Chương 25: Chapter 24: A Link To The Past

++Finding allies has always been difficult for me, for one reason or another. This is not a unique struggle—finding allies is difficult for all magicians or people of power. The only difference is that I am wise enough to know that most potential allies are traitors in waiting. ++ - From the writings of Isabel Vornholt, 'The Great Lich'. 1, 891 A. E I felt my second jolt of fear in quite some time, then.

The first had come from Agrian's hand on my shoulder, that moment of worry as I waited to see whether he would listen and let me go, or bring his size and strength to bear. This was worse than that. This was like Agrian's hand was big enough to wrap his fingers around my whole body, as if I were tracing the arm attached to it back into the clouds, seeing his head barely visible as strokes of lightning illuminated it high above. This was a man with my very existence held loosely in one hand.

He was smiling, still, damn him, clearly relishing the fact as he understood it just as well as I did. He was too certain for me to talk away, that much I knew. So my question was not about how I would leave this room with his suspicions gone. What I had control over here was whether the Grandmaster left this conversation convinced that his best interests were served by keeping his observation between us, or not. That he had bothered to have this talk alone instead of immediately sharing it with the Godtouched was…

hopeful. Besides, I could always play the confused child if he tried to expose me to others in any case.

"Very clever," I answered.

"How did you make such a leap?" It was oddly relaxing to let my whole body fall into its more natural language. Face blank and stare heavy, no more girlish fidgeting or twitches, my limbs laying idle at my sides. What was more satisfying was the sight of how much it unnerved the Grandmaster, though he spoke quickly to hide it.

"It was partly guesswork," he admitted.

"But the big clue was your seeing mana. I had heard from the stories that Lord Dread could do that, and I applied a cloak over my own Vessel to serve as a test. When I dropped that cloak to use magic, I was watching you. Magically angling the light between us around me so that I could see it as if with a mirror, which you didn't notice thanks to my trick levitating up the stairs. Your focus was split." At that, I was forced to admit some respect for the man.

There have never been many magicians capable of getting the better of me, magical sleight of hand has always been my own specialty. Another reason to continue my studies, this new time period had tricks and techniques that I may never have developed on my own.

"I have heard the stories told about me, those would not have given you enough information. There are other accounts about my past that you have access to?" He hesitated, clearly caught out and unwilling to confirm my suspicions. Then he wisely chose to do so.

"... Yes. You must understand, the Gods wanted every detail expunged and replaced with some…propaganda piece."

"And yet that did not happen?" I asked.

"No, my predecessors hoarded certain accounts and recordings for themselves. Knowledge is power."

"Magic is power," I finished the old saying.

"And knowledge is magic. Yes, that makes sense." It was chilling to find out how much more had been known about me than I previously thought, how much greater my risk of discovery. I may not have headed to the Winzorth Institute had I been aware of that. Then again, the benefits of this place were difficult to outweigh with any risk.

"You were alive back in the ancient times," the Grandmaster continued.

"Tell me what it was like."

"You will need to be more specific. What do you mean by what it was like, what are you asking about?"

"Life, society, everything. I've been told most of what I heard about that era by the Gods and their own falsified histories, and scrounging up real knowledge that they failed to stamp out has been my life's work. It's enjoyed mixed success, but now you stand before me. Someone who lived it all." I was infuriated at that, enraged. All that knowledge, all the experience I had soaked up over my life, and it had been kept from the world's history books by the meddling hands of giant, magically empowered monkeys.

I loathed the Gods more at that moment than at any other point of my existence, more than I did during my own imprisonment. If I had been doubting, for an instant, that they had to be stopped, this would have burned away that uncertainty. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

"Very well," I growled. And I began to tell the Grandmaster what he wanted to know, sparing the details that would drag my explanation on longer, but giving him enough, I hoped, to be satisfied. The more useful he found me now, the greater my odds of not being turned over to some mouth-breathing Demigod later. When I was finally done, the Grandmaster leaned back in his seat and stared up at me with one of the most conflicted expressions I have ever witnessed.

"So we were still serving under the Gods back then," he breathed. There was a dreadful sound of defeat in his voice, one that disgusted me.

"Temporarily, yes," I told him. His eyes snapped up.

"What do you mean temporarily? It's been thousands of years!"

"Which is less than an infinite number of years, and therefore, temporary. They could be ruling us for aeons and it would make no difference. Provided there are still moves to be made and options to be taken, it is not the end." He stared at me.

"What?" I snapped.

"Nothing," the Grandmaster smirked.

"Just…you're awfully cute for such an ancient being." Cute. Like a little girl, because I was a little girl. I was going to melt this man's eyes and make him drink them, but for the time being I still needed him. Or needed his support at least.

"What happens now?" I asked.

"You turn me over to the Demigods and say goodbye to the past?" His eyes narrowed.

"If that was an attempt at manipulation, I must tell you it was one of the sorriest ones I've ever seen."

"It was an attempt at being direct," I sighed.

"I am too tired of this new era to do anything else. My powers have been destroyed, my forces scattered, my legacy mangled. I have all the talent I did in my first life, and the potential to become stronger than I ever was before, but I am once again helpless and weak, in need of protection. Yes, I am at your mercy. Yes, you hold all the power here. If you told me right now that you planned to turn me in and began walking out, I would not be able to stop you, we both know it."

That was no exaggeration, his raw power was easily two or three times what Professor Bogern's was.

"So why shouldn't I?" the Grandmaster asked, his face tight, now, and staring a challenge at me. I realised then that he wanted convincing, that he wanted to know there was a real opportunity in me for power.

"What do you know of me?" I asked him. He was irritated by the question, clearly unhappy to be finding his question countered by another.

"I know that you are a being from—" —"Wrong," I cut in.

"I am a human, and always was."

"You…you're a lich," he frowned.

"Which makes me human nonetheless. My mind is human, my spirit is human. I have not been changed by my rebirth anymore than I was by my original ritual of undeath. I have always been no more than a human, and I am an enemy of the Gods because they are enemies of humanity." He looked almost in pain, like he so desperately wanted to believe me but could not dare the risk.

"And what's your plan?" he asked at last.

"I have a simple goal," I assured him.

"To kill all Gods and rule the universe." He stared again, he had a habit of doing that apparently.

"That's insane," he snapped.

"Genius is often confused with madness."

"No! That's actually insane, to rule the universe? Do you know how big the universe is? Have you even left this planet?"

"I plan to live forever," I shrugged.

"I will get there eventually. My only real obstacle at the moment are those almighty children who call themselves the Gods. I could use allies against them, allies who would stand to gain just as much as me if all the avenues of magic were suddenly freed for study." It was always going to be the potential for more power that swayed him. I saw the Grandmaster lean back in his seat and grow thoughtful, brows knitting together as his wrinkles deepened and his eyes seemed to fog over.

"What sort of magic isn't free now that could be?" he asked.

"Necromancy," I told him. He sat bolt upright and had a glare across his features within an instant.

"Are you mad?"

"No, and that should tell you something with all the millennia I spent practising that form of magic. The Gods lied to you about its danger and power, as they lie about many other things."

"And what can it do?" he asked me. I paused for a moment, let his eagerness build. This would be my only chance to win him over, I had to make it count.

"It can make you immortal," I told him.

"It can make you a lich. It can let you exist to continue gaining power for eternity." And that was when I knew that I had him, with one stroke. He was an old man, not much longer for the world, and in a single human lifetime he had grown powerful enough that a Demigod would have needed at least some small effort to outmatch him. I had just offered him centuries, even millennia more to grow stronger still. He never had a chance.

And he was a Grandmaster of the Winzorth Institute, which meant that he was a man who had learned patience long ago. The two of us quickly agreed not to openly speak of what we had discussed again, for obvious reasons. I did not know what advances had been made in surveillance magic, but already knew better than to verbally speak of our plans any more than was strictly necessary. The scrying powers I had already possessed before my rebirth were already enough to make that a risk.

Even with his office as secure as it was, we both knew better than to risk it. Especially with the Gods as our enemies. It is entirely possible for a skilled magician to exceed the magical technique of a Godtouched or even Demigod, but raw power has a way of rending through even the most sophisticated of defenses. Fortunately, we had a very good excuse to meet and talk. I realised that this was why the Grandmaster had waited until I acted against Agrian's bullies, to avoid suspicion.

I wondered how he would have arranged our conversation if I had not been so active. Agrian was called up into the office a minute later, and made a point of glaring at both me and the Grandmaster. He had his chest puffed up and was clearly trying to look as much like our father as he could, with mixed success. The Grandmaster hid his amusement at the sight well.

"Thank you for waiting my boy," he smiled.

"What did you both talk about?" Agrian demanded.

"Well, I needed to get Isabel's side of the incident—" —"No," the boy pressed.

"You talked for too long, that wasn't what you were discussing. And now you're lying to me. What's going on?" I was actually impressed with my brother, he was starting to develop the suspicion of a real magician. Though of course, he would have been better keeping it to himself. It is far easier to get information from people who do not know you are trying to get it. That, and his timing could not have been worse.