Chapter 268: The Magician 26
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The man made quick work of it. The young mage could see the wheels turning in Mr. Rothschild's head as he mulled over the value of what Orison provided.
He said, "Magic is a rare and expensive commodity. Mundane life here is much as you'd expect it to be for the late Victorian era. There are fantastic and odd additions to the population. But after the last thirty years, things have come to a fragile equilibrium."
After pulling some items from a desk cabinet, he man handed Orison a plain leather wallet, a sponsored visa and a small pouch of gold coins. "I don't expect that you'll be lingering around for long. That should be sufficient to see you comfortably provisioned for awhile. Just remember, gentleman make financial exchange with guineas.
"...Don't try to replicate bank notes. At great cost, The Crown has devised a way to find them and their maker quite efficiently. For similar reasons, don't exercise bolder or more destructive magics in public. Goodwill usage is acceptable but don't pedal magic goods or services openly either."
After giving the young mage a few more pieces of social advice and some directions to important places, Nathan sunk back into his chair looking older than his years.
On his way out the door, Orison turned and said, "From my point of view, you weren't wrong for taking the opportunity presented to you back then in the museum. We all have different starting points on the path. No matter where we start, no matter what aid or companionship we have, the climb itself is a solitary endeavor. Whether it's to become a climber in truth or a redeemed soul that belongs to itself, I have no doubts you can succeed."
Mr Rothschild gave him a ghost of a smile and said, "Have a care for yourself. As a foreigner that British sentiment doesn't come natural to, I'd suggest heading over to 'the colonies' as soon as possible. It's a relatively lawless place but that would be to your advantage."
Reading between the lines, the young mage realized that Nathan saw him as a potential competitor of some kind. To maintain friendly relations and possible mutual benefit, the man was encouraging him to rove further afield. He didn't know if he'd take Mr Rothschild's advice or not but he knew that he had little desire to stay in England.
As a manservant with ram horns led him to where Dustin was, he briefly pondered about Jennifer. Orison had originally planned on saying hi but the maid had informed him that she lived on a country estate. It seemed that the husband and wife were politely estranged. That alone wouldn't have given the young mage pause but he hadn't been that close to her and Nathan might take an unscheduled visit out of context.
The carriage ride provided for them to the nearest town, passed in silence. It wasn't that they didn't have information to share. It felt like someone was watching them and Orison spotted cleverly hidden sigils meant to spy on its passengers.
Once they had been dropped off at a public transit hub, it was as if a tension within them had disbursed. Orison went to buy them tickets for the next coach to Liverpool while Dustin went to the general store to buy a few necessities and something for them to eat later on the road. A few minutes later they met back up for the last bit of waiting time til the next coach ran.
After Orison had shared what he had learned, it was Dustin's turn to spill. "I figured some stuff out that has me on edge about this world. It's hard to tell at first glance but I can see signs of my world, maybe even the others connected to it from 'up higher'."
Orison nodded. "The dying world was in the mid forties when it was 'saved' on MOGS Day. These people are totally acclimated to their apparent 1880s calendar date. No big surprise since we're in a whole different splay of reality anyway. I get the distinct impression that shadows of a handful of invalidated worlds were forcefully merged into this one somehow."
The Rogers man said, "That's just it. I don't think there was a world HERE before the Morning of Grand Summoning. If there was, it was a dead one. What we're seeing is the averaging out of everything that was shoved together.
"You know I was Rowdies. I had a decent chunk of experience traveling between a world and planar fragments. This world feels like a collection of planar fragments. In a couple of decades all the rough edges might smooth out and stop feeling that way. But at the moment, all the different pieces aren't fit together solidly."
Orison thought on it and said, "I don't know how it got to this point but I know about MOGS Day intimately. I was the one who did that."
Dustin looked at him wide eyed and asked, "How!?"
Orison said, "It's not as big of a 'wow' moment as you might think. I just used some know-how to free a collection of powerful entities from one place, ferried them over to the dying world and asked a small favor for freeing them.
"Honestly, I only managed to pull that off because some of them needed to do what I was asking anyway. Being trapped where they were, some of the more exotic ones were essentially starving. All I did was ask them to hunt the alien outsiders on the dying world. Even the ones who didn't need to do it for sustenance still had a belly full of anger over their long years of forced servitude."
A voice spoke, belonging to a man neither of the two sensitive people had noticed until he had done so. "It all leads back to you. That wasn't all you had done, though. It's merely all that you still remember doing."
Both Orison and Dustin flew off the bench and into combat ready stances.
The dapper English gentleman tipped his hat to them in greetings. "Apologies for startling you. Your godson, Benjamin asked me to keep a watchful eye for your arrival. But alas, two years is quite some time to ask for steady vigilance."
Not letting down his guard in the slightest, Orison said, "I don't know a Benjamin personally, much less one that can claim to be my godson. As far as I know, I only have one of those."
The man chuckled and said, "Oh, Rio. Naming him your godson was more of an afterthought for poor Neil. No, Benjamin was actually christened in church to be your godson. The priest allowed such a thing because it was considered a postmortem gesture. You see, Neil thought you were dead at the time."
To buy him a little time to process that, Orison asked, "And where do you fit in all of this?"
"The vagaries of that aren't important since you accidentally erased my existence. No worries. As you can see, I'm alive and well. Since that can also ultimately be laid at your feet, there's no hard feelings. A shame I can no longer be considered family in the physical sense but I'm still a friend," the man said with a chipper smile.
Orison said, "If you were a descendant of mine, not just Piran's, I can restore that. Whether that's a good or bad thing, I couldn't tell you."
The man smiled widely and said, "What a delightful and unsought surprise. I'd be most grateful and honored if you would."
Seeing the young mage reaching for the man, Dustin said, "Maybe doing this out in the open isn't such a great idea?"
Chuckling, Orison replied, "It doesn't matter that much but I see your point, Dustin... Well, is there something I can call you or are we just supposed to keep calling you 'sir' when you're supposedly family?"
The man tipped his hat again and said, "Randall Walter Black... Please, call me Randall."
After passing a few more minutes in polite conversation, they boarded up on the coach.
Nearly an hour down the road, Orison looked around and said, "This looks a good a spot as any."
The Rogers man still looked uneasy but shrugged as Randall waited in affable patience.
As Orison reached out a hand, Mr. Black said, "I'm not inconveniencing you in any way, am I?"
The young mage laughed and said, "If you're still asking questions like that while you're obviously eager to be restored, I can believe you're my family, alright."
Randall nodded and reached for Orison's hand. Once the young mage initiated the pull, he immediately noted his key screaming in distress. It had only done so one time before, And at that time, he had been trying to break off a fading branch of reality.
In the following violent out-pour of spiritual resources, as the key dislodged from the tower door, Orison asked, "Who are you really?"
With an affected look of righteous indignation, Randall said, "I am no more and no less than who I claimed to be, grandson."
While Randall's eyes glowed a brilliant electric blue, Dustin went to shank him with a belt knife. With the last bit of strength that Orison had left, he pushed the Rogers man out of the coach.
"Promise me you won't go after anyone else and I'll let you keep what you're taking. Otherwise, I'll destroy us both," he panted out through sunken cheeks as his skin grew more sallow by the moment.
"You are no longer in any position to-" Randall's gloating speech was cut off as a set of hands belonging to Zoe's son and a lot of different mammal breasts Orison assumed belonged to her, transported them to another place.
Randall was about to 'righteously' defend himself when he was pulled to the ground and pinned there by unknown forces.
Benjamin said, "If you want to use loopholes in the oaths you swore during the beginning of creation, expect that others will exploit them as well. Mother, let us return our friends and allies from oblivion."
It was the last thing Orison heard.
***
Reduced to little more than destroyed pieces of soul core once again, They drifted through the void slowly unraveling. Some force tried to reach Them, pull Them back together but failed at the final step. The remnant consciousness within mentally sighed.
A cool, metallic hand reached out and pressed the pieces together. A psionic 'mayday' was issued out by an almost emotionless voice. The knight was soon joined by two astral entities that only vaguely resembled old tales of Oberon and Titania.
They didn't help for free. The metal knight beggared all the possessions it had managed to gather besides the shrunk ship, an over robe that refused to be separated from the soul pieces and a strange but rather uninteresting device. Once paid, the two mercenary astral entities darted out to find any pieces of the broken soul they could find and lend a little astral essence to begin fusing Them together.
Once done with their main task, up to what they believed the pay to be worth, they escorted the knight and roughly stitched together soul back from the void. Within the bounds of structured existence, multiple different frustrated powers latched onto the soul as the knight ceased functioning. Sensing its main savior getting left behind, the soul called out for it.
The wicked looking witch of a woman, kicked the metal knight towards the soul and said, "Consider it 'after service', pauper."
Loose and broken, the soul did what it could to take the knight, disk, and device into its ruined inner realm before it was pulled to parts unknown.
***
A radically mixed group of entities and people looked down at the broken soul.
Benjamin's voice said, "He will be safe and protected from the eyes of his tormentor. To remain so, the aid we can provide cannot be more than what his soul can carry and have no ties to ourselves. Mother and I have kindled him. That is the best we can do."
Sammy said, "I sho don't believe how dat Reese babe sneaked out of my realm all thief-like. Took my bes drink an nearly erased herself to keep from being caught. But because she did, I have dat at least. I can an don't mind lettin his soul get a taste of my Ganymead. Jus a few drops mind. He can't handle any mo dan dat."
Noxflora added, "Oh, father, no one knew how great the price of our victory would be. I have little to give that would not tie you to us."
A young woman's voice said, "There are many within your realm, including us, that are willing to place a mote of spiritual wisdom within his soul."
A harsher older woman's voice said, "Sammy said that little toy of his has several... gigs... of hard driving? We can also lend him some of our knowledge as well. Though, I am unsure how we will down the loading."
Justice's voice cut in, "The hand held gaming device can take pictures. If you can organize what you wish to show on pages it will save them as jpegs. What I'm curious to know is how he can take it with him. The strange disk and knight robot are somehow connected but the game console is not."
Benjamin said, "The cane that's merged inside the soul bound robe has a small storage gem. It will fit in that. How glad I am to have fashioned them out of chrism from a fallen foe and not my own. Otherwise, we would have had to excise them, causing further trauma."
While the majority began bickering over best use of the small space in the cane, Noxflora said, "General, is there no token of gratitude and sincerity you would like to contribute?"
A dark, gravelly voice said, "Well... There are a few beauties in the sin squad. I could bind one to him to serve as a concubine."
A sharp, menacing woman's voice said, "My sister would hunt you down should you ever poke your head into the higher dimensions, demon. A token will do. She's more resourceful and far sighted than the lot of you combined... Danny, give him a touch of your water so he can remember-I know what I've told you but a little will do no harm and open up some possibilities besides."
A little heated, Noxflora said, "You would not say that if Keita was standing with us today! Were it not for the need of what you have brought to our plan, I wouldn't stand for your sister's... arrangements, unchallenged!"
The demon cleared his throat and said, "Mitchell, you have debts to this person. Here's your chance to clear it. How do you want to serve?"
A crisp military voice barked, "I'd rather face oblivion, sir!"
With a dark chuckle the demon said, "Glad you volunteered."
Mitchell's change of heart and wholehearted proclamation to serve was cut short. "I'm sure your witches can use these materials to make something useful, my queen?"
In a half musical, half demented giggle, Noxflora said, "Why, I do believe they can... High Priestess, augment the robe and... stick to something that matches the grandeur of our lord father."
A twisted and raspy voice said, "He wasn't a man to appreciate gaudy baubles. Will elegant and useful suffice? We are under a harsh time constraint."
The sharp woman's voice whispered to the soul. "I don't know what my sister sees in you beyond your ability to stir trouble on an epic scale but don't make her wait too long or I'll make you suf- well, make you wish you'd never been saved."
***
Dual flashes of light shot from two crystal coffins. As they opened, a redheaded woman looked over at the deep elf man and said, "By your true name, awaken Winter."
The deep elf man's eyes fluttered for a few minutes and finally steadied.
He said, "So, how'd it go, Orison?"
She laughed angrily. "It was botched so bad that the astral siblings had to collect my pieces. By the way, cross them off the Christmas card mailing list. They price gouged the hell out of my knight and I almost lost them."
"Then why bother? You should have sent your pact shadows to do it," the deep elf said.
She shook her head resolutely. "I wanted to know. I NEEDED to know, out of all of the ones I sacrificed so much to return, who was actually worth it."
Smiling wickedly, the deep elf asked, "And were they?"
The redheaded woman sighed. "Hard to say. They made good gestures at the end but what does that matter when I was used to the edge of oblivion to squeeze as much out of Gnarly as they could get? All I can say for certain is that Zoe's gone full outsider and her son is fairly balanced but mercenary as hell.
"Noxflora is as much a mystery to me as she's ever been but her people are in my good books for sure. Oh well. I knew she favored Piran anyway. E for effort.
"But enough of that. How was the lifetime of role switch you made me promise you so long ago? I know there was supposed to be a kid involved but you know why I can't. Until I beat the mystery of my tower... I can't bear another tragedy of that kind, Winter."
The deep elf nodded in sad understanding before switching to a smirk. "Does it really count when neither of us truly knew who the other was? I say you still owe me one... I know Cray would be game. Would being the queen of two terrifyingly competent men be so bad?"
"Not nearly as good as being the king of two terrifyingly competent women... Never mind. I really can't picture Cray as a woman. It kind of scares me a little... No, we had our run and I don't know how long it will be before I make it up there. I want you guys to be happy and move forward, not shuffling your feet for a day that might never come."
Sad nostalgia drifted across Winter's face. "There's always avatars. That's not really cheating."
The redheaded woman said, "It is. It's cheating in your heart and being dishonest on top."
She walked over to the deep elf and kissed him as she hugged him for all she was worth. "I wish I could hold my woman one last time but... Goodbye Winter. I'll always love you."
The woman fell to dust as a shadow grabbed hold of the soul along with the mysterious and powerful pages in her coffin.
With no one to witness, Winter took her original form and slumped to the floor crying. "Do you really think we'll be that happy without you? Maybe in time... But you didn't have to cut yourself out of our lives to keep us safe. We're not made of glass."
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The man made quick work of it. The young mage could see the wheels turning in Mr. Rothschild's head as he mulled over the value of what Orison provided.
He said, "Magic is a rare and expensive commodity. Mundane life here is much as you'd expect it to be for the late Victorian era. There are fantastic and odd additions to the population. But after the last thirty years, things have come to a fragile equilibrium."
After pulling some items from a desk cabinet, he man handed Orison a plain leather wallet, a sponsored visa and a small pouch of gold coins. "I don't expect that you'll be lingering around for long. That should be sufficient to see you comfortably provisioned for awhile. Just remember, gentleman make financial exchange with guineas.
"...Don't try to replicate bank notes. At great cost, The Crown has devised a way to find them and their maker quite efficiently. For similar reasons, don't exercise bolder or more destructive magics in public. Goodwill usage is acceptable but don't pedal magic goods or services openly either."
After giving the young mage a few more pieces of social advice and some directions to important places, Nathan sunk back into his chair looking older than his years.
On his way out the door, Orison turned and said, "From my point of view, you weren't wrong for taking the opportunity presented to you back then in the museum. We all have different starting points on the path. No matter where we start, no matter what aid or companionship we have, the climb itself is a solitary endeavor. Whether it's to become a climber in truth or a redeemed soul that belongs to itself, I have no doubts you can succeed."
Mr Rothschild gave him a ghost of a smile and said, "Have a care for yourself. As a foreigner that British sentiment doesn't come natural to, I'd suggest heading over to 'the colonies' as soon as possible. It's a relatively lawless place but that would be to your advantage."
Reading between the lines, the young mage realized that Nathan saw him as a potential competitor of some kind. To maintain friendly relations and possible mutual benefit, the man was encouraging him to rove further afield. He didn't know if he'd take Mr Rothschild's advice or not but he knew that he had little desire to stay in England.
As a manservant with ram horns led him to where Dustin was, he briefly pondered about Jennifer. Orison had originally planned on saying hi but the maid had informed him that she lived on a country estate. It seemed that the husband and wife were politely estranged. That alone wouldn't have given the young mage pause but he hadn't been that close to her and Nathan might take an unscheduled visit out of context.
The carriage ride provided for them to the nearest town, passed in silence. It wasn't that they didn't have information to share. It felt like someone was watching them and Orison spotted cleverly hidden sigils meant to spy on its passengers.
Once they had been dropped off at a public transit hub, it was as if a tension within them had disbursed. Orison went to buy them tickets for the next coach to Liverpool while Dustin went to the general store to buy a few necessities and something for them to eat later on the road. A few minutes later they met back up for the last bit of waiting time til the next coach ran.
After Orison had shared what he had learned, it was Dustin's turn to spill. "I figured some stuff out that has me on edge about this world. It's hard to tell at first glance but I can see signs of my world, maybe even the others connected to it from 'up higher'."
Orison nodded. "The dying world was in the mid forties when it was 'saved' on MOGS Day. These people are totally acclimated to their apparent 1880s calendar date. No big surprise since we're in a whole different splay of reality anyway. I get the distinct impression that shadows of a handful of invalidated worlds were forcefully merged into this one somehow."
The Rogers man said, "That's just it. I don't think there was a world HERE before the Morning of Grand Summoning. If there was, it was a dead one. What we're seeing is the averaging out of everything that was shoved together.
"You know I was Rowdies. I had a decent chunk of experience traveling between a world and planar fragments. This world feels like a collection of planar fragments. In a couple of decades all the rough edges might smooth out and stop feeling that way. But at the moment, all the different pieces aren't fit together solidly."
Orison thought on it and said, "I don't know how it got to this point but I know about MOGS Day intimately. I was the one who did that."
Dustin looked at him wide eyed and asked, "How!?"
Orison said, "It's not as big of a 'wow' moment as you might think. I just used some know-how to free a collection of powerful entities from one place, ferried them over to the dying world and asked a small favor for freeing them.
"Honestly, I only managed to pull that off because some of them needed to do what I was asking anyway. Being trapped where they were, some of the more exotic ones were essentially starving. All I did was ask them to hunt the alien outsiders on the dying world. Even the ones who didn't need to do it for sustenance still had a belly full of anger over their long years of forced servitude."
A voice spoke, belonging to a man neither of the two sensitive people had noticed until he had done so. "It all leads back to you. That wasn't all you had done, though. It's merely all that you still remember doing."
Both Orison and Dustin flew off the bench and into combat ready stances.
The dapper English gentleman tipped his hat to them in greetings. "Apologies for startling you. Your godson, Benjamin asked me to keep a watchful eye for your arrival. But alas, two years is quite some time to ask for steady vigilance."
Not letting down his guard in the slightest, Orison said, "I don't know a Benjamin personally, much less one that can claim to be my godson. As far as I know, I only have one of those."
The man chuckled and said, "Oh, Rio. Naming him your godson was more of an afterthought for poor Neil. No, Benjamin was actually christened in church to be your godson. The priest allowed such a thing because it was considered a postmortem gesture. You see, Neil thought you were dead at the time."
To buy him a little time to process that, Orison asked, "And where do you fit in all of this?"
"The vagaries of that aren't important since you accidentally erased my existence. No worries. As you can see, I'm alive and well. Since that can also ultimately be laid at your feet, there's no hard feelings. A shame I can no longer be considered family in the physical sense but I'm still a friend," the man said with a chipper smile.
Orison said, "If you were a descendant of mine, not just Piran's, I can restore that. Whether that's a good or bad thing, I couldn't tell you."
The man smiled widely and said, "What a delightful and unsought surprise. I'd be most grateful and honored if you would."
Seeing the young mage reaching for the man, Dustin said, "Maybe doing this out in the open isn't such a great idea?"
Chuckling, Orison replied, "It doesn't matter that much but I see your point, Dustin... Well, is there something I can call you or are we just supposed to keep calling you 'sir' when you're supposedly family?"
The man tipped his hat again and said, "Randall Walter Black... Please, call me Randall."
After passing a few more minutes in polite conversation, they boarded up on the coach.
Nearly an hour down the road, Orison looked around and said, "This looks a good a spot as any."
The Rogers man still looked uneasy but shrugged as Randall waited in affable patience.
As Orison reached out a hand, Mr. Black said, "I'm not inconveniencing you in any way, am I?"
The young mage laughed and said, "If you're still asking questions like that while you're obviously eager to be restored, I can believe you're my family, alright."
Randall nodded and reached for Orison's hand. Once the young mage initiated the pull, he immediately noted his key screaming in distress. It had only done so one time before, And at that time, he had been trying to break off a fading branch of reality.
In the following violent out-pour of spiritual resources, as the key dislodged from the tower door, Orison asked, "Who are you really?"
With an affected look of righteous indignation, Randall said, "I am no more and no less than who I claimed to be, grandson."
While Randall's eyes glowed a brilliant electric blue, Dustin went to shank him with a belt knife. With the last bit of strength that Orison had left, he pushed the Rogers man out of the coach.
"Promise me you won't go after anyone else and I'll let you keep what you're taking. Otherwise, I'll destroy us both," he panted out through sunken cheeks as his skin grew more sallow by the moment.
"You are no longer in any position to-" Randall's gloating speech was cut off as a set of hands belonging to Zoe's son and a lot of different mammal breasts Orison assumed belonged to her, transported them to another place.
Randall was about to 'righteously' defend himself when he was pulled to the ground and pinned there by unknown forces.
Benjamin said, "If you want to use loopholes in the oaths you swore during the beginning of creation, expect that others will exploit them as well. Mother, let us return our friends and allies from oblivion."
It was the last thing Orison heard.
***
Reduced to little more than destroyed pieces of soul core once again, They drifted through the void slowly unraveling. Some force tried to reach Them, pull Them back together but failed at the final step. The remnant consciousness within mentally sighed.
A cool, metallic hand reached out and pressed the pieces together. A psionic 'mayday' was issued out by an almost emotionless voice. The knight was soon joined by two astral entities that only vaguely resembled old tales of Oberon and Titania.
They didn't help for free. The metal knight beggared all the possessions it had managed to gather besides the shrunk ship, an over robe that refused to be separated from the soul pieces and a strange but rather uninteresting device. Once paid, the two mercenary astral entities darted out to find any pieces of the broken soul they could find and lend a little astral essence to begin fusing Them together.
Once done with their main task, up to what they believed the pay to be worth, they escorted the knight and roughly stitched together soul back from the void. Within the bounds of structured existence, multiple different frustrated powers latched onto the soul as the knight ceased functioning. Sensing its main savior getting left behind, the soul called out for it.
The wicked looking witch of a woman, kicked the metal knight towards the soul and said, "Consider it 'after service', pauper."
Loose and broken, the soul did what it could to take the knight, disk, and device into its ruined inner realm before it was pulled to parts unknown.
***
A radically mixed group of entities and people looked down at the broken soul.
Benjamin's voice said, "He will be safe and protected from the eyes of his tormentor. To remain so, the aid we can provide cannot be more than what his soul can carry and have no ties to ourselves. Mother and I have kindled him. That is the best we can do."
Sammy said, "I sho don't believe how dat Reese babe sneaked out of my realm all thief-like. Took my bes drink an nearly erased herself to keep from being caught. But because she did, I have dat at least. I can an don't mind lettin his soul get a taste of my Ganymead. Jus a few drops mind. He can't handle any mo dan dat."
Noxflora added, "Oh, father, no one knew how great the price of our victory would be. I have little to give that would not tie you to us."
A young woman's voice said, "There are many within your realm, including us, that are willing to place a mote of spiritual wisdom within his soul."
A harsher older woman's voice said, "Sammy said that little toy of his has several... gigs... of hard driving? We can also lend him some of our knowledge as well. Though, I am unsure how we will down the loading."
Justice's voice cut in, "The hand held gaming device can take pictures. If you can organize what you wish to show on pages it will save them as jpegs. What I'm curious to know is how he can take it with him. The strange disk and knight robot are somehow connected but the game console is not."
Benjamin said, "The cane that's merged inside the soul bound robe has a small storage gem. It will fit in that. How glad I am to have fashioned them out of chrism from a fallen foe and not my own. Otherwise, we would have had to excise them, causing further trauma."
While the majority began bickering over best use of the small space in the cane, Noxflora said, "General, is there no token of gratitude and sincerity you would like to contribute?"
A dark, gravelly voice said, "Well... There are a few beauties in the sin squad. I could bind one to him to serve as a concubine."
A sharp, menacing woman's voice said, "My sister would hunt you down should you ever poke your head into the higher dimensions, demon. A token will do. She's more resourceful and far sighted than the lot of you combined... Danny, give him a touch of your water so he can remember-I know what I've told you but a little will do no harm and open up some possibilities besides."
A little heated, Noxflora said, "You would not say that if Keita was standing with us today! Were it not for the need of what you have brought to our plan, I wouldn't stand for your sister's... arrangements, unchallenged!"
The demon cleared his throat and said, "Mitchell, you have debts to this person. Here's your chance to clear it. How do you want to serve?"
A crisp military voice barked, "I'd rather face oblivion, sir!"
With a dark chuckle the demon said, "Glad you volunteered."
Mitchell's change of heart and wholehearted proclamation to serve was cut short. "I'm sure your witches can use these materials to make something useful, my queen?"
In a half musical, half demented giggle, Noxflora said, "Why, I do believe they can... High Priestess, augment the robe and... stick to something that matches the grandeur of our lord father."
A twisted and raspy voice said, "He wasn't a man to appreciate gaudy baubles. Will elegant and useful suffice? We are under a harsh time constraint."
The sharp woman's voice whispered to the soul. "I don't know what my sister sees in you beyond your ability to stir trouble on an epic scale but don't make her wait too long or I'll make you suf- well, make you wish you'd never been saved."
***
Dual flashes of light shot from two crystal coffins. As they opened, a redheaded woman looked over at the deep elf man and said, "By your true name, awaken Winter."
The deep elf man's eyes fluttered for a few minutes and finally steadied.
He said, "So, how'd it go, Orison?"
She laughed angrily. "It was botched so bad that the astral siblings had to collect my pieces. By the way, cross them off the Christmas card mailing list. They price gouged the hell out of my knight and I almost lost them."
"Then why bother? You should have sent your pact shadows to do it," the deep elf said.
She shook her head resolutely. "I wanted to know. I NEEDED to know, out of all of the ones I sacrificed so much to return, who was actually worth it."
Smiling wickedly, the deep elf asked, "And were they?"
The redheaded woman sighed. "Hard to say. They made good gestures at the end but what does that matter when I was used to the edge of oblivion to squeeze as much out of Gnarly as they could get? All I can say for certain is that Zoe's gone full outsider and her son is fairly balanced but mercenary as hell.
"Noxflora is as much a mystery to me as she's ever been but her people are in my good books for sure. Oh well. I knew she favored Piran anyway. E for effort.
"But enough of that. How was the lifetime of role switch you made me promise you so long ago? I know there was supposed to be a kid involved but you know why I can't. Until I beat the mystery of my tower... I can't bear another tragedy of that kind, Winter."
The deep elf nodded in sad understanding before switching to a smirk. "Does it really count when neither of us truly knew who the other was? I say you still owe me one... I know Cray would be game. Would being the queen of two terrifyingly competent men be so bad?"
"Not nearly as good as being the king of two terrifyingly competent women... Never mind. I really can't picture Cray as a woman. It kind of scares me a little... No, we had our run and I don't know how long it will be before I make it up there. I want you guys to be happy and move forward, not shuffling your feet for a day that might never come."
Sad nostalgia drifted across Winter's face. "There's always avatars. That's not really cheating."
The redheaded woman said, "It is. It's cheating in your heart and being dishonest on top."
She walked over to the deep elf and kissed him as she hugged him for all she was worth. "I wish I could hold my woman one last time but... Goodbye Winter. I'll always love you."
The woman fell to dust as a shadow grabbed hold of the soul along with the mysterious and powerful pages in her coffin.
With no one to witness, Winter took her original form and slumped to the floor crying. "Do you really think we'll be that happy without you? Maybe in time... But you didn't have to cut yourself out of our lives to keep us safe. We're not made of glass."
The man made quick work of it. The young mage could see the wheels turning in Mr. Rothschild's head as he mulled over the value of what Orison provided. He said, "Magic is a rare and expensive commodity. Mundane life here is much as you'd expect it to be for the late Victorian era. There are fantastic and odd additions to the population. But after the last thirty years, things have come to a fragile equilibrium."After pulling some items from a desk cabinet, he man handed Orison a plain leather wallet, a sponsored visa and a small pouch of gold coins. "I don't expect that you'll be lingering around for long. That should be sufficient to see you comfortably provisioned for awhile. Just remember, gentleman make financial exchange with guineas. "...Don't try to replicate bank notes. At great cost, The Crown has devised a way to find them and their maker quite efficiently. For similar reasons, don't exercise bolder or more destructive magics in public. Goodwill usage is acceptable but don't pedal magic goods or services openly either."After giving the young mage a few more pieces of social advice and some directions to important places, Nathan sunk back into his chair looking older than his years.On his way out the door, Orison turned and said, "From my point of view, you weren't wrong for taking the opportunity presented to you back then in the museum. We all have different starting points on the path. No matter where we start, no matter what aid or companionship we have, the climb itself is a solitary endeavor. Whether it's to become a climber in truth or a redeemed soul that belongs to itself, I have no doubts you can succeed."Mr Rothschild gave him a ghost of a smile and said, "Have a care for yourself. As a foreigner that British sentiment doesn't come natural to, I'd suggest heading over to 'the colonies' as soon as possible. It's a relatively lawless place but that would be to your advantage."Reading between the lines, the young mage realized that Nathan saw him as a potential competitor of some kind. To maintain friendly relations and possible mutual benefit, the man was encouraging him to rove further afield. He didn't know if he'd take Mr Rothschild's advice or not but he knew that he had little desire to stay in England.As a manservant with ram horns led him to where Dustin was, he briefly pondered about Jennifer. Orison had originally planned on saying hi but the maid had informed him that she lived on a country estate. It seemed that the husband and wife were politely estranged. That alone wouldn't have given the young mage pause but he hadn't been that close to her and Nathan might take an unscheduled visit out of context.The carriage ride provided for them to the nearest town, passed in silence. It wasn't that they didn't have information to share. It felt like someone was watching them and Orison spotted cleverly hidden sigils meant to spy on its passengers.Once they had been dropped off at a public transit hub, it was as if a tension within them had disbursed. Orison went to buy them tickets for the next coach to Liverpool while Dustin went to the general store to buy a few necessities and something for them to eat later on the road. A few minutes later they met back up for the last bit of waiting time til the next coach ran.After Orison had shared what he had learned, it was Dustin's turn to spill. "I figured some stuff out that has me on edge about this world. It's hard to tell at first glance but I can see signs of my world, maybe even the others connected to it from 'up higher'."Orison nodded. "The dying world was in the mid forties when it was 'saved' on MOGS Day. These people are totally acclimated to their apparent 1880s calendar date. No big surprise since we're in a whole different splay of reality anyway. I get the distinct impression that shadows of a handful of invalidated worlds were forcefully merged into this one somehow."The Rogers man said, "That's just it. I don't think there was a world HERE before the Morning of Grand Summoning. If there was, it was a dead one. What we're seeing is the averaging out of everything that was shoved together."You know I was Rowdies. I had a decent chunk of experience traveling between a world and planar fragments. This world feels like a collection of planar fragments. In a couple of decades all the rough edges might smooth out and stop feeling that way. But at the moment, all the different pieces aren't fit together solidly."Orison thought on it and said, "I don't know how it got to this point but I know about MOGS Day intimately. I was the one who did that."Dustin looked at him wide eyed and asked, "How!?"Orison said, "It's not as big of a 'wow' moment as you might think. I just used some know-how to free a collection of powerful entities from one place, ferried them over to the dying world and asked a small favor for freeing them. "Honestly, I only managed to pull that off because some of them needed to do what I was asking anyway. Being trapped where they were, some of the more exotic ones were essentially starving. All I did was ask them to hunt the alien outsiders on the dying world. Even the ones who didn't need to do it for sustenance still had a belly full of anger over their long years of forced servitude."A voice spoke, belonging to a man neither of the two sensitive people had noticed until he had done so. "It all leads back to you. That wasn't all you had done, though. It's merely all that you still remember doing."Both Orison and Dustin flew off the bench and into combat ready stances.The dapper English gentleman tipped his hat to them in greetings. "Apologies for startling you. Your godson, Benjamin asked me to keep a watchful eye for your arrival. But alas, two years is quite some time to ask for steady vigilance."Not letting down his guard in the slightest, Orison said, "I don't know a Benjamin personally, much less one that can claim to be my godson. As far as I know, I only have one of those."The man chuckled and said, "Oh, Rio. Naming him your godson was more of an afterthought for poor Neil. No, Benjamin was actually christened in church to be your godson. The priest allowed such a thing because it was considered a postmortem gesture. You see, Neil thought you were dead at the time."To buy him a little time to process that, Orison asked, "And where do you fit in all of this?""The vagaries of that aren't important since you accidentally erased my existence. No worries. As you can see, I'm alive and well. Since that can also ultimately be laid at your feet, there's no hard feelings. A shame I can no longer be considered family in the physical sense but I'm still a friend," the man said with a chipper smile.Orison said, "If you were a descendant of mine, not just Piran's, I can restore that. Whether that's a good or bad thing, I couldn't tell you."The man smiled widely and said, "What a delightful and unsought surprise. I'd be most grateful and honored if you would."Seeing the young mage reaching for the man, Dustin said, "Maybe doing this out in the open isn't such a great idea?"Chuckling, Orison replied, "It doesn't matter that much but I see your point, Dustin... Well, is there something I can call you or are we just supposed to keep calling you 'sir' when you're supposedly family?"The man tipped his hat again and said, "Randall Walter Black... Please, call me Randall."After passing a few more minutes in polite conversation, they boarded up on the coach. Nearly an hour down the road, Orison looked around and said, "This looks a good a spot as any."The Rogers man still looked uneasy but shrugged as Randall waited in affable patience.As Orison reached out a hand, Mr. Black said, "I'm not inconveniencing you in any way, am I?"The young mage laughed and said, "If you're still asking questions like that while you're obviously eager to be restored, I can believe you're my family, alright."Randall nodded and reached for Orison's hand. Once the young mage initiated the pull, he immediately noted his key screaming in distress. It had only done so one time before, And at that time, he had been trying to break off a fading branch of reality.In the following violent out-pour of spiritual resources, as the key dislodged from the tower door, Orison asked, "Who are you really?"With an affected look of righteous indignation, Randall said, "I am no more and no less than who I claimed to be, grandson."While Randall's eyes glowed a brilliant electric blue, Dustin went to shank him with a belt knife. With the last bit of strength that Orison had left, he pushed the Rogers man out of the coach."Promise me you won't go after anyone else and I'll let you keep what you're taking. Otherwise, I'll destroy us both," he panted out through sunken cheeks as his skin grew more sallow by the moment."You are no longer in any position to-" Randall's gloating speech was cut off as a set of hands belonging to Zoe's son and a lot of different mammal breasts Orison assumed belonged to her, transported them to another place.Randall was about to 'righteously' defend himself when he was pulled to the ground and pinned there by unknown forces.Benjamin said, "If you want to use loopholes in the oaths you swore during the beginning of creation, expect that others will exploit them as well. Mother, let us return our friends and allies from oblivion."It was the last thing Orison heard.*** Reduced to little more than destroyed pieces of soul core once again, They drifted through the void slowly unraveling. Some force tried to reach Them, pull Them back together but failed at the final step. The remnant consciousness within mentally sighed. A cool, metallic hand reached out and pressed the pieces together. A psionic 'mayday' was issued out by an almost emotionless voice. The knight was soon joined by two astral entities that only vaguely resembled old tales of Oberon and Titania.They didn't help for free. The metal knight beggared all the possessions it had managed to gather besides the shrunk ship, an over robe that refused to be separated from the soul pieces and a strange but rather uninteresting device. Once paid, the two mercenary astral entities darted out to find any pieces of the broken soul they could find and lend a little astral essence to begin fusing Them together.Once done with their main task, up to what they believed the pay to be worth, they escorted the knight and roughly stitched together soul back from the void. Within the bounds of structured existence, multiple different frustrated powers latched onto the soul as the knight ceased functioning. Sensing its main savior getting left behind, the soul called out for it.The wicked looking witch of a woman, kicked the metal knight towards the soul and said, "Consider it 'after service', pauper."Loose and broken, the soul did what it could to take the knight, disk, and device into its ruined inner realm before it was pulled to parts unknown.*** A radically mixed group of entities and people looked down at the broken soul.Benjamin's voice said, "He will be safe and protected from the eyes of his tormentor. To remain so, the aid we can provide cannot be more than what his soul can carry and have no ties to ourselves. Mother and I have kindled him. That is the best we can do."Sammy said, "I sho don't believe how dat Reese babe sneaked out of my realm all thief-like. Took my bes drink an nearly erased herself to keep from being caught. But because she did, I have dat at least. I can an don't mind lettin his soul get a taste of my Ganymead. Jus a few drops mind. He can't handle any mo dan dat."Noxflora added, "Oh, father, no one knew how great the price of our victory would be. I have little to give that would not tie you to us."A young woman's voice said, "There are many within your realm, including us, that are willing to place a mote of spiritual wisdom within his soul."A harsher older woman's voice said, "Sammy said that little toy of his has several... gigs... of hard driving? We can also lend him some of our knowledge as well. Though, I am unsure how we will down the loading."Justice's voice cut in, "The hand held gaming device can take pictures. If you can organize what you wish to show on pages it will save them as jpegs. What I'm curious to know is how he can take it with him. The strange disk and knight robot are somehow connected but the game console is not."Benjamin said, "The cane that's merged inside the soul bound robe has a small storage gem. It will fit in that. How glad I am to have fashioned them out of chrism from a fallen foe and not my own. Otherwise, we would have had to excise them, causing further trauma."While the majority began bickering over best use of the small space in the cane, Noxflora said, "General, is there no token of gratitude and sincerity you would like to contribute?"A dark, gravelly voice said, "Well... There are a few beauties in the sin squad. I could bind one to him to serve as a concubine."A sharp, menacing woman's voice said, "My sister would hunt you down should you ever poke your head into the higher dimensions, demon. A token will do. She's more resourceful and far sighted than the lot of you combined... Danny, give him a touch of your water so he can remember-I know what I've told you but a little will do no harm and open up some possibilities besides."A little heated, Noxflora said, "You would not say that if Keita was standing with us today! Were it not for the need of what you have brought to our plan, I wouldn't stand for your sister's... arrangements, unchallenged!"The demon cleared his throat and said, "Mitchell, you have debts to this person. Here's your chance to clear it. How do you want to serve?"A crisp military voice barked, "I'd rather face oblivion, sir!"With a dark chuckle the demon said, "Glad you volunteered."Mitchell's change of heart and wholehearted proclamation to serve was cut short. "I'm sure your witches can use these materials to make something useful, my queen?"In a half musical, half demented giggle, Noxflora said, "Why, I do believe they can... High Priestess, augment the robe and... stick to something that matches the grandeur of our lord father."A twisted and raspy voice said, "He wasn't a man to appreciate gaudy baubles. Will elegant and useful suffice? We are under a harsh time constraint."The sharp woman's voice whispered to the soul. "I don't know what my sister sees in you beyond your ability to stir trouble on an epic scale but don't make her wait too long or I'll make you suf- well, make you wish you'd never been saved."*** Dual flashes of light shot from two crystal coffins. As they opened, a redheaded woman looked over at the deep elf man and said, "By your true name, awaken Winter."The deep elf man's eyes fluttered for a few minutes and finally steadied.He said, "So, how'd it go, Orison?"She laughed angrily. "It was botched so bad that the astral siblings had to collect my pieces. By the way, cross them off the Christmas card mailing list. They price gouged the hell out of my knight and I almost lost them.""Then why bother? You should have sent your pact shadows to do it," the deep elf said.She shook her head resolutely. "I wanted to know. I NEEDED to know, out of all of the ones I sacrificed so much to return, who was actually worth it."Smiling wickedly, the deep elf asked, "And were they?"The redheaded woman sighed. "Hard to say. They made good gestures at the end but what does that matter when I was used to the edge of oblivion to squeeze as much out of Gnarly as they could get? All I can say for certain is that Zoe's gone full outsider and her son is fairly balanced but mercenary as hell."Noxflora is as much a mystery to me as she's ever been but her people are in my good books for sure. Oh well. I knew she favored Piran anyway. E for effort."But enough of that. How was the lifetime of role switch you made me promise you so long ago? I know there was supposed to be a kid involved but you know why I can't. Until I beat the mystery of my tower... I can't bear another tragedy of that kind, Winter."The deep elf nodded in sad understanding before switching to a smirk. "Does it really count when neither of us truly knew who the other was? I say you still owe me one... I know Cray would be game. Would being the queen of two terrifyingly competent men be so bad?""Not nearly as good as being the king of two terrifyingly competent women... Never mind. I really can't picture Cray as a woman. It kind of scares me a little... No, we had our run and I don't know how long it will be before I make it up there. I want you guys to be happy and move forward, not shuffling your feet for a day that might never come."Sad nostalgia drifted across Winter's face. "There's always avatars. That's not really cheating."The redheaded woman said, "It is. It's cheating in your heart and being dishonest on top."She walked over to the deep elf and kissed him as she hugged him for all she was worth. "I wish I could hold my woman one last time but... Goodbye Winter. I'll always love you."The woman fell to dust as a shadow grabbed hold of the soul along with the mysterious and powerful pages in her coffin.With no one to witness, Winter took her original form and slumped to the floor crying. "Do you really think we'll be that happy without you? Maybe in time... But you didn't have to cut yourself out of our lives to keep us safe. We're not made of glass."
