162. Aftermath (Patreon)

The elation that came with a Mind ascension only lasted for a handful of moments. Lukas woke up feeling lighter than air with greater clarity than ever before. His connection to all magic channels also felt keener, like he could control the movement of energy around his body. Most curious of all was the quality of magic he contained and the storm energy crashing within. Everything felt purer and more concentrated.

Then, there was the Eternal Tapestry. Lukas’s arcane sense had become something significantly more. He could feel more than the spells woven into the fortress around him and the surrounding structures. It was more than just knowing there was magic present. The threads and knots of magic stood out to Lukas.

“What the hell?” He sat up, realizing he was in the Spell Garden and not his home. Memories of the fallen clones hit him a heartbeat later like an intense wave. For the first time in a long time, Lukas didn’t ignore them, leaving it to Merlin to sort through everything and pick out the important bits. Instead, he took in the final fifteen minutes of the Stalkers, Ace, Oberon, and finally Merlin, going over everything they had experienced before they perished. Lukas summoned the journal and stared the familiar cover. He knew every fold and wrinkle on its surface by heart. It had become a part of him as much as the clones. “Is getting rid of you my only option?”

“You’re up!” Mira exclaimed, approaching briskly. Her familiar walked beside her, the size of a great dane and providing support. All the dark veins standing out under her pale skin had faded to the point of almost undetectable. “I’ve been going crazy without you.”

“I’m sorry it took so long,” Lukas said, rushing to meet her. He rushed to meet her. Lukas’s knees wobbled when he stood, leading to a stumble, but he was quick to right himself. When they met, he threw his arms around her, ignoring Nibbler’s growls. Mira held him tightly, but he kept his hold light. She still felt frail. Her slow recovery didn’t concern him before, but now, he had good reason to worry. “Did the clones bring in food?”

Mira nodded. “Eins went back out for some before…” She sighed. “I assume you know.”

“I do. Before Silverspine’s agents got us.” Lukas glanced at the journal, wondering if there were more like it. “Journal. How many agents does Silverspine have?”

I neither know nor am I at liberty to discuss Lady Silverspine’s agents or interests unless your quest involves it.

“But they can track me and have my secrets? That doesn’t seem fair. How did they even find me?”

Lady Silverspine’s agent must have evolved their relic to track others or traces of her energy.

“That would explain how they found and killed Oberon in Tortuga,” Mira stated, unentangling herself from Lukas. She stayed close, using Nibbler for support. The familiar didn’t seem as hostile as before. “What will you do?”

“I’m certainly not going to roll over,” Lukas replied. “The first move will be to get a few clones out to contact Penelope, the guild, and city councils. We need them to know that, first of all, we’re not responsible for any of this.” He summoned Merlin and a bunch of Spellweavers as he spoke. “I’m not going to let Silverspine ruin everything we have built. Contracts. Relationships. Everything in between.”

“Shouldn’t we just disappear?” Mira asked. “If people think we’re dead, things will be easier for us. Given your collective skills and our arcane prowess, we can start anew anywhere. New identities. New faces. Nobody—”

“That’s just going to buy us more time,” Merlin interrupted. “It won’t fix anything.” He held up the skinbound tome that Weaver had given them. “I’ve been studying what’s in here, and at Spellweaver tier-three, we should be able to pull it off. We just need time and resources. The most vital of which is dragonbone.”

“Open a dialogue with Morph,” Lukas instructed. He glanced at one of the approaching Spellweavers. They had kept vigil while he slept. “Good job keeping him in the loop. We can’t afford to lose the skull even more now.” His attention moved to the Spellweavers. Lukas dispelled and resummoned the ones from before his ascension. “Accelerate the completion of the Dome of Life and ritual room.” He dispelled Eins and replaced him with Oberon. “I need disguises for all clones. Appearances and outfits aren’t enough. Make identities for them. We might have outsiders in here soon. They can’t know the clone secret. Thinking we’re an organization of individuals is best for everyone.”

“Where do you want to put all of these outsiders?” Merlin asked. “The Dome of Life?”

“As a temporary staging ground. Yes. We might have to put the Jotun and whoever Morph brings along in there.” Lukas massaged the bridge of his nose, the memories of the clones still fresh. They were like fresh scabs, threatening to crack and expose the wound underneath. “There is a fuck ton to figure out, but our highest priority is to get this place functional.”

“Silverspine’s goon didn’t know where you were,” Merlin stated. “He couldn’t sense your presence. If they’re smart, they’ll deduce that we have a Confluence that’s a soulspace, but achieving something of the sort in the timespan we managed is unheard of.”

“Ephram considered me a prodigy and rare talent, and even armed with dragonfire, it took me more than half a decade,” Mira said. She leaned more heavily on Nibbler, who grew to the size of a tiger. “ It took Xander about sixteen years to get where he is now. Unless the journal tattled, they probably think you’re hiding somewhere with powerful enough wards to conceal dragonfire or the journal. No one knows we have Confluence abilities.”

“And you can use that to your advantage,” Oberon said. “I’ll do my best, boss. But without a way to store the disguises, I don’t know how much I can do. We need Spirit Glass. As soon as possible.”

“I can help with that.” Mira held her hand open, and a wisp of silver dragonfire came to life. It flickered and sparked, lacking her usual stability. 

“You’ve not recovered enough for this.” Lukas took her hand, squeezing it. “We can lay the foundation for everything else while you recover.”

“Energy is your greatest limit right now. If Nibbler and I can do something to help, let us.” Mira pecked his cheek. “Given everything Merlin has told us about the Dome of Life, it will hasten my recovery. This is necessary for my recovery, and knowing you, survival isn’t enough. You want success. Success demands risks.”

“Fine, but I’m going to have a Spellweaver on you at all times,” Lukas said, pointing at one of them. He pulled Mira into an embrace and planted a deep kiss on her lips. “I’m also going to need the black fire. Are you sure you’re ready for this?”

Mira nodded, caressing his cheek. “Lead the way,” she told the Spellweaver. The two disappeared amongst the structures decorating the Spell Garden. The panes needed to be generated and installed in a specific order. The process was bound to take a decent chunk of time and take a lot out of her. Merlin and Lukas had planned on completing the process over several months.

“We need to get to Morph,” Merlin said. “The Jotun can’t sense draconic energy, but I think draconic energy can’t detect them either. It’s like they exist on mutually exclusive arcane plains. I can only hope this silver cult won’t find him as easily as they did us.” His eyes moved over his fellow clowns before settling on Lukas. “Eternal Tapestry should make this go faster. Should we get to work?”

“Let’s, and we can figure out who this cult and champion is.” Lukas sighed. “We need to get into what you felt from him and the others.”

The Spellweavers scattered, eager to put their upgrades to good use. They had all necessary instructions prior to their summoning. There was no point in wasting time in the Spell Garden without panes between the pillars. Half of them focused their efforts on the Dome of Life. The rest went off to construct the ritual room. The Dreamfire Tower and Weaver’s new home would follow.

Lukas planned on investing heavily in the construction. There was no other choice. There were no other concerns. He considered using Escape Portal to flee to the Anglar Plains and buy himself more time. Stubbornness held him back. He refused to leave his allies, assets, and connections behind. He refused to allow Silverspine to get her way and take more from him.

Shadow Clone has progressed to Rank 7!

The volume of shadow you can compress into Shade’s Mantle has increased.

Shadow Clone has progressed to Rank 8!

Your lingering connection to shadows separated from Shade’s Mantle has improved.

Stormdragon’s Eye has progressed to Rank 4!

Your resistance to lightning and sound magic has significantly improved.

Alter Metal Mass has progressed to Rank 3!

The range of maximum and minimum mass has increased. Dracosteel Scales’ arcane resistance has increased.

The growth was unsurprising. All of his clones had been collectively pushed beyond their limits. They had also invested heavily in the fortress’s construction, which also pushed his shard abilities to new heights. Lukas could only hope all the shadow work would help push Shadow Clone to the next rank and achieve the ascension threshold.

Tier four with more clones and a greater variety of shadow constructs was bound to help even the odds against the significantly larger force coming for him. Lukas guessed Lady Silverspine had taken his rejection of her dragonfire as a personal insult. She knew now his plans of severing the relic’s connection to her were not all talk. It was a slight she refused to take lying down. Now, her cult and other agents—who he previously didn’t know existed—were after him. 

Stormdragon’s Eye: Tier 2 | Rank 4

Draconic Intelligence

Spellweaver: Tier 3 | Rank 0

Assistant Spindle

Shadow Illusion

Eternal Tapestry

Shadow Clone: Tier 3 | Rank 6

Shade’s Mantle

Shadow Steel

Alter Metal Mass: Tier 3 | Rank 3

Steel Weave

Create Quicksilver

Dracosteel Scales

The progress was beyond satisfactory but far from enough. Lukas didn’t know the size of the enemy force. Only three had revealed themselves, but that didn’t mean there weren’t more.

“I’m assuming you had me stick around to discuss a battle plan?” Merlin asked. “Furnishing the fortress alone isn’t enough to solve our issue. We need a good attack plan.”

“Let’s start with an analysis of the terrible trio,” Lukas said. “We need to understand what they can do and put them the fuck down.” He thought back to all he had learned from studying the clones’ memories. “Let’s start with the obvious ones.”

An illusion of the titanic, armored woman manifested in front of Lukas. She stood almost as tall as the shortest Jotun. Her shoulders were wide. The full plate concealed her face and figure. There were no clear eye openings, suggesting she relied on a shard ability to sense the outside world. The lustrous armor looked like dracosteel or an alloy. 

“Was the antimagic field a product of her armor or an ability?” Merlin asked as the illusion started running on the spot. Electrified Shadowsteel projectiles flew at her before losing their charge two feet before collision. They also lost velocity on entering the field and dissolved a couple of seconds on the floor. “I think that’s the biggest question. We’re going to struggle with this one.”

“A massive physical force.” Lukas racked his brain, trying to think of a solution. “Morph might be able to make a difference, assuming her field doesn’t shut down shard abilities. I don’t want to be optimistic, thinking it's just magic. We’ll be fucked otherwise. There will be no stopping her. She’ll bulldoze through us and follow us to the ends of the world. I also can’t help but wonder if she’s a pawn or one of Silverspine’s agents.”

“I don’t think she’s stupid enough to send everything she has or all of her local resources after us at once,” Merlin said. “One thing is clear. There is a Cult of the Silver Dragon. Maybe it was as impotent and small as Rakan’s followers. Then, the agents of Silverspine came in to help them grow and guide them. That’s my guess at least.” He wove his fingers together, making pink strings dance within them. Attunement Library felt like the perfect pick for the clone. The Elder Wyrmkin sorcerer appeared next. “I didn’t think male Elder Wyrmkin could use magic.”

“Perhaps they could all along, and social dynamics prevented it.” Lukas studied the specimen closely. The sorcerer had white scales and glassy hair. His frame suggested he had gone through an awakening ritual. He wasn’t as bulky or armored as the male warriors of his kind, but stood tall and without a hunch like the awakened specimens. “Or he might be an anomaly. What if the ability to harness silver dragonfire made him an exception to the rule? He enjoyed resources and privileges the other males don’t usually get.”

“Whatever he is, Mira could learn from him,” Merlin stated. “The way he uses dragonfire couldn’t be more different.” Images of the giant green ooze and tornado of metal shrapnel appeared next. “He leaned into conjuration and creation of living spells. It looked like pure creation magic and broke whatever rules we assumed to know.”

“Maybe he uses it like Dreamfire, but instead of hiding real things amongst illusions, it's all real,” Lukas said after thinking it over for a while. “He was on the field for quite a while, but he only cast the two spells. Slower than Mira but more potent.

“Mira relies heavily on her Fortification Magic shard. Using preset structures probably reduces the stress and cost of her magic. He doesn’t have the same benefits. That explains why the woman stayed close to him.”

“The ooze wasn’t affected by the antimagic field even when she passed a foot from it,” Merlin told him. “She stayed away from the metal tornado. We can use this to our advantage. Keeping them close together should cripple them both.”

“It could also be precisely what they want us to think and do. Let’s not make concrete plans. I want you to workshop with contingencies upon contingencies.”

“Got it.” Merlin nodded before creating an illusion of the young man that had entered the building. He appeared as young as the body Lukas now inhabited. However, the way he carried himself made him appear much older. “Then, there is him. Bastard knew how you named us. Even mentioned Elvis. Any clue as to who he could be?”

Lukas shook his head. His memories of time in Lady’s Silver Spine’s service were muted but not gone altogether. He recalled flashes of the good times they had spent together over drinks or on the field but not the jobs. 

“I don’t have the faintest idea of who he could be,” Lukas said after mulling things over for a moment. “Tell me what his ability felt like. More antimagic?”

The clone shook his head. “It didn’t feel like it. Instead of magic deactivating or falling apart, it felt more like the strings and my arcane senses didn’t want to obey me.”

“Like he had severed your link to magic?”

Merlin nodded. “Does that give you any clues?”

“Unfortunately, not.” Lukas sighed. “Maybe Silverspine ensured that Fracture took more of my memories than his. What if he willingly came to this world to specifically serve her interests instead of seeking freedom?”

“It's possible you were the guinea pig, and your unwillingness to focus on the quests encouraged her to create more like you.”

“And if he prioritized quests, perhaps he matched, if not exceeded, our growth rate.” Lukas stepped closer to the illusion of the strange man. There was something familiar about him, but Lukas struggled to put his finger on it.