Chapter: 370 - Before We Proceed (Patreon)

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Tala grumbled as she and Terry waited outside of the testing room while Mistress Elnea and Master Simon performed the first two tests with Kit.

They had asked Tala to make a request of Kit, then leave the room so that they could test Kit’s sapience and individual identity.

The request?

“Kit, do as you wish.”

To be fair, Tala had also topped off the pouch, magically speaking, as there was no reason to tempt Kit into devouring things that she shouldn’t, but aside from that, she hadn’t done anything to influence the outcomes.

Ten minutes later, Master Simon came out and invited her back inside, his face was slightly pale, “Well, it’s confirmed: I’ve been living inside a sapient creature.”

Tala and Terry reentered the room to find Kit resting on the floor in the middle, in the form of a pouch.

Mistress Elnea smiled to Tala, “Well, that was definitive. Kit is both sapient and has a unique identity.”

“Oh?”

“Yes.” And the woman didn’t elaborate further.

After a long moment, Tala decided to move on. “Alright then. So, we just have the final test remaining?”

Mistress Elnea nodded, and Tala saw a pulse of something moving starward from the woman. “Long ago, we acquired a minor arcane hold—well, more than one, but that’s not the point—and while we’ve stripped it of all that we can, the inscriptions which purify the power from the core vestige are all but gone. We do not have the knowledge to restore them.” She held up a hand to forestall Tala, “Yes, we are aware of Mistress Holly’s auto-inscriber, and for reasons I won’t get into,”—her eyes flicked to Master Simon—“It can’t work. We have others, so this isn’t a unique thing, but it is an opportunity for me to pay the debt to you for my participation in this process.”

Tala frowned, “How can you have more than a few? How do you even have one?”

Mistress Elnea grinned. “Well, one of our number was in a position to usurp a newly founded arcane city, and after defeating the warriors defending the city, he demanded that all vestiges be left behind when he banished the population, giving them their lives.”

Tala’s eyes widened, remembering an offhand comment that Rane had made on their first caravan trip. Master Grediv said he wasn’t going to destroy another arcane city for one of his family… He actually did that? Rane wasn’t just trying to impress me, and Master Grediv wasn’t just making up stories for Rane?

“I see you understand what that means.” Mistress Elnea misinterpreted Tala’s shock, though she wasn’t wrong about Tala’s understanding. “So, that has allowed us the opportunity to be studying arcane holds. Our progress hasn’t been very fast, partially because they did their best to sabotage or obscure all the magics within everything that they left behind. They are rather effective in that regard, unfortunately. Now, I believe that I hear them coming.”

A moment later, the doors opened, and two men came in carrying an ornate door between them. It had heavy magical devices clamped all the way around it, creating and projecting a stabilizing net of power around the contained magical item.

“Against that wall, please. Thank you.”

They obeyed, setting the door against one wall, removing the inscribed devices, bowing, and departing.

Mistress Elnea took a moment to inspect the door before nodding to herself and turning to Tala, “Now, on one hand, you might be thinking, ‘This is insane! This is far too valuable.’ You are correct. This hold is almost incalculably valuable except,” she smiled, “except that, as I already said, it is on its last legs. It is effectively worthless to anyone but you, or someone who has a storage like yours. I know of no one like that. So, my payment to you is something of effectively no value to me but of incredible value to you. Do you accept?”

“Would you offer three as payment instead?” Tala prodded, only half-joking.

“No.”

“Then, I accept the one. Yes.” Tala grinned. “How large is it?”

“It is a minor hold, but it was for a Major House. They were attempting to establish a foothold in the new city. Sadly, the arcanes destroyed any evidence of which Major House they were from before they left, likely to hide their shame, and the conqueror of the city didn’t bother to get details of the local political landscape before he took his plunder and obliterated the rest.”

Tala nodded along, but Alat had already taken a look.

The hold wasn’t within anyone’s aura anymore, and so Alat and Tala had a clear look at the expanded space, resting just stoneward of superficial.

“So, it is a spherical linked space that…”

-It has a two-mile radius.-

Tala’s eye twitched, and Mistress Elnea nodded. “I see that you’ve already seen for yourself. Yes. It is a small hold for a Major House, but if the information you shared with us upon your arrival back in the human lands is still accurate, this should be a substantial increase to your own storage’s capacity.”

Tala was at a loss. “Can’t someone with a still unbound dimensional storage combine it with their own? Master Jevin did something like that for Kit and me in Makinaven.”

“Unfortunately not. Holds are not designed to be moved. Those devices that the porters took with them are required to stabilize the dimensional integrity of any hold entrance for transport, and even then, we can’t move them faster than a walking speed. What that means in relation to your question is that their magics are entirely different from our own dimensional storages. We can’t combine them safely. That is, except…” She trailed off meaningfully.

“Kit. Kit ate arcane holds. They were aware of artifacts like Kit, and they knew how to get the most out of them.”

Mistress Elnea nodded. “That is what your memories implied, yes.”

“Alright, then, what’s the test?”

“Kit needs to consume the hold from the outside. That will show that it isn’t about being physically present at the core of the hold.”

“Because Kit won’t be able to be present at the core if unmoored.”

“Precisely. All defenses, both passive and active, have been disabled. There is nothing resisting Kit’s absorption save the act itself.”

Both Master Simon and Mistress Elnea pulled out large Archival slates that seemed to be equipped with powerful detection scripts. Master Simon spoke up for the first time in a while, “Would you be willing to withdraw your aura from Kit for the test? Your magics are obviously still present, but we should be able to see through those, if you allow.”

“Alright. That makes sense to me.” Tala picked up Kit and tossed her at the closed door, pulling back her aura at the same time. “Eat up, Kit.”

Kit slapped against the door, sliding almost comically down to the floor.

There was a beat of startled silence from the humans in the room before Kit expanded on the ground underneath the doorway.

The hold’s door dropped downward, vanishing in an instant, and Tala and Alat watched in fascination as the connected space dropped to hang stoneward of Tala’s sanctum.

From there, it looked as if there was some sort of pulling force, tearing apart the lower expanded space and drawing it starward to be added to Kit’s own containing volume.

The process wasn’t instantaneous, but it was relatively quick, taking less than five minutes to fully complete.

When Tala pulled her attention back to the superficial, the two other Mages were enraptured at whatever information their devices had been able to glean.

Mistress Elnea chuckled, “Well, that answers the question rather thoroughly.”

Master Simon nodded slowly. “The magics to consume and incorporate what is devoured are integral to the storage artifact.”

Tala looked between the two. “So, Kit won’t be locked to a particular size if I bond with her, or unmoor her?”

The Paragon shook her head, “Not in the least. Moreover, that large of a ‘meal’ should help pacify the storage artifact, making it easier to achieve a preferable outcome to your bonding.”

“Okay, thank you. Before we proceed, I still do have a few questions.”

Mistress Elnea nodded, “Now would be the time. Ask away.”

Tala obliged, “Right now, I can place Kit on a wall, and she stays there in whatever form that she chose to take. I can then walk away. I could, in theory, walk to another city, and so long as I got back in enough time to keep her full up on power, she’d be fine.”

“That sounds about right. What’s the question?”

“After we bond, could I do that, leave Kit on a wall here in Bandfast, then go to Alefast?”

The woman considered for a long moment before shrugging. “I don’t see why not. Most unmoored storages are not able to do so, but that’s because they don’t have anything to ‘leave behind’ save a tear into an extradimensional space. Leaving such a tear would be unwise. In this case, Kit will be manifesting a physical form in order to open. So I don’t see why you couldn’t leave her anywhere that you would have before. You will have the obvious additional benefit of not needing to return quickly to refill her reserves either.”

Tala nodded. “Then, since I am soulbound to Kit, in the situation that I just described, could I open another door in Alefast?”

“No. That is a rule so universal it might as well be considered a law. No dimensional storage can have more than a single opening at a time.”

She nodded again, having expected the answer. “I can’t say I’m surprised. Now, in the same situation, could I, while in Alefast, call Kit to me, thereby closing the opening in Bandfast and allowing me to open the singular exit in Alefast?”

Mistress Elnea frowned. “Not in that manner, but if Kit were to close, thus losing her physical form, you could open a new door wherever you were, more accurately, wherever you held sway.”

Tala straightened, eyes widening, as a smile spread across her face.

The Paragon held up a hand. “Hold on, now. The issue, there, is that while the expanded space is unmoored from what we consider the physical, it still exists, and thus still has to travel to you. So, unless you had a means of crossing the intervening distance in a manner that didn’t cause magical resonance, and-or was quite rapid, it would take a bit before you could actually open a new entrance into your sanctum.”

“Ahh, I see. That’s fair, I suppose.”

-Maybe we can figure something out with reality nodes or maybe the void? Maybe both?-

Yeah… but that’s going to be a bit before we can actually understand those at a level deeper than: ‘Bow shoot arrow far.’

Alat chuckled inside Tala’s head. -That’s fair. We’re just barely scratching the surface, here.-

“So, with it unmoored, I won’t have to toss or pick up the physical form, will I just be able to manifest it anywhere around me?”

Mistress Elnea waggled her hand. “Anywhere within your aura, most likely. I would be careful attempting to open it within objects, but every Mage with a newly bound storage finds it fun to refill a waterskin from the inside at least once. Just be smart about what you do, and how you do it. There are a few other things that most people enjoy figuring out and playing with, but I’ll not spoil those for you.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Was there anything else?”

“To confirm, once I bond Kit, you will help solidify the teleportation functionality, so that those within my sanctum can escape back to a city at need?”

“Yes. We’ll have to take a few measurements after the process is complete, but it shouldn't be beyond myself and my team to get the process working by the end of the day.” She gave a nod to Master Simon, “Especially if Master Simon will join us. His growing expertise on the oddities of your sanctum will be invaluable.”

The Fused had been taking notes as the two women talked, but at this direct address, he bowed, “It would be my honor.”

Mistress Elnea smiled at Master Simon before turning back to Tala, “Please consider my and my team's assistance with that problem the ‘valuable to me’ portion of my repayment, and thank you again for allowing me to participate in this process.”

“You are welcome.” Tala tilted her head to the side, “Is there any danger of people with gates moving around inside Kit causing me damage over time?”

Mistress Elnea shook her head immediately, “Only if it goes to the point of a breach. Kit will be much more durable in that regard, as all soulbound items are much more durable. Remember, also, that Kit is not the expanded space; Kit is the housing and connection to that space. Having a breach in existence in your stomach would hurt you quite a lot, and that’s about what a breach in Kit would be like for the artifact.”

Tala nodded, considering. “Alright, then. I just have one more question, then.”

“Oh? What is that?”

A grin spread across her face. “How many more of these, ‘useless’ holds do you have, exactly?”

*  *  *

Mistress Elnea did not, in fact, have a long line of useless-to-her holds that she was willing to give to Tala. She did have others that would degrade within the next decade, but the Paragon insisted that such things should be discussed after the bond with Kit was completed.

That left Tala with a single critical thing left to do before truly starting the process.

She sat in the center of the room, Kit just before her, a copper and a silver coin in her two hands.

“I know we tend to understand one another just fine, but I don’t want any room for doubt.” Tala took a deep breath. “If you want us to continue as we are, take this coin.” She pressed the silver coin to the outside of the pouch. “If you want to soulbond, take this coin.” She touched the copper coin to Kit’s outside as well.

And, for the first time that Tala could point to without quibbling, Kit responded.

The copper coin vanished from Tala’s fingers without a trace.

Tala’s whole face blossomed into a grin, and she immediately began the process to create a full-powered blood-medium Archon star. With her increased throughput and control, it would only take a few minutes.

Terry trilled happily from the corner where he waited on a pillow, beside a trembling chicken.

The chicken didn’t run, so Terry didn’t give chase.

It was a delicate balance that was currently distracting Tala.

Right.

“Thank you, Kit. Let’s get this done.”

Mistress Elnea and Master Simon got to work, the testing room’s own magic allowing for the quick creation of the spellforms needed for the merging and bonding.

This was, after all, a rather common procedure for those advanced to Refined.

True, Tala could have just given Kit a bloodstar to enact a soulbond, but that would have been the ‘wild’ way of doing it. It also wouldn’t have allowed for the unmooring to take place at the same time, at least not easily.

Doing it this way, with the proper spellforms and a Paragon in the wings would allow Mistress Elnea to assist at need, both other Mages to monitor the progress, and merging with the unmooring magics to occur at the same time.

Mistress Elnea once again sent a message through the Archive, and it only took a couple of minutes for someone to arrive, carrying an iron strongbox.

The Mage in question bowed to each of them, hesitated briefly to stare confusedly at Terry and the terrified chicken, then departed.

Tala moved closer as Mistress Elnea examined the exterior of the box. “What is it?”

“A cheshire core.” When Tala made no indication of understanding, the Paragon continued, “There is a forest far to the east, across the plains outside the woods that surround us. In that far forest, there exists a species of feline predators that hunt with nigh impunity, shifting in and out of reality at will, even seemingly able to do so with just parts of their bodies. When they are slain, we sometimes find a core within, which contains magic allowing the unmooring. It is not a full set of their magics by any means, but it allows us to accomplish what we need for this.”

Tala nodded. “Interesting to know. Thank you.”

Soon enough, the great spellforms were in place, and at the center were three open circles, perfectly sized for their would-be occupants.

After Mistress Elnea and Master Simon did a final onceover, they turned to Tala, Master Simon speaking up once again, “It’s time, Mistress Tala.”

Tala turned to Terry. “Are you going to be alright in that corner?”

He squawked, slowly running one set of talons down the still trembling chicken’s back.

“Are you going to be able to keep the chicken from interfering?”

Terry practically cooed as he pushed down a little more firmly, and the chicken pulled in on itself.

“Okay, then.” Tala turned back to the two other Mages. “Alright, let’s…”

Mistress Elnea was regarding Master Simon with a look of bafflement, “And you allow your children in the same area as that avian?”

Master Simon shrugged. “He’s really quite friendly to anyone who isn’t prey.”

The older woman raised an eyebrow. “I… see.”

Tala smiled. “He’s a wonderful flock mate and looks after the kids quite well.”

Mistress Elnea seemed ready to argue, but Master Simon was already nodding, “He really is quite intelligent and kind when he wants to be.”

Finally, the Paragon just shook her head. “Well, far be it from me to doubt the two of you. You know him better than I do.”

Tala didn’t delay any further, walking to the center and setting Kit down in the designated spot.

She, herself, sat down in the largest circle, and the cheshire core was already waiting in the third open space.

Was that there a moment ago?

-I think so. I didn’t really notice it, though.-

Fun unmooring magics for the win! Tala chuckled wryly within her own mind.

She couldn’t actually recall anyone placing it there either, but that wasn’t really the point of the moment.

Mistress Elnea and Master Simon took their positions and indicated that they were ready to proceed.

Tala closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and pulled the now full-powered bloodstar stoneward, out of her finger and into her aura that was projected in that direction.

It came with no resistance, and after she maneuvered it a bit, she pushed it back starward, into the superficial in front of her.

To those watching, it likely looked like an exceedingly magical drop of blood simply popped into existence in front of Tala’s chest.

She nodded one last time. “I’m ready.”

With a thought she moved the blood-medium Archon star into deliberate contact with Kit, activating the merging magics around her at the moment of connection.

The whole world went white, as she slipped into the all-too-familiar void of a merging.

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