Magic is Programming

Chapter 40: Return

The trip back to Dramos was a blur of trees flickering past and wind rushing in her ears as Amber held her arms wrapped tightly around Lorvan's shoulders. He was holding her legs up and leaning forwards to give her better support on his back, but he had to duck and weave around trees and branches often, and despite those constant minor detours he ran faster than Amber's best straight line sprint. Much faster.

Amber briefly looked back over her shoulder to see Ordens following them, spear and shield packed away somewhere in the interest of speed, but quickly turned back to facing forward with her head down again. Even in such a short moment, the wind of their passage had started pushing her raised head back uncomfortably, strongly enough to make her concerned about keeping her grip on Lorvan. She resolved to keep her head down for the rest of the trip, and closed her eyes to focus better on holding on.

After a few minutes of uncomfortable jostling and feeling her short hair getting ruffled by the wind, she felt a sense of confusion and concern that took her a moment to realize was coming from someone else. Purple's mental voice spoke in her mind. [Why can't I sense Carlos? My bond with him isn't working.]

Amber took a few seconds to compose herself before replying. [He died. He should respawn in about an hour.] She tried not to think about the possibility that Carlos's otherworldly origin might somehow prevent him from respawning.

[Oh.] The confusion that infused Purple's mental voice faded, replaced with uncertainty and curiosity. [How? Shouldn't your guards have protected him?]

Amber explained about the confrontation with Jamar Tostral, the stampede, and how Carlos had gotten trampled, and then a question of her own occurred to her. [Your grammar is much better than before. Have you been practicing?]

[I made my own comprehension aid. It's helped you and Carlos so much, and I thought it should be useful for me too.]

Amber would have blinked if her eyes weren't already closed. [Oh! Yes, I'm sure it will be very useful for you.] She contemplated this news, mulling it over. It was a nice distraction from thinking about what had happened, and how uncomfortable being carried on an armored person's back was. [That's your second soul structure, right? Have you made a third? And what is it?]

[Yes, it is my second. I have not yet made a third. Gathering the mana for it is going slowly. The treasury's wards don't let much mana flow through.] Purple paused for a moment. [...Also, I am uncertain what it should be. Many of your soul structures would not make sense for me as a dungeon core, and would not have synergy with my bond making structure.]

[Well, you could at least make an introspector and mana redistributor. Those have been surprisingly useful for us, and they naturally have synergy with everything.] Amber smiled and shook her head slightly on Lorvan's back, remembering how doubtful she had been about those two structures when Carlos first explained them to her. Looking back on it now, she could scarcely imagine coming as far as they had without them. Instead of knowing exactly which synergies were still inactive, they would be fumbling blindly, trying solutions that they weren't even sure were aimed at the correct problems. And that was barely even the start of the list of ways those two soul structures had proven their value!

Purple sent a pulse of agreement. [I have been considering that already, and it seems sound. That would still leave six more that I don't know what to make, though.]

Amber shifted a little, trying to find a less uncomfortable position while keeping her grip secure. [Well, most people choose soul structures to make them better at the things they do the most. So, maybe something to improve your traps?] She hesitated, and frowned as a potential issue came to mind. [Uh, actually, I don't know if the limits are the same for dungeon cores or not. Better make that introspector and use it to find out.]

[Good point. Introspector will be next.] A new surge of uncertainty came over the telepathic bond. [I... don't know if I will still need traps. Simply staying here in this treasury... I still feel fatigued and weak, but I am recovering steadily, and I feel more safe and secure than I have ever been. It is... relaxing.]

[Good. I'm glad you're safe. If you don't need traps, then... I don't know. I'll have to think about it. Maybe Carlos will have some ideas.] Amber firmly suppressed and set aside the doubts and fears that thinking about Carlos brought back to mind again. If he respawned at the Adventurer's Haven, as she hoped for and thought was most likely, then it would all be fine. If not, then that was a problem to figure out later.

Ignorant of her doubts, Purple replied with confidence. [Yes, that makes sense. He designed your soul plan very well, and likely will have similarly good advice for mine. I will ask him. Thank you.]

Purple's attention lapsed, and Amber was left alone with her thoughts and the discomfort of lying on hard armor and being frequently jostled. She noticed the jostling had actually settled down a fair bit, though, and opened her eyes to take a look. They were out of the forest, finally, and charging across the open plains at great speed. The walls of Dramos were in sight and rapidly approaching, lit from the side by the sun as it neared the horizon.

Perhaps a minute later, maybe less, Lorvan abruptly straightened his posture and halted right outside the main gate. Amber grunted as the sudden stop made her inertia momentarily crush her against his back, but the pressure quickly eased, and she had to tighten her grip to avoid falling off backwards flat on her back. Her position stabilized again, and her eyes widened in surprise. So many times in her childhood, she had reacted to catch something, or to recover from a stumble, just barely too late. The instant she'd realized she might start falling, she had expected to find herself reaching for Lorvan's shoulders right as they moved out of her grasp as she fell. Had her reflex improver sped up her reaction to do that? Knowledge confirming it with certainty sprang into her mind from her introspector.

Amber's musings were interrupted as Lorvan concluded a brief and impatient exchange with the gate guard, bent forward, and resumed running. Exclamations of surprise sounded out in their wake, as Lorvan deftly weaved past other pedestrians while moving so quickly that their passing blew a gust of wind at every bystander. They soon arrived at Dramos's city hall, where Lorvan gently set Amber down on her feet, and she unsteadily followed him through the door.

Amber regained her steady footing on the short walk through the building's interior hallways to reach the mayor's office, and she was composed and ready when Lorvan unceremoniously opened the door and barged in.

"Do you have an appoi- Oh!" Liafra cut off her indignant first question when she saw who was entering. She looked from Lorvan, to Amber, to Ordens at the rear of their little group, and frowned as she looked back at Amber. "Is something wrong? Where is Lord Carlos?"

"Dead, and not yet respawned." Amber kept her voice calm and level, but her hands were clenched into fists that tightened as she spoke.

Liafra sat frozen in shock for a moment, then pressed her lips together and put down the papers she was holding. "I see. One moment." She stood up, marched to the closed door of Mayor Stelras's room, and opened it. A fragment of a word came out through the suddenly open door before the speaker cut off and a pair of confused exclamations followed it.

Undaunted by the angry tone of the unfamiliar voice, Liafra spoke quickly and firmly. "My apology for the interruption, Mayor Stelras, but an important matter has just now come up."

"I rather doubt it is more important than my business." The woman seated in front of the mayor's desk glared over her shoulder at Liafra, not bothering to even turn anything but her head to face her. In response, Liafra just waved for Amber and her guards to come in.

Mayor Stelras took in their grimly serious expressions, schooled his face into a mask of calmness, and addressed the woman firmly. "We can resume this discussion another day. I must attend to this now."

"What?!" Her head snapped back to glare at Stelras. "You can't be serious!"

Lorvan stepped forward and knocked the end of his spear on the floor. "Leave. Or be removed."

She twisted in his direction again, hesitated, then finally huffed and stomped out, scowling. Liafra closed the door behind her, and silence rang for a moment before Stelras cleared his throat. "So. What is this about, Lady Amber? And where is Lord Carlos?"

Amber took a deep breath, and squared her shoulders. "A short time ago, Carlos was trampled to death by a stampede in the Wilds. The sound of the approaching stampede was blocked until it was so close we could barely react. I believe Esmorana and her party were behind it, and I want to call them to account for it."

Stelras sighed and shook his head. "I did not expect them to go that far. Very well. I will call for them, but first, how do you want this to go? They will not admit guilt without good reason, and any punishment that does not render them unable to interfere again might just provoke them to try something even more extreme. And do you want to wait for Carlos to respawn first so you can confront them together?"

Amber nodded. "I considered that already, and I have some ideas, but I want your opinion and advice on my ideas first."

Sconter nodded cordially to the gate guard as he walked in from the Wilds. This close to the walls, the ground was hard packed, and he allowed his footsteps to make noise. The heavy breastplate he wore and the large axe strapped to his back would fool most people about his identity, and his face looked much more rough, scarred, and craggy than normal. He was confident no one would recognize him as Sconter by his appearance. Anyone who knew him and saw such a large man moving eerily silently might get suspicious based on that alone, however, so he made sure to sound like a man his size normally would.

As he walked towards the Adventurer's Haven, he listened to all the chatter of numerous conversations around him, sorting through it for anything that might be about Amber and her two extremely capable guards. After a few blocks, he caught a street vendor muttering angrily about "inconsiderate adventurers running too damn fast" while adjusting the layout of his goods. The vendor was holding a pile of several items against his chest with one hand, and carefully placing them one by one onto the stall.

Sconter approached the vendor and tipped his hat politely. "Excuse me sir, I think you said something about inconsiderate adventurers? What was that about?"

The vendor looked up at him briefly, but looked back down to focus on continuing to place his items even while he replied. "It wasn't about you, sir. I'm sorry if it sounded like that to you."

"No, no, don't worry." Sconter waved a hand at the vendor placatingly. "I'm just curious about whoever prompted your complaint, and how."

"Hmm?" The vendor didn't look up again. "Oh, sure. Two people in fancy armor ran through here almost like a dragon was chasing them a little bit ago. Fastest I've ever seen. The one in front was carrying someone on their back, too. They blew all my goods off my counter with how fast they were going."

Sconter looked at the array of small lightweight items laid out on the stall. It was a variety of mostly decorative rings, necklaces, and hair ornaments. Some of them had a little mana in them, but nothing major. He sensed substantially more mana in a cluster of things below the counter, probably in a more secure box that would only be shown to customers who asked for more valuable merchandise, but even those weren't much by his standards. He shrugged, picked out a tiny glass sculpture of a bird with a little clip that he could attach to his hat. "Ah. Thanks. How much for this thing?"

"Oh, the little bird? A perfect touch of nature's beauty to add to any garment. Seven copper."

"Sure." Sconter counted out seven coins and handed them over, then resumed walking while he clipped the little ornament onto his hat. He was not surprised that Amber had returned to Dramos sooner than him, but apparently she had been in a great hurry even once back in the city. Maybe she wanted to greet Carlos when he respawned and needed to move fast to get all the way back home in time?

He checked the teleportation building first. It was little more than a hut, really, and no one who actually lived in Dramos could cast the spell to teleport out through it, but it was the place to go if you wanted to request a teleporter to come pick you up (for a suitably high price, of course). And if some visitor happened to have mastered teleportation, well, that hut had a minor ritual circle that would make it easier and more efficient. If Amber needed to return to Dramos in order to teleport home, it was probably because she needed that hut to do it. He didn't sense any traces of a recent teleport there, though, and that was a major enough spell that it would not have faded in the mere fraction of an hour that might have passed since Amber's return.

The other likely possibility was that she needed an item that she had stored at the Adventurer's Haven, so he went there next. He didn't bother asking the barkeeper about her, and instead settled at a table in the common room and focused his attention on sensing mana three floors up, in the location he remembered her room was. He expected to sense traces of a recent teleport. Amber had had more than enough time to get here ahead of him, retrieve whatever item, and use it. Instead, he was surprised to sense Amber actually still there.

Both of her guards were there too, and all of them seemed to be simply... waiting. That was strange. What were they waiting for? Well, whatever it was, Sconter could wait too. It was about dinner time anyway. He absently ordered a meal, and slowly ate while continuing to sense Amber and her guards apparently doing nothing.

When something finally happened, it wasn't Amber or either of her guards. Several currents of mana from the environment outside spontaneously came together and combined, circling around the inn as the flow grew thicker. That thick current spiraled inwards rapidly, settling into a spot inside Amber's suite in just a few seconds, where it condensed into a stationary ball of mana and more currents from outside joined into it.

The ball elongated horizontally, quickly stabilizing in a very familiar shape: the flattened oval disc of a soul. A few final bits of mana flowed into it, and the newly reformed soul solidified. Sconter recognized that soul immediately. It was Carlos. But... That was impossible! Carlos should have respawned at his home, and his home was not in Dramos, and most certainly not in a room he was temporarily renting from an inn. His home was whatever manor or palace his noble house ruled from. ...Wasn't it?

Carlos... became aware. It felt similar to waking up, but with no internal sense of time having passed. Memories of agonizing pain echoed through his mind, but those sensations were mere phantoms. He remembered being trampled; remembered suffering as the blows of countless hooves and paws rained down on him, breaking bones and crushing him to death. The phantom pains faded, and he noticed he was completely numb. Or, actually, he couldn't feel his body at all. Not even proprioception was working. It was rather strange. He didn't remember ever not being able to tell where his own hands and feet were.

Just as that thought went through his mind, his senses returned. He felt the firm softness of a bed and blankets underneath him, and he knew his hands were by his sides and his legs were stretched out straight as he lay on the bed. He felt a breeze flow across him, caressing all over his skin, and shivered. He opened his eyes, and looked down at himself. Yep. Exactly as Amber had told him, he had respawned naked.

He shivered again, groaned, sat up, and walked over to the pack where he kept his spare clothes. He could sense Amber's soul nearby in the suite, and he very much wanted to find out what had happened, but that would just have to wait a minute. He should get dressed and comfortable first, and then catch up with Amber.