by Bob Blink
The glowing crystals are a means of transferring knowledge. This technique approaches a total transfer of information, not the type of transfer one associates with schools or mentoring. Only one versed in the power will be able to access the knowledge locked in these crystals, so I doubt they will ever do anyone much good, but I could not let some of the information simply fade away. Some I worked far too hard to obtain. I have filled two of the crystals with knowledge. The third I will save against something else I later decide to add.
The first of the crystals holds the languages of my homeland. In addition to the current language of Gaea, I have included what I have learned of the old language. I am hardly an expert, but I have managed to pull together enough of the lost tongue that I can read most of the old texts and histories. I should have left a copy of this behind on Gaea, but I was overly proud of being able to read what no other could, and was disdainful of those who lacked the ambition to learn on their own. I have also included what I know of a special language known as the language of the mages. Here again, most have forsaken the true study of our heritage and only use by rote when understanding should be sought. Of course, I shouldn’t be too critical. My own partial understanding of a spell is what brought me here and prevented my return home. I should have learned more before attempting the transition, but I had searched for so many years it was hard to be patient. Besides, I had the device, and that was supposed to make the difference. More on that later.
The second crystal contains a variety of information. I have tried to include bits and pieces of what I have learned of the ancients and possible locations of some of their lost cities where I had hoped to find more clues to our past. I have also included several spells that I have uncovered along the way that are not generally known to others. A couple are unique, and I have never encountered others with a knowledge of them.
The ring with the red stone is one of the unique rings created centuries ago. Like other rings that use the power, this one adds or boosts a mage’s ability. Rings never add to a mage’s effective level, they provide their own ability or boost one’s ability in one area. The red is the fire ring, and greatly enhances one’s ability with all of the spells involving fire. I was particularly adept at a spell called fire-wrap, and with this ring my ability was virtually beyond the abilities of my enemies to resist. It served me well for many years.
The second ring, if that indeed is what it is, was not intended for humans. I have long sought the origins of the stories of the dragons on Gaea, and this appears to be an artifact of their presence. The pattern on the ring is something I have encountered several times in reference to the dragons, but have yet to unravel the mystery surrounding them. It is clear they existed, and had a strong influence on the development on Gaea. I am told some of the ancient maps are marked with this symbol to locate their private city on Gaea, but unfortunately I never found such a drawing.
The staff is also very old, and is one of a dozen that were created, each with different abilities. This was the Staff of Destruction, and wields powerful forces for a mage of the proper orientation. It can only be used by a mage who is a true level seven or greater. That means any of the magical items that artificially boost one’s level will be of no use to one wishing to access the power of the staff but lacks the appropriate ability. These days there are almost none who have reached such a level, so for most it will serve as only a support for hiking. My own line is blessed to have come from the more powerful mages, although I fear that over time the ability will become diluted by the mixing of my blood with those here on Earth who are lacking in any magical ability whatsoever. All who have the ability with the power have subtle differences inherent in their brains which allow the ability to function, and which can be passed on to their children, but those who are able to grow to high level supposedly have a detectable growth in one area of the brain. I know this through my studies of the old mages and not through any direct experience. I was never keen on allowing the medical types to poke around in my innards, especially my brain. I felt it best to keep some secrets to myself.
I wander from the subject at hand. The staff was designed to allow one to combat enemies, but also to control and destroy if needed some of the magical creatures that were foolishly brought into being by some of the wizards around the time of the War of Mages. Staffs do not truly boost a mage’s level, but they often allow him to operate selective spells as if he were a much stronger mage than he truly is. It was so with the Staff of Destruction. While I am actually a level seven, with the staff I could execute certain spells as if I was a nine. I often wished the staff and the ring were effective with the same spells, but unfortunately the areas the staff is effective does not overlap the abilities of the ring. The staff saved me more than once when I explored a region of wilderness known as the Land of Giants where I discovered the existence of the long lost node that could transfer one between worlds.
The pendant is the source of my imprisonment, such as it is. I had counted on the pendant to aid me in my adventures here on Earth. It is the result of long years of study of the ancient sciences and luck in finding a key element in one of the lost cities. I was fortunate to be one of those who was asked to search the newly discovered ruins, and my line has always had an intuitive ability to find items of great use magically. It is an inherited trait. Although there are those that disbelieve the evidence, some magic is passed through birth. I know several spells that I have never learned, and which no one else has ever been able to duplicate. I can explain no other way I can have such knowledge. It is an imprecise mechanism, for my father could do things I cannot, and he was unable to duplicate some of the skills I was able to demonstrate at a young age.
The pendant is an amplifier of magic. I know little of how it actually works, since I copied the design and used the central core I found in the ruins for it’s construction. The core is key to the amplifier, but the specifics of the layout are very important. I had to replicate the design a dozen times to get it to function at all, and only then, as I learned what small changes would do, was I able to tune it very carefully and through much experimentation, to work as well as it did.
The device increases the power available to a user somehow. It greatly increases how much magical power can be drawn and passed safely by a mage. It doesn’t affect one’s actual level or add to the spells that a mage can use. Sometimes I felt as if the device extended the reach of my power as well, but that might well have been the result of simply having more available to command. I have never seen another like it, and suspect the technology, like so much else, has been lost. Without the critical component I found, I would never have been able to built it myself. Needless to say, I have not shared the secret with anyone. It is the sort of thing that would be coveted greatly, and there are enough dangers these days without offering more.
I knew that the power here on Earth was severely restricted, but I expected with the amplifier that I could tap Earth’s limited reserves in a way that would grant me some of my normal power. Enough power that I was certain that I would be able to execute the simple spells necessary to return home when my explorations here were complete. I was not prepared for the device to heat up to the point it couldn’t be held when I attempted to use it. After it cooled, I found it no longer functioned at all. That is why I have been forced to remain here, an exile from my home.
The last item I brought with me to ponder since in all the years I had carried it with me, I have never been able to make it perform any function. It also came from the ruins, and is supposed to be some form of “enabler ring”. I don’t know what that means, but once again my intuition told me it was important, and I have never been able to part with it. Perhaps whoever reads this log will be more successful in understanding the device than I.
Finally, to whomever is reading this, I hope you are one of my descendants. If so, you potentially have great ability, and since you have managed to open my log you have discovered some of your ability already. I have incl
uded the spells to return to Gaea in the next section along with the specifics of the node location, which should be on the property I have claimed for our family and which I hope is still in our possession. To activate the spells means you need to have sufficient power. I don’t know how you would be able to do that, unless something on Earth has changed, or the advancing technology here allows you to fix the amulet. I wish you luck. The next section also lists the basic spells that a mage can learn along with the level required. If you haven’t advanced far enough, these will be meaningless to you. I just hope that isn’t the case. As I wrote at the beginning, the last section of the book is a diary of important events. I don’t know as I write this what will be there, but read it in case I learned something over the years that might aid you.
Utar
Boulder, Colorado, Earth
1862
“How come no one ever knew?” Janie asked when Randy set the book down carefully on the table. “He must have told his children.”
“Something must have gotten lost along the way. I think intermarrying also diluted the power faster than he expected. Grandfather knew something of the history somehow, and he apparently sought more answers. That was what he wanted to tell me all those years when Dad kept us apart. I seem to be a bit of an anomaly, and appear to have much more ability than recent generations. I don’t think Dad had any power at all, or so little there were no observable effects.”
“What are you going to do with this?”
“I’m going to reread this journal cover to cover tonight. I think tomorrow I will go back to Gaea. Vaen or some of her people might be able to tell me more. I would like to access the crystals and see what can be learned. I also want to look carefully at his amplifier. If I could fix that, it might give us an ability that would be useful in the war.
“I thought you had another course you wanted to go to soon?”
“Next week. I have a few days and this is important. You don’t mind if I take this stuff with me do you?”
Janie shook her head. “None of it has any value to me, although I think I’d like to read the log at some point.”
Chapter 119
The last three weeks had kept him busier than Randy could remember being in a very long time. In the past couple of days alone he had averaged two trips a day to Gaea and back, and he wasn’t done yet.
It had all started when he made the quick trip back to Gaea after reading the diary of his ancestor Oscar. He had closed up the box and headed out to the Nexus and made the transition back, and then headed straight to Chancellor Vaen’s office. She was the only person alive who had known Oscar, and maybe she could shed some light on what he had found.
You found Utar’s staff,” she said when he opened the box. “And more. I recognize his amulet. I had asssumed they would have long been lost when you said no one had any knowledge of any of his possessions. It has been a very long time.”
“You know about his staff?”
“Yes. Like yours it is very powerful, but when he let me hold it, I could tell I wouldn’t be able to use it. He told me privately that it took a mage of his level or greater to be able to do so.”
“That’s what his note said as well. He said this was some kind of amplifier of magic, increasing the power a mage could wield and gathering power where it was scarce,” and he handed the damaged amulet to Vaen.
“He was always a bit secretive about this device. I knew he had made it, but he wouldn’t tell anyone what it was for. Luck, he’d say, but I knew it was more. It might explain why he sometimes seemed even stronger than his true level would have explained.” She turned the device over. “It appears to have been damaged.”
“He said it burned when he tried to use it on Earth. He had hoped it would provide him the means to execute the return spell.”
“That must have been why he was so confident. I have long thought he was being rash, but perhaps he felt himself better prepared than I realized.”
Jolan showed her the other items and asked her to hold them with his other possessions. He wanted Shyar to have the staff when she returned. When he explained about the pairing-crystals, she said she could have one of her experts have a look. They should be able to tell whether they were still safe to use.
“What is so important in these?” she asked.
“Oscar claims to have stored his knowledge of the old language, as well as a great deal of background on the mage’s language. I am hoping there is enough there we can pass it along to Nerila and Rifod to aid their investigations in Ygooro. I assume little has come of that of late?”
“There are an incredible number of volumes there, and it was a library for the times. They have found little in the more modern language, so if this indeed could help us with the older language, we might actually make some real progress.”
“I thought we had experts in the language?”
“Hah. We have several who know a few words. They appear to know less than they profess based on what I have seen of their efforts on the few items Nerila has brought back and asked them to examine. We haven’t wanted to reveal the secret of the source to any of them as yet.”
“If you could have these examined, the next time I come back maybe I could transfer the contents. I am anxious to see what Oscar saved. I get one of those feelings about what is contained in here.”
“Those feelings have served you well. I’ll make sure they are ready. On another topic, you should talk with Tishe while you are here. She has advanced to a level six now, and she has hopes it might help her in her “contacts” with Shyar. From what she told me yesterday, she hasn’t had another, but maybe by now it has happened.”
“I’ll go find her. I also want to talk with Asari a bit.”
“Good luck. I think he is in Seret. He spends most of his two-days there with Tomas. Tomas helped him after Asari learned of his uncle’s death. While the business was gone by the time Asari returned to Carta, a significant inheritance was left for him. It took some legal wrangling to get matters cleared with the lawyers. He has become moderately wealthy. These days I think Asari has a girlfriend there. He hasn’t confided in anyone I know, but why else would he be there every off day?”
Jolan wondered if Asari had gotten back with Ashreye. Jolan knew Tomas was still single, his plans having changed with regards to the young woman Jolan had met a couple of years back. Tomas was now regarded as a very eligible bachelor. Perhaps Asari was grabbing some of the castoffs. If he didn’t see him when he stopped by to talk with Buris, he would catch up with him on the next trip.
Tishe hadn’t had any news beyond showing him a working refrigerator, and confirming that Asari was currently in Seret. She hadn’t yet contacted Shyar, but would keep trying. Buris had the very large bag of Karonabark he’d wanted, and handed it over with a questioning look. Smiling, Jolan took it and explained he would be gone for at least a week because he had to take another course back on Earth.
Back on Earth he went to see Gene and handed over the Karonabark to have Gene’s chemist extract the active ingredient for him. He wanted a concentrated supply, and had asked the man to create an injectable solution for him. Gene had ordered a couple of tranquilizer pistols, and was having all of the darts coppered. They might have a very effective delivery system soon, especially if they could mix some of the animal tranquilizer with the karonabark and be able to put the wizards out at the same time they disabled them.
They jointly agreed they could release the detective in California that had been keeping an eye on Ryltas for them. They had probably learned all they were going to by now, and the longer the man continued to follow Ryltas, the more chance of his being discovered. The main result of the man’s efforts supported Randy’s belief that Ryltas was the only Ale’aldan wizard here on Earth.
Randy was about to leave and get ready for his trip in the morning when Gene brought him a surprise.
“You mentioned this a while back, but it has sort of gotten lost in everything else that is going o
n. I did a bit of research and this is a highly regarded model.” He opened the large plastic box he had retrieved from the other room and showed Randy a very small two-tone pistol. This one was another Kimber, but had a very small barrel and a shorter grip than Randy had seen before.
“It’s from their custom shop. It’s called a CDP, and is made with a composite frame, so it’s quite light. Add to the light weight the fact it is so small, it should fit your desire to have something easy to carry, yet still be effective. It’s a .45 like your other pistols. It’ll probably bounce a bit when you shoot it, but I thought you could take it along for your course and see what you think.”
Randy didn’t know what to say. He picked up the beautiful little pistol and was amazed at how light it was. He could drop it into a pocket easily. Gene had taken care of him again, and Randy had to admit his own mind hadn’t been focused very much on Gene’s request to find a way to bring him to Gaea. He promised himself to follow-up on that the next trip there.
Immediately on his return from the pistol training course he’d said hello to Janie and headed for the Nexus and returned to Gaea, where he soon found himself playing human recorder once again. This time it was a two-way transfer, as he unloaded copies of what he had learned from his recent training and received the contents of the two crystals Oscar had recorded so many years ago.
