P I and Magic Book II: The Gods Return
Copyright© 2005 by Volentrin
Chapter 18
As usual, when I stepped through a gate leading to another world, my connections snapped. It was still disorienting and unnerving. I paused and checked what I still had. My main connection to Morwan was still there, stretching off into nothingness. I sighed with relief.
I checked the spells I had ready, and was relieved to see them shining and ready in my mind. It was an impressive list of spells, too. All my magical items were charged and at the ready, also. I also had a connection I had never seen before, but knew it for what it was: a connection to CHAOS.
The world I found myself in was warm. A ubiquitous red haze seemed to be prevalent. I mean, it was everywhere! The landscape was an artist's conception of a moonscape, or perhaps a Mars-scape I had seen in a fiction magazine, years ago.
"Are you alright? I see you are distressed," Sheblia said to me.
"I'm fine. Let's just get to the gate where I am needed, shall we?" I responded to her.
"Very well. We must walk a ways, first. Then we shall gate to a new part of the realm," she said to me, leading off.
"We can't teleport to where we need to go?" I asked curiously.
"Unfortunately, this is only the first of several lands we must go through, in order to reach our goal. Unlike your Morwan, we must travel through the lesser lands in order to reach the greater land," she said as if that explained everything.
"Your world has different lands then?" I asked curiously.
She peered at me. "This land is one of the latest added to our realm. We conquered it some hundreds of your years ago. We are ever vigilant for the chance to add to our strength by conquering the weaker," she said almost proudly.
"So the gate we need to get to is at a different land in your realm?" I asked, trying to grasp something that I seemed to be missing.
As we continued to walk, she started explaining her world to me.
"When our world was first created, it had just one area, or land. As we grew in power and knowledge, we learned that we could create a gate between worlds. As we did this, we added lands to our control.
"We started to call these new lands circles, with the place of our birth being the first circle. Each land added was considered a new circle, until our great one deemed we had enough new circles.
"Now, when a new land is added to our realm, it is added to an existing circle. This is the 21st circle of circle 29. 29 was deemed enough circles, and Lords were created to rule each circle. All lands are now absorbed by the circle that captures it.
"If a Circle Lord captures enough worlds, he can increase the size of his circle to the point that it replaces the circle above it in power and preeminence. Thus all circle lords try to capture new worlds.
"The Lord who tried and failed to capture your world, will be stripped of power. He will be sent to serve as a laborer in the farthest and weakest circle, until he can prove himself by taking power from that circle's Lord," she said as we continued our walk.
"Why don't you just kill him, like you did Elpor?" I asked curiously.
She laughed. "Foolish mortal, Elpor is not dead. He is just changed, and in punishment. I destroyed his current body, and he serves a time in great agony and pain, to remind him not to fail, again. We do not throw away those who have served well.
"He will be given a chance, again, sometime in the future. If he is very clever, he can gain his freedom by stealing the power of someone around him. It will be interesting to see what he does, and how long he takes doing this," Sheblia told me in an amused tone of voice.
I was stunned and disgusted. Talk about a place to learn the art of backstabbing! If what she said was true, this was a peculiar place indeed. They encouraged their people to climb over one another. What a way to run a world. Come to think of it, it sounded an awful lot like 'corporate America'!
"If I may ask, what level or circle are you from?" I asked her curiously.
She straightened, and seemed to grow in stature before my eyes.
"I am of the 3rd circle. I oversee the running of lesser circles and dispense judgments and rewards to those in charge. I have been chosen to be on the great ones council, when the next opening comes," she said in a proud voice.
"How do openings occur?" I asked curiously.
"Any may challenge anyone on the council. Once challenged, the two will fight until one either surrenders, or is dead. There is no appeal from that death. It is the final death. If you fight and surrender, you are then a slave until you win free," Sheblia said.
While it might not be the correct thing to do, I wished her luck when she became a council member. She looked at me, startled for a moment, then smiled at me.
"Why, thank you. I accept your luck wish with gratitude. Ah, here we are. We will now gate to the next circle. Come, we have far to go," she said, and we entered another gate.
I won't bore you with the trip, as we went inward to the more powerful circles. I saw humans, or what seemed to be humans. I saw other things that are better left to your imagination. Let's just say I was going to have nightmares for years to come.
We finally arrived at the third circle. We came out of a gate, to a building that looked like any pre-industrial municipal city building. The floor was of a marble looking substance, which was clean and polished.
Support columns held up the ceiling a good twenty feet above our heads. I was surprised, really. This was the first circle or world that seemed almost normal to me. Sheblia led me to a hall, and we went down it quickly.
"We will be met by another guide. We are fortunate indeed. This one has the power to create a door to where we have to go. He is powerful, indeed," I heard envy in her voice.
"Is he on this council," I asked.
"No. He is second in command. You might think of him as the prince, or the heir apparent to the throne. None are so foolish as to even think of challenging him. His power is such, that even your Jorslan might loose in a fight with him. I would never even think of challenging him," she said as she led me through a bewildering path of rooms.
Although I tried to memorize the path, it was impossible. Instead, I concentrated on trying to memorize a place to teleport to if I had to. While it was difficult, I finally got something committed to memory.
My guide came to a stop outside a door. It was not a particularly fancy door or memorable door, just your normal wooden door. Sheblia looked at me.
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