Library: The Rise of Magic, The first of the Lost Times tales.

Memories, when they come to me, are normally without reference, They seem as though they may have been yesterday, may have been a millenia ago. Nothing is more unpleasant than that sort of disorientation. Not that there are not other unpleasant aspects of my existence, but that is certainly the worst. There are, of course, moments of extreme lucidity, and it is only that I am currently in one of those increasingly rare times that I am able to relate this to you. It began when I was a man...a man, it seems so far removed from me now that I sometimes doubt even my most clear memories of humanity. I was powerful, indeed, the finest mage that ever was to live, I fashioned myself. I invented the study of magic as it is now known... it is this history that I shall relate now. I am ahead of myself, ordinal relations matter little to me, I have been too far away from it to remember... I shall begin again. I spent my early days as a lone mage, plying my magic in new ways that the strict Order would not allow. Of course, I had attended their schools, sucked them dry of the information they made so readily available, but I quickly learned that their ways were the ways of control, of limits. I knew that if you only unleashed the magic that it would grow, expand to levels that the cowards were afraid to attempt. Aradhiel and the fools of the order would squander their collective might(such as it was, pah!) by assisting the common folk, those less gifted. I watched as the order was besieged by these very folk with endless minor tasks, it is no wonder they did not outlast me, but their downfall is not my message here. Rather than involving myself in inane detailed studies of how to move heavy objects and how to enhance the senses(These were such simple tasks, I could scarcely imagine the lives of those who chose to make this a profession!), I took my magic to the realm of combat. I realized that if the forces used to move a great stone were focused, directed in new, powerful ways, that they could be used to deflect blows, or to lessen their force. Working in secrecy while still under the pretense of being a student at the Order,(This was remarkably easy. The members of the Order were extremely complacent about defense, they believed that there simply were no threats to be concerned with.) I began at once to experiment with various methods of making the forces bend to my will, to closely mimic the properties of conventional material armours. I discovered a somewhat useful side effect of this study. I noticed a strange sensation while attempting to sit down as one of these shielding spells was in effect. For a moment, I almost felt as though I would float above the seat. Levitation never appealed to me as a useful means to win a battle, but I experimented with it nonetheless.(Curious to me is that my levitation work was never really embraced by those whose hands it would later fall into. Indeed, to this day, the only levitation spell I devised that the modern study of magic includes is what you call "water walking", a simple minor elevation spell. The rest have been lost to all but me, and I suppose I am in no condition to teach the art to anyone.) Once I had taken this shielding magic to the extent of my powers(indeed to the extent of ANY powers, for I was the only one with the knowledge, the vision, to make this happen...) I began to experiment with ways to utterly stop the blows from landing. No longer did I limit myself to simply physically stopping them, I began to try to purposefully confuse the attacker, so that the blows would not even land in the first place! I began with a crude method, bringing forth a burst of light so intense as to temporarily blind anyone who looked directly at it. Crude, but effective. I noticed that certain colors would blind my familiars for longer periods, so I began to experiment with this. I varied the intensity, time, and color of bursts, sending phantasmal spheres of light to dance around the attacker's head...it disorients and makes the target miss outright. Then, I began even more ingenious ways of confusing the foe... Spells that literally scrambled my image, by bending the light, so that I appeared to shimmer, or blur...spells that would confuse the mind of an attacker... and my crowning achievement in this area, a spell that would make many images of myself, so perfect that a foe would attack them, thinking that they were real! I conducted my experiments on animal subjects, in complete isolation and secrecy, over the course of nearly half a century. Perhaps it could have been completed more quickly, but unescapable material needs absorbed much of my effort. By this time, I had managed to accumulate wealth enough to purchase a small estate, a tower on a hillside. The day came when I decided to test my new protective spells on a human subject. I journeyed quite far, to a distant town. In this town, I found a drinking establishment, a charming place, I forget the name, something about a flaming bat or some other nonsense. I actually had not planned for the test to occur in such a crowded place, but I ought have known, a tavern, a place where intoxicated warriors frequently pick fights with outsiders, but in my haste and relative youth, I suppose I overlooked these things. A paladin was there, one of the old breeds, before the ascention of Faerwon, and he was the first to notice me. I could feel his stare, and nearly lost my nerve immediately. I suppose that his holy nature perhaps saw something in me that I had not even yet recognized, but he was instantly aware of me. Eventually, he approached. Exactly what he said, I do not recall, it really does not matter, in the end. He was a warrior and he would do nicely. I acted intentionally suspicious, disrespectful(you know how paladins are about manners, petty fools), practically begging for him to fight me. When he eventually committed to a fight, I used every defensive method I had ever devised to protect myself. As I had anticipated, his attacks were ineffective. Stumbling about, he missed most hits entirely. Blows that did actually hit home would dissolve false images of myself. A few times, he was lucky enough to select the correct target to attack, but he would either miss me altogether, or his blade would be turned aside at the last moment, and whistle harmlessly past. While he was attempting to kill me, I pummelled him to death by throwing objects at him with my magic. Perhaps not so elegant, but successful. I had my first real victory, and made a hasty retreat before the rest of the stunned patronage could recover and perhaps attempt to stop me. Using my remaining energies, I teleported myself home.(Another one of my inventions, teleportation...surprisingly, it's not as difficult as one might think, simply a matter of concentration and a combination of both magical motion powers and the altering capabilities of sense enhancement) Looking back at this, my first outright fight using my new magic, it is laughable. I had picked a fight with a drunk paladin, who in all likelihood could barely see straight regardless of my clever defenses. At the time, I viewed this as a great victory, one that signified my superiority over physical warfare. After more testing of my abilities, all of which met with complete success against both human and non-human foes, I felt myself to be more than a match for any physical threat. I hatched a plan that would bring me wealth and fame. From my citadel, I would become a king through my magic. I had the ability to best the strongest warriors, I had no match in magic the world over, I felt ready to begin my own empire. I began by making a protective force, a Royal Guard, as I called it. I used my magic to put creatures in thrall, an idea I hit upon while slaying a bear in the course of my experimentation. When I cast my confusing lights spell,(which I had begun to call fairy fire, not like modern fairy fire, for which I had a different name) the bear seemed transfixed for a moment. By altering the patterns of light discharge, I developed a method with which to transfix these creatures on a more permanent basis. Indeed, I achieved the ability to alter a creature's behavior simply by force of will, with these patterns. I learned that certain patterns seemed to cause pain in their senses, while others seemed to soothe them. Using these abilities, I tamed the most savage beasts. Bears, wild cats, even some of the lesser species of Wyrms I was able to bend to my will. I placed them around myself, throughout my tower, as my personal guard. If I had not already firmly believed in my invincibility, I certainly did so now. I began to offer protection to the local population. I started quietly, convincing individual families with displays of my power, frequently appearing while levitating(it was here that I found some utility in my studies of levitation), perhaps with a bear or, when I felt particularly well rested, with one of the ill-tempered Wyrms. Gaining influence was, in the main, simple, these folk had, of course, never seen such magics. The only people who had ever witnessed my "original" powers were either dead or, in the case of that bar incident, intoxicated. This influence was not always gained so simply. A small commune of farmers resisted my attempts to impress upon them the necessity of my protection. I had two options, as I perceived things. I could eliminate these farmers, indeed, my Royal Guards could have easily overwhelmed them, or I could make them wish to join me. Independence was not an option, and I did not yet wish to use violence as a means to force submission. This in mind, I devised a clever set of illusions, to imitate a horde of Will O' Wisps encroaching upon their lands. When I next happened to travel by, the farmers asked me to rid them of the invading Wisps. I vowed to return and drive them out. The cowards hid in their barn as I fought the "monsters"... a pity about the three houses that the Wisps managed to burn before I could destroy them, is it not? Needless to say, these Wisps never bothered these good people again, and they were among my most loyal followers... and eventually, the cause of my downfall. This commune quickly grew into a small town, largely through the efforts of these farmers. Belig, their leader, took it upon himself to spread the word about me, using my name as a symbol of order in a time where order was scarce, to say the least. "Come to live in our town, the great Arcanarton would not let anything befall his loyal followers," he would say, to just about anyone who passed. Like a fool, I encouraged this, I revelled in my growing fame, and did not fully anticipate its ramifications. Over the next year, my domain became more and more self- sufficient. My subjects demanded a large portion of my time, they wanted the assistance I had promised. I decided that it would be wise at this early stage to oblige their wishes. To facilitate this, and to eventually allow myself the time to continue my combat-related disciplines(A task that was to be delayed, as you are about to see), I turned my attention to the realm of teleportation. Travel took most of my time when assisting my subjects, so I believed that by making teleportation a fine art, I could save much time and effort. I began to investigate ways of instantly relocating to an individual, ways to instantly transport to specific places that I was particularly familiar with, ways to instantly bring any individual I wished to me. This was all quite simply accomplished, the art of teleportation, as I have mentioned, is closely related to the art of telekenesis, it merely required a mind like mine to conceive these new applications. Similarly, these teleportation skills translate easily into clairvoyant applications. I learned how to investigate my immediate surroundings without actually travelling, ways of seeing through the eyes of and hearing through the ears of distant persons without ever journeying further than the borders of my mental powers. I started to use this last ability to keep watch on my followers, to make sure none of the "loyal" had any ulterior motives. This power was what first alerted me to the conspiracy to overthrow me. Roughly three years after the town(which was now being referred to as "Thessalon") had been established, those loyal fools of mine, through their great advertisement effort, had attracted the attention of a Warlord in some distant land. Spies were attempting to infiltrate my domain, conducting subtle investigations into the nature of my powers. I began my preparations. I ensorcelled more Royal Guards, my compound was now quite literally crawling with them. With my ability to control them, to coordinate their efforts, they would be virtually impossible to defeat. I even took it upon myself to master the largest Wyrm I had yet tried to impose myself upon, with resounding success.(This Wyrm, I learned, was sentient. He saw me as a great power, and we became allies. To this day, the Wyrm lives, I have myself felt his presence on several occasions, which is as close to actually seeing him as I am able now.) Confident that my defenses could stop any attempted attack, I used my farsight to observe, and waited for the assault to come. It took quite some time to commence, apparently this Warlord had not been so near to mobilization as I had thought, but commence it did. Rumors of a band of warriors encamped to the west began to circulate through the town. Finding them was a simple matter, and I used my farsight to observe their actions. Choosing individuals from which to observe on whim, I began to get a fairly detailed estimation of their might. Strong they were, yes, but with my guidance, I felt my Guard could repel them...until I saw Him. A...being... clearly, not human, and like nothing else I had ever seen. Androgynous and beautiful, perfect. A warrior, somehow the fighters around him did not seem to notice his nature, perhaps it was an aspect of my farsight that I could see so clearly, but this was obviously not a normal man. I resolved at once to summon this person, to divine his nature, his threat to me. The warriors were at least two hours away, I was confident that with my preparations, I could be done with this person and deal with the warriors within that time. I willed him to come to me...the strangest sensation came over me...the magic, something was wrong...the sublime being looked straight into the soldier's eyes... my eyes... somehow he knew of my presence! The link severed, I was no longer aware of the farsight. My vision began to darken...no, a dark patch appeared in the air! The darkness began to solidify...into the most hideous being I had ever seen! A demon! Horns and teeth and eyes, cruel eyes, it was absolutely terrifying to behold. For a brief moment we stared at each other in shock, the demon's gaze quickly turned to a baleful glare, and it leapt toward me! Out of sheer reflex, I called down the magic to make my images, this demon set about attacking the false Arcanartons, at a rate that I could scarcely believe! I needed to act quickly, and used all my mental ability to throw spiked objects at the beast, even jumping forward to cut a wound with my dagger! The demon howled in rage...the last of my images fell. Breathing raggedly, the fiend leapt at me, slashing at my extremeties with unbelieveably strong talons. The pain exploded in my head, but I managed to bring my dagger around in a deadly arc, and deal the fatal blow. Dagger sticking out of its neck, the beast collapsed. My wounds were deep and many. After a time, I limped to a washbasin and began to dress them. After most of the bleeding had been staunched, I went back and examined the corpse. Such a beast! A pure killing machine, its skin the color of coal, it occurred to me that it was a wonder that I still breathed. All of this because of that thing... The warriors! I reestablished the link with the last soldier I had viewed, he was in formation with the warriors, and I could see the tower looming on the hill! How could they be so close? I realized that this battle with the demon and my subsequent recovery had taken much more time than I realized, it was likely that I had gone unconscious for a time. The warriors were upon me, and I was drained. Dare I attempt such a battle in my wounded state? There was little chance that I would be able to control all of my Royal Guard in my condition, without my guidance, they would be cut to ribbons! My mind raced. There was no recourse, it was time to escape. I collected my most valuable items, mentally regenerative items that I had created, and what few magical tomes I could carry. With one final glance around I used one of my teleportation spells to escape. My defeat. I would not have believed it, except that it had happened. All of my plans, defeated by that...thing. What was it? So perfect, it could not have been human. In my retreat, a cave that I had prepared for this very reason(I did not believe that I could be defeated, but it would not do to be defeated without having contingency plans for such an event) I spent several hours in a state of total disbelief, nearly paralyzed with my rage. In time, I focused my anger into more useful form of energy, study. I must learn from this defeat, so that the next time, I would not fail! I determined to catch another glimpse of this mysterious being. I opened my link with my unknowing spy, to attempt to find him. My warrior, much to my glee, was occupied in helping a fellow warrior out of the pitfall trap that I had set in the entry of my tower. Amusing, but not useful for my purposes. I glimpsed another warrior who was beginning to climb the stairs, and opened a link with him... I watched through many in this manner, saw them collecting and logging my possessions, the end result of so many years of my work. They, who had no idea what it was they had gained...my library, my magical breakthroughs so carefully transcribed, the various wands and other magical items I had left...my Royal Guard(all of which had been slaughtered, it seemed). Many hours I searched, but was not to ever glimpse my objective. If I could not find the being, I would instead analyze the events that had led to my current situation, and increase my magical prowess in the areas where I found it to be lacking. This process actually began as something of an accident. I must admit, I was at somewhat of a loss as to in which direction to continue my studies. Luckily(and this may appear to be strange luck to you), my wounds from the demon became infected. My body was dying, I felt pain in ways that I had never known. Perhaps I made a decision to do this, perhaps it was delerium, but I somehow made the patterns of light that had soothed the Royal Guard so often. To my surprise, I actually felt stronger! Curse my use of animals, I should have used human subjects, I had never thought to impose the patterns upon a human mind! Boldened, I attempted it again. Again, I felt almost instantly stronger! How is this possible? I began to wonder what the negative patterns would do to me. Foolishly, I tried it.(I always had found the discordant patterns to be more effective than the ones that soothed, and had over the years made a few members of the Royal Guard actually go unconscious) I immediately felt the most excrutiating pain, and nearly passed out. Fortunately, I did not kill myself. Quickly, I created soothing patterns over and over until I became, as far as I could tell, perfectly healthy! This was quite a development. I had stumbled across two distinct concepts that I had never considered before. One, I found that I could heal myself through magic alone, a very serious theoretical advance, indeed. Secondly, and, perhaps far more importantly, I realized that magic itself can _cause_ wounds. Until now, I had used magic only to cause physical damage,(indeed, when I began actually constructing spiked, bladed, and poisoned items whose purpose it was to be thrown through magic, I had thought that in itself to be revolutionary) never had I considered that it could be ordered in such a way as to do harm. By now it had been a week since my defeat. I reluctantly put aside my eager desire to study these new concepts, for I knew that I must investigate the result of the invasion. Looking through the eyes of my followers, I saw that Thessalon had been overrun by these warriors, everywhere I looked, they were being welcomed as friends, not as oppressive rulers. Perhaps this new band did not require tithes like I had, perhaps it was for other reasons, but I could tell that I was not to be overly missed as a ruler. The tower...it was in ruins. Apparently, from the talk of the townsfolk, I had been killed in the fight, and the tower had burned in the process. This was actually good news, it meant that I could continue my studies without interruption. And, as they say, a dead man has few enemies, and fewer responsibilities, yes? I prepared a new laboratory in this cave, and fully explored my subterranean surroundings. I had to exterminate a bat colony, and a few small mammals had to be removed, but after these simple matters, I was the sole inhabitant of the caverns. Perfect arrangement, a cavern in the middle of a hostile jungle, I was confident that I would not be found. I began by testing my new healing and harming skills on animals that I had snared. I found that a simple discordant pattern was enough to kill a rabbit immediately! This was more powerful that I had imagined, and over the course of the next year, through animal testing, I learned to intensify the patterns, to make them even more destructive. Approximately ten discordant patterns were needed to slay a wildcat, this could be done more easily with hurling spells, and the spiked objects I had devised. At the same time, I learned how to make fairly effective healing patterns, but it was more difficult to discern which patterns were best in this area than it was to see which were more painful. I resolved to acquire a human test subject. I selected one of my former subjects and began to use my farsight to find a victim. I saw a vagrant(when I was their ruler, there were no vagrants) and began to see through him. He was alone in the town, and it was a simple matter to summon him to me when he was away from the crowds. He blinked into existence, and I immediately set a dizzying pattern on him, and locked him into shackles attached to the wall. Once the patterns had worn off, he went through the standard routine...demanding to know why I had taken him, demanding to know HOW I had taken him, then, when greeted by my most minor discordant pattern, he stopped his questions. Grimacing in pain, he glared at me. I healed him three times, he seemed to be in perfect shape. Curious, one minor discordant pattern was enough to require three of my healing patterns. I asked him if he would cooperate, told him I would not kill him if he would only tell me how each of the spells affected him. He said nothing, but curled his lip and muttered "Arcanarton". Ahh, he knew me, I could no longer allow him to live. I decided that he would never cooperate, and therefore was of no use to me, and killed him with spells. It took several, in fact it took nine, and his screams were loud enough to wake the dead. A healthy adult man, nine spells. I wrote this in my logs. Over the next few months, I stole one or two individuals to use in this manner. Never did they cooperate, but I did eventually have a fairly good idea of how many of each types of discordia it would take to kill most individuals.(It is strange how plagues come and go like that, is it not? Corpses, no visible marks, must have been a plague, yes?) Eleven spells was roughly average for an adult male, more for highly trained warriors, less for academic types. This was interesting, but it was a bit too time consuming for my tastes. A human warrior might well dissolve all of my mirror images before I could direct eleven(or more) spells at him or her. I had exhausted this line of power, I was afraid, discordant patterns could only do so much in terms of raw damage. Perhaps there was some reason why the patterns did not put warriors in as much agony as others? I knew from personal experience that my discordant patterns put me in the worst agony I had ever experienced, yet some warriors merely winced. Since it took nearly so many to kill a wildcat as it did a man, while a wildcat is physically no match for a human, I reasoned that this was not a simple matter of training and physical toughness, but must be related to the mental capacity of the individual. This would explain why academic individuals screamed in agony with spells that would cause a small grunt in warriors. Indeed, this was an interesting development. Since academic types were not what I perceived as a threat, but warriors certainly were, I all but deserted my research into pattern-based magic, and instead turned to more basic powers. I realized that I had been searching in the wrong direction, that I had been guilty of that for which I had despised the Order. My patterns had been in the manner of the close control of magic, strict ordering of patterns was limiting me, limiting the amount of power I could channel into harming an individual. Perhaps total disorder would bring about better results? I tested my new destructive energies, a simple reworking of my protective spells and a total relinquishing of the patterns that would normally be formed, to make a force erupt inside a target, totally chaotic in nature. In my haste, I tested this on the first object I found, my favorite dagger. The weapon was utterly destroyed, disappearing in a puff of bluish smoke. This was such a feat that I almost did not mind the fact that I had foolishly destroyed this weapon. Almost. I was amazed at the simplicity with which this magic was enacted. All these years, if I had been slightly careless in the way I had begun my protective field spells, I might have accidentally destroyed an object...or perhaps myself! A person...what would this do to a person? I decided to be more cautious this time, not rush to find a human test subject, and systematically test this. All inanimate obejcts, I found, are more or less easily destroyed. Living objects, they are a slightly different matter. I found that in general, the more advanced the life form, the more difficult it is to override the body's ability to prevent such destruction. Small creatures were almost always instantly disintegrated, while larger creatures, wildcats(and eventually humans, as I was to learn) sometimes took several attempts, if it could be done at all. Unfortunately, this was a bit more than I had wanted. If one disintegrated a person, it was impossible to keep that person's possessions from being destroyed as well. This was useful to deal a decisive blow to minor foes, but was not particularly useful against serious threats. Perhaps a slightly more directed form of that raw eruption was in order. I formed the energy into a shape, and used that to attack an object.(Curiously, when I did this, I noticed a small shimmer in the air where I summoned the force.) This I sent forward at a rock. The rock, as I suspected, was not destroyed, in fact, it was only moved slightly and heated a bit.(This heating was quite important, although it took me a while to recognize its importance) I began with animal testing, after realizing that this sort of magic had little effect when it came to inanimate objects. I found that this new "missile" magic was more powerful than even the worst discordia! Not only that but it was simple, very simple to enact! In light of my work in protection spells, which is essentially a different sort of focusing, I ought have realized that this could be possible, but invention cannot be rushed, I suppose. I knew now that I needed to test it on humans. I spent the next year or so refining this magic. I found that the psychological impact was almost as devastating as was the actual spell, for when a human saw the shimmer moving toward it's body, it always caused great terror...I enhanced this with a small light pattern, making it appear as if a glowing arrow was moving at the target. I enhanced this direction of my studies to the point where two, perhaps three such spells could kill a normal man. Unheard of power, I had not hoped that I could achieve such deadly results. After a time, I determined that I was no longer making significant advances in this area, and again was at an apparent magical dead end. I was not overly disappointed, though, for I had decided that I did not require more offensive capability, and as for my defensive capability, I had never been stronger. It was time again to build a power base, but Thessalon had evolved too far to be easily brought under my sway. Perhaps the local populace in this jungle would be suitable, but I needed first to create a new Guard. Normal animals, I decided, would not suffice. Again, I decided to subdue Wyrms, but that would be the only type of creature that I would have in my new Guard. With my enhanced knowledge of offensive spells it was far simpler to tame them than it had been in the past, and after a time, I had several lesser drakes under my sway. Curiously, as I was bringing Wyrms into my fold, I observed that of the more recalcitrant ones, the ones I was forced to slay, some seemed to resist my magical attacks. Something in them was naturally resistant. In these cases, I had to either escape, or quickly cause discordia to dispatch the beasts. Since the discordia could kill these beasts, while my arrows could not, I reasoned that it was not that the beasts were any stronger, or that they could not be harmed by magic, but more that it was the manner in which the damage was caused that determined what spells would work on individual beasts. This led to my study of damage types. I found that by changing the nature of the forces involved to closely simulate the various elemental and naturally harmful forces of the world, that I could indeed kill these resistant beasts by simply rearranging the magical structure. It is actually the same spell, but altered to simulate electricity, or fire, or total vacuum. In an artistic moment, I assigned interesting visual effects to each, lightning bolts, harmful illusory spores, that sort of thing. I thought it quite amusing, my victims never quite got the joke, I suppose. Once I felt that I had enough Wyrms under my influence to bring the disorganized locals under my sway, I ventured out into the jungle. Much to my surprise, I was not in the company of disorganized locals at all. I found that a race of fair-skinned giants were living there, which already had an organized rulership. An interesting society, matriarchal in nature, I decided to approach them as an ally, rather than as a ruler. I invented a persona, using the name Notranaca(which I found to be rather amusing). Apparently, I am a better actor than I had previously believed, their queen, Zoe, a dabbler in magic, was actually quite quick to trust me. She believed that I was a peaceful mage who wanted her protection while I spent my days studying in my caverns. Her mirror that she carried with her glowed slightly with an aura of power, but I do not believe that even she could see that. These people were a threat to me, and I would have to learn a way to bring them under my rule. I spent the next few weeks observing Zoe using my farsight. Her skills as a mage were actually more advanced than I had imagined, she even knew the most basic of my protection spells. Clearly my libraries had not been destroyed in the fire at the tower, for this was surely my work. Try as I might, I could detect no subterfuge involving her forces against me. Perfect. My Wyrms, I realized, would not be strong enough to stop these amazons if they made a concerted effort to invade me. I needed to find stronger allies. My mind turned to the incident with the demon. If I had a horde of demons in my sway, I would be unstoppable! How to summon these demons was the problem, I had only seen one, as you know, and to find that demon had been a mystery, a product of that strange being. Since I had no new ideas for how to go about finding such a being, I reopened my studies of teleportation, thinking that perhaps it was the act of teleportation that had allowed the demon to find me, and not the being itself. I concentrated my studies on drawing out the teleportation process over a longer time. I found that if you properly altered the lines of force in the spell, it was possible to slow the opening of the dimensional rift, to the point of its being a visible process(teleportation is not immediate, contrary to popular belief, simply very fast). By practicing this, I was actually able to open the rift and maintain it, and resist the inward pull. I was able to open a passage between any two locations that I so chose in one step. Since I was able to halt it in progress, I felt that I had mastered the act of teleportation. Nothing in these studies had reproduced the feeling of...wrongness that I had so long ago experienced in the moment just before the arrival of the demon. I now began to contemplate how I might intentionally cause a problem in the teleportation. The most obvious concept, it had somehow eluded me for so long, I was actually surprised. By invoking both a summoning spell and a relocation spell at the same time, I should cause a contradiction in the powers. I tried this very idea. Immediately I felt the wrongness I was looking for! The lines of power crossed, the spectrum darkened, the darkness coalesced....then, without warning, dissipated. A failure, but I was confident that I was close. I tried it again, once more, no demon. On the third try, as I had hoped, a demon appeared! I could scarcely contain my glee(a strange reaction to such a creature, perhaps), quickly activated my amulet(a device I had created for this occasion. One does not make the advances I had by being unintelligent) and my mirror images appeared. The demon attacked with the same frightening speed that the other one had, but this time I was far more prepared. I easily dispatched the being with my most powerful attack spell. Encouraged, I continued my research into summoning demons, and through this, I first formed my alliance with Xarithos(not an easy feat, Xarithos was always quite difficult to control). Combining my intentional contradiction in the teleportation spells with my previous research into the halting of such spells in progress, I found that it was possible to create a rift through which demons could pass freely from one world to another! This revelation, with Xarithos's assistance, allowed me to form quite a host of demon protectors.(One of the conditions of this arrangements was that the demons must be allowed to kill my Wyrms. Actually, I was quite happy to let them do so, it solved my problem of having to do it myself, and it allowed me to better gauge the abilities of my new Guard.) During this time, with my rather impatient demonic "friends", I was forced by certain incidents to devise more defensive schemes and escape methods. Xarithos would not tolerate the destruction of any of "his" host, and I would certainly not tolerate death. I began by attempting to enhance my spells that would blur my image, by bending the light around me even more. I was apparently more disciplined at this time than I had been when I first investigated this sort of spell, for I instantly became almost totally invisible. I had almost completely diverted the light from my form, and most individuals could not detect my presence(Xarithos, for some reason that I was never quite able to deduce, was almost always aware of my presence, perhaps that will remain a mystery forever). It seemed that light bending was now exhausted as an option, so I worked at enhancing my other protective spells. I achieved success in all areas, to a greater or lesser degree, but I wanted more assurance that I would not have to fight a demon to the death(surely HIS death). Escape was the next option. I realized that I had no way to escape quickly enough to completely avoid these lightning-fast demons' attacks. I developed a system of teleportation that was enacted by a mere whim, one that required almost no concentration on my behalf. This fast action was balanced by the fact that I could only teleport to a single location, the one place in the world that I knew best, my laboratory. Try as I might, I could not alter this. No matter, any demon that might have attempted to enter my laboratory would not have had much success for various reasons, so I felt it to be a location to which I could safely escape. I felt the time was nearing when I would take the demons to war. My folly of independence as Arcanarton would not be repeated, I had Xarithos at my side, we would not be bested. During the planning stage of this campaign, I returned to my laboratory after a long strategic discussion with the demons, and was greeted by a shocking sight. Two men were in my study! They had their backs to me, they were busy investigating my shelves and the artifacts that were on them. Fools, I would kill them now! Silently, I activated my amulet causing my images to multiply, and summoned an arrow as strong as any I had ever made. The deadly force burst forth... and self- destructed as it approached them! They turned, I felt the blood leave my face. It was he, the being, the same one that had been with the warriors who destroyed my tower so long ago! They were identically dressed in full battle armour, both wearing the same dragonscale belts that I had learned to hate so long ago. He turned to his companion, who, from what I could see, was just a normal man. "One moment, then we'll be on our way." His companion nodded and simply looked at me. No fear, no malice, just a man. I may not be able to hurt this strange being, but this man, I surely could kill. I called my most forceful electrical spell and sent it streaking at him! The strang being made a slight gesture, and the spell was destroyed. "Now now, Arcanarton, do stop please. I was simply showing my friend here your work before I took it away. And please calm yourself, your anger is not helping anything." I was shocked. I quickly composed myself enough to begin to analyze the situation. "Come now. You cannot prevent this, so don't waste your energy. Do you wish to know why, hmm? Ahh, you are not ready to speak, understandable, I suppose. Mortals..." He chuckled and glanced at his companion, who smirked, seemingly accustomed to this sort of comment. "Why... why... the question that is on everyone's mind...well, at least, on yours. I suppose that I'll tell you, since you seem incapable of forming the words at the moment." He grinned, a small, impish grin, and sat at my desk. "You've come far in your studies. Too far, I think, for one mortal, but then Tonze disagrees. He wouldn't let me destroy your work, so I have decided that it is to be disseminated, given to the mortal world at large." I started to speak, but he halted me by raising his hand. "I know, this will not please you, but you really have no choice in the matter. Unlike my first attempt to stop you, this one will not fail. I will take away your ability to rule by giving you equals. It is the only option, I cannot allow you to rule unchecked. Your first libraries are now a part of the world, your knowledge already partially disseminated, I shall now complete the job." "Yes, I knew you were watching so long ago, I was actually surprised that you had never seen an immortal. Summoning me was... unwise, as you discovered. Had it been anyone but you, the demon would have triumphed. However, you managed to survive...no matter." "Well then, I believe that this issue is resolved," he said, and stood. I tried to speak, but found that I could not even move! How long had I been held like this, I did not know. The entire time he had spoken, I had not even attempted to move. He glanced around once more, and in a blink of light, disappeared. His companion bowed gracefully, then he too disappeared in a blink. My vision blurred, I felt the earth move slightly, and when my sight returned, my notes, my entire library, was gone. Whatever force had held me was released, I collapsed to the ground. My work, taken from me again. I should have been angry, I should have felt cheated, but instead I was ecstatic! An immortal, there were immortal beings, who, from what I had learned here today, governed the lives of mortal men! Why should I bother with petty battles between amazons and dragonscale-belted warriors when I could become immortal? Immortality. There was no other goal worth pursuing. My quest for immortality, and my ultimate fate, must be left for another time. Already I can feel my disorientation returning, I will go back to my rather confusing existence soon. In a way, my immortality was achieved when my magic was released to the world. The name Arcanarton is rarely spoken, but my work, that which was all I cared for in life, still lives. It is curious to me that the modern day "masters" have not realized that all magics are so closely related. It is this oversight that has made them so stagnant in tems of continuing my work. They spend time devising such complex trappings as words and materials that are so very important. Bah, it is merely a matter of concentration, words and materials are simply a method for one to focus one's mind. It is lucky, perhaps, that my immortality has taken the form that it has, for I am certain that even with the bulk of my ability given to the world at large, I could overwhelm even the most powerful of the contemporary mages. If I ever am able to undo what I have done, you can rest assured that my name will again become one of power, one of order. Until then...I wait...and wait...

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Library: The Rise of Magic, The first of the Lost Times tales.