Andrew Rowe - Sufficiently Advanced Magic

Professor Meltlake shook her head. “While all nations on the continent do revere Selys, praise be to her name, most of our governments draft their own laws without direct guidance from the visages. Each of the largest nations — often colloquially referred to as the ‘Four Powers’ — do have some form of guidance from a patron visage. This generally comes in the form of occasional advice to the rulers or council. In Dalenos, Katashi and his priesthood directly control the rule of law. If there is a significant dispute, the priesthood can escalate the question to Katashi directly. He spends much of his time living directly among the people of the city in his grand cathedral.”

Another student stood up. “Does that mean that Dalenos is more important than the rest of our nations?”

Meltlake actually laughed. That was a rarity. “They’d certainly like us to think so. Historically, however, it’s more complicated than that. Five nations, including our own, used to have a visage that lived among them and helped govern in some capacity. While Dalenos would claim that their visage’s presence means that they’re the only ones who still deserve the honor, the rest of our governments tend to think we’ve just outgrown needing divine oversight. As for who is right?”

The professor shrugged. “That’s a question for the visages, not for me.”

The student sat down, a thoughtful expression on his face.

All I could think about was how glad I was that we didn’t have a visage watching over us all the time. One encounter with Katashi had been more than enough for my tastes.

Meltlake glanced around, presumably checking for more questions, and then continued after a few seconds. “Dalenos is the home to the Tortoise Spire. Of the six Shifting Spires, the Tortoise Spire is the least explored; mostly due to how difficult it is to earn the right to explore the tower for non-citizens. While all other nations allow travelers to explore their Shifting Spires for a modest fee, visiting the Tortoise Spire requires an application and interview process. This process can often take months, or even years. Thus any visit to the Tortoise Spire must be planned far in advance.”

“Next,” she waved her right hand, manifesting an expansive red cloud that stretched beneath both of the two existing ones, and even further out to the west, “Edria. Or, more formally, ‘West Edria’ and ‘East Edria’, though the distinction is falling apart these days. Edria is the single most powerful military force on the continent.”

She squeezed her hand, illuminating a flickering boundary between the two portions of Edria. “During the Six Years War, Edria invaded our bordering kingdom of Kelridge. At the time, Kelridge was a part of Dalenos. Dalenos’ queen was a Keldridge native. She remained in the nation during the invasion, refusing to surrender even when Edrian troops had surrounded her fortress. Along with her loyal retainers, she endured a full year of grueling siege, hoping that her allies from Valia or Caelford would push back the Edrian troops — but we never succeeded in dislodging them. They called her the Unbroken Queen.”

Meltlake shook her head. “Perhaps she would have withstood the siege even longer, but her people were starving. She was assassinated — and most believe it was by one of her own people. With her fall, Kelridge officially surrendered and became East Edria. Those who remained loyal to the Unbroken Queen maintained the house’s surname, Dalen, as a way of honoring her. Of course, the royal family of Dalenos still uses the same name as well.”

The professor pointed her hand again, causing the western border of Valia to glow. “With Kelridge conquered, Edria pushed further east, all the way to the Valian border, before finally ceasing their assault.”

I knew that story all too well — my great grandfather, Alaric Cadence, had defeated one of the invading army’s officers in single combat to end the war. I was sure that duel was more of a formality — they would not have ever agreed to the duel if they hadn’t wanted an excuse to stop the military push.

Edrian forces had been encamped in the bordering mountain range for months without being able to successfully push into Valian territory, and with winter rapidly approaching, the duel was a way to end the conflict in a way that saved face for both sides.

While some took this as a sign of Valia’s impregnable defenses, most of my family believed that Edria was simply biding their time for a better opportunity to strike.

After all, they’d already obtained what they truly wanted in the push.

The professor explained that next. “During the conquest of Kelridge, Edria became the first nation to control two of the Shifting Spires. Edria was built near the Hydra Spire, home of Orochi the God Hydra, and historically that had been their primary source of attunements. Kelridge was the home to the Phoenix Spire, the seat of Suzaku, the God Phoenix.”

Another student stood up — Lei, one of the few students I knew was from East Edria. “Professor, not to be disrespectful, but we do not refer to Suzaku as a phoenix — nor would we call Orochi a hydra, or even a god among them. They are distinct creatures.”

Meltlake nodded. “Ah, I was wondering if someone would bring that up. In Valia, Miss Zhang, we refer to each of the god beasts by their closest analogue among common monsters. It is merely a categorization tool, useful for our citizens to easily visualize and remember each of the towers. I understand that in East Edria, Suzaku remains a deep part of your culture, and that conflating it with an ordinary type of monster may come across as disrespectful. Please understand that no disrespect is intended — and we do teach more detailed information about each of the god beasts and their histories during the second year.”

Lei frowned, but she simply said, “Thank you, professor,” and sat back down. It was obvious she wanted to say more, but I think she was smart to leave the issue alone — I sincerely doubted that any further argument would accomplish anything.

I probably would have been more sympathetic if I thought of the god beasts as anything other than horrifying monsters of city-shattering power. I knew that East Edria thought of Suzaku as a positive force, more like how we treated the visages, but I’d never been raised to think of the god beasts that way. It was difficult to imagine a powerful monster being anything other than terrifying.

“Now,” Professor Meltlake continued, “Some of you have asked me why we still allow people from Edria to visit, in spite of the movements of Edrian troops along the border. The answer is that we are — most definitively — not at war. Troop movements are commonplace for both of our countries, and we have been at peace with Edria for decades. While we must remain vigilant, Edria has shown no sign of overt aggression.”

I heard some murmurs of disagreement among the class, but Meltlake didn’t stop talking. “I know that many of you are concerned, but our soldiers are well-trained, and we are quite prepared for any potential attack. Perhaps more importantly, Edria is still allowing our own citizens to visit them freely, including making the treks to both of their towers. Most military experts believe that Edria would cut off our access to their towers and expel our citizens before attempting any military action — initiating a war while we had capable attuned deep inside Edrian territory would be an extremely dangerous move.”

A few nods of agreement at that, but I wasn’t one of them. How many attuned could we possibly have visiting their towers? A couple dozen, maybe, if that? I was confident that twenty or thirty attuned loose in a warring nation would be a frustration, but I sincerely doubted they would be a sufficient threat to deter a war.