Consensus Breaking (The Auran Chronicles Book 2) (13 page)

Seb made his way out of the dormitories and passed through the canteen. Aside from a couple of acolytes, the room was empty. No surprise, considering the late hour.

He walked at pace back to the plaza. Operations were shut down for the night. To his right, the wide door that led down to the Junction was sealed. Two First soldiers stood impassively on either side.

He emerged back onto Central. There were more people here, but still just a fraction of the number he’d seen here during the day. They milled in small groups, sat around tables at one of a couple of bars that were still open.

Nobody paid him any attention as he moved across Central, and that suited him just fine.

He was just about across the wide plaza, turning into the wide passage that led back into the part of Domus that sat in the world of the Aware, when something caught his attention near the fountain. He slowed to a stop, not quite recognising what he was seeing at first.

Then it clicked.

‘Cranks?’

The old man was slumped against the fountain, his head lolling backwards over the stone.

At first Seb had assumed the old man had drunk too much again. He’d seen him at the pub that night with Anna, and it wasn’t too great a stretch to imagine him knocking back enough ale to render himself unconscious.

But then he’d noticed the trolley lying on the floor beside Cranks. A clear fluid leaked out, pooling on the floor next to him.

The old man was in trouble.

Seb raced over and hooked his arm under Cranks’ back. He lifted him up, pulling the back of his head out of the fountain. The old man’s lips had a blue pallor, and his skin was the colour of wax. Seb
sensed
. What returned wasn’t good.

The man was dying.

‘Cranks? Can you hear me?’ Seb lowered him to the floor, resting his head gently on the tiles. He looked toward the guards at the other door, the one that led into Domus. ‘Get help! It’s Cranks! I think he’s had a heart attack or something!’

One of the guards vanished into the passageway. The other grabbed some kind of device from a green box on the wall and ran over. He squatted next to Seb and pulled the device – some kind of resuscitation machine – from the green box.

‘Is it a cardiac arrest?’ the guard said.

‘I-I don’t know. How do I tell?’

‘You’re a mage, aren’t you? Can’t you look into his body or something?’

Could he do that? He looked towards Cranks. The old man wasn’t moving. His eyes had rolled up into his head, and his tongue was hanging out of his mouth. Seb pressed a finger against Cranks’ neck.

Nothing.

His aura was there, though. Faint, but definitely there. His body might’ve failed but the soul hadn’t left. Not yet.

He directed his
sense
into Cranks’ body, mixing in Avatari. He couldn’t see inside the old man, he didn’t have that ability, but one thing he was sure of was that there seemed to be no electrical activity going on inside the old man’s muscles. They were simply still. Unmoving.

‘I think it’s a cardiac arrest. There’s no activity I can see.’

‘Right. Stand back.’

Seb stepped away as the guard ripped open Crank’s shirt and placed a series of attachments to his chest. He pressed a button, and the device began counting down in a robotic voice, telling people to stand clear. When the device reached zero, it sent a jolt of electricity that made Cranks jerk slightly.

Seb stood, leaning against a stone pillar as the other guard returned, accompanied by two magi that he didn’t recognise. They all squatted around the old man in a flurry of activity.

They battled for several minutes. Whilst Cranks’ aura remained, there was a chance. Seb felt the tugs on the Weave as the magi directed their magicks towards the old man. A couple of times the aura flared, recovering some of its normal blue colour. At one point Cranks actually opened his eyes wide and his arm shot out, reaching towards something above him. He said something then, but Seb couldn’t quite make it out.

But as the seconds turned into minutes, the aura diminished further. Cranks ceased to move. Eventually it flickered once, before fading away into nothing. Seb was sure he saw the man’s soul depart as a haze of blue particles that vanished into the air.

‘It’s done. He’s gone,’ one of the guards said.

‘Is he dead?’ Seb said.

The mage who’d been doing most of the work in trying to resuscitate Cranks stood and wiped his hand across his brow.

‘Yeah. Did you see what he did?’

‘When he reached out? Yeah. What did he say?’

‘It was weird actually. He just said, “are you an angel?”’

‘An angel? Do such things exist?’

‘I’ve never heard of them, but there’s a lot of crazy shit in this world. In
these
worlds. Who knows what’s out there.’

Seb nodded as the mage trudged past him. He cast one last look at Cranks, the man now lying lifeless with a blanket covering his face, before turning away.

Movement. Behind him.

Seb turned.

What the hell?

Cranks’ leg twitched. Some kind of death spasm?

Cranks took a breath. A deep, shaking breath.

‘Wait!’ Seb shouted towards the departing magi. They turned and looked at Seb, then their eyes moved on, and saw what he saw.

Cranks had sat up. The blanket had fallen from his face. He looked around, his face creased with confusion.

The magi were by his side in seconds. Seb watched as they threw the blanket round the old man’s shoulders. He was muttering something to them. What was he saying? Seb turned his head to listen better.

‘Where am I? What happened?’

The magi moved Cranks onto a stretcher. The two guards picked it up at each end and began carrying him out towards the exit. As they passed Seb, Cranks looked his way. The old man’s eyes widened and his mouth fell open.

And then he was gone, vanishing into the passage.

What the hell was that about? Seb trudged over to the fountain, where the various pieces of medical equipment the group had used lay strewn about the floor. His
sense
revealed nothing. Not now. But he’d felt it again. As clear as day. That sensation of being watched. It had only come briefly this time, literally a split second before Cranks had suddenly returned from the dead. And he
had
been dead. There was no disputing that. Seb had seen the man’s soul depart.

Seb looked back at the passage where the guards carrying Cranks’ stretcher had gone.

He’d died.

Yet he had returned. And at the same time as Cranks had breathed again, that sensation, that weird, disconcerting feeling of being observed, had vanished.

Vanished as if it had never been there at all.

Seb’s legs ached as he rounded the corner into the square that Cade’s text had directed him to. At this time of night, the park was quiet, and the empty benches looked eerie in the gloom. In the centre of the square loomed the massive clock tower that stood like a sentinel overlooking the city.

‘Trust you to always find the best meeting place,’ he said with a smile.

He stopped at the base of the tower. Was there a ladder here? Some kind of lift? Of course not. That would be too easy. He
sensed
upwards. Cade’s echo came back, the warrior’s icy calm a strangely reassuring presence against that irrational anger that seemed to burn in his veins.

Well, there was no other way, was there?

Seb
channelled.
Sentio flared. Avatari filled muscles, charging neurons. Then it came, Novo, at the end, a rumbling thunder that completed his connection to the Weave. Out here the effect was magnified a hundred fold. Sentio was one thing, feeling the echoes of those around him, as was the strength and power Avatari gave his body. But this, this was different. He was plugged into reality itself, feeling its subtle tugs and movement, as if he were a rock in the centre of a flowing river.

He ran his hand over the cold stone. He let Novo flood through him, and as he watched, he felt almost certain that he could see beyond the images his mind was telling him, that he could see the very Script of reality, assembled before him, a matrix of energy conformed to the will of the observers.

It was beautiful.

‘Are you going to stay down there all night?’ Cade called down.

‘Don’t you ever go to places at, you know, ground level?’

‘That would be too easy.’

‘Too easy, course,’ he said.

Right. Think, Seb. He took a step back, scanning the various holes, cracks and dents in the stone that ran all the way up the tower. Old window ledges jutted out here and there, and half way up, some kind of flag pole stuck out at a ninety-degree angle.

How hard could it be?

He took several steps back, let out a deep breath, and then raced towards the wall. At the last minute he leapt off the ground on imbued legs, landing against the tower, clinging against the lowest window frame.

‘Don’t look down, keep going.’

Was that shock in Cade’s voice? Whatever it was it spurred him on. Without thinking, drawing on the images of every foothold he’d burned into his mind seconds before, he leapt up and to the right, catching hold of a small crack that allowed his hands to gain traction. Again he didn’t slow, he couldn’t hang on for more than a second or two, and instead leapt up again, and again, moving from one foothold to another. On one occasion he nearly slipped, gravity pulling him back, but he managed to grip the flag pole before he could drop to his doom. He regained his balance, and then took another steadying breath before leaping upwards.

***

Moments later Seb threw one tired arm over the edge of the roof. A second followed. He rested his head on his chin.

Cade sat opposite him.

‘Little help?’ Seb said.

‘You seem to be doing fine by yourself.’

Seb kicked against the stone, the action throwing him upwards, too much this time, and he landed in a crumpled heap behind Cade.

‘Well done,’ the warrior said.

Seb walked round and sat alongside Cade, letting his legs dangle over the edge.

‘Thanks,’ he said in between rasping breaths. ‘I didn’t think I had it in me.’

‘Full of surprises as ever,’ Cade said.

‘Where’ve you been? I haven’t seen you in weeks.’

‘Here and there. I had some things to sort out at the Croft.’ Cade frowned. ‘You okay?’

‘Yeah. Why?’

‘You seem perturbed about something.’

‘Oh. A guy died tonight, at Domus.’

‘I’m sorry to hear that. Was he a mage?’

‘No. He was Unaware. Just their caretaker. Well, I say
died
. It was just…never mind.’ He shrugged the strange memory away. He could dwell on Cranks’ miraculous resurrection later. ‘What kind of things at the Croft?’ he said, changing the subject.

Cade allowed the diversion. ‘Brotherhood things.’

‘I thought that didn’t exist anymore?’

Cade shot him a look. ‘Why, because the magi say so?’

Seb raised both hands, ‘No, of course not, it’s just that’s how it was left when we last spoke.’

‘The old Brotherhood is gone.’ Cade looked back out over the city. ‘I haven’t decided what to do about the new one yet.’

‘Well for what it’s worth I think you’d make a great First Sword.’

‘Thanks.’

They sat in silence for a moment, a comfort born of familiarity coming over them. It felt good, reminding Seb of better times. He soaked up the sensations that pulsed at him from far and wide. His control was much, much better now, and he could filter out the barrage of noise to a much more tolerable level. This was both good and bad, he quickly found. Nearby a woman sobbed whilst her baby cried in another room. Seb couldn’t read her mind - not yet - but it didn’t matter on this one, frustration and anger were at the fore.
Why wouldn’t the child stop crying? I’ve tried everything! - w
ere easy to decipher. Seb shook his head. The child was teething, its jaws throbbing with a constant aching pain. Without thinking he closed his eyes and stretched his
sense
. The block of flats was only metres away, and it was easy to filter out the ambient noise that surrounded the pair.

He focused on the baby. Would this even work? He hadn’t tried it before, but he had the pattern in his library and the concept seemed straightforward in theory.

To hell with it.

He summoned the pattern. The energy formed in his mind, Runic Script falling across his eyes. He directed it towards the child, where his
sense
held it in focus. The energy followed his direction, and he smiled as he watched the child’s aura shrink and dim as the pain subsided. The crying reduced to a whimper, then to a few sniffs. In a few moments the child was fast asleep.

Nice.

‘What did you just do?’

Seb blinked and shook his head, forgetting where he was for a moment. ‘Sorry?’

‘I know you did something; I can sense that much. What?’

‘A baby was crying. I helped it.’

Cade smiled. ‘You have come a long way under the magi,’ he said.

Seb looked at his old friend. Was there a tinge of sadness to his voice?

‘What is it?’

Cade slumped and sighed. This didn’t look good.

‘I came here to give you a message.’

‘I thought I was the message bearer?’ Seb said nervously.

‘This is serious, Seb.’

‘I thought that was your default mode?’

Cade’s scowl silenced him in an instant.

‘Sorry,’ Seb said.

‘What do you know about the Families?’

‘The same as you I suspect? They are magi mainly, bound by blood. They take in low level Aware to help them in their business “endeavours”. Those with genuine talent are recruited into their ranks to become fully fledged magi. Is that the crux of it?’

‘Where do they recruit their intake from?’

Seb sighed. He didn’t like this either. ‘Connected families firstly. Where there is blood, there is acceptance. If not, then a connected family must nominate a potential recruit, but these are always rich, influential people. Those who can add something to the Families, be it money, power or something else.’

Seb knew what was coming next. Cade didn’t disappoint.

‘And for those who’re not so lucky? Those who don’t have the luxury of money or blood?’

‘Don’t get clever, Cade. You don’t think I know all this stuff?’ he pointed out across the cityscape. ‘I was out there once, remember? Lost, alone, wandering. I know all too well what my fate would’ve been if you hadn’t rescued me.’

‘Yet you remain with them, knowing what they do?’

‘This is bullshit.’

Seb rose and stomped to the other side of the tower. He looked down at one of the more ruined areas of the city. Dark emotions rose up from the shadows, their owners hidden from plain sight.

Prime candidates for the sheol.

‘Seb,’ Cade said, standing now. ‘I do not wish to fall out with you.’

‘No? Well you’re going the right way about it.’

‘I’m not good with this stuff. They should’ve sent someone else.’

Seb looked back. ‘Who should’ve?’

Cade stepped closer. Why did he look so nervous?

‘Cade, you’re scaring me now.’

‘Screw this,’ Cade said. ‘I’ve found somebody.
Something
. I wanted you to see it for yourself, but they don’t trust you yet, even though I assured them.’

‘Go on.’

‘I cannot give you any details, lest it put you and others in danger.’

‘Now you’ve got my attention.’

‘There are others out there, Seb, like you and me.’

‘I know this already. The Families spend all their time trying to remove them.’

‘Yes, no. More than that. The breaking of the Spoke Stone did more than break the Consensus here. It also removed the magic that hid it from view from the other shards.’

‘Why doesn’t this sound good?’

‘I don’t believe it’s good or bad. But what it has resulted in is
change
.’

‘Cade, stop being so cryptic and get to the point.’

‘Others have come, from across the shards. To this shard. To
earth.
Most come seeking refuge. Others, well, that’s another story.’ Cade stepped closer still. ‘A new faction has arisen, Seb. One that welcomes people like us, without judgement or persecution. There is a leader amongst them that calls them to his banner. He brings them together, even now, at his sanctuary.’

‘Funny, isn’t that what Marek said?’

‘These are not sheol, Seb. These are people. Men, woman, and children. Aware, Latents, whatever the magi call them. Alone they were afraid, but no longer.’

‘You sound like a convert already.’

‘The vision is compelling. There are many like us out there now, and it is no longer the domain of the magi to police them.’

‘I wondered when you would come to that. So, this message, what is it?’

‘So far this…
faction
has remained under the radar of the Families. It would normally fall under the domain of the Brotherhood but of course, we are no more. But a time will come when the two sides will meet, and this leader does not believe that this will go well. The magi will not tolerate it, that is a certainty.’

Seb nodded. There was no disguising that. The magi were elite at best, arrogant bastards at worst. But they were
his
kind. He was one of them.

Something uncomfortable shifted in his stomach.

‘This warning. It’s giving me a chance to get out, isn’t it?’

‘They believe all magi are the same. I explained that you were different. That if it wasn’t for you there wouldn’t be this refuge in the first place.’

‘And if I get out. Will this
faction
welcome me in as one of their own?’

‘With time, I believe they will.’

‘Seriously? They’re giving me a chance to do what? Go back on the streets again? Surviving day to day until something happens to me?’

‘They do not trust the magi, Seb. They have had
bad
experiences, I-’

‘I’ve had bad experiences, Cade!’ Seb was in the warrior’s face now, who, to his credit, did not flinch. That anger swelled in Seb again. ‘Does that not mean anything?’

Cade let out a slow breath and stepped back. Seb noticed the warrior’s hands were clenched around the pommels of the daggers hidden on his belt. Looking down, Seb saw then the purple electricity that rippled up his arms.

What was the matter with him?

‘I’m sorry,’ he stammered, shaking the energy away. ‘I don’t know what came over me.’

Cade took his hands away from his weapons. ‘You are angry, Seb, I understand that.’

‘Do you?’

Cade came forwards. He gripped Seb on the shoulder. ‘Leave them, Seb. Come with me. I will vouch for you. It will take time, yes, but they will learn to trust you.’

‘Are other magi there, like me?’

‘No, none. Not yet. Perhaps not ever.’

‘So I will no longer be able to train in their ways.’

‘I don’t know, I suspect not. Maybe there are other ways?’

‘And if I stay, what happens then?’

Cade sighed. ‘You’re not leaving, are you?’

‘What happens?’

‘Then it will be best if we try and stay out of each other’s way. I would not want us to encounter each other on opposite sides.’