Just a Guy and a Gate to the Multiverse - Chapter 19 (Patreon)

Chapter 19 - Cold Reception

— Ellesméra, Du Weldenvarden, 8000 AC —

So it doubles…

Not like I could have known that. It started with one meter, then went directly to 10, which didn’t fit the pattern. Yet it was followed by 20, and now 40 meters.

In hindsight, I should have picked the additional radius of 1 km. If that had doubled too, I would have had a radius of over 2 km. That would have meant I could open a Gate with a total diameter of over 4 kilometers. Almost the minimal size I need to be on the safe side for my dream.

An actual manual for these Skills would be really nice.

[ Your Skill has leveled up! ]

[ Multiversal Gate Lvl. 5: This Skill allows the User to open a Gate from their current location to any place and time period in the Multiverse that the User can think of. At its current level, the Skill has several limitations. First, it has a cooldown of one year, and only six people can pass through. The User can now expand the size of the Gate up to a radius of 40 meters.

Sub-Skills:

Teleportation: You are a Jumper possessing the Ability to freely teleport according to your Body’s capabilities inside a Universe. ]

Well, it doesn’t matter right now. I got the information, and it’s not too late to exploit it.

More importantly, they don’t really look friendly, do they? That’s a really angry scowl on that Elf Woman with the diadem on her head. And why are so many of them in Armor, pointing their Weapons at me and my House?

I know I am a bit of an intruder, but I already revealed that I have no bad intentions toward them.

Halting a few meters in front of them, I activated my speakers and spoke into the microphone I had installed inside the Cockpit. “Hello there!”

“Get out of… that Carriage, Intruder,” the woman who I believe is Queen Islanzadí, the current ruler of Elf-kind, commanded in the Human Language.

“I don’t think so, not while you are pointing your Weapons at me. I am not an Intruder. Gilderien invited me in!” I replied in turn. Does she take me for a fool?

“Those are just precautions, Intruder. We promise not to attack you, if you don’t attack us first,” the Queen answered, unimpressed. “We have been informed about your Presence and the reason why you were let in, Intruder. How did you bypass the protections placed around Du Weldenvarden? What is that Metal Carriage, and how could it enter so deep into our lands without anybody noticing?”

Wait, they don’t know? Didn’t Gilderien reveal what he saw inside my mind? This world, the Inheritance Cycle Universe, has a rather powerful form of mind reading and mind protection. The Elves, especially, were masters of it.

I knew they would use it on me if I came here.

It was a big gamble, betting that they would remain good and want to ally with someone like me rather than alienate me. After all, I was confident that they wouldn’t have a method to restrict me from leaving with my Multiversal Gate.

In the worst case, I would have to escape by teleporting for a while.

But that was just the worst-case scenario.

“Shouldn’t you already know that? I didn’t even try to defend my mind, to show my honesty. Not that I am aware on how to do it...”

“We have been fully informed about you. At least, what could be told. While your mind seemed to have no form of protection at all, Gilderien could barely see the memories you were showing him plus the few moments since we noticed you right outside of Ellesméra. Everything else was a blur or completely shrouded in darkness.”

That can’t be true, can it? I have no such Skill… what’s going on?

[ Hidden Skill discovered! ]

A hidden Skill? That's new.

[ Partial Protection (Mind and Soul) Lvl.Max: Hides and protects all information related to the Skills Multiversal Gate and World Attunement. Information about anything related to those Skills can only be shared by the User out of his free will, not forcibly taken. ]

Oh… that’s how it is.

So, anything related to those Skills? No wonder all Gilderien saw was the information I tried to show him. I had just arrived in this world. Since anything I did in another world would reveal that I can travel between worlds, it was hidden. He basically knows nothing. Only the truthfullness of my intentions.

No wonder none of them reacted to my Philosopher’s Stone. If my Storage Box works, they know nothing about it. I prefer it this way.

Shit, had I known that, I wouldn’t have shown him so much.

I could have made things much easier for myself. It had been a calculated risk. Assuming he would see everything either way, I tried to push his attention mostly toward the information about this world’s future so he wouldn't take a too serious look at the rest of my mind.

At the same time that means I am currently a complete unknown, someone who can break through the defenses that their most powerful enemy couldn’t breach in a century, while also knowing some of their biggest secrets and even more dangerous ones that were erased from the collective memories of this world.

This isn’t good.

“Like you admitted, you don’t wish us any harm. Neither do we. Eka thorta du ilumëo!” Swearing it in the Ancient Language, so far so good. “But we can’t let you leave anymore.”

Fuck, there it is.

“Gilderien told us you know of our most intimate secret. Everyone who knows about it has been sworn to secrecy, to not reveal the existence of Osthato Chetowä, the Mourning Sage, without his or my permission. Yet here you are, a seemingly human being who knows about him. If Gilderien hadn’t sworn that you know secrets impossible for anyone in this world to know right now, not even us, I would have thought you had something to do with my daughter’s death!” She glared balefully at me.

Ohhhhh… she thinks I am related to… of course she doesn’t know yet. She sealed off the entirety of Du Weldenvarden after her daughter was captured, the last member of her family. She completely gave up hope on the world, that anybody would ever beat Galbatorix, the big bad of the Eragon stories, and decided to preserve as many Elves as possible.

Even cutting off contact with the remaining allies who still stood with the Elves against the tyrant Galbatorix.

That would only change if…

“Arya is still alive!” I said quickly, grasping my chance.

Instead of the instant relief I was expecting, I received an even harsher glare, almost hateful.

“Don’t… lie… to… me, Human!”

“No, really. The new Dragon Rider saved her. Eka thorta du ilumëo.” I once again swore the last part in the Ancient Language. Man, I really need to learn to speak it, even if it is only useful in this world. Having to always add that is getting repetitive.

Her gaze softened, and for the first time, I could make out different expressions among the Elves accompanying her. They ranged from astonishment to hope, yet some looked even a bit disappointed.

I can easily guess why.

They waited for a new Dragon Rider for a century, their last hope to free themselves from Galbatorix’s tyranny. But they had hoped for an Elf to become a Dragon Rider. While a Human Dragon Rider was immortal and would become more elf-like over time, and with it stronger, it would take a long time for that process to happen naturally. It was just a fact that Elves were naturally more powerful in all aspects and would reach the natural peak of a Dragon Rider faster.

This land couldn’t wait centuries, or even just decades, for Eragon to naturally grow in power. The free races were already at their limits. And Galbatorix was about to finish his own plans too. He was like a year or so away from the ultimate power in this World.

“Explain,” was all she said, her face stony.

“While the Shade Durza ambushed your daughter Arya and her Companions to get his hands on the Dragon Egg she had been guarding for decades, Arya managed to teleport it away before she was captured.” One of the Magics I am here to learn, to get my free upgrade. “While she sent it to the former Dragon Rider Brom, it somehow arrived beside Eragon, and the Egg hatched for him. Maybe the Magic, cast in a hurry, mistook Eragon for Brom.” That last part was a lie, but I am going with it.

Gilderien hasn’t shared anything about the other secrets I know, as far as I can tell. They have been erased from the memories of everyone who even knew about them. Better to keep it that way. One more card in my hands.

“That’s not how that Spell works. Why would the Magic mistake the new Rider for Brom?” the Queen immediately pointed out, clearly not believing me.

“I don’t know,” I lied, for once glad I don’t know the Ancient Language. “I have no idea how your Magic works. What I am about to tell you is a secret that Brom didn’t want Eragon to know, so I ask you to keep it until he learns of it himself. Eragon is Brom’s son.”

Hah, take my truth mixed with lies to distract you.

The real reason is that, while everyone believes there are only three Dragon Eggs, now two, in the entirety of Alagaësia left, that isn’t true. Two are in the possession of the tyrant Galbatorix, and one had been stolen from him decades ago by Brom, a former Dragon Rider who lost his Dragon during the war between the Dragon Rider Order and Galbatorix.

That stolen Egg had been the last hope of the free people in Alagaësia for a new Dragon Rider to be born, someone who could resist the powerful traitor Galbatorix, a Dragon Rider himself who betrayed the Order.

The free people made an agreement for the Egg to travel every few years between the Varden, the Human rebel faction, and the Elves, so both sides could let their people try to see if the Dragon would hatch for one of them, forming a new Bond between Dragon and Rider.

Taking care of the Egg had been Arya’s job. Including traveling between her all the way up North, and the Varden who are completely in the South.

But those three Eggs were, in truth, just the only ones Galbatorix knew of. Or rather most of the World.

The Dragon Riders didn’t simply accept their end. When they realized they would lose to Galbatorix and his group, they came up with a contingency plan. Specifically, Vrael, the now deceased last leader of the Riders, and Oromis, or as he is now known by the Elves, Osthato Chetowä, the Mourning Sage, an Elvish Dragon Rider who survived the war but is now a cripple and hiding here in Ellesméra so he can train the next one once he appears. He is one of the greatest secrets of the Elves, and they obviously don’t like that I know of him.

Both Oromis and Vrael, with the help of the last few living Dragons, created the so-called Vault of Souls, a secret cache miles under Vroengard, the island that had once been the home of the Dragon Rider Order.

Inside the Vault are not only 243 unhatched Dragon Eggs, 26 of them meant for new Dragon Riders, but also 136 Eldunarí.

Eldunarí, also known as the heart of hearts, are another major secret, this time kept by the Dragons and Dragon Riders. And for good reasons.

After all, this entire situation with Galbatorix is the outcome of that secret falling into the wrong hands. How else could a small group consisting of just Galbatorix and 13 traitorous Dragon Riders, whom he managed to persuade to his side, fight against an Order consisting of a few thousand Riders supported by the Elves and the other free races?

Eldunarí are something every Dragon is born with. It is a gem-like organ in the color of the Dragon’s scales that grows as long as the Dragon is alive and the Eldunarí remains inside its body.

If a Dragon dies with the Eldunarí still inside its body, it decomposes normally along with the body. But while alive, a Dragon can choose to disgorge its Eldunarí. At that moment, the Eldunarí stops growing, even though the Dragon keeps growing normally.

While the Dragon is alive, the Eldunarí can be used to communicate with it over long distances. On the other hand, Dragons can use their Eldunarí to store their consciousness after death. That happens automatically if the Eldunarí is outside the body. In that state, they still produce energy that can be used for Magic, and they have the ability to share it with others, allowing someone possessing an Eldunarí to cast more powerful Spells than normally possible. The owner of an Eldunarí can also use it to enhance their mental powers and communicate with the Dragon to gain its wisdom.

But the Eldunarí no longer has a body and is pretty defenseless in that state. Since Dragons can’t use Magic conciously like the other races through the Ancient Language, they only posses a form of instinctive Wild Magic they don’t control, it just happens during the right moment, they have no way to defend themselves or destroy the Eldunarí once they have lost their body.

It was a fact Galbatorix exploited. He started tricking and ambushing Dragons and their Riders, forcing the Dragons to disgorge their Eldunarí by holding their Rider’s life hostage, then killing both afterward. After that, he broke the Dragon’s mind, now trapped in the Eldunarí, to use it for his own purposes.

He did that a few times to empower himself. By the time the Dragon Riders realized what was going on, Galbatorix having a good collection of Eldunarí, was already too powerful to be stopped by normal Riders.

And Eldunarí were a rarity among the Dragon Riders, their biggest secret. The Bond between Dragon and Rider was so deep that it was rare for a Dragon to choose to live after the death of its Rider. So the actual number of Eldunarí in the hands of the Dragon Riders was very limited.

But Galbatorix had no regard for that. All he cared about was power. He kept forcing Dragons to disgorge their Eldunarí during the entire war, Dragon Rider by Dragon Rider.

Today, he possesses several thousand Eldunarí, all broken to his control. Nobody in this world can compare to him in raw power.

That’s why the Dragons and Dragon Riders decided to hide the remaining Eldunarí and Dragon Eggs in the Vault of Souls. To preserve their future and wait for a time when Galbatorix could be defeated.

The Vault of Souls has been hidden with Magic that erased all knowledge of it from the entire world. Even Oromis, who helped create it, has forgotten its existence.

But I do know. And as long as they don’t recast the Spell, I won’t forget it. With that Skill maybe I will even keep the knowledge if they recast it.

Even though the Eldunarí in the Vault of Souls can’t use conventional Magic, they can still use their combined mental powers to see what is happening in the outside world and even contact people beyond it.

In moments when their instinctive form of Dragon Magic acts up, they can even influence events more directly. That’s how Saphira’s Egg ended up going to Eragon instead of Brom.

“Fine. If you don’t know, then it can't be helped. What happened afterward?” Islanzadí accepted impatiently.

“Well, a Dragon inside the Empire would be hard to hide for long. Fortunately, Brom decided to keep watch over his son after his birth, even if he wasn’t directly involved as his father. He quickly realized that Eragon had become a Rider and convinced him to travel to the Varden. Unfortunately, during the journey, Brom died.” I kept giving them a summary of the events. “Eragon kept going. He also had strange dreams of a young woman asking for help for weeks during that journey. Your daughter, who had put herself into a magical coma to endure the torture of the Shade Durza, had unconsciously called out to a familiar presence she had been guarding for decades. The now hatched Egg. And these calls appeared as dreams to the Dragon’s Rider.”

“So this new Rider answered the call and saved my daughter from the grasp of a Shade?” Islanzadí asked, somewhat impressed.

Shades were some of the most dangerous beings in the world. They were beings possessed by spirits, extremely strong in both body and magical power. Possessing natural knowledge of Dark Magics makes them een more powerful.

Even fully trained Dragon Riders and Elves have a very hard time killing them, and everyone who accomplished such a feat made history and earned the title of Shadeslayer.

“Not exactly,” I admitted. “Well, he tried to. But he got captured by Durza too while infiltrating Gil’ead, the city where she was being held.”

“How did they escape, then?”

“His Dragon and a new friend Eragon made, Murtagh, the son of Morzan, saved him. During that time, Eragon also took Arya with them.”

“The son of that traitor saved the last free Dragon Rider and my daughter?”

Morzan was the first Dragon Rider who joined Galbatorix. He was killed by Brom.

“Yes. He never followed in his father’s footsteps and resisted Galbatorix. Unfortunately, he won’t have a choice for much longer.” I muttered the last part, but obviously, the Elves with their sharp senses heard me.

“Why?”

“Well, after their escape from Gil’ead, they finally made it to the Varden. Your daughter recovered on the way. Unfortunately, they didn’t have much peace there. Durza had been preparing an attack on the Varden by using the Urgals for months.” Urgals are the Orcs of this universe, although they are far more monstrous than usual depictions and even have horns. “You don’t know about that because you already cut yourself off from the world. Well, Eragon and your daughter managed to kill the Shade Durza together, ending the Magic he used to control the Urgals. It made them flee, saving the Varden.”

“Those are joyous news! The Shade Durza has been one of Galbatorix’s most powerful allies since the beginning. But how is this related to Murtagh no longer having a choice?” Islanzadí pointed out.

“He got kidnapped by some spies planted in the Varden in the aftermath of the battle.”

“I see. I am sorry to hear that. It is indeed a grave loss to lose such an ally.” She sighed.

“Oh, it’s worse than you would expect. One of the two remaining Dragon Eggs in Galbatorix’s possession has hatched for him. Galbatorix has forced him under several Oaths by using his newly hatched Dragon as a hostage. Once again, Galbatorix has added a Dragon Rider besides himself to his forces,” I said gravely. Oaths in the Ancient Language are just as binding as the fact that you can only speak the truth.

All the Elves present looked disturbed at this news, until a calm voice from directly behind me said, “These are indeed grave news.”

My Doors are supposed to be locked from the inside...

[ End of the Chapter ]