A Shuffling of Planets (The Chained Worlds Chronicles Book 3)

by Daniel Ruth

  "I would think you would be angry at your friend."

  "Jeremy? No, he meant well. He's usually my acting... er... chancellor. I am not around much lately." It suddenly occurred to me that since Jeremy was here who would dust my stuff. It was kind of painful to make a trip over there on a regular basis.

  "You seem to be very wealthy, are you a noble of your land?"

  "I don't think they have nobles in America," I paused in thought. "I am not sure if they still have nobility in the other countries. I got my wealth the old-fashioned way." I stole it from Kingston.

  "Oh, you inherited it," she asked. I looked at her flatly.

  "If you look at it in a certain way, you could think that."

  "I understand you’re a mage," she switched subjects. "I thought your land had no wizards. Where did you learn?"

  "Oh, I'm not from there," I responded. "You could say I got grounded. Then the chains went up. The wizards in Jeremy's world are pretty useless. However, I read a lot. Learned a few circles, a couple spells. Its why they started to call me the Professor." I was almost okay with the name. Almost.

  "What do you think of our magic system," she asked.

  "Your wizards are more frustrating than ours," I vented. "Your Fundamental Accords are really annoying. Did you know I had to reinvent your fireball spell today? Who thought it would be funny to teach the children the wrong way to cast spells?"

  "Professor," Durmont magically appeared at my elbow. I was beginning to think this wasn't a coincidence.

  "Let me guess," I interjected. "Someone wants to talk to me?"

  "Um. Yes," Durmont said awkwardly. "Cleric Renora wishes to meet you."

  "Oh, good," I said sourly. "I had to memorize several books worth of rituals to summon gods. Maybe he can explain why they can't cut those down by half. I wasn't sure what I could drop when I used it." I shrugged, it had summoned Lamia so whatever assumptions I used must have been good enough.

  "I... see," Durmont said in a worried tone. This dinner party seemed to be stressing him. I looked over to Jeremy, Mei, and Diego. They seemed to be smiling. Maybe it was just Durmont and I that had issues.

  "Hello Renora," I said with a smile. 'He' turned out to be a 'she'. She was a mature woman in clerical robes. I hadn't been to many churches since I had stolen the devotional chants and rituals on the way to the academy. I hadn't even thought about them since. The last thing I wanted was to summon that idiot Lamia.

  "Hello, I overheard that you had some questions about our services," she said.

  "Yes, I was examining your ceremonies a few months ago and I wanted to know if you could shorten some parts," I started to go into the specifics. For some reason, her complexion got paler and paler.

  "You seem to have a decent grasp of the rituals for someone not of the faith," she said finally.

  "Well, your gods are all trapped outside Vatapi's barrier," she started to protest. "Yes, I know they are gods and the greater gods could undoubtedly bypass the barrier. But only if they noticed that a portion of their followers were missing and were willing to invest massive amounts of resources and time. Franky, I don't think there are enough people on this planet for them to notice anyone missing."

  "What was your purpose to learning these rituals," she asked in a tight voice. "These very holy and private rituals."

  "Eh, all your vampires were going crazy and it was really a pain in the ass," I sighed in annoyance. "Anyway, I needed to summon a god to take back control. Too bad she was so..."

  "You successfully contacted a diety with the barriers up," she almost shouted. "How did you do it? Can the ritual be modified for our gods?"

  "Well there was nothing wrong with the rituals," I said slowly. "You were just doing it in the wrong place. You need to be outside of Vatapi's barrier. Once you make contact, they can give you a focus to channel their energies inside the barrier."

  "Outside?" She looked confused. "How would you get outside."

  "It was a little tricky," I nodded at her confusion. "Some of the other planets have space travel but there were a bunch of restrictions on it. I found a way to one..."

  "Which one? Can someone else go?"

  "Um," I hemmed and hawed a bit. I really didn't want to be connected to the events on Mars. While I was confident in my innocence, there may be some misguided people that would blame me rather than Lamia for her blunder. "It isn't really something I can repeat again."

  "So there is no hope to contact the gods once more?" I could see despair in her eyes.

  "I wouldn't say that," I reassured her. "There are already two gods that still have influence inside the barrier. If you really need your holy fix," I paused. Perhaps I shouldn't have been quite that blunt. "I mean, if you really need the, er... exaltation from your um, spiritual communion... just contact them."

  "What do you mean," she asked a hint of desperation in her tone. I suppose I should be grateful that the country was very tolerant of various religions. I think the church that this woman was from actually worshipped a pantheon, rather than a single god.

  "Well, there is the goddess of vengeance, catastrophes, and death, Lamia," I winced as I said her name. "She's not that smart and prone to acting without thinking. Has some history with vampires and is able to give them free will and all that rot. Minor goddess though."

  "A minor goddess would still be able to allow priests to channel simpler spells and even heal and raise the dead," she said to herself. "Is there presently a priest to her on this world?"

  I hesitated. "There is but it’s a vampire that she recently freed." She looked ill but didn't immediately start a diatribe against the undead. "She's not an undead god, it's just part of her story. Children turned into vampires, she goes on a quest to free them from their terrible fate. Blah, blah blah."

  "So, mortals don't have to be turned to worship her," she asked faintly. Wow, these people really missing their gods.

  "No, but if you're really upset about the undead thing you can go with the second option."

  "Yes," she focused on my words. "You did say there was another in our world."

  "Well, her holy power is a bit weaker, though she is personally stronger," I hedged. "She is very cute. Loves treasure, long walks through shops and vengeance. Definitely big on the vengeance thing."

  "What is her name," she asked eagerly. She was definitely put off by the undead thing. If she was wise, she should have been put off by the idiot part of my description.

  "Maribel," I sighed. "Dragon God."

  "You mean the one that attacked the Council?" She drew back in horror.

  "Yes." I nodded gravely. "I happen to know that the Dark Guild offended her and that those councilors that died were actually members of it. Didn't you think it was odd that only specific council members died and even the guards didn't suffer any deaths?"

  "Goddess of vengeance," she looked in awe. Apparently, it was okay for gods to smite mortals when it wouldn't be appropriate for a mere dragon. "But she is weaker than Lamia?"

  "In deific power," I clarified.

  "Therefore, it would take a large number of worshipers to allow priests to channel her might and create miracles in her name." She looked thoughtful.

  I stayed silent as she pondered. This was actually probably not fair to her. Lamia was an actual god, while Maribel was merely a demi-god. The differences were actually vast. Even minor gods could allow their priests to cast any spell that they knew, though weaker, and create miracles such as raising the dead. Demigods simply couldn't do that.

  However, there was a bit of a gamble here. Demi-gods could ascend to godhood. It wasn't easy and it required a pretty huge number of worshippers channeling their faith into them. On the other hand, as hard as that was it was, it was infinitely easier to spark a demi-god into full deity hood in comparison to uplifting a mortal or even a magical creature into godhood.

  So, while it was a bit deceitful for me to tell them that Maribel was a god. If they assumed, she was a weak god and did their b
est to strengthen her through their faith... fantasy could very well become reality.

  "You," she said gravely. "Have given me much to think about. I don't think I will be staying for the dinner. I need to talk to some of the people in our church."

  With that, she slowly walked away. I nodded to myself with the feeling of a job well done. Then I waved a waiter over and asked why my extra tray of appetizers wasn't out.

  I wandered over to where Diego was talking to some man in a suit. Everyone here was in a suit, dress robe or gown but this man had an embroidered rose on his chest.

  "Furthermore, you see slavery has not existed in this country for several decades," the rose man said. Diego nodded in approval.

  "But in the neighboring countries it exists," he asked.

  "Three of the four adjoining countries have abolished it," the noble replied. "We have been putting pressure on the remainder to get rid of it. Whenever there is this type of unbalanced situation you end up with an unsavory underground element that will sell our citizens to another country. It’s a slow process unless you are willing to go to war."

  "Fascinating," Diego replied. "I noticed a few elves in the city. Dwarves too. Do they have their own country?"

  "The elves do," rose man confirmed. "But they aren't near us. It's actually for the best. They are at war with their neighbors and have a very poor opinion of those humans. The elves that have settled here think we compare favorably and bring some very rare crafting skills to the city."

  "And the dwarves?"

  "They live deep in the mountains," the noble replied uncertainly. "I am not sure which ones. They don't get along with the elves. Some sort of conflict some millennia ago. They don't forget. The elves either for that matter."

  I nodded to myself. Both races were very long-lived. Almost half the dimensions I had heard of had similar histories. My birth world had a goodly number of dimensional travelers wandering in from the portals so in my developmental years I had liked to hear the stories of war and adventure. I am mostly over that.

  "Please be seated where your name is," Durmont announced as he rang a tiny bell at the far side of the hall. Naturally his voice was magically amplified and sounded as if he was at your side. "Dinner is about to be served. Our musicians will play an original arrangement for your pleasure." He gestured over to the roped off area where a small symphony was organized. Simple enchantment ensured that the music reached every corner of the room evenly.

  With a certain eagerness I made my way to the table with my name. Most of the other names I didn't recognize. The exception was Alan. He was seated next to me. I had wondered where he had been. How was I supposed to be his character witness if he wasn't even there?

  "Hello, Alan, delightful to see you again," I lied with an unenthusiastic smile. "I was afraid you would miss the dinner." If he had I would have been unsure exactly how to keep my side of the agreement with Kingston.

  "I had some things to wrap up," he said with a smile that was orders of magnitude more sincere than mine. I had to hand it to him, his acting skills were first rate. "But I couldn't miss out on this opportunity to meet the fine upstanding members of society."

  I wasn't sure how upstanding they were; however, Maribel hadn't brutally murdered them so at least they weren't a member of the Dark Guild. I turned to the others at the table. "Alan and his organization have been instrumental in recovering from the damage caused by Vatapi while he was in charge of your government." I wasn't actually sure if this was a lie or not.

  Alan had a sudden coughing fit and I turned to him in concern. If he dropped dead, I really had no idea how to interpret our agreement. Fortunately, he had simply swallowed the wrong way. I patted him on the back gently. It is amazing humans live past a decade without intervention. "Thank you, as fellow citizens, we feel it is important to give back to the people."

  "Yes, your agency is well known for it humanitarian and charity efforts," I nodded stiffly. "Housing the homeless," generally the mentally ill that they have hooked on various illegal substances. "Feeding the poor." I think prostitution may generally fall under that. "And orphanages." Okay, I think something in my brain may have exploded. Looking at Alan even he had an odd look on his face.

  "Its... good that our outreaches have been recognized," Alan said as he swiftly sipped a bit of wine to cover his expression. "Would you introduce us?"

  I looked at him blankly and then at the unknown people around me. Right. Why did Kingston want me to do this? Oh, there was frilly collar man! His nameplate was next to him. "This is Baron Zeemer, we had a lovely conversation about gold, gems, and demons." Both men looked at me oddly and then greeted one another.

  "This lovely lady is," another subtle glance at the nameplate brought her name to my mind. "Duchess Margaret. We talked about eating dinosaurs and trespassers. We almost talked about magic but got interrupted." Once again, the two greeted one another. Since I had run out of all my clues who these people were, I simply introduced them by their nameplates. No one seemed to mind the shortness of the introduction.

  Durmont stood up and said something. My mind wandered so I couldn't really recall what it was. The waiters and servicemen were coming table to table dropping off the delicacies. This had my complete attention. After he finally sat down the first course came to our table. Thankfully, by some small miracle, they actually remembered my instructions to increase my portions.

  Around the fourth course, the subject of magic came up. I naturally looked up from my food as they stopped talking about things that didn't matter. This course was especially tasty, with some rather rare ingredients. I chewed thoughtfully as I mulled over it.

  "I am looking forward to setting up some trade between our dimensions. I have already talked to some merchants and have a preliminary idea of what is available."

  "You should talk to some mages and see if anything such as training or training resources can be exported," I warned him. He may not be completely aware of the Fundamental Accords. "I was looking forward to talking to some but except for Durmont there doesn't seem to be anyone knowledgeable in magic at the party."

  "That is not completely accurate," frilly collar man spoke up. "Most of the nobles have graduated from the Academy."

  "Ah," I nodded noncommittedly. True masters of magic. Not. I concentrated a bit and focused on the auras of the people in the room. Only Durmont's aura and several of the guards showed a significant influence of magic. These same people also had obviously undergone the physical transformation that made a mage as durable as an average supernatural creature.

  "Then I have to say I am a bit confused," I confessed. "If you went through the Academy, I can understand not going on to more advanced training..." I really couldn't but I didn't think it was polite to accuse them of being idiots before we were even done with dinner. "But why would you not have your physiques fortified. It’s a class available to all first semester mages."

  "Well," the frilly color man hemmed and hawed for a second. "That course can impact a person's fertility. Since we," he gestured to the people in the room. "Have a responsibility to our family to produce the next generation of heirs, that is one class we were not able to take."

  "Just as well," the Duchess said faintly. "The screams coming out of that class still give me nightmares."

  "I'm surprised you don't have a way around that. Seems like a decent alchemy brew would fix that," I think I could come up with a basic fertility potion with a bit of research. I am not sure why I would want to but I doubt I was the only alchemist around.

  "They aren't reliable," the frilly man said. "It’s a gamble no family would make."

  "Our medical science tackled fertility issues decades ago," Alan interjected. "We can even develop a child outside the body if for some reason the mother couldn't or didn't want to carry the child." And it wasn't even illegal yet!

  "I would think that would shed some doubt on the legitimacy of the child," one of the women said.

  "We are also excellent at ide
ntifying and verifying the paternity and maternity of the children. And adults for that matter. Given enough data points we can identify the exact genealogy extremely far back."

  "Do those processes work on shifters," I asked. "The procedure they use transforms their body in a way that is very similar to the way a shifter is."

  Alan paused a moment and his wrist terminal lit up. I was puzzled until I realized he must have an implant. I think the range on implants is short, so he must be using the terminal as a booster to reach the satellite connection.

  "It's more difficult," Alan said after a few seconds of research. "Each procedure has a fifty percent success rate, however, there is no reason you can't keep trying until you succeed."

  "That could make a large change," Baron Frilly said. "I know I would have undergone the upgrade if the family allowed. The transformation itself can extend your lifespan by over five hundred years. Some have even lived for millennia."

  "Ah, well we also have a simple procedure to reverse the aging process," Alan volunteered. "That procedure and the alternate procedures are not viable options for shifters."

  "Most of even basic supernatural entities are very resistant to biological manipulation and genetic modification," I nodded. "I am impressed you have fertility treatments that work. Although IVF is a mostly mechanical procedure."

  "You have mastered immortality?" Duchess Margaret asked eagerly. The other nobles looked on eagerly as well. Apparently the prospect of immortality easily trumped fertility as the favored topic.

  "Well, aging at least," Alan acknowledged with a smile. "Accidents still happen and although we can repair most physical damage, there are some injuries that..."

  "Are illegal to repair," I interrupted. "I think magic in most instances can equal the efficiency of modern medicine. Although the church is temporarily out of order, they can easily provide regeneration of limbs and even resurrection."

  "High powered wizards and circle masters can do the same," the Duchess offered. "However, their services are extremely expensive. They all would be rather be doing something else than healing or bringing back the dead and none of them need the wealth that such services would provide."