Chapter 401 – One Way
Elicia, while holding baby Helge, broke out in tears as Mage Teft and Mage Fletcher informed the family about what had befallen Damion during the beast wave. Sucked into an Exile spell. Forever banished from Nerotath.
As soon as Elicia began crying, Helge joined in. The baby was too young to understand why his mother was upset, but he knew something was wrong and wanted to express his displeasure at his mother being upset.
With them both crying, Phil flew down from the roof and landed in front of the door to the house. The Demonic Beast was nearly too big to fit through the doorway, but it pushed the door open anyway and wiggled through to glare at Teft and Fletcher as if demanding to know what caused the baby to be upset.
“Careful,” Mage Fletcher warned. “With Damion gone, we don’t know how the Demonic Beast will behave.”
Phil tilted its head at the words but did not move from the spot.
“Phil, Damion… he… he…” Elicia tried to explain to the Blizzard King but could not form the words.
The Demonic Beast seemed to understand though. Phil stretched out one taloned leg and began etching on the floor. Sharon, Damion’s mother, was horrified to see the beast carving something into the floor, but she was too curious about what it was to voice her complaints.
When Phil moved back, everyone was astonished by what Phil had written.
HE FAR HE SAFE
“Damion and Phil are connected on a level that we can’t fully explain,” Mage Teft said. “No one knows the limits of their bond, since they are the first to have such a connection.”
“I know he and Phil could communicate over long distances. And he could sense roughly where Phil was at any time, even when he was in a Breach and Phil wasn’t, or if they were on different floor,” Elicia said, calming down with the new hope that Phil had ignited. “The connection would be weaker, but he could still sense Phil.”
“Then he is still alive?” Sharon asked hopefully.
“Phil seems to think so,” Mage Teft answered. She was still skeptical, but if the Blizzard King was right, then he was just incredibly far away. “Where does Exile send things?”
“No one knows,” Mage Fletcher answered. “It isn’t like we have ever been eager to send someone through as an experiment. Not when nothing has ever returned.”
Mage Teft furrowed her brow as she thought through the possibilities. Suddenly, something occurred to her that she had not fully considered Damion’s last words. Everyone had assumed he was calling out to Mage Thresbane to use Shadow Bind on him to pull him from danger. But what if that was not the case? What if he was shouting out the name of the attack that was forcing him into exile?
“There might be one person that knows.”
"What do you mean?” Mage Fletcher asked Mage Teft.
“Come with me, and we’ll find out,” Mage Teft said, leaving the Wells household in confusion. They all wanted to know where Damion was sent to as well and if it was possible for him to return, but it seemed that the two S Rank mages were not in a hurry to include them in the discussion.
When the two S Rank mages arrived at Mage Thresbane’s office, which he used for both his role as head Justiciar of Atlantis and as overseer of the Crimson Order of Atlantis, they did not knock. Mage Teft burst into the office hoping to catch Mage Thresbane off-guard, unfortunately, he was sitting calmly at his desk, as if he had been waiting for them.
“Mage Teft, I am surprised it took you so long to come and find me.”
“You admit your guilt?” Mage Teft asked, rage building in her eyes.
“I admit that I helped to send Mage Wells where he needed to go.”
“You tossed him into a Spatial rift. There is no telling where he was sent!” Mage Teft shouted back.
“On that note, I am afraid you are wrong. While I can’t claim to know the exact location Mage Wells landed, I do know where he was sent.”
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“Then bring him back.”
“As Mage Fletcher can no doubt tell you, it is beyond my power. But perhaps not beyond hers.”
“What do you mean?” Mage Fletcher questioned.
“I suppose it would have been too much for the history of the Exile Spell to be preserved,” Mage Thresbane said with a sigh. “Alright, I will explain to you the true history of our world.
“Children are taught that we humans struggled to survive on Nerotath until knights discovered mana and could then begin to fight against Ferocious Beasts and Demonic Beasts. And while that is partially true, it is not entirely true.”
“Are you going to regal us with bedtime stories now?” The sarcasm in Mage Teft’s voice left little doubt about her impatience.
“There was a time before any Ferocious Beasts or Demonic Beasts were present on Nerotath. And the humans that resided here did so peacefully for who knows how many generations. I doubt anyone knows if the first people here had come willingly or if they themselves were exiles, considering nearly all traces of them has been wiped out, but I like to think they left the Mother World to make a better home for themselves.”
“Mother World? What are you talking about?”
“You see, all life, or well, so the legend goes, began on the Mother World. There humans, Iblis, Alfar and goblins lived and fought for who knows how long. Some people got tired of the constant fighting and decided to leave. These I believe were the first people on Nerotath. They settled here and forgot all about the troubles of the Mother World. At least until it came to find them again.
"There were many endless wars going on, between the different races of the Mother World, but there came a time when the humans were nearing the brink of destruction. However, they remembered stories of people leaving the Mother World in the distant past, so they decided to follow in those people’s footsteps, so to speak.
“Given how they had been driven to the brink of destruction, the last of humanity on the Mother World found a way to lay a trap. A way to get their revenge on the other races after they fled. Unfortunately, the effect was far wider spread than they imagined it would be.”
"This is quite the fairytale you are recounting, but it does not explain anything,” Mage Teft snapped.
“I’ll get to the point then. When the last humans fled the Mother World, they released the governing seal for the magic of the Mother World. Without the seal, the Mother World produces mana at an uncontrollable rate. To offset this dangerous increase in mana, the Mother World has been sending it in pockets across the realms.
“That is why when the last batch of humans reached Nerotath, a world that had no mana, magic came with them. Realm Breaches began opening throughout the world, unleashing Demonic Beasts and feeding mana into our world. Most Breaches collapse overtime, but their Demonic Beasts remained. The human civilization that had been here collapsed. They had no magic, no way to fight against Demonic Beasts. They fled into the mountains, the few that survived, and encountered a small tribe of people that wore unfamiliar clothing and spoke an unknown language.”
“You are saying that the noble families, the true nobles, the ones that speak Tal, are descendants of the humans who brought the calamity of Realm Breaches and Demonic Beasts upon us?” Mage Fletcher surmised.
“I suppose I am, yes,” Mage Thresbane replied.
“And Realm Breaches are pockets of magic sent out to relieve the excess mana on the Mother World?”
“Correct.”
“How do you know this?” Mage Teft asked directly. She could tell Mage Thresbane was being truthful, but the question remained, how did he have this knowledge. “And does it relate to how you, and you alone, seem to have been able to break through to SS Rank?”
“In a way my magic power is related, but probably not in a way you think. You see, not all of the humans that were fleeing the Mother World were in agreement on the plan to release the seal. I have no doubt that the so-called nobles have either forgotten, or at some point, willfully destroyed the evidence of their transgressions. My people have preferred to carefully preserve the history, because we knew, that without the seal, the Mother World’s mana would eventually become too dense and life there will become impossible.
“Because of the dangers of this world, the strongest person of my clan, passes their power onto the next generation. When I grow old, I will pass my power to my successor, who will then quickly add my strength to their own. Perhaps one day my people will even have an SSS Rank mage.”
“This doesn’t explain why you forced Mage Wells through the rift,” Mage Teft pointed out.
“True. I wanted to explain where first. You see, the spell that brought humans here to this world was Exile. Though, I believe when leaving the Mother World, it is somewhat random as to what realm a person ends up in. Using it to go the other way, however, always results in the person arriving somewhere on the Mother World.”
“So, Damion is on this Mother World? Our supposed ancestral home world?” Mage Teft asked to confirm.
“Yes. While the Protectorate does not have many Spatial mages, we have on occasion sent people back to the Mother World to access the situation.”
“If you can go there yourselves, why send Damion?”
“Because, as you already know Mage Teft, he is a true mage. And only a true mage can help restore the seal and put an end to the growing threat of Realm Breaches. You think the beast wave that hit the White Zones just now was coincidence? No, it is because the mana on the Mother World is growing out of control.”
“Bring him back,” Mage Teft demanded. “You said you can send people there, if you know that, then they can obviously come back. Send someone to bring Damion back.”
“Such journeys are perilous. And even if Mage Fletcher here opened a Spatial rift for me to pass through, I have no way of knowing where Damion ended up. Not to mention that it was a one-way trip for everyone we ever sent through.”