Chapter 242: Strong Foundations (1/2)

By the time the team had spent almost a week in the camp of the former cultists, Belinda and Jason were assisting Clive almost full time in the basement, in the room with the large magical plate set into the floor. They were digging through the texts that Knowledge had given to Jason, finding anything that might be of value to Clive. They slowly gained a better idea of what it was they were looking at and how it might be useful.

“It’s clear that the goddess foresaw what we would need and prepared accordingly,” Clive said. “Without all this, we would have no chance of figuring out what was happening.”

“And how is that going, exactly?” Jason asked. “I’ll admit that I’ve learned more than I thought possible about astral magic in the last week, but what you’re looking at is way past my comprehension level.”

“It’s past mine,” Clive said. “We’re talking about principles of astral magic that go beyond anything we’ve managed to uncover in this world. It’s like everything I learned prior to accessing these books was stone tools and I’ve just discovered how to make steel.”

“How long until you figure it out, then?” Belinda asked.

“Oh, I think I had it yesterday,” Clive said. “I’m just trying to make sure I’m not missing something and completely wrong. Given how many new ideas I’m working with, I could have easily made a simple mistake that put my entire conception way off.”

“You figured it out yesterday and didn’t tell us? Jason asked.

“I wasn’t going to put forward any ideas until I was confident in them. It’s been my experience that making tentative proclamations is more trouble than it’s worth. People have a habit of believe the thing they like over the thing supported by the evidence, so I don’t like to make statements I’m not confident in.”

“That’s fair,” Jason said.

“There is one thing I’m certain about,” Clive said. “Landemere Vane made this plate.”

Jason looked down at the large plate in the floor.

“You’re sure?” he asked. “That means he was working on this before any of us knew this astral space even existed.”

“I’m sure,” Clive said. “Ritual magic is more than cold, studious calculation. There’s an artistry to it, and everyone has their own style. Even you two. Belinda’s magic is bold and inventive. Yours is clever, but overcomplicated. Landemere had his own style too.”

“And you knew it well enough to recognise now?” Jason asked. “Also, what do you mean, overcomplicated?”

Clive chuckled.

“Jason, it’s like you don’t trust simple solutions.”

“That sounds about right,” Belinda said.

“I do recognise Landemere’s style,” Clive said. “He and I were the astral magic specialists at Greenstone’s Magic Society. He was very reclusive, and secretive about his work. For reasons that have now become rather obvious. When he required assistance, though, I was always the one he turned to. From what little I saw of his work, I could tell it was incredibly advanced, and more than once I urged him to share it with the academic community.”

“I bet he loved that idea,” Jason said.

“He wasn’t receptive, no,” Clive said. “Of course, now I understand that he wasn’t as brilliantly innovative as I thought. He was good, don’t get me wrong, but he was working with what the Builder cult gave him, clearly.”

“It also means that he had this thing finished before I killed him,” Jason said. “That was months before Emir arrived here in Greenstone, let alone revealed the astral space. It means that the Builder cult knew about the astral space and the fact that someone was getting ready to open it up.”

“All they needed was for Emir to collect the pieces of the key and open it up,” Clive said. “For all we know, the person who commissioned him in the first place could be a Builder cultist.”

“That’s a scary thought,” Jason said. “A diamond-rank Builder cultist, having us all dance in the palm of his hand. I don’t think that’s what’s happening, though.”

“Why not?” Belinda asked.

“If the Builder cult had us over that much of a barrel,” Jason said, “they wouldn’t have suffered so many setbacks. They would have been much more on top of things.”

The team were gathered together in the lounge room of the cloud house. Everyone was sitting, except for Clive.

“It’s a beacon,” Clive said. “The cultists who came into this astral space with the rest of us didn’t need to do much more than bring it in here and set it up. That much only took the most basic knowledge of ritual magic. All they needed was someone with basic skills to perform a series of activation rituals. Very simple, just once every few days for about a month until the beacon locked itself into place, dimensionally speaking. After that, all the heavy magic takes places on our world.”

“To do what, exactly?” Humphrey asked.

“To create a tunnel. Or a bridge, whatever you want to call it. The point is that it connects our world to this astral space, bypassing the already established entrance.”

“That also means bypassing its restrictions,” Belinda added. “Including the upper limit on rank.”

“You’re saying more cultists are coming?” Neil said

“Yes,” Clive said. “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

“When?” Sophie asked.

“At least a month until the tunnel is complete,” Clive said. “It could be two months or more, but definitely less than three. Now that I know what I’m looking for, I used the knowledge in Jason’s books to improvise some tests, but the results are as imprecise as that suggests.”

“Can we leave before it opens?” Neil asked. “Find a way to get the regular portals back open and bring in reinforcements?”

“This tunnel they’re building is responsible for the changes in the magical density,” Clive said. “It’s affecting the dimensional membrane between this astral space and the deep astral. On the bright side, it means that it won’t keep escalating until the astral space breaks down. Less fortunate is the fact that we can’t use the regular portals until the ambient magic here reaches a new stable point. My best guess is that won’t be until some time after this tunnel has opened and closed again and the magic has had time to settle. At that point I can probably reconfigure the portals to the new level of magic and make them operable again.”

“Probably?” Neil asked.

“If you have a more reliable way out of here, speak up,” Clive told him.

“What if we destroy the plate?” Sophie asked. “Would that stop them from getting here?”

“Sadly not,” Clive said. “The beacon’s job was done before we ever arrived. Once they had it’s dimensional location on the other side, they would have been able to start working. They will have been at this for months already.”