Just a Guy and a Gate to the Multiverse - Chapter 24 (Patreon)

Chapter 24 - Blood Oath Celebration

“What are you two working on?”

“Oh, Eragon! I didn’t expect a visit from you.” I greeted him without turning around, not breaking my focus as I continued adjusting the fine mechanics of the device.

“Of course I would come over to see what you two are up to. You literally asked me if Saphira could help you with an experiment. Your experiments are always interesting, and combining what you call technology with magic is fascinating. Even if I don't always understand what you are doing.” Eragon shrugged. “And Oromis wanted me to tell you that you will need to join the lessons tomorrow. He will be teaching something new.”

“I will be there.”

At the same time, Eragon had a silent conversation with Saphira before addressing me once again.

“Come on, tell me what you are up to! Saphira is getting bored too. She said she has no idea what you are trying to do either. You just asked how high she can fly, then started tinkering with that box,” the Dragon Rider complained, obviously influenced by his impatient dragoness.

“You will see! Even if I told you what it is called, you wouldn’t understand. Fortunately, I am done. It is a test for this part and a magic experiment at the same time,” I said as I turned around, holding up the rectangular box with a glass opening inside, now fastened to a leather belt.

It was a crude design, but for now, it was about the machinery inside. The box was just protection.

“Here, help me bind this around Saphira’s neck.”

Together with Eragon, I managed to fasten it around Saphira’s neck.

“Alright, Saphira, I want you to take a flight around Du Weldenvarden. No need to land. Try to fly around places that are hard for a human to reach. Oh, and also spend some time going as high as you can,” I instructed.

I will do so. But you haven’t told me why yet! the blue dragoness pointed out.

“Don’t worry! Have some patience! You will see once you get back.” I couldn’t help but laugh.

Her sapphire-blue scales glittered in the sun as she took off, unfolding her wings and blowing a gust of wind directly beside us.

“What are we going to do until she gets back?” Eragon wondered as we watched Saphira grow smaller in the distance.

“Hmm, what are you talking about? We are obviously going to check if it works. Come on!”

“Huh. Did you lie to Saphira? It is never a smart idea to lie to a dragon, especially a young and impatient one.” Eragon tilted his head but still followed me to my mobile home.

“Of course I didn’t lie to her. She will see what this is all about. But the most important part is probably happening right now,” I said as I opened the door.

The moment we stepped inside, it came into view.

“Wait! Is that what Saphira is seeing? It is like scrying,” Eragon exclaimed as he took in the sight on the different screens.

Unfortunately, they were just some Full HD TVs and PC monitors I had purchased on the last Earth. Fallout never had great screen technology, and that Earth was still in 2008 when I left, a full four years away from the first 4K screens.

And making a screen myself with alchemy was a pain in the ass. After all, the more complicated the part, the more specific the transmutation circle had to be. I would have to transmute every diode one by one and then put them together into a screen by hand.

Those diodes were only a few micrometers in size. Even under a microscope, with dedicated tools to do it myself, it would be a challenge to my patience. And I had no idea what a machine that did it automatically would look like.

I had gained a good grasp of engineering and robotics thanks to my Fallout perks, but since it was a video game setting, the choice of technology was oddly specific. Good screens, or even LEDs, were not as advanced in that setting as they were in mine.

They had not even figured out how to produce blue LEDs, which, on my Earth, also took until 1993 to figure out, while red and green had already been invented in 1961. Everyone could see that in the green-colored screens Fallout used.

LEDs were a basic requirement for good screens.

So I had to rely on good old HD from 2008.

“It is called a camera. Or rather, there are multiple cameras built into the device. Take a look.” I went over to my laptop, which was managing the live feed, and adjusted the controls for one of the built-in cameras.

“Whoa, it is so detailed. I can make out every single leaf on that tree, and I do not even need to be there. That is so much better than scrying.” Eragon looked visibly impressed as he watched the feed on one of the screens zoom in on the ground.

“Well, unfortunately, the camera still needs to be there. But it is good that you mentioned scrying. It is time for the second part of the experiment.” I stepped toward the large mirror sitting beside my screen setup, which I had specifically prepared for this.

Scrying was a rather useful piece of magic in this world. It allowed a magic user to use any reflective surface to view a thing or place they had seen in the past. Besides that, its only limitation was magical wards.

Although to read a book, you would have to have seen every page, not just the outside. It did not matter how briefly. You just needed to have seen them, or else the book would be blank if you tried to scry the contents.

But that had always opened up a question for me while I read the Inheritance Cycle books as a kid. What about pictures or videos? Paintings and drawings did not work. That much we knew, or someone would have used them more.

A proper picture was far more detailed, not to mention a video.

“Draumr kópa,” I incanted in the Ancient Language, feeling the slight drain of magic as an image of Saphira appeared in the mirror.

That answered that. Behind her, I could make out the detailed landscape of Du Weldenvarden, which I had just watched on the live feed. Every time her surroundings in the mirror disappeared, I only had to take another look at the video on the screen, and I could see them again.

“That is amazing. You can let others explore the world for you and use that to still be able to scry it.” Eragon immediately realized its value. Dragon Riders would spend a considerable amount of their time traveling the world for a simple reason: so they could always scry an area as large as possible. As peacekeepers, it had been a massive tool for them.

“Even better. I am recording everything Saphira sees. I can show it to others.” I laughed, but honestly, scrying was not the real reason I was creating such a camera. “Although I had something more like recon in mind.”

“Recon? I have never heard that term.”

“Short for reconnaissance. You are probably more familiar with the term scouting. After all, there is a war to fight.” I replied with a believable excuse, immediately dampening the mood. “Anyway, do you want to help me with another experiment?”

“Sure, why not.”

This time, I wrote down a message on a piece of paper without showing it to Eragon. Then I took a photo of it with my phone and showed it to him.

“Now try to scry that paper,” I requested while closing my photo app and shutting the screen down.

And indeed, it worked. It was not that images did not work. They just needed to be detailed enough. Next, I pulled out a flashlight, turning it on and off a few times.

“Did you see it?”

Eragon gave me a confused nod, but I headed into the next room.

“Scry it.” I waited a moment before asking, “Is it on or off?”

“On!” came the immediate reply. “Now off… on again… and off, on, off, on, off… why are we doing this? It seems to be working.”

“Oh, I needed to see if you could see it instantly.” Now I was really regretting that I did not want to wait for my World Attunement, but I already had plans.

I glanced at Eragon. Hell, did he even realize what we had just done? Faster-than-light communication across the entire world. I had no idea what the range limits of scrying were, but it at least worked across the entire planet.

What if it worked on other planets too? An entire universe? Universe-wide communication at the speed of optical fiber. That was beyond many sci-fi settings.

If I could figure out a way to make magic use my fusion cores as a power source, that would be amazing. But that did not seem to be as straightforward as it was with my alchemy.

Magic in this universe seemed to need a conduit to work: the magic user. You could permanently change things, like working magic into brightsteel to make it stronger. But after the smithing process, the change was already done. There was no energy needed to feed any spell.

But scrying needed an active supply of energy.

Even if it was not a permanent solution for communication, the important fact was that it worked here for one device I needed it for. My live feeds were limited by the range of the communication satellites I had installed on my house. Depending on the environment, that was somewhere in the tens of kilometers, less than a hundred.

Not enough for what I needed it for. But scrying had just solved that.

———

My time in Ellesméra had fallen into a healthy routine. In the mornings, I worked out physically and honed my swordsmanship, followed by either lessons in magic from Oromis or lessons from other elves in different subjects, in exchange for my own knowledge.

I learned smithing, woodworking, foraging, farming, medicine, tending to animals and nature, science, philosophy, poetry, music, and much more. In Ellesméra, you could find an elf who had mastered any of those fields.

And I took the opportunity to learn from them. Since I arrived here and learned the basics of the Ancient Language, it had become my main way to communicate with others, so I would master the language as quickly as possible.

In the afternoons, I either worked on my own projects or explored the city, enjoying the unique fantasy setting I had found myself in.

Time kept passing in the blink of an eye for me. Soon, the day of Agaetí Blödhren was here, the Blood-Oath Celebration.

The last few days, the entire city had been alive with preparations for the celebration. They had not even been that excited when they learned I had created automail for Glaedr, giving him the full functionality of his body back.

They decorated the forest with colored bunting and lanterns, especially around the Menoa Tree, that gigantic ancient tree which was intelligent on its own. The tree itself was adorned with a lantern on the tip of each branch, where they hung like glowing teardrops.

Even the plants took on a festive appearance with a new assortment of colorful flowers, which the elves sang to life.

It was customary to present one’s work at the Blood-Oath Celebration, something crafted with one’s own hands, like art, craftsmanship, or magic. And so, I prepared something as well.

Every single day, hundreds more elves arrived from all over Du Weldenvarden just for the celebration.

A day before the celebration, I found myself once again taking lessons under Oromis together with Eragon. That was when Eragon showed his own work to Oromis, a poem representing Eragon’s experiences until now, if I remembered it correctly.

And it impressed Oromis too.

“Rough, but true!”

“Then you like it?”

“’Tis a good portrait of your mental state at the present and an engaging read, but no masterpiece. Did you expect it to be?”

“I suppose not.”

“However, I am surprised that you can give voice to it in this tongue. No barrier exists to writing fiction in the Ancient Language. The difficulty arises when one attempts to speak it, for that would require you to tell untruths, which the magic will not allow.”

“I can say it,” replied Eragon, “because I believe it is true. Do you want to read it too?” Eragon asked me once Oromis handed it back to him.

I shook my head. “No, I prefer to enjoy it together with everyone else.”

“Words of wisdom. And you believing in your own words gives your writing more power. Your poem will be a worthy addition to the Blood-Oath Celebration.” Oromis nodded approvingly. “What about you? Are your preparations complete?”

“Yes, I made something. You will see it at the celebration.” I shrugged easily.

Oromis nodded. “You seem confident. Then I will wait and enjoy it at the celebration.” After raising a finger, Oromis reached into his robe and pulled out a scroll before handing it to Eragon. “Inscribed on this paper are nine wards I want you to place about yourselves and the dwarf Orik. As you discovered at Sílthrim, Eragon, our festivities are potent and not for those with constitutions weaker than ours. Unprotected, you risk losing yourself in the web of our magic. I have seen it happen. Even with these precautions, you must take care that you are not swayed by fancies wafted on the breeze. Be on your guard, for during this time, we elves are apt to go mad—wonderfully, gloriously mad, but mad all the same.”

Oh yes, I could remember that from the books. It almost seemed like a drug trip at certain points. And the whole celebration would last for three entire days.

———

On the eve of the Blood-Oath Celebration, I found myself accompanying Eragon, Saphira, and Orik as Arya led us to the Menoa Tree, where a host of elves had assembled, their black and silver hair flickering in the lamplight.

The festivities were opened by Queen Islanzadí, who stood on the trunk of a thick root of the Menoa Tree. Everyone was present.

At midnight, Queen Islanzadí raised her bare left arm toward the moon, gathering a soft white light from the lanterns in the palm of her hand. She walked along the massive root until she placed that light in a hollow in the bark, where it continued pulsing.

Eragon couldn’t help himself and asked Arya, “Has it begun?”

She replied with a pretty laugh, “It is begun! And it will end when the werelight expends itself.”

Suddenly, the elves gathered in groups and pulled tables filled with all kinds of food out of nowhere. They began to sing with their beautiful voices, and laughter spread throughout the celebration.

That was also when the presentations began. One by one, during the entire length of the festivities, the attending elves began to present their works from the last century. Some showed off poems, while others presented their crafts or creations of magic.

There was one elf who had enchanted lilies to play a concert of the most beautiful sounds he had found in Du Weldenvarden over the decades he had traveled through it.

I presented a detailed map of Du Weldenvarden, which I had created with a quadrotor drone I built myself. It was made with detailed images, and I printed the map onto a large sheet of paper that I had transmuted together from individually printed smaller sheets.

The elves were delighted to add such a detailed depiction of their home to their library.

Keeping track of the celebration was hard, since it truly felt like a massive drug trip. I had to take a break several times, getting some fresh air away from the festivities.

Besides having a good time, the highlight was the finale at the very end.

Iduna and Nëya, the so-called Caretakers, performed a dance. In the books, it was never precisely explained what they took care of, but I had always believed it was the pact between the dragons and elves, which Oromis had confirmed to me after I asked him.

Both incredibly beautiful elf girls had part of a rainbow-scaled dragon tattooed onto them, which came to life while they danced. That dragon was the manifestation of the magical pact that had created the Dragon Riders.

They performed it every time at the end of the Blood-Oath Celebration, so I witnessed the ethereal, rainbow-colored form of that dragon myself. But this time, it acted differently from a usual celebration.

It focused on Eragon and said, Our gift so you may do what you must.

Then it touched him, and he began to change from the magic before fainting.

And that dragon disappeared once again with the words, Our gift to you.

I was the only one in the entire celebration who knew what had really happened, that the Eldunarí in the Vault of Souls had just healed Eragon while also completing his Dragon Rider transformation.

[ End of the Chapter ]