They got a private room for dinner at Nym’s request. Everyone made small talk until the food had arrived, then Nym empowered four papers with different rune sequences designed to block scrying, keep sound from traveling outside the room, sever connections to remote sensors like Analia’s air golems, and reveal invisible or transformed mages.
The others watched him silently while he worked magic after magic. He’d been preparing for this meeting for a few days in between his practice sessions, and planned for it to be as private as possible. Just because he was going to share a few secrets with his friends didn’t mean he wanted anyone who happened to walk by to hear.
“This seems like overkill for a catch up meeting about everyone’s plans for the near future,” Monick said.
“That’s not what this is about,” Nym said, his back turned to the table while he affixed the last paper to the door. He didn’t need to look behind him to picture the glances they were giving each other.
“I’m free of the geas,” he told them once he was done. “I figured you’d like to know what that was all about, but I do want to warn you that it’s probably not going to be something you’ll want to share. These people protect their secrets pretty rigorously.”
“Nice!” both twins exclaimed at once. “How’d you do it?”
Nym’s food was cold by the time he finished explaining what the Collective was and what they’d wanted with him. The amount of outrage around the whole table when he told them that none of them except Analia would ever be able to cast a third circle spell on their own was a sight to behold.
“But you know this technique,” Ophelia said. “You could teach it to us.”
“I… can. Yes. The Collective’s early estimates put it at a fifty percent increase to your soul well’s size, so Bildar would theoretically be able to do it, but no one else could.”
“It doesn’t matter right now anyway,” Bildar said. “Congratulations on reaching the status of master mage, but none of the rest of us can do that. Sure, a bigger soul well would be nice, but that’s not what’s stopping us right now. We’ve all been mages for years, in my case close to two decades, without ever breaking through to the third layer.”
“It’s still not right that they’re hiding this from us,” Nomick argued.
“Oh no, the nobility is colluding with the government to keep secrets from us,” Ophelia said dryly. She glanced over at Analia, winced, and added, “Sorry. I’m not talking about you right now.”
“Nobles keep just as many secrets from each other as they do from everyone else,” Analia told her. “Even when it’s your own family.”
“Anyway, yes… I can try to teach you this technique they developed off what I was doing to repair my matrix if you want,” Nym said. “It’s still experimental though and we’re not sure even how much the soul well will grow or what long term effects there are.”
“We’ll debate that some other time,” Bildar said, cutting through the chatter. “You still haven’t told us how you broke the geas.”
Nym had taken the opportunity to scarf down some of his now-cold food while they argued, and when Bildar put him back into the middle of the conversation, he could do nothing but chew while they all stared at him. He looked down at his plate, back up to the people staring at him, then down to the plate again. His fork inched over to grab another bite.
The entire table started shouting some variation of, “Don’t you dare!”
Chuckling to himself, Nym put down his fork, swallowed his mouthful of food, and said, “I talked an archmage into absolving it for me.”
“You did not,” Monick said immediately. “No way.”
“That’s how they got the forest back under control,” Ophelia realized. “An archmage showed up to fix the mess. You met him then. What did he ask for in return?”
“My help holding the planar lock spell keeping more undead from pouring into our world,” Nym said. “Turns out having a huge soul well is good for something after all.”
“That’s not it though, is it?” Analia said quietly.
“No,” Nym said, frowning at her. “It’s not. They didn’t just pick my name out of a hat. Your father figured it out, of course. All the tests, it must have been obvious. But he made some assumptions.”
“Hey, stop being vaguely mysterious and just tell us already,” Nomick said.
“I…” Nym paused for dramatic effect. Nomick chucked a bread roll at his head. “Am an ascendant.”
“You have some mashed potato on your shirt,” Ophelia pointed out. “Doesn’t seem very god-like to me.”
“No… really guys, I am,” Nym said while flicking the offending lump of potato away.
“Yeah, we know,” Bildar said. “Was this the big surprise?”
“What do you mean you know?” Nym demanded.
“Your Helingar-Bistal score was insane. Ophelia went through it over and over. You’ve been with us for a few months now and yet you look like you’re three years older. Every time I turn around you’ve got some new spell figured out, half of which it seems like you invented yourself. You came back from a nasty matrix destabilization in a fraction of the time it should have taken. Nobody here thought you were a normal kid.”
“Plus you and Analia have been researching ascendant stuff like crazy,” Monick added.
“But… if you all knew, why didn’t you say anything?”
“You didn’t mention it, and then you had a pair of bodyguards following you around and the geas on you. It seemed like it would be a bad idea to talk about it openly. If you wanted people to know, you’d tell them.”
“Huh. Well, I guess that all makes sense.”
Ophelia snorted. “Still a kid after all.”
“Wait, if you all knew, why were you giving me a hard time about meeting an archmage and everything?” Nym asked.
“Because it’s funny,” Nomick said.
Nym just sighed and took another bite of food. He couldn’t believe he’d wasted all those hours writing rune sequences. “Anyway, turns out the whole reason I’m here is because I lost a fight with someone and had to run away. Everything is a disguise to give me time to recover. I guess once I’m able to channel fifth layer arcana, I’ll be able to get back all my memories and magic.”
“That’s good news, right?” Ophelia studied Nym’s face. “You don’t look happy.”
“My other self is kind of a jerk. I don’t like him. I don’t think I want to be him. I want my memories and my magic back, but I don’t want to act like him. He’s selfish and only cares about what he can take from people around him.”
“That sounds like a lonely existence.”
“Yeah, but I don’t know if I’ve got a choice. According to what I learned from the memories my past self did leave me, this enemy of mine is still looking for me. If I don’t get my magic back, I’ll be dead the instant he finds me. And he will, eventually. It’s another ascendant, one who already beat me once.”
“This is a race against this other ascendant then. You need to get back into fighting shape before he finds you,” Bildar said bluntly. “But, Nym… you do a lot of crazy stuff, but reaching archmage levels in… what? A few months? A year? How much time do you have? It takes decades to manage that for us.”
Nym waved his concerns away. “I know how to do it. I’ve just got to build up to it. I’m reworking how I do my conduits right now and there are a bunch of enhancements that are locked behind the ability to channel third layer arcana. It should only take a month or two to be ready for fifth layer.”
“He says it like it’s no big deal,” Nomick said. “I guess that’s what being an ascendant means.”
“It took you a year to go from second to third,” Ophelia pointed out. “What makes you think you’ll be able to go to fourth so fast, let alone fifth?”
“My arrogant previous self didn’t leave me any instructions for reaching the third layer, but he did tell me how to get to the fifth. And I have Archmage Veran personally helping me do it.”
“Well don’t just sit there, share the knowledge with us man. What is the secret to catching up to you?”
Nym explained how he’d made his coil-shaped conduit to get to the third layer, and how Archmage Veran had helped him with his early body and mind enhancements that allowed him to make a conduit that split the crystallized arcana instead of having to weave around it. They talked for another twenty minutes or so on various techniques and exercises, the philosophies behind some of his experiments, and what sorts of permanent enhancements could be done with third circle spells.
The spells went down soon after that and they finished up their meals without discussing anything else sensitive. Instead, the topic turned to the Earth Shapers’ future plans.
“It’s not great,” Bildar confessed. “That big keep on the border was a bust, and with the army getting spanked like it did, I wouldn’t be surprised if it gets delayed another year or two. Thrakus didn’t work out. Too many bribes and corrupt councilmen. We’re coming up into the winter season now and didn’t bank anywhere near what we needed to just ride it out.”
“I… may be able to help with that,” Nym said. “I may or may not have picked up some loose change from a few camps that the ghouls had overrun.”
“Battlefield looting? You know that’s illegal, right?”
Nym shrugged. “There weren’t any survivors to claim it, and it’s only illegal because the military wants first dibs on the spoils.”
“You’re not wrong,” Ophelia said, “But still…”
“How much did you take?” Bildar asked.
“About thirty crests worth.”
There was a moment of stunned silence, then Monick started laughing. “Of course you did. Your flight speed, the scrying spells, you probably tore right down the wall and cleared out camp after camp in minutes. I bet whoever was in charge of salvaging those camps was tearing their hair out over the lack of money they found.”
Nym looked around the table and said, “All of you… I owe you a lot. Whatever you decide you want to do, wherever you decide you want to go, I’ll help.”
“Could go down south where it doesn’t get as cold,” Bildar mused. “Travel would be… well, no it wouldn’t. Nym could just teleport us over there. A bit of seed money to get us going again, and we could just work through the winter to stay afloat.”
“I can’t actually teleport to places I haven’t been,” Nym said. “But I fly really fast now, and I’m working on a third circle flight spell that’s used specifically for long distances.”
“What are you going to do after your private tutoring sessions are done?” Analia asked.
“I don’t know. I guess, see what I used to know and figure it out from there?”
“I meant, where are you going to go?”
Nym just shrugged. He really hadn’t thought beyond getting access to the rest of his memories. “Like I said, I’ll figure it out as I go. That’s what I’ve been doing all along.”
They parted ways there, with Bildar and Ophelia putting their heads together to figure out where they could likely find work in the warmer southern reaches of the country, or even beyond the border, and Nym promising to find a way to get them there once they knew their destination.
He teleported back to Archmage Veran’s sanctum, a complicated process due to the wards, but one which he was able to do thanks to the knowledge his new mentor had shared with him. It was like a puzzle, and each piece had to be slotted in at the correct time, in the correct order. As long as he did that, he was able to pass through the wards without breaking them.
It had been a good day. He’d caught up with all the people he cared the most about. But now it was time to get back to work.
They got a private room for dinner at Nym’s request. Everyone made small talk until the food had arrived, then Nym empowered four papers with different rune sequences designed to block scrying, keep sound from traveling outside the room, sever connections to remote sensors like Analia’s air golems, and reveal invisible or transformed mages.
The others watched him silently while he worked magic after magic. He’d been preparing for this meeting for a few days in between his practice sessions, and planned for it to be as private as possible. Just because he was going to share a few secrets with his friends didn’t mean he wanted anyone who happened to walk by to hear.
“This seems like overkill for a catch up meeting about everyone’s plans for the near future,” Monick said.
“That’s not what this is about,” Nym said, his back turned to the table while he affixed the last paper to the door. He didn’t need to look behind him to picture the glances they were giving each other.
“I’m free of the geas,” he told them once he was done. “I figured you’d like to know what that was all about, but I do want to warn you that it’s probably not going to be something you’ll want to share. These people protect their secrets pretty rigorously.”
“Nice!” both twins exclaimed at once. “How’d you do it?”
Nym’s food was cold by the time he finished explaining what the Collective was and what they’d wanted with him. The amount of outrage around the whole table when he told them that none of them except Analia would ever be able to cast a third circle spell on their own was a sight to behold.
“But you know this technique,” Ophelia said. “You could teach it to us.”
“I… can. Yes. The Collective’s early estimates put it at a fifty percent increase to your soul well’s size, so Bildar would theoretically be able to do it, but no one else could.”
“It doesn’t matter right now anyway,” Bildar said. “Congratulations on reaching the status of master mage, but none of the rest of us can do that. Sure, a bigger soul well would be nice, but that’s not what’s stopping us right now. We’ve all been mages for years, in my case close to two decades, without ever breaking through to the third layer.”
“It’s still not right that they’re hiding this from us,” Nomick argued.
“Oh no, the nobility is colluding with the government to keep secrets from us,” Ophelia said dryly. She glanced over at Analia, winced, and added, “Sorry. I’m not talking about you right now.”
“Nobles keep just as many secrets from each other as they do from everyone else,” Analia told her. “Even when it’s your own family.”
“Anyway, yes… I can try to teach you this technique they developed off what I was doing to repair my matrix if you want,” Nym said. “It’s still experimental though and we’re not sure even how much the soul well will grow or what long term effects there are.”
“We’ll debate that some other time,” Bildar said, cutting through the chatter. “You still haven’t told us how you broke the geas.”
Nym had taken the opportunity to scarf down some of his now-cold food while they argued, and when Bildar put him back into the middle of the conversation, he could do nothing but chew while they all stared at him. He looked down at his plate, back up to the people staring at him, then down to the plate again. His fork inched over to grab another bite.
The entire table started shouting some variation of, “Don’t you dare!”
Chuckling to himself, Nym put down his fork, swallowed his mouthful of food, and said, “I talked an archmage into absolving it for me.”
“You did not,” Monick said immediately. “No way.”
“That’s how they got the forest back under control,” Ophelia realized. “An archmage showed up to fix the mess. You met him then. What did he ask for in return?”
“My help holding the planar lock spell keeping more undead from pouring into our world,” Nym said. “Turns out having a huge soul well is good for something after all.”
“That’s not it though, is it?” Analia said quietly.
“No,” Nym said, frowning at her. “It’s not. They didn’t just pick my name out of a hat. Your father figured it out, of course. All the tests, it must have been obvious. But he made some assumptions.”
“Hey, stop being vaguely mysterious and just tell us already,” Nomick said.
“I…” Nym paused for dramatic effect. Nomick chucked a bread roll at his head. “Am an ascendant.”
“You have some mashed potato on your shirt,” Ophelia pointed out. “Doesn’t seem very god-like to me.”
“No… really guys, I am,” Nym said while flicking the offending lump of potato away.
“Yeah, we know,” Bildar said. “Was this the big surprise?”
“What do you mean you know?” Nym demanded.
“Your Helingar-Bistal score was insane. Ophelia went through it over and over. You’ve been with us for a few months now and yet you look like you’re three years older. Every time I turn around you’ve got some new spell figured out, half of which it seems like you invented yourself. You came back from a nasty matrix destabilization in a fraction of the time it should have taken. Nobody here thought you were a normal kid.”
“Plus you and Analia have been researching ascendant stuff like crazy,” Monick added.
“But… if you all knew, why didn’t you say anything?”
“You didn’t mention it, and then you had a pair of bodyguards following you around and the geas on you. It seemed like it would be a bad idea to talk about it openly. If you wanted people to know, you’d tell them.”
“Huh. Well, I guess that all makes sense.”
Ophelia snorted. “Still a kid after all.”
“Wait, if you all knew, why were you giving me a hard time about meeting an archmage and everything?” Nym asked.
“Because it’s funny,” Nomick said.
Nym just sighed and took another bite of food. He couldn’t believe he’d wasted all those hours writing rune sequences. “Anyway, turns out the whole reason I’m here is because I lost a fight with someone and had to run away. Everything is a disguise to give me time to recover. I guess once I’m able to channel fifth layer arcana, I’ll be able to get back all my memories and magic.”
“That’s good news, right?” Ophelia studied Nym’s face. “You don’t look happy.”
“My other self is kind of a jerk. I don’t like him. I don’t think I want to be him. I want my memories and my magic back, but I don’t want to act like him. He’s selfish and only cares about what he can take from people around him.”
“That sounds like a lonely existence.”
“Yeah, but I don’t know if I’ve got a choice. According to what I learned from the memories my past self did leave me, this enemy of mine is still looking for me. If I don’t get my magic back, I’ll be dead the instant he finds me. And he will, eventually. It’s another ascendant, one who already beat me once.”
“This is a race against this other ascendant then. You need to get back into fighting shape before he finds you,” Bildar said bluntly. “But, Nym… you do a lot of crazy stuff, but reaching archmage levels in… what? A few months? A year? How much time do you have? It takes decades to manage that for us.”
Nym waved his concerns away. “I know how to do it. I’ve just got to build up to it. I’m reworking how I do my conduits right now and there are a bunch of enhancements that are locked behind the ability to channel third layer arcana. It should only take a month or two to be ready for fifth layer.”
“He says it like it’s no big deal,” Nomick said. “I guess that’s what being an ascendant means.”
“It took you a year to go from second to third,” Ophelia pointed out. “What makes you think you’ll be able to go to fourth so fast, let alone fifth?”
“My arrogant previous self didn’t leave me any instructions for reaching the third layer, but he did tell me how to get to the fifth. And I have Archmage Veran personally helping me do it.”
“Well don’t just sit there, share the knowledge with us man. What is the secret to catching up to you?”
Nym explained how he’d made his coil-shaped conduit to get to the third layer, and how Archmage Veran had helped him with his early body and mind enhancements that allowed him to make a conduit that split the crystallized arcana instead of having to weave around it. They talked for another twenty minutes or so on various techniques and exercises, the philosophies behind some of his experiments, and what sorts of permanent enhancements could be done with third circle spells.
The spells went down soon after that and they finished up their meals without discussing anything else sensitive. Instead, the topic turned to the Earth Shapers’ future plans.
“It’s not great,” Bildar confessed. “That big keep on the border was a bust, and with the army getting spanked like it did, I wouldn’t be surprised if it gets delayed another year or two. Thrakus didn’t work out. Too many bribes and corrupt councilmen. We’re coming up into the winter season now and didn’t bank anywhere near what we needed to just ride it out.”
“I… may be able to help with that,” Nym said. “I may or may not have picked up some loose change from a few camps that the ghouls had overrun.”
“Battlefield looting? You know that’s illegal, right?”
Nym shrugged. “There weren’t any survivors to claim it, and it’s only illegal because the military wants first dibs on the spoils.”
“You’re not wrong,” Ophelia said, “But still…”
“How much did you take?” Bildar asked.
“About thirty crests worth.”
There was a moment of stunned silence, then Monick started laughing. “Of course you did. Your flight speed, the scrying spells, you probably tore right down the wall and cleared out camp after camp in minutes. I bet whoever was in charge of salvaging those camps was tearing their hair out over the lack of money they found.”
Nym looked around the table and said, “All of you… I owe you a lot. Whatever you decide you want to do, wherever you decide you want to go, I’ll help.”
“Could go down south where it doesn’t get as cold,” Bildar mused. “Travel would be… well, no it wouldn’t. Nym could just teleport us over there. A bit of seed money to get us going again, and we could just work through the winter to stay afloat.”
“I can’t actually teleport to places I haven’t been,” Nym said. “But I fly really fast now, and I’m working on a third circle flight spell that’s used specifically for long distances.”
“What are you going to do after your private tutoring sessions are done?” Analia asked.
“I don’t know. I guess, see what I used to know and figure it out from there?”
“I meant, where are you going to go?”
Nym just shrugged. He really hadn’t thought beyond getting access to the rest of his memories. “Like I said, I’ll figure it out as I go. That’s what I’ve been doing all along.”
They parted ways there, with Bildar and Ophelia putting their heads together to figure out where they could likely find work in the warmer southern reaches of the country, or even beyond the border, and Nym promising to find a way to get them there once they knew their destination.
He teleported back to Archmage Veran’s sanctum, a complicated process due to the wards, but one which he was able to do thanks to the knowledge his new mentor had shared with him. It was like a puzzle, and each piece had to be slotted in at the correct time, in the correct order. As long as he did that, he was able to pass through the wards without breaking them.
It had been a good day. He’d caught up with all the people he cared the most about. But now it was time to get back to work.
