MEMORY FRAGMENT

Archmage Laboratory Archive, 17 years ago

In terms of Earth standards, a fraction of the Academy artifacts were obtained through legal means. Most were bought from hunters—which were little more than sanctioned relic hunters and grave robbers. Another significant part was given by noble families, prosperous guilds, and trade organizations as a means of subtle bribing with the aim of earning favor. Every now and again, though, a mage would venture into the wilderness to obtain his own artifact. It was said that in his youth the archmage had that practice. Lately, though, that task was given to his valued disciples, including his star pupil: high-mage Valerian.

“I see you decided to crawl back,” Valerian said as Vassil adjusted to his quarters.

The room was as small as he remembered it, with nothing but a small desk next to a single bed. There were no chairs, of course. The archmage didn’t believe in chairs. In his view, mages had to be fit enough to stand while thinking, or smart enough to have reality do it for them.

“It wasn’t by choice.” I really don’t have the time for you now.

“Everyone knows it isn’t. Alien’s holding your leash, as usual.”

“Just because we’re otherworlders doesn’t mean we do everything together,” Gassil lied. “And it’s not like you have a faction to back you up.”

“Difference is,” Valerian stepped closer. “That I am in charge of my group.”

There it was, the hallmark of arrogance. There was no denying that Valerian had skills. It was very likely that he’d become the next Academy archmage. However, what he had in magic knowledge he lacked in everything else.

“The master said you start by joining the catalogs. Do a good job and after a week you get to stay.”

“I thought I was to be part of the research.”

“That is part of the research,” Valerian smirked.

He was twice as older than Gassil, yet was obsessed with maintaining a youthful appearance that he used both magic and awakened powers to appear to be in his early twenties. In a way that wasn’t a bad approach. Most people outside the Academy thought he was merely an apprentice and didn’t hide as much when discussing things. Right now, though, Gassil really wanted to give him a slap on the back of the head.

“Whatever you say, Valerian. Let me just finish arranging my stuff and I’ll get at it.”

The first week passed in going through artifacts that had already been cataloged and doing it again. While it was vindictive on Valedrian’s part, Gassil knew that he wouldn’t be put on the project just like that. When the week was over, though, and he was simply asked to continue, he started to get deeply annoyed.

So much for your grand plan, Alien, the mage grumbled to himself as he took the next item from the rack. It was a sphere item, of course, and just as useless as all the rest. There was no doubt that the archmage had no intention of using them in his research. More than likely they were going to be given out to lesser mages or “loaned” to noble families in exchange for minor favors or swapped with other items. The worst of it was that the moment Gassil finished, a new crate would come in.

“Gifts from Archduke Jio,” an apprentice entered, carrying the new batch. “There are more in the next room.”

“Leave them by the door,” Gassil waved his hand in desperation. At least there was a chance that some of the artifacts were interesting. As far as things went, Jio province had the best. Not the usual copyette crap that the archmage was obsessed with.

The apprentice did as he was asked.

“I’ll take care of the rest,” Gassil said. “Just mark the crate for me.”

“Yes, mage.” The apprentice nodded, then left the room.

With a stretch, Gassil stood up, then went to check on the new batch. The trinkets were piled up one on top of the other, indicating that no one considered them particularly valuable. Dragging them to the large desk, the mage prepared a new scroll, then started taking them out, one after the other. Nothing caught his attention at first, but then he saw it—faint shimmering coming from the bottom of the crate. Having passed the third gate, Gassil considered that to be a sign that one of the items had a hidden realm within it. That was always nice. If it was particularly interesting, he might keep it for himself. After reaching the item in question, however, his opinion changed. The item turned out not to be just another weird relic, but something exceedingly modern—a wheel train center wheel. The only time he had seen anything of the sort was in old wristwatches. Being somewhat of a hobbyist back on Earth, Gassil had disassembled and reassembled quite a few. Despite the huge size, there was no doubt that this was part of a watch mechanism. Yet, it wasn’t supposed to be here.

Looking at the inexplicable item, Gassil instantly knew one thing: he could either pocket it and try to get to the bottom of its origins, or use it as a means to get closer to the archmage’s research. Naturally, he chose the latter.

Snatching the item, he went to the neighboring room to check the other artifacts, just in case. The moment he did so, he found that the archmage was already there, waiting.

“You seem in rather good spirits,” the fat man said. “Anything to share?”

Gassil hesitated. Normal procedure was to instantly go to one of the higher mages and inform him of the finding. On a technical level, Gassil hadn’t done that, choosing to enter another room instead.

“There’s something I think you should see, achmage.” Gassil handed over the artifact.

“An interesting gear.” The fat man pulled it out of Gassil’s hand with a flick of his fingers. We don’t get many of those.”

“With all due respect, sir. You don’t get any of those.” Gassil took his chance. It was a risk, but with the lack of progress so far, he might have to worry about more than just Alien. “It’s from my world.”

The archmage’s expression didn’t change. The old man looked at the artifact he was holding, then at Gassil.

“Are you sure about that?”

“It’s one thing I can’t mistake. That’s an item that doesn’t belong here. I’ve no idea what it’s for, but it’s definitely from my world.”

“That’s rather fascinating. It seems you have your uses after all.”

“Archmage?” Gassil didn’t like the sound of that.

“You’re intelligent enough to know that this never came to you by chance. I had it delivered to you. What you probably don’t know, though, is that it wasn’t made in your world. In fact, I made it myself, following certain.. exotic methods.”

Gassil narrowed his eyes.

“Even magic cannot move an item from one world to another,” he said. “That’s for the Moons alone.”

“So confident, are you? Magic is the key to finding loopholes. What’s one more? In this case, though, you’re half right. I didn’t use magic to take something from your world. After all, where would I start? What I used it for, though, was to have it travel there, and then return.”

“You mean..” Gassil stared at the gear. All of a sudden it had acquired a new quality.

“Quite so. And it wasn’t the first one I did, either. All the artifacts that you cataloged were sent to realms and worlds beyond ours. Apparently, that is the first successful case.”

“You used me as a detection device.”

“You should be honored. Finally, you’re part of the project. That’s what you wanted, isn’t it? Now that I know that both you and my method function as expected, I’ve no reason to keep testing you. You’ll move to the inner sanctum this very night.”

Somehow, that felt like a bittersweet victory. Finally, he was going to find out whether all the rumors about the project were real. At the same time, he felt used. When it came to mages it was always a game of using others while being used in return, but there were certain lines that Gassil didn’t like crossed. Earth was one of them.

If the archmage had found a way to send something to Earth and back, that opened a lot of possibilities. For one thing, there was no telling how this world might change if it was introduced to a mobile phone. According to the stories, one of the old emperors had introduced the concept of rockets and that was enough to create an uproar. However, one minor detail remained.

“What about the Moons?” Gassil asked.

“What about them?” the archmage arched a brow.

“Only they have the power to take things between worlds. Doing so, even with magic, would be breaking a rule.”

“Ah. Well, fortunately for you, it’s not something you’ll have to worry about. I’m the one who’s doing the experiments. You’re only there to tell me if I’m on the right track. Even if there’s punishment it won’t fall on you. Who knows, maybe you’ll even get something out of it.”

“If you fail there might be nothing left.”

“Dear boy, if it was so easy to destroy a world, don’t you think someone would have done it already?”

“I’m not worried about destroying the world. I’m worried about getting the human race banished.”

“In that case, we’ll become guardians together. Now, either move your things to the inner sanctum, or get lost. I don’t have time for indecision.”

Ultimately, Gassil accepted the order. There was no option not to. He gathered his things, and carefully observed by the captain of the archives’ guard, made his way to the heart of the structure. There, a really fascinating thing happened.

There were a total of five people who had access to that part of the building, and after seeing what was there, Gassil had a good idea why. A large part of the artifacts were devices that he hadn’t seen or read about, created by banished races at the height of their development. However, that wasn’t the most shocking. The rest of the artifacts were creations of the Star. The markedly Earthly designs stuck out like a sore thumb. Since his awakening, Gassil had seen only two such artifacts, both quickly taken by representatives of the Order of the Seven Moons. Officially, there was no law requiring mages to relinquish such findings to the Order, it was just expected. The Archmage, clearly had a different opinion on the matter. Not only that, but he was experimenting with them in order to create his crowning achievement; and now Gassil was part of that.

“What do you think?” The old man asked. “Is it everything you expected?”

“Not even close,” Gassil replied. “How many people know about this?”

“Five people in the building, two more out of it. If we succeed, however, the entire world will know.”

“Now that I’m here, will you tell me what exactly you’re doing?”

“So you can report to your masters? You might be useful, but not that useful. You’ve heard the rumors; you’ve seen all this. Make your own conclusions. Meanwhile, we have work to do.”

Sneaky old man, Gassil thought.

There was no way he could report anything to Alien now. And even if he did, Alien wouldn’t dare stop the operation. The archmage had made sure to “let it slip” that two associates on the outside were also familiar with his activities. If all this were to be forcefully stopped, there was the danger that those associates would continue with the research outside of the Academy.

You just wait, Gassil said to himself. Sooner or later, you’ll slip up. When you do, I’ll be there to point the blame and say I told you so.

Until then, however, he planned on being as useful as possible. And if there was an opportunity to hop to Earth for a few days, there were some things he’d love to introduce to this world.