemy, and you were the one to falter.”

With a deep breath, Nathan fought back a snarl. Blowing up at Faline for her manipulations wouldn’t solve anything. Unless he killed her. But she’d served as Gemore’s spy in Giantsrest for decades, and averted more than one invasion by murdering the right person at the right time. She was vicious, but she had justification for it.

She did a job nobody else could do. But now that a better way is possible, I worry that she’ll fall into old patterns. If she had her way, every mage and all of their families would die. But that’s not the correct path. That's fighting the battle of yesterday at the expense of today.

After the breath, he faced her again with a smooth face. “Not every mage needs to die. Mages are a vital part of Gemore, even the ones who were originally from Giantsrest. The freed elites here will have enough trouble working with magic-users without your poison.”

Faline tried to interrupt, to insert herself into his commentary with some social skill. Nathan rolled right over her. “The people I’ve freed will be protected, and organized by others, by Halsmet and the Adventurers. We can talk and share information, but we won’t work with you. Stay away from the freed slaves.” He didn’t threaten, but he did clench his fists in an implied threat.

The assassin’s eyes flicked down to his hands, narrowing in calculation. Her jaw set stubbornly. She opened her mouth to challenge Nathan once more. Then the sound of steel on stone sounded down the street and Khachi came into view, Stella by his side. He marched forward like a tank rolling down the street, barrel sighted in on the woman beside Nathan and golden aura a halo overhead.

The assassin scowled at him, and her jaw snapped shut. She turned back to Nathan and nearly spat her words. “Then this is your nemesis to slay. I will go to the northern cities, and ensure the mages there do not seek to destroy Gemore in revenge.” She turned to leave, rippling like a mirage as her stealth skills reactivated to escape Khachi's notice.

Nathan watched her go with dual feelings of vindication and loss. Faline was capable, and she would be a fabulous ally to have against the Questors. But he couldn't trust her, and she was too tied up in her endless struggle against Giantsrest to do anything else. His tone was softer as he called out one last time. “Don’t fight endlessly. Ask yourself, when is your war done?”

She paused in her flight, turning back to Nathan and speaking in a sourceless voice. “Vud dho Nam seeks to take his slaves to Azamar. They are leaving from the southern gate. Go, if you wish to be a hero.” The sarcasm on the words were cutting, but carried an odd note of longing. Then the assassin turned and fled, moving quickly until she could round an alley and retreat before Khachi could catch her.

Khachi slowed to a halt near Nathan, looking around warily. “She’s gone?”

“Yeah.” Nathan said, pointing in the direction Faline had gone. Then he looked curiously at the wolfman. “Why did she run away from you like that? Were you going to attack her?”

Khachi’s expression was pensive, eyes flitting around to catch any trace of the assassin. “She spoke lies to my mother about her murders. Sudraiel halted Kia from slaying her like a monster. They are enemies.”

“Were you going to attack her?” Nathan repeated, sharing an alarmed look with Stella.

The wolfman shook his head. “No. But I would have invoked a divine mandate upon her to speak the full truth.”

“Hear me, she might fear that just as much.” Stella said with a shaky chuckle. She was wide-eyed at the thought of so openly challenging the master of the Assassins of Gemore.

Nathan blew air out from his cheeks, then gestured for Aarl and Sarah to come down out of the sky. “Come on, she said that there was a mage taking all of his slaves out of the southern gate. She might lie, but not about something so immediately verifiable.”

“Could this merely be a stalker’s ploy, so she can hide amongst the freed slaves?” Khachi asked.

“I doubt it.” Nathan replied. “We’re not always on watch, so she could always slip in when somebody else is. But I can see through her disguises, and she knows it. I warned her away from here, and if she doesn’t stay away then I might really kill her.”

Stella winced again. “She’s held back Giantsrest for decades. It feels like a blasphemous betrayal to kill her now that the battle is won.”

Aarl and Sarah floated down nearby, with Aarl steadying Sarah’s uncertain flight. It was notably better than it had been, but she still bobbed around uncertainty.

The conversation with Faline had crystallized a line of thought for Nathan, and he mused aloud. “She’s been the knife in the dark for a long time. Killing the innocent and the guilty both, to protect Gemore. I don’t know if it was necessary or not - and it's hard to judge since we weren't there. But it isn’t needed any longer. The Academy is no more, and Giantsrest can’t survive without it.”

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

He hit his stride, voice becoming more confident. “She wants to kill all of the mages. But if we do that, then every mage will fight to their last breath. They will attack our villages with destructive spells for no other reason than revenge. And then Giantsrest and all of the people who live here will fall to the monsters of Davrar. The Adventurers of Gemore can’t protect the city of Giantsrest and all five cities. They could barely protect Halsmet while it found its feet.

“The mages need to be involved in whatever happens next.” Nathan shrugged. “I don’t know what that is, and I have no idea how to set it up. But not only would it be wrong to kill them, I don’t think we can." Then he snorted. “This sounds like Myrla’s problem. We kill the monsters and slavers, she gets the intractable governing problems.”

Khachi’s answering smile exposed every single one of his teeth. His aura blazed out, filling the street with light. “Your light illuminates our Path.” Then he looked around at the brightly lit street. “Well. My light illuminates our physical path, but you lead us towards righteousness. Did you say something about a caravan of slaves?”

“Right.” Nathan said. “Southern gate. Let’s go. Can you fly yet?”

The wolfman grimaced. “No, but I am working on an Insight for that.” He took a deep breath and intoned a prayer. “Righteous battle lies elsewhere, and I must be there. To save the innocent, I require speed. By my power and my oaths, I will move.” His aura stretched downwards towards the street, and divine mana spilled out of the fabric of Davrar to surround Khachi’s feet. It looked like he was wearing boots of golden light. “Let us hurry!” Khachi took a few exploratory steps, each movement carrying him dozens of feet forward as his feet lifted him up and forward. It looked easy and natural, like the magic was helping him balance and adjust to the strange movement. Then he started running south with blurring speed.

“Let’s go!” Stella cried out, lifting into the air and laughing as she accelerated after him. Sarah followed. Aarl was close behind, ready to grab her sister if she looked like she was about to crash.

Nathan climbed into the air after them, stressing his skills to keep up with his friends. His Talent let him walk on the air, and he had multiple skills to boost his speed. He still needed to spend Stamina freely to keep up with them.

And that’s why mages are powerful. I need a Talent, four skills and a class resource to equal a single spell.

–

They caught the caravan outside the gates. It was huge, with at least a thousand people surrounding a long train of wagons. They traveled on the broad southern road that connected the city of Giantsrest to the cities of Aardglass and Azamar. Near the front of the caravan were a few covered palanquins carried by burly slaves. The rear was protected by formations of mages, elites and slave-soldiers carrying bows as well as shields.

The Heirs jumped the convoy with much the same plan they’d used against Archmage Dennar’s forces earlier that day. Nathan bounded through the air at the front and used his aura to block the spells thrown their way as Khachi charged on the ground holding his magically augmented shield in front of him. The other Heirs attacked from the air, with Aarl close behind Nathan, Stella even further back and Sarah remaining distant.

Their opponents volleyed spells and arrows at them, but Nathan’s aura was large enough to intercept the entire volley. He almost the redirected spells back at their casters - but it was too likely that the magic would go wide and hit the people they were trying to save. He did manage to strip the magic from the most dangerous arrows, detonating several explosive ones mid-flight.

High-tier Aura Manipulation 9 achieved!

Void of Magic promised me an aura large enough to cover the battlefield.

Every one of the Heirs had their own protections against the remaining arrows. Nathan took a few inconsequential hits as he dodged most of the salvo. Khachi’s shield covered his entire body, and even skill-enhanced arrows bounced away from the protective magic. Aarl’s armor was impermeable to the ones he didn’t manage to cut from the air, and a large spherical shield around Stella protected both herself and Sarah.

Then the Heirs reached the convoy and split up to go after independent targets. Khachi slammed into the frontline with a burst of light while Aarl zipped overhead to target the mages just beyond. Stella focused on keeping the groups of archers suppressed with gusts of wind. Sarah sniped the mages from farther away, compensating for the unfamiliar flight with skill and skills.

Nathan’s attention was split a dozen different ways as he flew over the caravan. He dodged the occasional projectile, popped [Mage Armor] spells and snuffed the occasional fireball. But Focus enabled him to handle all of that and stay oriented on his true target. The palanquins had accelerated even as the rest of the formation turned to face the approaching Heirs, and a gap was opening up between them and the rest of the slaves.

Nope. The master isn’t getting away.

Acceleration 9 achieved!

There were enchantments on both of the palanquins, but the left one had much more powerful defenses and was carried by slave-elites. It was the obvious target. Nathan crashed into the wooden litter from the side and sent it toppling to the ground. He landed easily, stalking through the wreckage to home in on the mana pool of the mage who’d been in the litter.

The small enslavement mage spluttered and flailed as he tried to extricate himself from the wreckage of his conveyance, but Nathan didn’t give him time to get his bearings. He crushed a half-dozen protective enchantments before grabbing the green robes and pulling the man into a descending punch.

Spellslayer has leveled to 446! You have slain the fabulously rich enslavement mage Vud dho Nam as he attempted to escape you!

The elites surrounding Nathan were faster to get to their feet, and they attacked him immediately. He tore apart the magic enslaving them as he dodged past their weapons and shouted into their faces. “Be free! You have no masters! Join the people of Giantsrest in building a new society.” Nathan tossed the command over his shoulder as he closed in on the second litter. It hadn’t stopped when he’d attacked, and was another fifty feet down the road.

It didn’t matter much. Nathan closed in and repeated his attack, finding an older woman in a green robe who tried to stab him with an enchanted dagger.

Spellslayer has leveled to 450! You have slain the enslavement mage Kleck dho Nam as she attempted to flee from you!

He stripped the spellwork from the burly men who’d been carrying the second litter, then turned back to the larger battle. It looked pretty much over. There were still mages fighting but that wasn’t because they were holding off the Heirs - Nathan’s friends just hadn’t gotten to everybody yet.

Good. No war mages, no [Disintegrate] spells. Just a bunch of enslavement mages accustomed to slave raids.

Void of Magic has leveled to 594! You and your team have defeated a large Giantsrest force and freed their captives!

I only killed the two mages, so I bet the Heirs each got twenty or more levels for taking care of the rest.

Status of Nathan Lark:

Permanent Talent 1: Arcane Nullfield 6

Permanent Talent 2: Immortal Body 4

Permanent Talent 3: Airwalking 7

Class: Void of Magic level 594

Deepened Stamina: 17601/18120

Void of Feeling

Antimagic Momentum

Raging Thrill

Implacable Inertia

Unarmored Resilience

Magic Anathema

Airborne Agility

Hand-to-hand Expertise

Voluminous Aura

Denial of Wizardry

Mana Severance

Class: Spellslayer level 450

Regenerative Focus: 3299/4600

Catastrophic Blows

Battle Stealth

Mage Infiltration

Forgettable

Sneaky Blow

Antimagic Stealth

Magical Manipulation

Lethal Index

Wizard Resistance

Magic Jammer

Controlled Failure

Utility skills:

Wizard’s Meditation 7

Inspiration 5

Acceleration 9

Wizard’s Detection 5

Alertness 9

Wizard’s Understanding 6

Effortless Dodge 7

Mental Vault 3

Tutoring 3

Parkour 7

Visibility Control 2

High-tier Disguise 3

Mid-tier Battle Cry 10

High-tier Aura Manipulation 9