The Archimage Wars: Wizard of Abal (7 page)

“
What are mundanes?” I
asked.

“
They are the other people
in this room. Everyone is descended from their Archimage, every
single person on all ten worlds. It’s just that their power is
slight because they are many tiers down from their Archimage. Once
the person is below Seventh, we don’t even track their tier anymore
because it doesn’t matter. Even so, they still have some mage blood
in them, even if it isn’t enough to affect reality through
magic.”

I looked around at the happy crowd in
the pub, and then scowled at her, “You’re not going to kill these
people, are you?”

That made her smile slip for a moment,
and her brow furrowed as she spoke in a puzzled tone, “Why, on
Earth, would I do that? These people have done me no harm, and are
no threat.”

I relaxed a little, and answered,
“Because Stewart Hentan killed a group of tourists just so he could
have a private chat with me, which I think he meant to be a private
fight.”

She shook her head, “He is a Hentan,
so I’m not surprised. They are arrogant and think little of the
lives of mundanes.”

“
But you are different?” I
asked bluntly.

“
Do you doubt me, Nicholas?
I promise you I am not like the Hentans; I don’t even come from
their World.”

At her question, I felt like shit for
not giving her the benefit of the doubt, but her last statement had
been very odd, so I asked, “You mean, the Hentans are from a
different social class, or perhaps a different region or
country?”

“
No, I mean I am not from
the Hentan World of Tartarus, nor am I from Earth and neither is
Stewart Hentan, or, for that matter, neither are you.”

That stunned me to silence yet
again.

At my lack of response, she added,
“You are a Sivaeral, so you come from a world named Abal while I am
from House Albus, and I come from...”

Hydan's loud voice interrupted Fiona,
“Oh crap, I’m gone for ten… er, twenty minutes, and you are already
being manipulated by an Albus.”

My new found friend was standing back
about two tables, his hands on his hips and a look of disgust on
his face. I was stunned that he would speak to Fiona in such a
tone.

Fiona looked up in surprise, and then
said to me, “I didn’t know you had a wizard companion, a Friare, I
see.”

“
And I suppose he is from
another planet as well?” I said with heavy sarcasm.

“
Of course, I’m from
Nibiru,” Hydan said with a grin, pointing at his compass Glyph with
the index finger of his left hand like that should mean something
to me. Then he added, “This Glyph marks my House, and therefore, my
planet, not to mention I am a mage.”

I scowled, and though I knew the Glyph
on his cheek wasn’t a tattoo, I was feeling belligerent, so I said,
“I’ve seen people put tattoos of just about anything on their body,
so how do I know you didn’t just ink whatever you wanted on your
cheek?” I asked.

Hydan shrugged, “Because Glyphs are
imposed by your Archimage so everyone knows you are part of their
House. All mages have them as soon as they, or their Archimage,
become aware of their House affiliation; they have no choice. They
must have one to use their full powers, and we can’t remove them,
or change them,” Hydan explained.

“
I think you are both nuts,
and this is all some hoax! I must be a billionaire with amnesia,
and you two are part of the con to get my money!”

Hydan turned to Fiona, “I didn’t know
Sivaerals were so imaginative.”

“
Oh, yes, they are very
good at magic, and therefore very imaginative,” Fiona
noted.

Hydan shrugged, “I was on Abal
recently, but because of the Civil War I didn’t run into many
Sivaeral mages. It’s an odd world now, I had to, ah… go, so I
thought I would come take a look at the Battle World.”

“
The Battle World?” I
asked.

“
Earth,” they both
replied.

I thought about it, and then decided
it was worth asking, “Why is Earth called the Battle
World?”

Fiona answered, “We call it that
because Earth has been without an Archimage for a few thousand
years. There are ten worlds where mages originally dwelt, and each
was ruled by their Archimage, but many years ago Earth’s Archimage
was killed, and this ended the line of mages on Earth forever,
leaving only mundanes.”

Something about this made me angry, I
wasn’t even sure why, but a deep and terrible anger welled up in my
soul, though the other two didn’t seem to notice.

Fiona continued, “After that, Earth
became no-man’s-land, the natural world to do battle in the
Ascension Quest, since no Archimage was here to hold reality to
their original set of rules.”

I pushed down my anger to a smoldering
ember and managed to ask, “What Ascension Quest? Why does every
question I ask only bring up more questions?” Some of my annoyance
peeked through in my voice.

Fiona reached out and put a calming
hand on my wrist, and then said, “Let’s talk about that later,
after you understand a few more things.”

I wanted to growl at her, but it was
really hard to be annoyed with such an amazing woman.

Hydan grinned, “House Albus likes to
keep people in the dark.”

“
That’s not fair,” Fiona
exclaimed, turning to Hydan.

“
Isn’t it?” Hydan
replied.

“
Well, I suppose you would
see it that way, but then again, House Friare doesn’t care much
about nearly anything, so they blurt things out that can do others
harm.”

“
We do nothing of the sort!
Now you are just using Albus logic to twist things!” Hydan
exclaimed.

I broke in at this point, “Look, you
can fight this out another time, what I need to know is how to stop
Stewart Hentan from hunting and killing me. Can’t I just explain to
this Hentan idiot what actually happened, that is, as soon as I
figure out what DID happen? Or maybe I can make restitution for
whatever it was I did to insult the rat bastard?”

Fiona smiled, and Hydan just chuckled,
and then he said, “Not much chance of that, Nick.”

“
Why not?” I
demanded.

“
Because he isn’t mad at
you, or at least wasn’t when he first started hunting you. He’s
just playing the Ascension Quest the Hentan way, by trying to kill
their way to the top. Not all houses work this way, but there is no
changing the way any House pursues the Quest."

I was getting another
headache.

Hydan turned to Fiona and said, “So,
do you know why he was left on Earth as a Hidden Soul?”

But Fiona turned her striking amber,
eyes on me and said in an accusing tone, “Nicholas, you told
him?”

I shrugged, at her kind of hurt look I
felt suddenly sheepish.

Hydan smiled, “He didn’t tell me much,
just his name, and that he knew nothing if our Worlds.”

She gave me a stern look, “It is very
dangerous to tell other mages you are weak, in any way. They might
try to end your line, right there and then.”

Hydan snorted, “I would do nothing of
the kind!”

“
Maybe not you, but other
Houses…” Fiona said, trailing off.

Hydan shrugged but didn’t deny it.
Then he said, “Regardless, I know, so who is he? I mean, you’re a
Second, typically your kind doesn't get involved in trivial
pursuits. Why aren’t YOU ending his line?”

“
Hey,” I said, not liking
the direction of this or the sound of what ‘ending his line’ might
mean. So I demanded, “What does that mean?”

“
End your line? It means
when you die, every mage above an Eighth, the first level above
mundanes, who are descended from you… die with you,” Fiona said in
a low and serious tone.

I let that one sink in, and understood
something Pox had said back in the Egyptian tomb about ‘Worse than
death’.

But Fiona continued answering Hydan’s
original question, “I’m not after Nick, or his line, because I have
been his friend for a long time, and because House Albus does not
believe in taking sides. You know we are neutral in the Ascension
Quest. Besides, I discovered him, and I feel responsible for
revealing him to the Houses.”

At this revelation, Hydan raised one
eyebrow. “So he really is a Hidden Soul?”

Fiona nodded, “Well, he was when I
found him. As you can see by his Glyph, his House has claimed him
now. After some work, I believe I have discovered his true parents,
and now know he is a Third.”

“
Did you know he wasn’t
from your House when you first helped him as a Hidden Soul?” Hydan
asked.

Fiona shrugged, “I found him on Earth,
so at that time I did not know what House he was from, but we
became friends...”

The way she said ‘friends’ made me
think there was more to it.

But she kept speaking, “…even before I
learned he was from House Sivaeral, and a Third. Now I feel
responsible, even though he is from another House.”

Hydan whistled, “A Hidden Soul Third,
that’s pretty rare, which means the vultures will be
circling!"

I made a sudden decision, and said,
“What I didn't tell you, Hydan, is I've lost my memory."

"Nicholas!" Fiona
exclaimed.

I shrugged, "He was going to figure it
out eventually anyway, at least now we can discuss things
openly."

Fiona didn't look happy, which made
Hydan chuckle as he said, "The Albus mages hate giving out any
information for free."

Fiona gave him a dark look.

Hydan continued, "Well, with amnesia
Nick is even more vulnerable. So, how did he lose his
memory?”

“
A higher Tier mage nailed
him with a dark spell, something which affected his memories,”
Fiona explained, reluctantly.

“
Huh,” Hydan grunted,
thinking about what she’d said as he took a long pull from his mug.
After swallowing, he said, “That pretty much sucks.”

I had to agree seeing how I was the
one missing the memories.

“
How did they get to him
with a Second as his… guardian?” Hydan asked.

I’m not sure what Hydan had been about
to call our relationship before he settled on
‘guardian’.

Fiona looked away and then said, “I’m
sorry, Nick, he’s right, it is my fault. Eventually, you left my
protection even though you weren’t ready, but I should have stopped
you. However, you were very adamant.”

“
Why did I want to leave so
badly?” I asked.

She bit at her lower lip for a moment,
as if contemplating whether she should answer, but finally said,
“You had Earth parents, foster parents, who raised you; they were
mundanes.”

“
And?” I asked.

“
When you went to visit
them, you discovered that they had been tortured and murdered by
someone seeking you, and it had been done by a mage.”

I considered what she said, I knew I
should be emotionally affected by their deaths, but frustratingly,
I couldn’t remember them. It saddened me to know my lost memories
had robbed me of some of the emotional attachments I must have had
to my foster parents and others. I WANTED to feel anger and hurt
for those who killed my foster parents, but I felt only annoyance
and frustration.

“
And what did I do then?” I
asked.

Fiona hesitated again, and then said,
“You went seeking those who murdered your foster parents. I tried
to stop you, to tell you that we should do this together after we
had more information, and a plan, but you slipped out one night
without telling me. You were very angry.”

“
Then what happened?” I
prompted.

“
Eventually, I managed to
contact you, but by then things had transpired, things which
changed, well, everything.”

I stared into her intense amber eyes,
waiting for the other shoe to drop.

She continued after I didn’t say
anything, “You never told me if you found the mage or mages who
murdered your parents, but you did tell me you… discovered
something, some terrible secret. A secret so dark you didn’t dare
tell me about it across our spirit bridge.”

“
What secret, and from whom
did I learn it?” I demanded.

“
The truth is I don’t know
what you learned. I had hoped you would remember, but back then you
told me it was imperative I know about this secret before they got
to you.”

“
Who are
‘they’?”

She grimaced slightly, and then said
solemnly, “You mentioned The Dragon.”

Hydan gave a low whistle of surprise
and shock.

“
What is this about a
dragon? You’re not telling me those are real too?” I
asked.

“
No, not on Earth,” she
answered, “but I wasn’t talking about a creature, I said, THE
Dragon.”

“
THE Dragon?” I said in
puzzlement.

She nodded, “I assume you stole this
secret from him. How you found The Dragon, I have no idea; he has
been hiding from all the Houses now for a few thousand
years.”