BECMI Chapter 477 – Immortal Mindmeddling
Evalvie was more than willing to open up her mind to me and allow me to see her memories. The Delphans had been brutally insistent on doing so, despite her resistance and protests, determined to find the truth, and instead finding that someone was playing games with them.
I eyed the true memories, showing Evalvie being summoned by Belle, assigned the mission to attempt peace, despite knowing the other members likely weren’t interested, either, and being sent off to Delpha via Teleportation to represent the nation and elvendom there.
Formal, polite, and quite empty words and platitudes abounded, haughty Delphans looking down on the backwoods spellcasters, none of whom were of comparable level to any of Delpha’s representatives. Empress Cleossa was warm, friendly, kind of word, and of no help at all in the discussions that took place.
Then Evalvie was rousted out of bed, blamed for a murder she didn’t commit… except she had a whole new set of memories in her head indicating that she had!
Those memories painted Belle in a much darker, avenging light. Evalvie was tasked with the mission of getting rid of Calladrel, and even given Spell Runes to do so, things that would Summon the appropriate animals and then merge them with the mage, in addition to ripping away his spell defenses for a moment to do so.
The shock to his system was too much for the aged Overmagus, and the manner of death didn’t even affect his Contingencies, with another Spell Rune holding a Wish that ensured all of his Clones perished with him.
He had died and was gone forever, and the clever vengeance of the elves had obviously worked.
I just snarled. “TRUTH!” I stated, glaring at the two lines of memories woven with a depth and clarity only an Immortal could put into place.
The false memory shuddered and broke apart, for a moment winding into the form of a gleeful and mischievous elven face, before dissipating and gone.
“Mealyn,” Windrose stated firmly, naming the trickster who had pulled this off. “Creating trouble for Corellin, who he has opposed for many years, and creating more trouble for humans in general. He’s quite specist, and the major Patron of the elves of Delpha.”
“He even faked use of Cryptomancy to give it authenticity, playing at using arts the Delphans do not know. I’m going to assume that the other Overmagi were killed using Secret School Arts?” I inquired of Evalvie.
“One petrified, shattered to dust, and swept away to Earth. One burned body and soul to ash by hell-fires so clingy that they also burned away all of his Clones. One dying screaming with his eyes leaking black goo and his brain liquefying in his head. One poisoned with an anti-magical venom that cannot be removed and denies him Resurrection with its potency,” Windrose informed me. “It was actually a quite impressive series of kills, and made at least some of the Delphans marginally more cautious of the upstart spellflingers of Zanzyr.”
“All of those are possible with the Schools and appropriate preparations. That such actions are the absolute height of foolishness is another matter.” Avalvie looked back and forth between us as we considered the problem, so relieved to be free of the false memories she’d basically collapsed in her chair.
“Will we be allowed to go free?” the elfin diplomat asked urgently, plainly ready to get out of there and go home, where she wouldn’t have to stumble across a human archmage at every corner and hallway!
“Yes, child,” Windrose stated calmly. “I will Summon the Warden and he will watch as we survey each of the others, and verify the true memory and who is behind it. I fear it will not stop anything, of course, as it has already had the effect of frightening neutral members of the Council who thought they were beyond the conflict. A power is clearly not going to let them remain so,” she sighed in resignation.
“It will get the delegates out of here and back home, which is all that we can ask for at this point,” I agreed.
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The representatives of Vascouz, Inclu, Fuireze, and Shiangu were alternately angry and defiant, cold and stiffly formal, vengeful and plotting, or resigned and calm, respectfully. I cut through any nonsense and vitriol they might start spewing by flexing on them with my Aura and just pinning them with a cold stare that said if they were going to cause any trouble, they could go home as potted tulips.
They shut up and acquiesced to another memory reading, with Warden Onntelied stepping gingerly around both of us as he also participated.
Warden Onntelied was a tall, brawny man who might have undertaken a soldier’s life, with a balding head and mustache, the coppery skin of Frier ancestry, and a uniform that was perfectly in order.
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He was also a High Archmage, or he would never have been assigned to watch over prisoners accused of killing Overmagi, nor had the respect of the members of the Council at all. In not too many years he would no doubt climb to the Apex and be invited to sit on the Council himself!
We reviewed each mage’s sets of memories again before I uttered Truth. Vicious and cruel plans to kill the various Overmagi for a number of reasons wavered and vanished, the image of a mocking elven face left behind long enough to be recognized before disappearing.
“An Immortal. Moreover, the patron Immortal of Tammverdrie,” the normally confident and stern Warden sighed as the last of the implanted memory vanished from the mind of Soriyo Lhamsa, the Shiangu ambassador. The sallow-faced Dream Weaver sighed in quiet relief as both the scrutiny and the false memories faded away. “This is a matter for Her Majesty,” the man said carefully, studying both of us. Being confronted with the actions of the unkind Immortal Patron of the major elven nation of Delpha was not something most wanted to experience.
“I will speak to her, and on my authority, these Zanzyrans will be released immediately. If they are detained here, they will only be made further scapegoats,” Windrose said evenly, but there was an authority and power in her voice that the Warden could only nod quickly to, caving even if Windrose didn’t have a formal position in the government.
“Yes, teacher,” he acknowledged quickly. “I will also back their innocence after seeing this matter.” And feeling the reverberations of Truth bouncing around his mind and soul and making him challenge a whole lot of things he thought he’d known about the world. “I… am not qualified to judge the actions of an Immortal.”
“Few are,” Windrose assured him smoothly, patting him on the chest, which made him straighten up as if anointed by the Empress. “Your youngest is about to test for Academy entry, yes? Bring him to my office and let me assess him.”
The Warden looked like his chest was going to burst out of his spit-and-polished uniform, so proud was he!
“Allow me to clear the way!” he said loudly, calling for the guards who would gather the belongings of the prisoners, restore them to them, and see that they were escorted out of the Greyrooms in a brisk and professional manner.
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A little bit of digging into the background of the slain Overmagi confirmed that all of them had crossed the elves of Tammverdrie at some point, be it as Imperial envoys forcing them to take certain actions, opposing or slaying elven raiders or thieves, and in one case for wooing an elven woman and successfully taking her away, to the great ire of her family.
A week after I escorted all of the rather-subdued Zanzyran envoys home via Teleportation, even the arrogant Frier and Fire Follower Vekwol Tillian among them restrained after realizing they’d been just throwaway pawns in a game of Immortals, it was reported to Windrose that all of the elders of a certain prominent family of rabidly anti-human elves of Tammverdrie had perished. Several of their friends and allies had the memories of having slain them for a number of romantic rivalries and social offenses, planning the take-down together and executing it with gusto and flair.
In addition to their own memories, of course. And the victims just so happened to be the family of the elfin who’d run away with Overmagus Galtannan, strangely enough.
For some reason, Mealyn didn’t appreciate his trick being pulled on his own servants, and was rather sulky when Tek next saw him in Nexial. Corellin was also very unhappy with one of his followers being sacrificed to Mealyn’s schemes, too, and there were reportedly problems with the Lumina Trees reacting negatively to followers of Mealyn in Tammverdrie…
Yet it still had the desired effect, prompting the Council to push for a more rapid end to the war and domination of the West, and especially securing the unknown power in Zanzyr for Delpha’s benefit.
And that was the straw that broke Thaum’s restraint.
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I knew it was coming, and it surged forth, reaching across the world to do so. Thaum’s experiments had granted him some control over the Core of All Magic, but with Delphan Air Fleets now coming around the north towards Zanzyr to invade directly, and with precious few ways of holding them off, he took action and activated the Core.
Naturally he got more than he bargained for. He didn’t know the underlying programming, and it was a Chaotic Artifact to begin with, resistant to being controlled and so powerful that the slightest of mistakes turned into catastrophe.
As had been proven before, but who says he had to learn from the mistakes of more powerful and wiser Immortals than he?
The Core reached out and devoured all the magic of Vinndsvoll and the areas surrounding it, then spun the shattered magic off in storms of wild magic which went sweeping out in all directions.
The capital of Delpha and its largest city, home of so many floating homes and manses, main base of the Air Fleets and master merchants, had all of its magic ripped away. With so many buildings, including the Imperial Palace itself, levitating far above ground via magic, the results were naturally catastrophic.
Magical prisons and seals went down, releasing monstrous creatures upon a population now in a dead magic zone, unable to Cast. Great buildings fell from the sky, sometimes at great speed if their spells were weak, shattering and crushing those beneath and within them. Sometimes leashed spells went wild and exploded in more chaotic havoc, while the capital began to burn in panic and fear, while there would be no relief coming from outside the city as wild magic storms assaulted them and turned magic crazy, making existing spells and new castings wildly unpredictable as they did.
Hundreds of members of the High Council died when the great Grand Quorum of Delpha fell from the sky, their magic abandoning them when they needed it most. Empress Cleossa herself was buried under a fallen pillar with no magic, unable to get out, and died of thirst before rescue parties only able to use muscle and steel could find her.
In her wake, her half-mad, incredibly arrogant, and very power-hungry Overmagus of a son Maphus inherited the throne, his first edict being… not to return his mother to life to take her throne back, unsurprisingly.
The reverberations of the magical strike shook the entire world. While Vinndsvoll took the hardest hit and was rendered a temporaryDead Magic Zone, the rest of the world found themselves confronting something milder, but still harsh: A full Week of No Magic!