by Rick Field
The foreigner looked startled, then nodded thoughtfully. “I see. That's very interesting.” He was silent for a few moments, then asked, "How about time travel?"
Liane blinked, having already sunk into her own thoughts. "Pardon me?"
"How about time travel,” Steve dutifully repeated. “Is it possible?"
The Pillar nodded, her fingers subconsciously tightening around Lucifer's reassuring strength. "Of course,” she replied. “Time travel is trivial. Unfortunately, teleportation is not, as I have already explained."
Steve gaped at her, obviously not having expected that response. "I'm sorry?"
The MagicWarper smiled slightly. "Traveling through time is easy. Unfortunately, magic does not easily allow you to travel through space. So, you will appear exactly where you are NOW, but in the selected time destination."
The foreign pilot shrugged, slowly overcoming his shock of her admission. "That seems logical, I don't see the problem."
Closing her eyes, Liane pinched her nose, trying to figure out a way to explain it to him. She sighed, and stopped walking. Stepping off the hardened road, she raised Lucifer with practiced ease. "Very well," she said, drawing in the dirt. "Think of this. This is the planet, and this is where you are." She drew a perfect circle, and marked it with an x. "Now, when you travel through time, you will appear in the exact same location, only at a different time."
The drawing modified itself with a few more magical words, the circle that had been there raising itself from the ground, floating in the air as a full spherical representation of the planet. The X became substantial, and attached itself to the planet-sphere, which was now rotating in a sped-up representation of the Earth's spin. Suddenly, the planet jerked, the rotation jumping to a different time, the entire sphere suddenly far away from the free-floating X.
"The Earth rotates. It circles the sun. The sun rotates the galactic center. The galaxy itself is moving, as well. The location you appear at after making a time travel jump is not relative, as in, you will appear at the exact same location on Earth. Time travel is absolute – you will emerge in the exact same location in the universe." As she spoke, the rotating circle moved around a new sphere marking the sun, before the sun and solar system started moving around a further sphere marking the galactic center, before that, too, started moving.
"In short," Liane finalized, "It is certainly possible to travel through time. However, doing so will result in you appearing in deep space. That is the reason why time travel, although trivial, is hardly ever used." Silently, she added, except by people like me, in works of legend, and even then only in fractions of a second.
The man stared at the animated spheres. "Okay. That was not what I was expecting." He looked away from the ever-rotating representations of the solar system, and studied her for a few moments. “What about really small hops? Say, a few milliseconds? That would make you appear to be traveling through space, while you're actually traveling through time, wouldn't it?”
For a moment, the Pillar was both surprised and pleased at his insightfulness. It seemed that he was learning. “Yes, and no,” she answered him. “The ritual for travel through time is trivial, and takes about fifteen minutes to set up. If you set it to transport you half a second into the future – or the past – you will end up somewhere above the surface of the Earth. As you well know, the Earth's surface is curved, not flat – so you will end up either in the sky, or buried in the ground. Neither is advisable to your health.” Her fingers tightened around Lucifer again. She wasn't about to explain the fraction-of-a-second precognition her legendary weapon gave her, or its ability to come back that same fraction of a second.
The man nodded. “I understand. That's unfortunate. I'd really like to know next week's lottery numbers.”
Liane frowned. “What are lottery numbers?”
Steve resisted the urge to stare at her in surprise, Line could tell. She was glad he was starting to resist that urge. “A lottery is like a game of chance,” he explained. “Basically, the organizer of the lottery puts up a big prize, and tells potential players that they will be drawing a single combination of numbers out of, let's say, a hundred million combinations. People would then buy a combination of their choice, or multiple combinations of their choice. It's a gamble on both parts: the players gamble that the small amount of money they put in for a combination will be the one that will win them the big prize, and the organizer is betting that enough people will buy a combination that doesn't win to make a profit after paying out the big prize. Usually, it gets a bit more complicated than that, but that's the gist of it.”
The Pillar nodded thoughtfully. “That is an interesting way to make money.” She tapped her chin. “It bears study to see if there is a way to predict these numbers.”
“I'd be surprised if you found one. People have been trying for years to predict the major lotteries. They're very closely monitored to make sure that the game is purely a game of chance, and that no cheating is involved,” Steve told her. “Although with magic, I wouldn't know what's possible and what's not.”
Liane remained silent, already thinking about the possibilities of extending Lucifer's precognition. The space/time barrier prevented her from traveling to the future or to the past, but maybe it would be possible to do future viewing? So far, attempts at precognition beyond a moment in the future had failed, but that didn't mean it was impossible. Maybe with a Construct?
The pilot grinned at the sight of the Pillar, lost in deep thought. They walked on for close to an hour, Liane lost in thought while her companion studied the landscape. When they reached the sprawling forests that spread out from the slopes of Mount Sina, the sun was high in the sky and the duo stopped for something to eat.
“Bread and cold cuts?” Steve asked, his tone light and joking. “And here I was, thinking that magic could conjure up a hot meal at the drop of a hat.”
The Noble stiffened, pulled between the urge to defend magic, and admitting to the fact that, while magic could indeed conjure up hot meals, she personally was very bad at it. Finally, she sighed, her sense of fair play preventing her from twisting the truth. “Magic is indeed capable of cooking. Unfortunately, it seems that I, myself, am very bad at it,” she finally admitted, bracing herself for his inevitable response. Despite the fact that most Nobles never needed the skill, or that the majority of the cooking was done by Commoners, it was still considered poor skill for a Mage not to be able to conjure up a basic hot meal when required.
Yet another thing she failed at because of her broken magic.
The foreigner was silent for a few moments, thoughtfully chewing his bread and cheese. “It happens,” he answered honestly. “Nobody can be good at everything, I suppose.”
Sometimes, she thought, the man was alright. She resisted the urge to thank him, and settled for eating in silence. Recognizing that something had shifted, but not really knowing what, Steve followed her example.
After the meal and the necessary ablutions, the Pillar and the foreigner resumed their walk, now in the cool shade of the thickening forest. The sun was hidden by the deepening cover of the canopies, dropping the temperature to something more manageable.
“Please halt, My Lady,” a male voice interrupted her thoughts, as the voice's Warlock owner stepped out from amid the trees.
Liane stopped, Steve obediently stopping next to her. Ostensibly, she leaned on her staff of office, prominently displaying her occupation and authority. “Who requires the assistance of a Pillar of Kiria?” she asked. It was not unusual for a Pillar to be contacted directly, and she wondered what this Warlock needed in this thick Sina Forest.
“My name is not important, My Lady,” the Warlock said. “I require your surrender. Please submit peacefully.” Liane frowned, studying the man intently. He was in his mid-forties, dressed in neutral Warlock's robes devoid of rank or insignia. His black hair had a receding hairline and was speckled with gray. Whoever this man was, he had led a hard life, which was very unus
ual for a Noble.
“Those are very unusual words, My Lord. May I ask why I should surrender, and to whom?” she asked politely, her fingers tightening on Lucifer's shaft. She could feel Steve tense up next to her, and she hoped the man would follow her lead and not to anything foolish.
“You are in the way of my employer, My Lady. I do not wish to harm you. One of your skills and reputation comes around once a generation. It would not do to do anything to remove one such as you from Kiria. The country would be poorer for it. Please come peacefully, you will be my guest for the next couple of weeks, after which you will be allowed to return to your regular duties should you wish to do so,” the unknown Warlock said, sounding as if he really meant every word.
The Pillar sighed. “As you know, My Lord, my oaths prohibit me from neglecting my duties. I therefore must refuse.”
The Warlock nodded. “I understand completely, My Lady, and was expecting your response. The niceties must be observed, however, and I thank you for your honest response and consideration.”
Liane dipped her head, feeling her magic swell. Her magic-sight enabled itself without her consciously reaching for it. “I must also inform you that I am obligated to report this conversation, My Lord.”
Again, the Warlock seemed to expect it, and nodded again. “I know that as well, My Lady,” he answered, making a sharp move with his right hand.
Causality broke and time flowed in reverse when Lucifer deployed into her hand, before it morphed into its fully released form, before her staff actually started to change. When time righted itself and causality was restored to its rightful direction, she immediately dodged to one side.
A large form of hardened stone sprung through the empty air that had contained her a mere fraction of a second earlier. Already, her lips incanted the acceleration spell when she righted herself to look at a huge stone creature, a Construct of some kind, shaped like one of those awful creatures that decorated that gothic building in Eunan.
Lucifer prompted another dodge, a second creature, similar to the first, bursting out of the forest. Pushed by her staff's precognition, she continued to rotate, her feet making intricate angles that spun her round and round, allowing her both to be unpredictable in her motion for safety, and allowing her to take in the entire surrounding environment.
She stopped, halfway dizzy, and dropped to the ground when the first stone Construct made another jump for her chest, long stone claws extended and ready to shred her. Her voice tasted of ash and charcoal when she started to incant her first spell. She halted abruptly, rolling away from where creature number two tried to impale her prostate form. Cursing inwardly for losing focus, her lips started up the incantation once more.
Something shoved her upright and out of the way of creature number three, and she honestly didn't care whether it was her magic, Lucifer, her instincts, or a combination of either. Her voice took on a note of black and coal when she finally got off her first spell.
Creature number one jumped out of the way of a full strike, but yowled when the powerful acid struck its right hind leg, and dissolved it quickly. Liane screamed when creature number two jumped on her back, its powerful claws like bludgeons against the heavily enchanted robes she was wearing. Pain and fear burnt in her magic, and a single barked word caused a powerful airburst that pushed the creature off her.
She wanted to stay flat on the ground and pant, but Lucifer shoved her viciously; rolling on the ground in an undignified fashion, she was aware of a sharp yelp when the third creature pounced to the ground. In the same move, she rolled to her feet, grabbed Lucifer with both hands, and slammed its tip down on the ground. “ENOUGH!”
The code-word triggered Lucifer's spell-break runes, and a wave rolled away from the hurting mage. The three stone creatures wavered, and looked confused for a moment. Liane was starting to hope the Constructs would be broken, when they shook their heads, and started to circle her. Two were circling her steadily. One limped on three legs. Neither felt pain, Liane knew the possibilities and advantages of Constructs in battle.
Too bad Epter was too small to carry any sort of combat payload. She had really hoped for him to be able to poison someone.
She was so focused on the three Constructs that she only heard the last syllable of the Warlock's incantation. Lucifer pushed, her magic shoved, and her lips moved. The bolt of Death Magic grazed her left arm, causing her incantation to abort with a startled scream of pain. The three artificial creatures pounced as one.
She managed to dodge two. The third struck at her injured arm, the robes' protection broken by the bolt of powerful Death Magic. She refused to scream when the creature shook her injured body like a rag doll, finally throwing her. She landed heavily, falling to the ground with a single thump.
Her right eye was swelling shut. Her left one tracked where Lucifer had fallen, her hand reaching for it. The staff flew to its owner, snapping into her hand.
Heavily injured, she watched as one of the good constructs sprung for her head. Somehow, she got Lucifer in position, and the heavy Construct's jump ended with its chest against the head of the legendary weapon. It yowled painfully, its force not nearly as irresistible as Lucifer was immovable.
The creature fell sideways, and Liane kept Lucifer in contact with it. Her mind spun the runes she wanted, the runes she needed, and her own spells projected them onto the Construct. Immediately, her new runic paragraph shorted out the animated statue's power token, causing it to fail catastrophically, releasing all of its energy in one fell swoop. The explosion of magical energy reduced the creature to rubble, and forced Liane to curl into a ball.
As soon as the roar died down, the Pillar slowly pushed herself to her legs, her panting breath tasting of freshly baked bread. “You truly are The MagicWarper,” the Warlock said, her voice tinged with both shock and awe. “Nobody else would be able to stand this long against my three Constructs and be able to defeat one.”
She felt her old anger, her old rage, bubbling in her chest, egging on her magic. Her lips curled back, showing her bloodied teeth. She started speaking again, words of power, words of magic. The Warlock shook his head, and motioned. The first creature, the one with the bad leg, jumped at her.
Liane took a side step; the magic howling in her blood and in her veins, pushing her on. The creature missed, and skidded on the road's stone surface.
The last word finished, and the air stilled, as if Liane's voice sunk into the very elements of nature. The stones from the road, sealed so tightly together, removed themselves from their bondage, exploding upward in a fountain of rock and stone. The damaged creature yowled and yelped, before being brought down by the returning stone, and crushed to dust when they retook their usual position.
The Warlock looked pale and afraid when she started speaking once more. A hand-motion sent the last creature after her. Her over-powered entropy curse hit it while it was readying for its leaping attack, and it immediately started to shake, before falling apart into gravel. The Pillar spun around, a blood curse on her lips, aiming for the Warlock.
The man had disappeared among the trees, and Liane spat the blood from her mouth angrily on the ground. Her legs were shaking, she was running on adrenaline alone. The magic in her chest calmed at the realization that she was no longer under attack, and she sunk to the ground.
Steve was a pilot in the US Air Force; he was no stranger to danger and combat, and yet, he had felt completely helpless when those three stone creatures started attacking her. If he'd still had his gun, he would have tried something, but all he had was his knife. And, while a knife could be handy if the guy in front of you had only his fists, he knew better than to try to blindside the man who had thrown three stone statues at Liane and was now calmly eying both the fight and the foreign pilot. There was no way Steve would get close enough to use the knife.
Despite all he had learned about magic, and all the things he had seen, it was a completely different thing to see magical combat. He had no frame of refe
rence to judge it against, but he could see how fast Liane reacted, could see her dodge attacks he had barely seen forming, had seen her move with supernatural ease and poise. And the magic... the magic sure was real. He'd seen one spell conjure an acid strong enough to dissolve stone in seconds; had seen her bring the road itself to bear against her attackers... and he didn't want to know what that last spell was, that reduced solid stone to gravel.
By the time he came to the conclusion that the Warlock had fled, Liane was already sinking to her knees. He was by her side in a flash, wincing at the sight of the damaged flesh in her left shoulder. Without thinking he ripped off a large part of his shirt, and bandaged the wound. It wasn't bleeding freely, but it looked bad.
“What was that about?” the pilot asked, when he noticed Liane's eyes were on him.
