Arcane Apocalypse

19 – Starhaven (Intermission)

Arwen wasn’t made for ruling. He suspected it before, but now he knew it for certain. Advisors, the heads of a dozen noble houses and the Archmages of the few Mage Towers that bothered to set up in Starhaven all talking, shouting over each other like a pack of maddened hyenas, was not a problem he ever wanted to have to solve. He took a deep breath, letting the power of his temporary Title flood his throat.

“SILENCE!”

It was like flipping a switch. Sure, he only had the authority to silence those who’d sworn fealty to his father, but even the Archmages respected his authority enough to shut up.

Arwen let out a minute sigh, feeling every single one of the expectant / dismissive gazes levelled on him like a swarm of needles piercing his skin. He really wasn’t made for this. He much preferred doing just about anything else. Even playing model prince on some noble ball or whatnot. 

“It’s understandable that you are confused, so am I after all and so is every single one of us in this room,” Arwen started, making sure to leave just a hint of power in the Title. It was his lifeline, the thing that turned him from an absentee rogue prince into the {Regent Lord of Starhaven}. “But we cannot lose our heads at this moment. The world is not ending. Not today, not tomorrow and not the week after. Have some dignity and talk like people of your standing should.”

He knew that sentence would come to bite him in the ass one day, probably the very moment his father dragged his bony ass back from the Aeternum Plane and Arwen lost his Regent title. Some of the people he just told to stop acting like children were ten times his age and could make a poor prince’s life a living hell.

What I don’t do for the good of the realm. Arwen lamented. He never thought he’d be forced into a position like this, but it was either him or his dearest little sister. Who, by the way, ran off to who knows where the moment the System Notification about the merging arrived. She knew one of us would have to stay here to act as a unifying figurehead. Damn you sister. You threw me to this pack of wolves without a second thought, didn’t you?

Why did Erwin have to go with father, anyway? I’m not the damned Crown Prince, he should be the one to deal with these bunch of pretentious old fossils. I should be out there hunting down any Rifts that pop up, not stuck here playing prince.

The System has spoken though. He was {Regent}, whether he liked it or not. He knew the settings his father decided on, so he knew the System must have felt the Kingdom was in a strenuous position and was in need of a leader. His father wasn’t dead, he knew that much at least. He would be {King} or {Crown Prince} if he was. I’d prefer spending the rest of my life in the Death Realm to being stuck as King here. Thank the stars I only have to hold the fort down till father gets back.

“It has been two days since the Starhaven Continent was merged with this … Planet. By all intents and purposes, we are fine aside from all System Obelisks being offline for the moment.” Arwen let his calm gaze wash over the gathered crowd. He sat at the head of a gigantic circular table. It was supposed to represent that the King would be equal to his retainers and hear them out when he sat at this table. 

Though Arwen still sat a good half a metre above all of them on an ostentatious throne, since, even if they were supposed to be equal, the King was much more equal than the rest of them. 

“We will first listen to all the reports concerning the merging,” Arwen said, seeing a couple of understanding nods. Most of them still looked at him dismissively, but couldn’t do squat. “Let’s start with summarising what we know of the basics of the situation, then we’ll go into the details. Kevan, if you would summarise everything to make sure everyone is up to date with the latest news?”

“Yes, My Lord,” Kevan, the old chamberlain and occasional spymaster of the Kingdom answered with a nod. “Exactly 52 hours and 21 minutes ago we all received a System Notification mentioning our Plane being merged with a Planet named ‘Earth’ from the newly integrated Cosmic Realm. I believe this, everyone here knows already. The Notification was hard to miss.”

The old wolf earned a few chuckles, though Arwen suspected that might have had to do with the man’s ageless reputation than his humour. Arwen leaned back and relaxed minutely, making sure to show no sign of it on the outside. It’d be much better if he didn’t have to use his authority to hold the nobles from doing something stupid and they went along with his orders willingly.

“Following which, slight earthquakes and seismic phenomena rushed through our Plane, but before long the merging was done and while visible little changed, the more observant among us noticed how wrong that first impression was.” Kevan said, his gaze snapping to Archmage Meldred, the head of the Purple Tower of astrologists and Space Mages. “The fabric of space is distinctly different from the Mystic Realm’s, the only thing familiar in the night sky are the seven Great Constellations and the Mana is wild, raw and almost primal in this place. I’m sure Magus Meldred could give a more detailed account of every minute change he noticed, but I believe leaving that for later is for the best.”

After another round of nods, most important of which being Archmage Meldred, Kevan continued in a slow, measured tone that effortlessly relaxed the coiled nerves of everyone. “Most of you must also know that all System Obelisks are Offline as of right now. Only the Skill Library works, and that too just sporadically. Which is why we had to push this meeting back to today to wait for everyone’s arrival. The loss of the Transportation function of the Obelisks crippled our quick response to this event unfortunately.”

There were some grumbles to that, and Arwen almost glared at them to silence them, but Kevan gave him a look. The prince raised an eyebrow but held himself back.

“Indeed, my friends,” Kevan nodded. “It is unfortunate, but it is merely an inconvenience. A much greater problem though, is the barrier surrounding what was once the Starhaven Plane. It is a fully spherical barrier surrounding us entirely, and based on initial examinations, it is a System Generated one.”

Arwen sucked in a breath through gritted teeth, eyeing the crowd for anyone acting out. He knew how this looked. The System locked them in and cut off all forms of escape with the disabling of the Obelisks’ Transportation function. The fools would think it’s the System singling us out. Trying to kill us, especially with that Realm Event hanging over our heads.

He’d been taught about the long-lost and rather secretive history of times when the System acted in a rather heavy-handed manner or even directly intervened in ongoing conflicts. System Scholars had been studying every such instance to find some logic in it, but the one thing they all agreed on was that knowing or predicting the system’s intentions and actions was near impossible. The contradictions were aplenty, giving headaches to even the most esteemed philosophers.

Unfortunately, some of the newer noble lords were lacking in the intelligence or education department. A few opened their mouths or stood to shout questions, looking all puffed up in indignation.

Arwen cleared his throat, the sound reverberating through the hall like the deep rumble of a dragon’s growl. It was much worse on the few he focused it on and they slowly lowered themselves back into their seats on trembling legs.

A few Archmages gave Arwen appreciative nods. If there was one thing those old coots all hated, it was obnoxious young nobles with overly large egos. Though Archmage Dermak, the master of the Black Tower, threw him a nasty look as some insidious spell dissolved around his fingers.

Arwen suppressed a shudder. Dermak was known for his openhanded punishment of anyone stepping on his toes. The man loved Order and was all too quick to send a Curse at anyone offending his sensibilities.

Being the Rogue Prince of Starhaven, Arwen ended up stepping on his toes one too many times and ended up being cursed to stink like a newly fertilised crop field for a month. 

“The barrier,” Kevan said, his voice slightly raised to silence some murmured conversations. “Is, as you would expect from a System Construct, unbending, unbreakable and faultless. But it lets air through, isn’t constricting us and, curiously, doesn’t restrict Rank 0 people from passing through or coming back in.”

Arwen glanced behind him, where his honour guards stood at alert. He frowned as he saw Gabriel’s grip go so tight around his spear the poor wood almost shattered. What got him so worked up? He was always so easygoing.

Arwen thought back to how he found the man buck naked in the middle of the deepest floor of a dungeon just a year back. He had a surprising talent for Arcane magic and so Arwen decided sponsoring him a bit could be beneficial, but he never thought the man would catch up to him in both level and power in just five months.

The prince was Rank 3 for heaven’s sake, and a strong one at that. I’ll have to see what that’s about later. 

“With the help of Magus Leonard, our resident master of Abjuration,” Kevan said. “We determined the Barrier to be weakening ever so slowly. In a month, Rank 1 individuals will be able to pass through and in four more, Rank 2 and so on and so forth until in ten years, the barrier will fall.”

I’ll be able to pass through in a year. Arwen narrowed his eyes. If only father could come back and take over ruling already. A whole new Realm to explore, one still in flux, filled with unclaimed dungeons and thousands of Rifts if the reports are to be believed. 

“Now, are there any questions?” Kevan asked, then held up a hand. “Please, gentlemen and ladies, all in good order. There is no need to rush.”

“Can’t spatial magic pierce the barrier? Or perhaps a Cosmic Gateway?”

The question came from an elderly nobleman, head covered in a mane of silvery hair.

“I am afraid spatial magic cannot materialise when used to connect the two sides of the barrier, it acts like a regular Realm Barrier,” Kevan said. “We didn’t have the opportunity, nor the time to attempt to set up a Cosmic Gateway, but I personally don’t hold out much hope for them.”

“If I may,” Archmage Meldred spoke up. “I’d like to enquire about the mana readings I’m sure my fellow Magi from other towers have done. I myself detected a 56% increase in mana density and an almost entire grade of increase in quality.”

“Your Tower must have gotten extremely unlucky with the Leylines reroute, Meldred.” Archmage Dermak chuckled. “The mana sphere around my Tower is both denser and of higher quality than it was on top of a Major Leyline before.”

Arwen’s eyes widened minutely. There were only two Major Leylines back in Starhaven. One under the Royal Academy and another under the Royal Tower. He turned to Kevan, then glanced at Magus Leonard standing off to the side.

“Magus Leonard, if you’d please share your own results?” Kevan asked.

“It is as Magus Dermak says,” Leonard said, the bookish man sounding like he’d rather be anywhere else than in a room full of nobles and Archmages. “Though I have measured Blue grade mana at one location, a full grade above the highest ever measured value in Starhaven up until the merging.”

“Thank you, Magus Leonard,” Kevan said. “I believe that sums it up. But beware, the manasphere of this planet is in flux and is extremely chaotic. I’d discourage doing any Rituals or casting any spells above the Master level until the Realm Event is ongoing.”

“Attempting, or doing either within a populated area will be viewed as an act of terrorism and treason for the duration of the Realm Event.”

Arwen could have heard a pin drop in the silence that followed his proclamation. He’d been waiting for Kevan to mention that, knew he had to do it, but he almost shrunk back under the glares he received for it.

“The Regent has spoken,” said Archmage Dermak calmly. “I concur. I’ll personally hunt down anyone breaking that decree.”

The glares disappeared and half the gathered people shuddered while most of the rest averted their gazes. Only the Archmages gave understanding nods. Good. Only they could have caused a catastrophe by going against my orders.

Even if a noble got it into their head to make use of the intense mana in the air to empower themselves, it’d at best take out a city block when it inevitably went wrong.

Archmage Dermake messing up could have deleted the capital. Leaving only the fortified Royal district standing. I’ll have to dispatch mageseekers to every city and have them patrol. Can’t have a damned mana storm popping up within a city with this chaos already sending the people into a frenzy.

Arwen sent a grateful look to Dermak before rising from his not-throne. “I believe that last discussion clued everyone in on the fact that this ‘merging’ was not so much of a misfortune as some of us might have initially thought. We are in the Cosmic Realm, the place that every powerful faction of the Mystic Realm had been waiting to pounce on for the last year. And we are here before anyone else, with our competitors locked out by the System itself. Competitors, against whom we would otherwise stand little chance. We are, in fact, extremely fortunate to have this opportunity handed to us on a silver platter.”

Gabriel once again twitched behind Arwen, but the prince ignored him for now.

“Now, since everyone is no doubt interested in what I have in mind for our future,” Arwen said. “I’ll start with a proposition and I’d like constructive ideas for perfecting it. I plan on sending out scouting teams of Rank 0s as soon as tomorrow to get a close view of our new ‘Planet’ and its circumstances. Furthermore, I want to have anyone capable of high-level scrying or divination to attempt to create a complete map of the planet.”

“I will now take questions and propositions for turning this plan into the best it can be,” Arwen said, lowering himself back onto his chair. “Begin.”

*****

“I thought that meeting would never end,” Arwen sighed as he threw himself over an armchair in his father’s study. “Damn all those brainless fools. Why did they have to ask every single question under the stars?”

“They are worried, My Prince,” Laurel, a brunette half-elf and the other member of his delving party whom he annoyed into being his hour guard said with mock reverence. “Your regal visage and calming voice were the balm needed to calm their terrified souls.”

“Damn them all,” Arwen whined. “That last idiot asked me about the weather. The regular one, not even the probability of mana storms or whatnot. Just. Weather.”

“Stop whining.” Laurel audibly rolled her eyes, throwing open the windowed door of a cupboard and snatching up a bottle of spirits. “Hope your kingly father won’t be too mad about missing this?”

“What?” Arwen glanced up. “Oh, no. Have at it. That’s his go-to low-class drink for fae blooded. It’ll be just perfect for your crass taste in alcohol.”

Laurel stared at the bottle for a moment, then shrugged and flopped into another chair with a single glass already at the ready in her other hand.

“Want a glass, Gabriel?” She asked, glancing at the thus fur silent man. “This might be low-class stuff for Arwen, but it's still spirit wine. It’s like having an orgasm in your mouth, and in your whole body afterwards instead of getting hungover.”

“I could use a glass,” said Gabriel, releasing a sigh as he pried himself out of his helmet and gauntlets. 

“Perfect,” Laurel purred, another glass appearing in her hand before she filled both up with the grace of a seasoned barista. “Drink slowly. Tiny sips, as if you were drinking a fancy cocktail.”

“Thanks,” said Gabriel, settling down on a sofa as he eyed the sloshing azure liquid with little glittering lights dancing around in it. “Cheers?”

“Don’t you dare down that thing in one go,” Laurel warned, but raised her own glass. 

“Wait a second,” Arwen spoke up, regretfully prying himself out of his seat. “Don’t drink without me. I need some alcohol in me after today.”

Knowing exactly where his father kept the best stuff, Arwen barely took half a minute to have a glass of his own raised. “Cheers.”

“”Cheers.””

While the two fae blooded just sipped on their drink, Arwen downed the entire glass of golden whiskey in one gulp. Stars, that thing is worth every single coin it costs.

“Hey, Gabe,” Arwen mused aloud, drawing the ashen-haired man’s attention. “You seemed kind of … off in the meeting. Everything alright? I know it must have been boring you to death, so if you want to opt-out I can annoy someone else into being my guard.”

“I … have a favour to ask,” Gabriel said, turning his azure gaze at Arwen. “When you send the groups to survey the barrier, and the Rank 0 ones to scout out what’s beyond, I want to be there.”

“I mean, sure?” Arwen looked at his friend strangely. Gabriel rarely, if ever, asked for favours or help. The prince assumed he felt indebted to him and didn’t want to ask for even more, so this request came out of left field. “But why?”

“I want to see it up close,” Gabriel said, fingers clutching his glass strong enough to make it crack. “I have to see it. I need to.”

“Alright, Gabe,” Arwen shrugged, eying the man strangely. “You can go with the first group tomorrow morning. They’ll leave at the crack of dawn from the main teleportation chamber.”

“Thank you, Arwen,” Gabriel said, taking a deep gulp of his drink. “I won’t forget this.”

“Okaay?” Arwen was officially weirded out. Is he in danger? Did someone threaten him? What in the stars is going on?

In the end, Arwen decided to send one of the Royal Shadows to tail behind the group and keep an eye on Gabriel. Just to make sure nothing went wrong.

It’s not like some Rank 5 supervision from people oath-bound to follow my orders would be a bad thing for the survey group.