by C. M. Carney
A look of panic filled Sean’s eyes, and he held his hands up. “No, nope. I’m good pal. Just, ya know…” An incredibly unconvincing yawn split his face, and he raised his hands above his head like an actor in a sub-par mattress commercial. “… I’m just a bit tired, with ya know the mission and all.”
“I wish there were time to rest old friend, but you have returned at a most opportune time. The Lords of Order are surely working through you.”
Gryph struggled against wobbly knees as he stood. Without another look the archon walked up to Sean and extended his hand. After a moment’s confusion, Sean shook the offered hand. “Are you sure everything is alright Harlan?” The archon gaze examined Sean. “You seem shorter.”
“I’m great. Sometimes we flesh and blood types … shrink as we age. It’s a thing. But I assure you I’m fine and dandy.”
“Excellent,” the archon said and spun on his heels and marched towards the door. “Follow me please. The Vex are about to breach the walls. I require your assistance.”
“Can you give us a moment?” Gryph asked wobbling up to the others.
“As you will. Yet, please do not delay too long. A breach is imminent. I will await you in the control room. Just step inside the Port Circle when you are ready.” The archon indicated a port circle near the central support tower. Without looking back the archon exited, walked to the Port Circle and disappeared.
55
Gryph eyed the Port Circle for several seconds, ensuring that the archon’s departure was real and not some trick. Satisfied, he turned back to Sean. The other player grinned up at him nervously. “Want to explain that?” Gryph asked.
“No.” Sean tried to walk around Gryph, but found his way blocked by Ovrym and Errat. Neither of them seemed pleased.
“It wasn’t a request,” Gryph said intently.
Sean sighed like a teenage girl, all exasperation and faux superiority, and looked up at Gryph. “Fine. You already know I’m called the Maker, but what you don’t know is that it’s not just a title, it’s my Specialty. And to my knowledge I’m the only one in all the Realms who has it.”
“How can you know that?” Ovrym asked.
“Because I invented it.”
“You made it up?” Lex asked, then shook his head. “Of course you did.”
“Yeah. Back on Earth I was a hacker and a programmer. Ya know, a bad boy in the cyber-underworld. Probably why Brynn was so into me.”
“Unwise dude,” Lex said, nudging Sean with a hard elbow. Sean’s eyes snapped up to Gryph.
“Anyway, I was great at finding the weaknesses in systems and exploiting them. That’s how I snuck your Godhead past Aluran’s spyware, and how I layered good ol’ Lex here onto your banner.”
“You gave me the Godhead?” Gryph said. “What, you couldn’t leave an instruction manual?”
“Technically, it was Brynn who gave you the Godhead, I only facilitated the transfer. As for instructions, I put everything we knew about it into Lex. Why didn’t you ask him?”
“We kinda recently got the band back together. Haven’t had a lot of time to talk.”
“He can’t remember,” Gryph said.
“Shit, I was afraid of that,” Sean said.” I ran into a slew of problems bonding the Lexicon to your banner. I might have had to take a few shortcuts.”
“Are you saying you turned me into a moron?”
“I was gonna say challenged, cuz moron has kinda gone out of favor, but yeah, sorry about that. Tell you what, if we live through this, I’ll see if I can fix you.”
“I am not letting you poke around inside my brains after you admitted to mucking them up in the first place.”
“None of this applies to our current predicament,” Gryph said.
“Says you man. You didn’t just find out your pappy screwed up your whole life.” Lex paused and his eyes went wide as he realized what he’d said. He looked to Gryph. “Well you kinda do with that whole Dad shooting you thing.”
“Can we get back to it,” Gryph said through gritted teeth. “I swear it's like I’m babysitting toddlers.”
Sean held his hands wide. “You’re right. Sorry. Anyway, if I went to all the trouble to set you guys on the path to success, you’re sure as shit that I was gonna do the same for myself. So, before entering the Realms I added a packet that gave me access to a unique Specialty called the Maker. Unfortunately, I couldn’t fake the experience and levels, so I had to grind the old-fashioned way. It took a while to level up and complete all the quests, but eventually I gained limited access to the Game Mechanics.”
“You can alter the Game Mechanics?” Vonn said in alarm. His tone suggested that he considered the idea some form of heresy.
“Tweak,” Sean said, holding his fingers up to show that it was just a little. “That’s how I made this.” He flipped a circular device the size of an American silver dollar into the air and caught it. “It allows me to alter the archon’s perception of me. I knew I’d need to convince Old Sparky here that I was Harlan, and this little fella does just that.”
It was clear by the looks the others gave Sean that they doubted his tale.
“Why didn’t the Vex find it when they imprisoned you?” Vonn asked.
“Let’s just say it was well hidden.”
Lex’s eyes went wide. “Aw, dude, please tell me you didn’t…”
“Desperate times, my friend.”
“Let’s all try to forget that and get back on point here,” Gryph said. “Tell me how it works.”
Sean held the coin between his thumb and index finger and then flicked it back and forth along his knuckles like a stage magician. “This little guy puts off a field of energy that targets the perception center of the archon's mind and tweaks it just a bit, allowing me to present any facade I want. As long as the archon is within range, nothing it observes will alter that belief. Unless I instruct otherwise.”
“Dude, you’re like Mysterio,” Lex said wide eyed.
“Exactly man, but with a far less stupid outfit.” He beamed with pride, but then saw the other’s expressions. "Don't worry, it only works on beings from the Realm of Order." He considered for a moment. "I might be able to make one that works on mortals, but it would be a real pain."
"If you attempt such a travesty, I assure you there will be much pain," Ovrym said. Vonn nodded in agreement.
“If that coin is so awesome, why did you let the archon kick our asses before activating it?” Lex grumbled.
“Yeah, sorry about that,” Sean said, eyeing Gryph. “The Coin of Mystery needed time to imprint the archon’s underlying code before it could work. That took a bit longer than expected, but as you can see everything worked out great.”
“You named it the Coin of Mystery?” Lex asked.
“Cool, huh?”
“Actually, it’s badass, and oddly appropriate considering where you store it.”
“Come on man, that was a one-time deal, it’s not like it’s a habit.”
“Whatever ya gotta tell yourself guy.”
“Toddlers,” Gryph said shaking his head as he walked from the room. The others followed and soon everyone stood in the Port Circle. Gryph sent a command to the circle and reality folded. A moment later they stood in another Port Circle at the edge of a massive circular room. At its center, working at a central table, stood the archon.
“Good, you are here,” the archon said and tapped at a few runic symbols. “Something intriguing has occurred.” The entire circumference of the room became one large crystalline window. They were high in the air, likely near the top of the tower, but the archon tapped the control panel a few more times and the perspective zoomed down to ground level.
The group grew nauseous at the sudden change in viewpoint. Lex bent over at the waist as he struggled to keep the contents of his stomach. “Woah, that … don’t do that again.”
“I agree,” said Sean whose face had gone pale.
Gryph, who was trained to deal with sudden perspective ch
anges and increased g-forces, recovered quickly. Ovrym and Vonn were also quick to adapt. Errat showed no ill effects.
All eyes went to the vision of carnage outside. At the base of the tower dozens of bodies littered the ground. Standing amidst them, cast in the red-hot light of flame, stood a thin man wearing a dark silver suit and a wide-brimmed circular hat. He held a thin white sword in one hand. In the other was the body of a reptilian woman with a small puncture wound in her side. She coughed one last time and then died. The man lowered her to the ground as her body morphed back into human form.
The entire scene was shocking, but it was the quartet of twining, snake-like apparitions of oily smoke flowing up and around the man’s back that sent chills of fear through the group. The misty forms played tricks on the eyes, for every time Gryph tried to bring them into focus, they shifted position. The man’s eyes were closed, as if experiencing some kind of ecstasy. This held true for several seconds before the serpentine appendages hissed as one and then retracted into the man’s back.
“What the what?” Lex sputtered.
“Aptly stated,” the archon said. “I have never seen a creature of this ilk.”
“Lex, can you Analyze it?”
Lex squinted and stared and then shook his head. “Nope, I don’t think it works through this big ass TV.”
The man opened his eyes. They were uniform pools of deep black lacking any pupil or sclera. A mote of silver light swam in the sea of darkness. It spun deeper into the murky blackness and then settled. Only then did they see it was one star among dozens.
“Is he a member of the Vex?” Gryph asked.
“I do not believe so,” the archon stated. “The draconian woman he slew was their leader.”
“So he killed all the Vex?” Sean said. “That’s good for us, right?”
Gryph stared at the man through the viewscreen. “What does this man want?” The others looked to him questioningly. “I will not lose any tears for the Vex, but he killed them for a reason.”
“Maybe he’s just a good guy,” Lex said.
“Good guys do not kill with such ease,” Ovrym said. “Whatever he wants he had to eliminate the Vex to get it. That does not bode well for us.”
“Perhaps he is working for Aluran,” Vonn said and looked to Gryph. “Maybe he is here for you.”
“Possible, but doubtful,” Gryph said.
“Why’s that?” Lex asked.
“Because if Aluran knew I was here, he’d come for me personally.”
“Normally I’d say you have yourself a big head guy, but I had dinner with the man, and he’s got a real angry hard-on for you. He’d be here if he knew you were.”
“Accurate and disturbing.” Gryph watched the viewscreen as the man stepped forward, an orange light of unknown origin illuminating his face. He appeared to be examining something they could not see. “What’s he looking at?” The archon tapped a few more controls. The viewscreen’s perspective pulled back and the source of the fiery light was revealed. A massive circle of mystical symbols made from sputtering magma colored mana hung in the air.
“What is that?” Gryph asked.
“A rune-form of Ritual Magic,” the archon said.
“Ritual Magic?” Ovrym said in shock. “By the Stars, how is that possible?”
“It should not be, but it is,” the archon said. “That the Vex can harness such power is deeply disturbing.”
“What in the hell is Ritual Magic?” Lex asked in the tone a man uses when he does not want the answer to his question.
“An art thought long lost in the Realms,” Ovrym said. “Magic, while incredibly powerful, has always been constrained by the mana pool of the user. Even the gods have a finite pool, limiting their ability to affect the world around. Ritual Magic circumvents this limitation. It is not a sphere, like Life, Chaos or Aether Magic. Instead it is a method for harnessing the mana pools of groups of people. A Ritual Magic practitioner can then meld and direct that mana into rune-forms capable of incredible feats.”
“So if that dragon lady made that rune-form, and now she’s dead, why is it still all floaty and sparkly?”
“Because once powered a rune-form will retain its stored mana until it is used or enough time passes for it to dissipate,” the archon said.
“How long until it dissipates?” Gryph asked.
“Hard to say,” the archon said. “Every rune-form is different, and hard to predict. That one is a rune-form of Chaos Magic and therefore even more unpredictable.”
The silver suited man stared at the rune-form like a man studying a high order mathematical equation.
"So, if this skill is rare, it is unlikely that Jeepers Creepers out there can do anything with the rune-form before it dissipates. Right?" The expression on Lex’s face was that of a man who feared his words had jinxed the situation.
“The odds that he is able to manipulate the rune-form are….” the archon began, but then the man held his hands wide and the rune-form twisted and changed. It moved towards the wall of the tower, the chaotic swirl of patterns and runes shifting faster and faster. The matrix of energy impacted the wall of the tower with an audible thung and the entire crystal edifice sung.
“You were saying?” Lex muttered.
The archon turned to Sean. “We have little time. Follow me.”
The archon stepped into the Port Circle and waited on the others. Once they were all inside the archon activated it and reality shimmered again. They reappeared in another large room. The roof was high overhead and at the room’s center spun an intricate sphere of energy.
“Woah,” Sean said. “It’s more wondrous than I imagined.” The others all stared in silence at the multi-hued bubble of energy. Surrounding the pulsing energy was an array of crystal-metallic struts that spun around the sphere. The surface was a cascade of rippling colors like an oil spill in a puddle. The energy expanded upwards nearly kissing the undersides of the spinning arms before retreating back into itself.
Some kind of containment field? Gryph thought. He activated his Identify.
You have discovered an Order Engine.
Order Engines are near infinitely complicated mathematical structures created by the Lords of Order to combat the infection of Chaos across the Realms. They are vastly powerful artificial intelligences capable of manipulating the flow of time, restructuring matter and a wide variety of other functions. Be warned using an Order Engine will task even the strongest of minds.
“You sure you want to do this?” Gryph asked Sean.
“No,” Sean grinned, but stepped forward and gingerly pulled the wand from his bag. He held the weapon gently as if it were some odd combo of a newborn babe and deadly viper. He looked up at the archon. “I am ready. Open the Order Engine.”
The archon inclined its head slightly and turned to the Order Engine. By some unvoiced command the spinning halo of struts slowed and then stopped, folding themselves into a single ring that reminded Gryph of a childhood trip to the circus. He almost expected the circle to burst into flames to prepare for a lion’s leap.
Sean breathed heavily and closed his eyes, mentally preparing to risk his sanity, perhaps his very life. “If I don’t get this right, the Order Engine will fragment my mind. If that happens, I may need… ”
“Don’t worry, we’ll put you down if you go rabid,” Lex said, and then surprised everyone and pulled the small player into a deep hug. “Stay sane.”
As Sean prepared to step into the maw of the Order Engine a deep rumbling crack hummed through the entire tower. The archon cocked its head sideways as if listening to a voice only it could hear. “We have an intruder.” He looked at Gryph. “Do what you can to slow his progress. I will remain here as guardian.”
“Good luck,” Gryph said, gathered his troops and stepped into the Port Circle.
56
The world shimmered and Gryph and the others disappeared, appearing a moment later at the bottom of the tower. They stepped from the circle and rushed to a ba
lcony that overlooked a large room below. A set of stairs descended several dozen feet to the ground floor of the tower. The same subtle blue-white light that suffused the rest of the tower illuminated the huge room. Against the front wall an orange magma glow of the rune-form slowly peeled the layers of crystal. The whole tower sang under the rune-form’s rhythmic assault.
“That would be one beautiful symphony if it wasn’t a harbinger of our doom,” Lex said.
“Quiet,” Gryph scolded. “Everyone who is able to, cast Blade Ward now and any other buffs you have. The second he is through hit him.”
Gryph spent the 40 mana on Blade Ward, an Earth Magic spell that would deflect the next successful attack made using a ferrous metal weapon. The tingling shiver of magnetic energy flowed up and down his arms and then settled deep inside him, ready to turn the next successful attack.
Over the next minute he cast Demon Scales, Stone Skin and Mind Shield, each one improving his physical or mental defenses. He watched the others casting their own buffs.
“Any chance you can do that Multiple Man trick again?” Lex asked Vonn.
“No, my cooldown won’t expire for 23 hours.”
“Guess that would have been too easy. A legion of Vonn's would really help slow this guy down.”
The words gave Gryph and idea and he cast Auriel’s Perk Share, sharing one of his newest perks with the others.
You have cast the spell Auriel’s Perk Share.
As the leader of an Adventure Party, you can provide Auriel’s Perk to those under your command for 40 mana per person.
You have shared your perk Skill Resistance 50% with Lex, Ovrym, Errat and Vonn.
Total Mana Cost: 200
Duration: 20 minutes (10+ 1 per level of Life Magic Mastery.)
Each member of the Adventure Party received a prompt. “Lex, the moment he’s through use Analyze on him. We need to take out his primary skill and hit him hard with our distance attacks. Errat hold your shield as long as you are able. Do not get close until absolutely necessary.”
