Millennial Mage - Chapter 203

Chapter 203: A Bit Concerned




Chapter 203: A Bit Concerned

Tala stood in the market square of an arcane city, surrounded by arcanes. Each and every one that she could see had an orange aura.

What did you expect in an arcane city?

-Focus, Tala. Youre not quite yourself right now, we need to get somewhere quiet so that I can complete whats needed.-

Tala didnt understand, but she trusted Alat. She didnt know why she trusted Alat, or even who Alat wasor even who she was, but-

Alat made a noise inside Talas head. -All will be explained. Focus!-

The very air itself was saturated with power to the point that it would have been orange if it were claimed. Fused airor Mature air, I guess? That was almost funny.

She held a massive platter of various roasted meats. On the ground before her, a teal-skinned man was groaning, having just been tripped when he tried to push her.

Behind her, another teal man was staring at her with confusion, non-comprehension clear on his features.

Good, I have a bloodstar with an aspect mirror for perception already in place. She didnt really understand what was going on in general, but she did know exactly what was going on in that moment.

The attacker behind her frowned, shaking his head. Girl, the back of your head is ridiculously sturdy. That didnt even faze you. He hesitated at his own words, realization replacing confusion as his eyes went wide.

Apparently, everyone around her, whod witnessed the assault, came to a similar conclusion at nearly the same time. Many bowing preemptively or turning and slinking away.

-Set down the food, and do a full turn so everyone can see the insignia on your chest.-

Tala did so, placing her platter on a table just to one side. She understood why Alat had suggested the action almost instantly. After all, she had the memories of the other person, too. She knew how she should act here. She just needed to focus on that second set of instincts.

Yes, focus on the instincts that seem to be based on my actual remembered experiences, not the instincts that felt more natural but that are seemingly based on nothing.

-Focus.-

If anything, I dont know why I would want to act differently, even though I do

-Focus!-

As each onlooker saw the emblem, they blanched, pulling back.

Murmurs of House of Blood and candidate moved through the impromptu audience.

Even those who had bowed seemed taken aback. The House of Blood was a powerful force in the city, and theyd just been witness to one of the highest ranked members of the House being assaulted.

There were also some murmurs of confusion. Tala caught snippets of chatter, people postulating that she was a beast folk of some kind, with her overt features repressed, or a hue folk with a coloring close to that of a human.

Well, I guess humans are hue man too.

-This is not the time for puns, Tala.-

There is always time for puns!

-Im not holding you together very well hurry up, please.-

Once she had turned fully, she picked up her food and turned once more to face the hue folk behind her. The teal man was visibly flinching back, but he hadnt fled.The debut release of this chapter happened at Ñøv€l-B1n.

Wise. Fleeing after assaulting a member of a powerful House would have been a fools gamble. The city peacekeepers had incredibly precise tracking magics, and theyd have found him in short order.

My apologies, Higher one. I did not know whom you served. I I only saw my kinsmen knocked to the ground and reacted for the sake of filial honor.

The one on the ground didnt stand, instead lowering his gaze and muttering a jumbled apology.

Alat and Tala worked together, pulling the right words into place as Tala responded. Your actions had honor, though it was misdirected. I am not harmed, nor could I have been by your attack.

The man seemed to relax just slightly when he heard that.

What do you do for a living? What were those magics that you used against me?

He stiffened again. Passives, Higher one. Im a smith by trade. I repair enhanced gear, and so my magic is bent towards allowing my blows to bypass magical defenses. That lets me work on the material underneath. Otherwise, Id have to strip all that away, first. Much more expensive to do it without my abilities, Higher one.

She nodded. She had memory of such tradesmen. Well, not my memory of them. I still have no idea what THE RUST is going on. She, of course, meant the general sense. She had no idea how shed gotten to arcane lands, or what the arcane had done to her or

-Focus! Were almost in the clear.-

Tala made a show of taking a deep breath and letting it out, slowly. Just act like the memories in my head acted. Dont think about how odd that sounds. And so she did, pulling from the memories, and trusting Alats guidance.

As I said, no harm was done to me, and it was an honest mistake. But be sure of whom you strike in the future. Am I understood?

His relief, as well as that of many of the on-lookers, was almost palpable. Yes, Higher one. Thank you for your mercy.

She nodded once. Leave me. She glanced down at the teal man who still hadnt returned to his feet, likely fearing how she would react to any movements, especially now that he was behind her. She hadnt needed to look with her eyes, but she wanted to be clear about who she was talking about. Take this one with you.

The attacker helped his prone kinsman to his feet and the two retreated into the crowd, and Tala turned, looking for an out-of-the-way table to sit at.

She did her best not to look at the horror that dominated the center of this square, as she moved toward the outside.

Even so, she couldnt help but take in the sheer diversity of people that she passed.

There were beast folk of uncounted kinds of animal from mice to bulls, from hawks to spiders. All seemed to be based around a human-like frame, though some were only half the height, and a few towered nearly half-again as tall as the average human.

The size disparity, oddly, didnt seem directly in line with the animal the beast folk were based off. There were bullmen half Talas stature, some her height, and she saw another who could have been mistaken for an oversized statue, had he chosen to stand still.

To add to the variation, some seemed more animal than person, and a few looked basically human, with just one or two animalistic features.

Tala had no idea what the source of the variation was, nor did the mind she now inhabited. Tali, it seemed, had never thought to question it.

Tala shuddered at the thought of her enslaved personality and turned her attention back to her surroundings and the people in it.

The hue folk were similarly varied. Their defining characteristic was the color of their skin and hair, usually seemingly taken straight from the rainbow, though some were on the gray-scale instead. Like the beast folk, they varied in stature greatly. Some had differing color of hair to their skin, but most were monochrome.

Tala wasnt sure if those with different hues died their hair or if it was naturally different. Again, Tali had no memory of an answer, either.

Stop thinking about her, Tala.

The magic density of those around her was almost entirely Mature, or Fused on the human scale, but something about that label didnt feel right. Mature it is.

A few held higher ranks, and Tala noticed similar characteristics among them. All the hawk-men with higher density had similar plumage, the hue folk with similar densities had similar shading, and things like that.

Genetic? Probably. It was what demarked a higher race. The mind she inhabited had thousands of little things to look for, to help pick out higher races, but even Tali hadnt really used the information. Her mage-sight could do that almost instantly.

Focus. She finally worked her way to the side of the plaza and found a table tucked into a nook between two stores. It almost appeared like the nook could have been an alley once, but one of the shops had claimed the space, sealing up all but a small section near the entrance.

Finally, Alat seemed to sigh in satisfied exhaustion. -Done, at least with the skeleton of our memory. We shouldnt becomeother us again unless we want you to.-

Why would we want that? Tala mirrored her perception onto all three bloodstars, passing off two to Alat.

-Thank you for the perception. As to your question, Ill let you consider that for a moment.-

It didnt take even a moments thought to click into place. Rust. Thats right. Tala swallowed then. So, if memory servesThe saorsa collar?

-Yeah. We have two dasganachs wrapped around our neck, one for iron, one for gold. Theyre barely contained and ready to be injected into us if we leave the city without authorization, or if our master chooses, or if we breach any of a few other statutes...-

Tala grimaced. Id hoped I was remembering wrong

-Nope. Its even designed so you can inspect it, and see exactly whats inside and what would trigger it. Theyre courteous to their prisoners like that.-

Tala had known about the inspectability of the collar, but still appreciated Alats reiteration and assurance. She then did what was expected, sending her mage-sight into the collar.

Just as expected, two dasganchs lay within. One was gold, and one was iron. They were held in suspension and attached to an incredibly complicated series of spell-workings, all containing power with a blue aura.

Any tampering, even just cutting or ripping it free, would cause these to be injected into me faster than I can react.

-Yup.-

Decapitation triggers them too.

-He seems to have thought very highly of your regenerative abilities.-

You arent joking. She shook her head slowly.

They both poured through the magics, considering.

These arent standard creatures either.

-Not at all.- They both had access to Talis memory of them being used on others.

The dasganachs in these collars had their inhibitions removed somehow, as well as having their ability to gain mastery over material incredibly amplified.

A particularly vivid memory of a man dying by one of these collars let Tala and Alat time a full bodys worth of iron in less than a minute. The victim had screamed the entire time.

Time to think about something else.

Is my personality stable enough to address the mass grave in the room?

-I think so. You are you without my enforcement of such, so yes?-

Thatll have to do.

And so, Tala lifted her eyes and looked at the citys central column.

It was worked crystal, seemingly of a solid piece, though it could have been fused into such magically with relative ease. The uncountable facets were surrounded by an irregular net of gold

The gold was fairly obviously a spell-form, even without the power that shone forth from it. The working was powered by the column itself. As to what it did, aside from shunting most of the power into a distribution network for the city, it seemed to filter the magic coming from within.

And a lot of power was coming from within.

If Tala had to guess, there was close to twenty thousand founts packed into the column, which appeared to be about twenty yards in diameter and over two hundred feet high.

By the magic that she could see, it extended equally far into the ground as well.

At least they arent too crowded in there. They had more than fifty square feet each, if her estimations were correct. They likely needed it, if the individualized nets of power that surrounded each fount were any indication. It seemed like they had to customize something for each individual fount.

Tala let loose a little manic giggle.

Twenty thousand people, broken and bound in eternal slavery to this city.

-Look at the power, Tala. What do you see?- Alat sounded a bit concerned.

So, Tala looked. It was everywhere, and everywhere it was dense.

-True, true. But look at the power itself, not just its density. Theres a reason that Fused doesnt seem right to you.-

Tala looked closer. Therestheres something wrong with it. Like a concoction made with inferior ingredients, then reduced to try to up the potency.

-Thats what Im seeing.-

Holly had talked about how Tala, herself, didnt have the quality of power to run some of her scripts as effectively as a Bound.

Their filter doesnt work right. They arent getting Fused quality power. Was something broken?

-Or their working doesnt refine or distill the power. The magic were sensing isnt aspected, but its not-

Clean. It came from unsettled souls, through a rough connection. And that was no wonder. These founts were the souls of former slaves, not Mages gaining power to protect themselves and those they loved.

Tala felt tears rising up in her eyes, as her mind tried to turn towards her friends and family, but she pushed those thoughts away. She couldnt think about all she wanted to get back to right now. That would cripple her, maybe for days.

-You cant have a Fused fount. Rust, you cant even have a Bound one. These are all from simple Mages.-

So, the power is weaker. Thinner? No, that wasnt right. Lesser.

-I think so. Metaphorically: They may have a lot more gold than we do, but ours is pure.- Alat hesitated. -Well, were only Fused. Its purer.-

Tala snorted a laugh at that. True enough. No wonder the few higher Archons humanity has can hold back those who wish to recapture us, She hesitated, thinking of her own situation, at least they can stop it on a wide scale. A drop of Xeels power is probably worth more than this city sees in a decade.

-Thats probably hyperbole, but who knows? You might be underestimating the man.-

In any case, our power is purer than theirs, stronger, better.

There was something to that. It would give her an edge. It wouldnt obviously be an overpowering one, Be-thric had been able to beat her easily enough, but it might matter. Good observation. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

-Thank you, and youre welcome.-

Tala was still staring at the pillar, the power-center of this city. She was staring at the twenty thousand souls of her kin. Master Boma would have a fit. After a moment, she shook her head. I dont like it much either.

-We cant really do anything about it. Not now.-

But we dont have to act now, do we.

-No. No, we dont. We can bide our time, get what we can, then rob and pillage our way to freedom.-

Tala felt herself grinning broadly. That, my good Alat, sounds like the beginnings of a plan.