World Seal, Ch 11: Family Secrets (Patreon)

Sam examined his grandparents as he debated how to deal with them.

It was tempting to ask the World Core to censure them, but it wouldn’t work that well. For all their pettiness, they were still in its good graces, as borderline as their case might be.

Ironically, if their attempt to seize the relic had succeeded, they would have become threats to the World Seal and brought retribution on themselves, but he’d dealt with that.

That left him on his own for what to do with them. He needed something fitting. After a moment of thought, he made a decision.

He shared a look with his father, which was followed by a brief and silent conversation across their communication amulets.

When Jeric heard his idea, he frowned for a moment and then gave him a nod of agreement.

“It’s fair,” Jeric said. “Perhaps it will teach them a lesson.”

Sam nodded as he checked to make sure his mother also approved, but her nod was even firmer than his father’s.

To those watching, only a moment passed and there was no indication of their conversation. It seemed like he was only sharing a look with them. Then he turned back to look at Aldric and Jesai. His expression was grim.

“You disrupted the peace of the Conclave and tried to seize this place. Now you will pay the price.”

He reached out with Astral Binding, sending a wave of silver flames that surrounded the Hastern delegation and locked them in place. They struggled to break his grip, but even as an avatar, his strength was much greater than theirs.

“Follow me.”

The entire delegation began to rise into the air, levitating in the silver light that held them. They didn’t have a choice in the matter, and their expressions were ugly as they continued to attempt to try and get free.

Aldric looked furious, but Jesai was more resigned, even as she tried to access her dimensional abilities to break Sam’s hold on her. He could sense a portal trying to open, but it was suppressed both by his will and the relic’s defenses.

“I told you to show some restraint,” she muttered, “but you are always so arrogant. If you’d been kinder to our descendants, this would have gone differently.”

Sam glanced at her, but he didn’t let her go. She might be a hair better than Aldric, but she was still supporting him. That didn’t merit forgiveness.

His voice carried across the mountainside, echoing from the stone on the icy winds as he announced his verdict.

“The Moonlight Relic belongs to me and to my allies whom you threatened. Since you thought it was appropriate to try and take what is mine, I will show you what that is like.”

Jeric and Aemilia walked up into the air next to Sam. Then the three of them and the delegation disappeared in a streak of silver light.

When they reappeared, it was in the sky above Tower Reach. Sam looked down at the city, matching it up with what he knew.

He’d avoided visiting Tower Reach before this, since he was unwilling to run into his relatives. He’d seen some of it from a distance while teleporting around the kingdom to gather resources, but this was the first time he’d come so close.

With a few words from Jeric, it didn’t take him long to locate the Hastern residence and the Alabaster Palace. The city was laid out as a giant rectangle and the Hasterns had an entire quarter of their own.

Most of that quarter was dominated by the Alabaster Palace, which sprawled across a massive hill and took up a third of the area in a cascade of sparkling white marble buildings, balconies, gardens, and terraces.

At the peak of the palace, there was the Magus Tower, the symbol of Tower Reach itself, which stretched another three hundred feet into the air. Three sections of it had been carved off at some time in the past, each of them capped with a slanted roof of their own, while the main peak of the tower was built up even higher and broader.

It was a symbol of enduring strife and rising above it.

The lowest roof was the origin of a sparkling sapphire waterfall that had no other clear source. It cascaded down toward the palace below, where it struck a nearly transparent shield spell and scattered across the grounds, surrounding the entire palace in a rainbow of light.

That waterfall was actually one of the palace’s main defenses. He’d heard about it before and now that he was here, he could sense the energy in it. It was a combination of Ice and dimensional energy that was targeted at anything living it encountered.

Deceptively pretty, but deadly, not unlike his relatives.

It was strong enough to kill most things under the Third Evolution, although it would take more exposure as their levels went up. For stronger enemies, the palace had guards as well.

He turned his attention away from the palace as he located the Hasterns’ main residence. While they were the heads of the Alabaster Palace, they also had their private home.

It was a sprawling complex that took up an elite section of that quarter that otherwise looked like a private park. Trees and elegantly manicured bushes decorated the outskirts, giving it a sense of verdant life and relaxation.

That was where he focused his attention.

A moment of work located every single person and living creature inside the complex. Then he teleported them up into the sky, where they joined Aldric and the others. There were over two hundred of them and they flailed in the air to get their bearings as they tried to figure out what was going on.

“Aldric Hastern,” he said, letting all of the newcomers hear his words as well as the entire city, “you attempted to seize control of the Moonlight Relic and to disrupt the peace of the Conclave of the Moons. For this crime, I judge you. This is your punishment.”

He pointed down at the now vacant Hastern residence with its elegant charm that exuded wealth from every curve. A lot of money had gone into building that thing and generations of the Hasterns had lived there.

It was a symbol of their success.

“As High Artificer of Aster Fall, my duty is to protect the world and the stability of the World Seal. When the king at Veritan consorted with Outsiders and endangered the Seal, I removed him from his position and erased his palace from existence. Let it be known that whoever interferes with my work or the Conclave will face the same punishment.

“The future of the Conclave is the future of Aster Fall. Since you disturbed it, you will face half the punishment that the king did. I will spare your life, but I will flatten your palace. Perhaps this way, you will realize that interfering with me is the same as destroying your home.

“I will spare the Alabaster Palace, so that you can continue to train mages to protect Aster Fall. It will help you to remember you were once a student.”

“I have been threatened many times in my life,” Aldric replied calmly as he began struggling harder to break free, “but you’re the first to make such a direct threat in the last thousand years. Perhaps I should thank you for bringing me back to my place of power, but I won’t waste my breath on a dead man. It’s time for you to learn that you need the power to back up your mouth.

“Here, no matter how powerful you think you are, even the strongest World Spirit will die.”

He wasn’t able to free himself, but he did manage to gesture at the house below. Arcs of orange-red and then faint blue energy spiraled around him.

The blue was a type of pure aura that was very familiar to Sam. It was the same as the old Aura Bolt spell he’d learned on his 18th birthday. Seeing it brought back those memories as well as anger.

It looked like Aldric had also learned it. It had to be part of those experiments into aura, but here it seemed to be a key.

In response to Aldric’s spell, points of enchantment all around the Hastern residence began to shine. They were a mix of blue and gold, as well as a trace of silver that felt like the World Core and the Fragment of World Authority.

The wards were powerful and Sam felt shifting currents of dimensional energy as they came to life. Somewhere below the house, if that term could be applied to dimensional space, a subdimension filled with energy was infusing them.

There was a familiar energy to that space, one that was very similar to the Fragment of World Authority.

“You want to know what your father was helping me with?” Aldric’s words were directed at Jeric instead of Sam as he let out a grim laugh. “You remember that he died of aura exhaustion, but you know nothing of the work he was doing or why it was important, not just to me but to the world!”

He looked at Sam then, his eyes narrowing.

“You talk about protecting the world as if you are the only one with the power to do it. Where were you when armies swept across this kingdom and threatened to destroy it, when the forts on the northern border failed and the only ones standing in the breach were Tower Mages?”

His voice rose to a shout as he glared at Sam, his pride in his own power and history on full display.

“Where were you when the kingdom was threatened by Outsiders from within and without?! Who do you think protected this land before you showed up! How dare you threaten me! I will show you why no one challenges me in Tower Reach!”

Aldric couldn’t escape Sam’s grasp, but he was still able to point down at the house where the enchantment was activating. The dimensional energy was becoming more stable as the subspace opened. It was also stronger and the danger from it was increasing.

The Hastern house was blurring as the space around it distorted. It looked like the subspace was opening a portal directly on top of it.

“I was born not far from here, long before this kingdom existed,” Aldric said with anger. “When I was a young man, I discovered a workshop in this region. It was ancient and full of deadly wards, but with a lot of effort and some luck, I managed to find my way in. There, I discovered the true secrets of the world, as well as a key to the future.”

“I am the one who unraveled half of those defenses,” Jesai interrupted with a frown at Aldric. “And some of them were broken by time. You would have died on the first one otherwise. Give credit where it’s due or don’t tell the story.”

Her tone was very much a wife complaining at her husband, and her words were a contrast to Aldric’s arrogance. He was angry, but she barely seemed to care what was happening.

Aldric sent a stony glare at her, but she only yawned behind a hand and looked over at Aemilia. It wasn’t clear what she was thinking, but it was probably about whether or not she could see Altey.

Aldric’s attention returned to Jeric.

“Do you know why Alister had a Unique class in the first place?” he asked fiercely. “That was thanks to my work! That he never managed to unlock it was one of my greatest failures, a waste of my effort! For him to die after that was only appropriate. What is the point of a tool that cannot function?”

He didn’t seem to care that he was talking about his own son. His description of Alister would have fit a crudely-made sword better.

Despite that, his words got Sam’s attention.

The history of his family’s class and why they had it had always been a mystery. He’d thought it was due to the damage in the World Core, as well as to the interference of Outsiders trying to force open the World Seal, which caused errors, but Aldric was claiming it was due to him.

The World Core occasionally gave out Unique classes, but they were supposed to be compatible with the person who received them. The problem with Battlefield Reclaimer was that it hadn’t been, which was why it was impossible to unlock.

Ayala’s class as an Earthwalker Mage and her requirement to absorb Earth mana was difficult, but it was possible, while his needed the ability to sense and interact with aura.

That wasn’t a human trait. He’d had to change his race before it worked.

Now, it seemed like Aldric had done something that resulted in Alister receiving the class. It had to be something related to his experiments with aura and the workshop here. He was famous for creating the Tower Magus and Tempest Barbarian classes, but it looked like his work hadn’t ended there.

At Aldric’s gesture, the Hastern house was covered in lines of enchantments and then a bright spiral appeared on the park in front of it, in an area where there were no bushes or anything to get in the way.

The edges of the spiral quickly stabilized into a portal, one that had a bright blue center.

“A century ago,” Aldric added as he pointed at the portal, “I was researching classes and had a breakthrough, a realization that the foundation of a class is created by pathways of aura in the body.”

His tone changed as he began to explain, calming down a little. It looked like he’d wanted to tell people about this for a long time, and now he was seizing the opportunity to explain just how great his work was.

“Mana meridians are important,” he added, “but not as essential as the primal nature of the spirit. That concept promised to revolutionize everything, to unlock new horizons of power.”

“You experimented on our children!” Jesai’s anger was clear as she glared at him. “I told you it would be a disaster.”

“I tried using orphans, but none of them worked out,” Aldric said with a shrug, ignoring her temper. “And don’t look at me like that. I didn’t kill any of them. If anything, they ended up stronger for it. A few of them became Tower Mages and Tempest Barbarians later, although most ended up with more interesting variants, like Cloudweaver and Dream Mage. For some reason, most of them had a connection to Wind and aura.

“I would have tried it on the Bloodline Clans, but they refused to volunteer. As it turned out, when it came to Alister, your grandmother’s bloodline was the key to greater things.” Aldric paused as he gestured at Jesai, which made her snort in displeasure, but she didn’t disagree.

“The basic human one wasn’t compatible with my project, nor with pure aura. That was an important realization. I thought Alister would be the culmination of everything, but it still wasn’t successful, since he could never unlock it. After that failure, I turned to other areas. It is still one of my greatest disappointments.”

He shook his head, but he seemed to be done explaining as he pointed down at the portal.

“As for you, High Artificer...now that you’ve brought me here, I should thank you, but it’s not in my nature to thank enemies. Instead, it’s time for you to die and donate your class abilities and power to a better purpose. As for your Conclave, don’t worry. Once I understand your power, whatever you can do, I will be able to do better.”

Aldric raised his hand and a silver crystal sphere appeared on his palm. It was small, just a few inches across, but as Sam looked at it, it felt like the inside was endless, stretching away into the distance.

The analysis of it was almost unnecessary.

Fragment of World Authority.

He recognized it as soon as it appeared. The translucent silver appearance was very similar to the World Core, like a tiny version resting on Aldric’s palm. The depths inside held something of the Void about them.

It gave off a very familiar feeling. Asenya had created something wondrous with it.

Aldric clenched his hand around the fragment and poured his energy inside in strands of orange, red, and blue. As he did, his face turned pale and his cheeks began to look hollow, but the result was powerful.

Below, the portal began to shine and a spark of brilliant silver light rose out of the center. It looked like a translucent silver sphere floating above the opening, and as it turned, it felt like the entire world was revolving around it.

All around them, the Hasterns turned ashen and began to tremble, their eyes spinning as they lost track of which way was down and up. Many of them began to vomit. Others convulsed, unable to withstand the vertigo.

Some great law of dimensional energy was captured in that spell. It was at least at the Fifth Evolution.

Even Sam felt his sense of time and space trying to twist away, but it was a minor thing, a tug at the edge of his awareness. He could feel the danger in the spell, but the vertigo had no effect on him.

He wasn’t swayed by a minor distortion of the Void, especially with his True Dimension body and Stellar Mind to resist it.

He reached out and prevented the effects of the spell from reaching his parents with a shield of astral energy. Besides that, he didn’t respond immediately.

He studied the silver spell with interest, as well as the fragment in Aldric’s hand.

Aldric had energized an old ward related to that portal, but the realization of just what that portal and the workshop was what truly held Sam’s hand. He’d known that Aldric and Jesai must have acquired their fragments from Asenya somehow, and he’d planned to find out where, but he hadn’t expected it was here.

The Hastern residence at Tower Reach had been built on top of one of Asenya’s old workshops.

It was exactly what he’d been searching for.

That silver sphere was an attack spell summoned from Asenya’s old wards. The Fragment of World Authority was enough for Aldric to command them, although it looked like it took a lot out of him.

All of Aldric’s success with classes and his research, and his great hope now that he could kill Sam and take his power...it was all based in this workshop and the things Asenya had left behind.

It was a strange turn of fate.

That was why, as the silver sphere continued to build in power, Sam just chuckled. Aldric’s attention was on his spell or he probably would have been confused.

Aldric uttered a word of command as he raised the fragment in his hand and pointed at Sam. The silver sphere below shot upward in response, making the dimensional energy of the area feel like it had been flipped on its head and churned through a vortex.

Except for Jesai, the Hastern contingent turned even paler and looked like they were about to pass out.

“Opposing me was your first mistake, High Artificer,” Aldric declared, “but bringing me here will be your last one!”

With an angry shout, he directed the sphere at Sam. As it whistled across the distance, it felt like the world was collapsing into it.

What Aldric didn’t expect, nor did anyone standing there, was that Sam didn’t move at all. Nor did he look concerned. The sphere was about three feet across as it approached him, but his only reaction was to let his height increase until it looked like a toy in comparison.

At the last moment before it slammed into him, he simply reached out and grabbed it. Instead of exploding, the sphere shimmered gently as it rested on his palm.

It looked small in his hand, like a tiny silver star.

“Is that all?” he asked calmly as he looked down at it and then at Aldric.

A pulse of recognition came from the sphere in his hand as the imprint Asenya had left on her wards resonated with his title, as well as with his astral energy. With either of them alone, this spell wouldn’t have harmed him, and with both together it was like it had met its old master again.

He tossed the sphere from one hand to the other, looking into it with interest as he examined how it was created. The translucent surface shimmered with power, a force that was very similar to astral energy.

It looked like Asenya hadn’t used astral energy herself. Whatever this dimensional energy was, this was her power.

“How is that possible?!” Aldric was already pale from his spell and channeling the energy of the fragment, but now he turned ashen. It looked like he’d seen a ghost.

He’d been expecting the spell to kill Sam, to trap him, or at least to harm him in a great explosion, but to see it act as docile as a baby chick in his hand was completely against his entire concept of the world.

“It’s time to wrap this up,” Sam said as he finished studying the spell’s structure and unraveled it. The sphere collapsed into sparkling dust in his hand, leaving behind just a fragment of dimensional energy, which he flicked into the Void in a streak of silver light.

His main body would have fun studying that.

“You said one thing that is correct,” he added. “Despite your flaws, you have contributed to the defense of the world. Those past actions are the only reason you are still alive. But since you have attacked me directly, I will add another layer to your punishment.

“This ancient workshop is where most of your power comes from, so I will take it from you, as well as the fragments you use to control it.”

Two streaks of silver light shot away from Sam. One of them struck the fragment in Aldric’s hand, which immediately disappeared, while the other headed for Jesai.

That one disappeared into space beside her, and a moment later, a silver vortex appeared in the air, briefly revealing the inner depths of a dimensional space. The streak shot back out, carrying a second fragment with it.

Jesai tried to grab at it, but it evaded her easily.

A moment later, both fragments were sitting on Sam’s palm. He studied them for a moment, and then a pulse of astral energy established a connection with them, one that brought an awareness of Asenya’s workshop into his mind.

As soon as it formed, he became aware of several dimensional spaces attached to the workshop and the main house, both above and below ground. They were filled with things that walked the line between dangerous and ones that should be destroyed immediately.

There was even an exact copy of the grey Outsider crystal that he’d seen at the king’s palace in Veritan, the artifact that the king had used to gather Outsider energy and attack him. That was what had disrupted his work on the Passion Gate.

It looked like his family had their hands in many things. It was also proof of their connection to Outsider artifacts. After all of the evidence that pointed at them, it was no surprise.

It was time to address that.

“Take this as a warning,” he said solemnly. “I am aware of your research into Outsider artifacts. I will deal with the ones here, but if I detect their presence again in a way that threatens the World Seal, I will not leave you alive a second time.”

He was being more merciful to them than he was to the old king, but at the same time, they were his relatives. He didn’t feel like explaining that to the world at large, so his words were only meant for them.

Another wave of silver light spread out from him, but this time it disappeared into all of those dimensional spaces. When it passed, the rooms were empty and their contents were all collected in his spatial bracelet.

With a flick of energy, the two Fragments of World Authority joined them. After creating a connection with them, he didn’t need them to keep the awareness of Asenya’s workshop active.

His eyes were sharp as he looked at Aldric and then the Hasterns behind him.

“Beyond High Artificer, I hold another title. I am the Lord of Silver Stars. I will show you something of what that means.”

Even as he continued talking, he was busy adjusting the dimensional space that held the workshop, exploring the wards Asenya had left behind, and taking full control of the space. A few moments was enough to get a basic understanding of things.

The enchantment style she used for it was very similar to the one on the Wild Tree and her other work that he’d seen. It was straightforward and elegant.

With a wave of his hand, the portal that opened onto the workshop began to rotate in the opposite direction as it closed. An instant later, it was gone.

Another flick of his will detached the workshop’s dimensional signature from the space here and shifted it across the world, to an unoccupied peak in the Western Reaches that wasn’t far from the relic.

Aldric might not have been able to move the workshop, but for him, it was easy. It existed independently in its own self-contained space, like a pebble attached to the greater rock that was Aster Fall. It was possible to shift its location by sliding it along the surface.

He would have to explore the contents of it soon.

With the portal gone, the Hastern residence was visible again, and at that moment, another four versions of Sam appeared in the sky. They took up equidistant points around the house, marking out the five points of a star.

Aldric had given up trying to struggle at this point. He had exhausted most of his energy in activating the wards and the shock of seeing the spell dissipate hadn’t left him, but now, he stared up with shocked eyes at the multiple versions of Sam.

“This form you see is only one of my avatars, as are those four in the sky,” Sam explained, taking some delight in running roughshod over his grandfather’s view of the world. “My true self is stronger and exists beyond the bounds of Aster Fall. After the Conclave, if I allow you to leave, you may have a chance to meet me for real. But it is time for judgment to fall.”

Lines of silver light stretched out between the avatars, connecting them to each other and to him as they formed a five-pointed star. A dangerous thrum of energy rippled across the area, making the Hastern house shake.

Astral energy swelled across the area as the lines of the star ignited, filling the region with a sense of pressure and heat that felt like it could cut through the earth. The outline of the star spread out until it completely covered the Hastern residence, and then it erupted.

A massive column of silver flame exploded downward. It was over a quarter mile wide and completely engulfed the palace and all of its outbuildings. Rolling thunder cracked through the air, booming in response.

Then the light faded away, dissipating into the air, and the four avatars in the sky above disappeared one after the other, making it hard to believe they’d ever been there, but the evidence was present for everyone to see.

Where the Hastern residence had been, there was a massive crater of scorched earth. The edges of the pit were a precise curve that created a perfect circle around it. Here and there, a few twists of smoke marked the air, but that was all that remained.

The Astral Strike was so precise that nothing outside the circle was touched.

Sam’s voice filled the air, this time echoing with the force of the Voice of Law as he announced his words to the entire world. At the same time, he sent an image of the house along with it, letting the World Core transmit it to the minds of everyone above Level 300.

“Let this be a message to all who think to cause trouble at the Conclave. You will not succeed. Your home will be turned to ruins. Do not test me again. The next time, no matter who it is, I will not be merciful. Architecture can be rebuilt. The same cannot be said for you.”

He paused, and then looked at his great-grandparents before he added another phrase.

“Aldric and Jesai Hastern have overstepped their place, and as a result, they will be confined until the Conclave begins. Their ability to transcend the World Limit will be decided by their grandson, Jeric Hastern, High Councilor of the Moonlight Relic.”

With that, Sam looked over at his father and gave him a nod as he handed off the matter to him. He knew that Jeric didn’t want the responsibility for this, but it was better than the alternatives.

He would seal Aldric and Jesai into one of the relic’s guestrooms, where the wards would keep them confined and out of trouble until the conclave. It would give his parents some time to talk with them and an opportunity to either fight or make up.

His part in punishing them was done.

If his father decided to let them go, he would free them from the World Limit and send them to Silverguard with the rest of the Level 399s. If not, he would find something else to keep them out of trouble.

It would be simpler to kill them, but they were his relatives and that was a hard line he wouldn’t cross unless it was absolutely necessary.

As it was, from their pale white features as they looked down at the remains of their house and the two fragments that they’d lost, he was pretty sure they’d finally got the message.

He glanced at the rest of the Hasterns who had been in the house and were now floating in the air. They might as well come along and see what the Moonlight Relic and the Conclave was all about.

Hopefully, it would make them understand what was truly important.

With a wave of his hand, a field of silver light spread out from him and they all disappeared, heading back to the relic.

In Tower Reach, heads began to rise from window sills and doorways as attention turned toward what had been the Hastern palace. Sam’s words were still hanging in their ears. To those living there, it seemed like a bolt of silver flame had descended from the heavens and struck the city.

The thunder of that strike continued to echo from the walls, especially the white marble of the Alabaster Palace. One by one, individuals flew into the sky, heading for the Hastern’s old home to see what was going on. They’d heard the words, but they needed to confirm it for themselves.

It didn’t take long before hundreds of individuals were gathered nearby. Some of them were flying, but quite a few were on the ground as well. Regardless of their level, all of them were looking at the massive crater that had been left behind.

It was a perfect circle a quarter mile wide and a hundred feet deep. The bottom was curved like a sphere of earth had been carved out of the city, and the sides of the pit resembled fused obsidian. They were smooth and polished, with barely a trace of heat left.

Mutters of astonishment carried across the crowd, but the single most repeated phrase was simply “High Artificer of Aster Fall.” The words were uttered with shock and fear, even as they shook their heads and stared at the hole in front of them.