Chương 151: Chapter 226 - New Seas to Sail

Mirian arrived in Alkazaria and gathered the high priests. This time, the High Priest of Carkavakom accepted her claim as easily as the others. He didn't smile so much. It was like he was a different person. Her best guess was an Elder creature was involved. Some of them had been assigned by the Gods to guard the Elder Gates. They could visit different paths in the fields of time, meaning they must be present in some paths, but not others.

In the cycles where she never visited the conduit rooms, they would never appear—why would they need to? Perhaps Carkavakom had such an agent. If so, she could only hope it was as restrained as Conductor and Eyeball. If it was interfering, why? And why now? Naturally, even Eyeball refused to tell her anything about it. When she arrived at the council chambers, she took a different tactic.

"Dawn's Peace is in a stronger position than you realize. They even have infiltrators here in Alkazaria," she told First Councilor Izrif.

"However, there's an Elder artifact buried beneath the city that can be used as a powerful weapon." Turning to one of the council secretaries she now knew was working for the Deeps, she said, "Much like the one in Torrviol, only, I know how to use it." Like rallying Torrviol against the Akanan invasion, it was much easier to rally Alkazaria's elites against Persama than for 'saving Enteria.' Stick with the world they know, she thought, leaning on her father's advice.

Later, in a personal conversation with Izrif, she said, "I think credit for the Elder artifact's discovery should be given to whomever is most responsible for it being uncovered. Imagine what the history books will say about the man who changed the fate of Baracuel." Like with Archmage Luspire, she could play to his ambition. It rankled, but it worked much better. There were still stupid political games, but they didn't impede her digging so much.

This time, she also had to deal with the Praetorians before they left, though she'd already briefed her father about them and how to avoid their intelligence network.

"Fate's a funny thing," Voran said, when he realized just who this new Prophet was. Mirian wanted to rip off his head, but she restrained herself.

It took four more cycles, before at last, leyline data narrowed down the location and a geomancer team successfully found the spherical hollow beneath all the andesite and obsidian bedrock. It was much deeper than she'd thought it would be, and it was directly under one of the spires in the south part of Central Hill, just north of Oldtown, near the Temple of Eintocarst. Conductor greeted her when she found the conduit room.

I CAN'T ACTIVATE IT UNTIL YOU REPLACE THE CONDUIT CRYSTALS, the Elder creature told her in that annoyed tone it always had. Can't you use an intact set of crystals from another conduit room? she asked. NO. YOU KNOW THE RULES. Mirian had already fabricated a full set of the crystals, guessing that the fiery blasts that had destroyed the ancient Viaterrian city had done the same damage here that she'd seen in Palendurio.

Connecting the Alkazaria Gate to the Palendurio Gate so late in the cycle only extended the loop by three days. She announced her success to the other Prophets via zephyr falcon the next loop. With the location known, she could now connect the Torrviol and Mahatan Gates on the first day of the loop, then connect Palendurio and Alkazaria five days later. She began measuring the effects on the leylines immediately. In the meantime, she waited for word from the others. The news from them was less inspiring.

Gabriel was now trying the overland route to Zhighua, having a ship drop him off on the coast and then staying along that to avoid the worst of the jungle. However, he was again changing tactics, because the myrvites in the Jiandzhi seemed more aggressive than usual, and he'd gotten killed twice in the attempt. Then, because he hated dying, he'd taken a break to go back to studying Labyrinth routes to see if he could find any more Vaults. Mirian was annoyed.

There was a known overland safe route south of Alatishad that was pouring refugees into the city. Surely, he could just use it, even if it would take weeks. However, she knew berating him wouldn't do anything. Jherica was continuing their research and personal training. They hadn't accomplished much either, but they also had a great deal of catching up to do. As far as Mirian could tell, Liuan wasn't interfering. The wizard had checked up on Celen, but there was no change in his situation.

Ibrahim sent no communication. He'd seized Rambalda as usual each cycle, but that was all she knew. All her zephyr falcons went unanswered. Finally, there was Liuan. Her message was brief. She gave no updates on the political situation, nor any apology for the RID agents she'd had follow Mirian after the last Council of Prophets. All she had to say was: Mirian, Problems with both leviathans and Tlaxhuacan warships. No progress made. Invasion may be necessary to progress.

-Liuan Var Mirian stared at the letter with disgust when she received it. Five loops. Ten months! That's it? Is there a new Akanan tax on words? Did they run out of ink over there? Gods above. She burned the letter with a burst of raw fire and sat in her tower room in Alkazaria for several moments, looking out across the city. Then, she took the Gate to Palendurio, burrowed up through the rock, and was on the train north to Torrviol within the hour.

She could have changed the destinations of the gates to go straight from Alkazaria to Torrviol, but decided to take the first set of full measurements of leyline data from the new arrangement. As soon as she arrived, she sought out her old acquaintance.

"Xipuatl," she said, barging into his apartment. She'd known he was there because she'd seen him with detect life behind the wall.

"I need to know as much as you can teach me about Tlaxhuaco. Current politics. Basic history. Religion. You might as well start teaching me the basics of the language, too," she said. This late in a cycle, with Torrviol Academy directed to do her research and the Gate open, rumors that she was a Prophet tended to spread. Xipuatl gaped at her. The natural glow of her silver eyes tended to do that to people now, and she knew she carried herself with a presence that was hard to ignore.

Finally, he said, "Wait, you know me?"

"Yes. You taught me some basic soul magic. We used to meet for study sessions with Nicolus. We worked together for two years, and I've been making progress on your universal theory." When he didn't respond, Mirian said, "I didn't become like this overnight. You're part of the Yanez family, which means you can get us safe passage to the island. I don't know any other Tlaxhuacans yet. It won't happen this cycle, but we can start making preparations now."

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. Xipuatl took a step back.

"Wait… I'm right?"

"About soul magic and arcane magic being part of a universal system, yes—but we're not getting into that right now." Mirian looked over to his meditation room where his focus—what he and the Tlaxhuacans called an 'elder reliquary'—was hidden behind a permanent illusion in the wall.

"I've been meaning to take a closer look at this," she murmured as she casually used raw force magic to pull it to her. The jade-like substance had similar properties to the silver-gray focus she'd bound to herself. Both reflected light in a strange way.

"You can't—that's my family's sacred—" Mirian lowered the focus, put a hand on his shoulder and met his eyes.

"Xipuatl. The world ends soon. What happens to anything will not be permanent. The only thing that will matter is the final cycle, but that won't happen unless I learn more about the strange deficit of leyline energy in Tlaxhuaco. Do you need time to wrap your head around that, or can we talk seriously?" Xipuatl took a moment. Mirian had these memories of him being so confident and unshakable. It was strange to compare that to the young man who stood before her now.

"I… get it," he said.

"It's just… a lot."

"Good. There's a dangerous pattern emerging. A lot of the other Prophets—""Other Prophets!?"

"Let me finish. A lot of the other Prophets think the best way to resolve the various problems causing the apocalypse involve their chosen faction conquering the others." That was Ibrahim and Liuan, it seemed, though Gabriel was also sympathetic to that plan even if he wasn't going to do it himself.

"My plan is to prevent war altogether, and that is what I'm offering Tlaxhuaco: peace. Is that an acceptable payment for your services?" Despite what he'd said, she could tell Xipuatl was still wrapping his head around everything.

"You mean, like… the thing you offer when this is all done? There's no… are we really in a time loop?" Mirian wanted to sigh loud enough that her soul would leave her body. Instead she said, "Yes."

"How… but I'm going to forget everything, then. I can't hold you to your word."

"Correct," she said. Xipuatl blinked, then sat in one of his chairs.

"You could have spent… this could be the hundredth time we had this conversation. How do I know you haven't spent it figuring out how to manipulate me?"

"The fact that you're asking that. If I'd spent a hundred cycles doing this, I promise, you wouldn't even be considering the possibility. And to be honest, you're not that important. Archmage Luspire is the one I had to spend several cycles to manipulate. What does Tlaxhuaco want? What do you want? Before, you said your universal theory of magic, but that was when this was about stopping an Akanan army here and giving me lessons. Now, the stakes are the fate of nations."

When the sixth year student didn't immediately answer, she said, "I'll synthesize more than just your answer in this loop. We might find something in Tlaxhuaco next cycle that changes things. There could be another Prophet down there. There might not be. As far as I can tell, Baracuel only has me, so there's no guarantee they have anyone."

"Spirits," Xipuatl swore. After a long pause, he finally said, "They want their way of life protected. The history is… complicated. The hardliners want to keep all contact with the continents cut. They think it's safer that way. But there's all this magical technology being uncovered—we'd be fools to ignore it. Right now, though, the hardliners are in the dominant position. Took a lot of pull to get me to Torrviol, and I only ever was approved because of the Yanez's strange dual nobility status.

And the fact that I'd be here, away from the political center of things."

"Can your status in the Yanez family get me into the country without a fight?"

"Probably. If I could convince my parents. I don't have standing yet. Not until I've graduated Torrviol Academy. And I'm not exactly the favorite son, since I came here instead of training as a nagual. And the Yanez family isn't… well regarded. Not on the island. I mean, there's obviously benefits, but it's… complicated." Mirian summoned her spellbook and cast an illusionary disguise so that her features looked more Tlaxhuacan.

"Would this help?"

"I assure you, they check for illusions," he said. Mirian dismissed the illusion and instead formed several soul bindings to change her appearance to look much the same, rapidly cycling her soul at the surface so that the change happened quickly.

"This, then." When Xipuatl looked confused, she handed him his focus and said, "Take a look. It's not an illusion."

"Oh. Oh shit. Where did—how did you learn this?"

"From Professor Marva and the Cult of Zomalator, but the Deeps and RID also know how to do it, and deploy it often. One of the reasons they don't like anyone else knowing soul magic. Everything you've told me ties into everything else."

"Okay. Wow. Okay. Spirits, this is—this is—big. Gods. Yeah. Okay. What do you need to know?" Mirian smiled.

"Let's start with the political situation and some language basics. I'll have food provided to us. I want as much of your time as you can manage, though I have a few experiments I'm running I'll need to take results on. You mentioned before you don't exactly have a 'story' that would help identify me as a friend to you in future loops, so I'll use what information you teach me to help guide things in the next cycle."

"Okay," Xipuatl said, nodding slowly.

"When should we begin?"

"Now," Mirian said.

The next loop, Mirian established Torrviol's link to Mahatan and Alkazaria's link to Palendurio. It took several days, but the end result was a cycle that now ended on the 6th of Merisheth, so it still gave her a full extra month of time on the balance. She'd already sent Liuan two letters, one asking for more details and another telling her not to try to invade Tlaxhuaco. Mirian knew how these things went.

When you iterated on getting something out of a loop, you started with what worked, then made small adjustments. If starting a war with Tlaxhuaco got Liuan to the island, then she'd keep doing it, and eventually, that would just become the way she got there. It wouldn't be ideal, but it would work. Gabriel had the people he swindled and bankrupt whenever he wanted to live in a palace. Ibrahim had his army he raised.

Mirian had done the same thing in Torrviol to fight Akana's invasion, never thinking of all the other things she could have done with that time. It was too easy to get fixated on the wrong path. She met Xipuatl in Palendurio, then they took a cutter across the Rift Sea and headed south along the Akanan coast. This version of Xipuatl was only slightly less confused than the version she'd taken lessons from the last cycle.

"This other Prophet… said there were leviathans? Between Tlaxhauco and Akana?" he asked one afternoon as they stood on the deck, wind whipping past them.

"Yes," Mirian said, her gaze fixed on the waters.

"But she must be taking the archipelago route. The water is too shallow for the really big myrvites. It's the entire reason ships stick to the coast!"

"Yes, well, the leyline anomalies and arcane eruptions cause a lot of erratic myrvite behavior. What defenses against leviathans do the Tlaxhuacan warships have? Artillery? Depth charges?"

"No. If it reeks of a spell engine, they don't have it. It's… I've gotten into a lot of arguments about it with my fellow countrymen. It's stupid. I don't like spell engines either, but not even using fossilized myrvite charges for guns? It's like if you banned archmages from joining the military. It's just stupid." Mirian looked out. The Akanan coast was like one big village smeared across every beach. A lot you can do if you don't have any myrvites left alive to worry about, she thought.

Along the coastal tracks, a train trundled along.

"They must have some defenses if Liuan has to worry about them." Xipuatl hesitated, then finally said, "If she's sailing over there in a wood-bottom boat, she's a fool. I guess I can tell you that. It's not the best kept secret; the Akanan military already knows that."

"Something a bit more potent than shape wood?"

"Yeah, you could say that." Mirian looked at their own cutter's wooden hull. It was the material that made the most sense. Shape iron was a lot more mana intensive to use, and steel was even more expensive to produce in quantity without an arcanist, even if they were using a spell engine. The newest generation of battleships had steel hulls, but smaller warships were better off with shield spell engines backed by sorcerer teams. A spell engine was cheaper and weighed less.

A steelclad ship would also add even more weight from all the fossilized myrvite it needed to give the spell engines extra power. Battleships made sense for operations in the Rift Sea—either against another country, or against sea serpents—but they seemed like a foolish waste of resources to Mirian in any other context. But eschewing artillery? That's just the problem, though. Anyone who gives up spell engines cedes so much military power they're doomed on the battlefield. The problem remained intractable.

And yet, Tlaxhuaco apparently didn't use spell engines, or if they did, they kept the use to a minimum.

"How does Tlaxhuaco deal with myrvites without spellward barriers?"

"Nagual. And clever… what's the word in Friian for 'living construction'?"

"There isn't one." Mirian furrowed her brow.

"Viridian would die of happiness if he visited, wouldn't he?" Xipuatl laughed.

"Probably." As they continued south, Mirian continued with her Tlaxa lessons. When she grew fatigued of learning the language, they talked about Tlaxhuaco's history. It took Xipuatl a while, but he seemed to grasp what was at stake. The next morning, they reached the archipelago, and Mirian saw the first leviathan surface.