Andrew Rowe - Sufficiently Advanced Magic

Three crystal chandeliers hung from a ceiling high above, each with a differently colored central crystal that bathed a section of the room with light. The way the lights overlapped made the room an effect that I imagined looked something like a rainbow. I wasn’t sure because I’d never actually seen a rainbow, but I understood the concept.

Pretty.

It was a fleeting thought, and one that was unusual for me, but the mixtures of lights pleased me in a visceral way. I shook my head to dismiss the thought. I had more important things to be thinking about.

I was standing on a plush red carpet, which covered a path with three branches. The left and right paths led to identical double-doors, tall and wooden. The central path led up a carpeted stairway.

The central chamber was huge. I was probably a hundred feet from the stairway or either of the other exits. Keras stood at the base of the stairs in a low stance, his hand on the hilt of his weapon. The unconscious boy was lying nearby. Four tall pillars reached toward the ceiling, and Vera was currently taking cover behind one of them.

I could see why. We were not alone.

At the top of the stairs was a figure in golden armor. He was at least seven feet tall, a crystalline sword held in his right hand. Feathered wings stretched from his back, flexing in the air, spanning a width greater than the figure’s height. A visible aura of scintillating light emanated from his body. His blonde hair was cut in a short military style, his face perfectly a sculpted image of masculine valor.

Katashi, the Visage of Valor, barred our path.

It could have been a trick. An illusion, a shape-shifting monster, a simulacrum. It didn’t matter. I wasn’t willing to risk confronting even the shadow of a god. I rushed to the same pillar Vera was standing behind.

“Might want to find a different spot, kid. We’re kind of making ourselves a target if we’re in the same place.”

Right. I’d just go right back out into the open… “Uh, maybe in a minute.” Maybe not. “What’d I miss?”

“Oh, you know, just a visage of the goddess appearing in a flash of fire and thunder. Nothing big.” Her voice was tense, despite the levity of her words.

“Any idea—”

The visage took a step forward. I felt the entire room vibrate as he moved. His presence hung like a shroud in the air, pushing me down and forcing the breath from my lungs. Vera and I braced ourselves against the nearby pillar.

Keras remained standing with no apparent difficulty, raising a hand to scratch his chin. “I would appreciate it if you’d stop that.”

“You are not welcome here, interloper.” Katashi waved his right hand toward Keras. I was barely able to discern the blur that appeared in the air as he made the gesture. Keras flew backward like he’d been hit by a train, slamming into one of the support pillars with an audible crack, and falling to the floor. I winced at the impact.

Keras picked himself up, dusting off his coat. It was only as he stepped forward that I saw thick cracks along the surface of the pillar where he’d struck.

How the…?

A collision with enough force to crack a pillar should have shattered a human’s bones into mush. I briefly considered the possibility that Keras was some sort of artificial construct made of a substance harder than stone, but he moved too quickly and smoothly for that explanation to be likely. Maybe he was protected by some sort of barrier…but that didn’t explain the damage to the pillar itself. Did he have some method of manipulating kinetic energy? I’d never heard of an attunement for that, but it wasn’t impossible.

I turned my head toward Vera. “You wouldn’t happen to have any way of protecting us, would you?”

She snorted. “Duck and hide, kid. Duck and hide.”

I ducked and hid.

Meanwhile, the visage had tilted his head to the side, confusion on his face. “How do you remain unharmed?”

Keras raised his gaze from his clothing to the visage before him. “Trade secret,” he replied. There was a moment of pause before he spoke again. “Are we done now?” His voice was exasperated. “Can we have a conversation?”

The visage stood a little taller, his expression dark. “Talk.”

“Thank you,” Keras said. “You are one of the ones they call visages, correct?”

Katashi gave the slightest nod. “Katashi.”

“They’ve been calling me Keras here. Does your goddess hear what you hear? Does she see what you see?”

The visage turned his head to the side. “I have no reason to answer that.”

Keras frowned. “I mean you and your people no harm. I was hoping to get a message through to your goddess.”

Katashi made a broad gesture, indicating the room. “You tear away pieces of a sacred place, then seek to speak to the goddess? Your insolence is astounding.”

“Was that a problem?” Keras scratched the back of his head, looking sheepish. “I was told that we could make the way up the tower any way we wanted.”

“Cutting through the walls to make your own entrances and exits is not a respectful method, outsider.”

They were talking now, which was good, and the pressure from Katashi’s…whatever he was doing…seemed to have lessened. I turned my eyes to the unconscious boy, still at the base of the stairs. If they resumed fighting, which seemed likely, he was extraordinarily vulnerable.

Speaking up now, with tensions high, was probably a terrible move. I didn’t really know what I was getting into here. Katashi kept calling Keras an interloper, and I wasn’t quite sure what that implied. Someone from outside the city? Or, thinking bigger, maybe someone from outside the continent? The latter was supposed to be impossible, given the continent-wide barrier that we had in place, but people didn’t usually break stone pillars when they collided, either.

Terrible move or not, it was probably my best chance of keeping that poor kid alive.

I stepped out from around the pillar, lowering my head to the carpet in supplication. It was a familiar gesture, one I’d done at shrines to the goddess a thousand times as a youth, though I’d fallen out of practice since Tristan’s disappearance. I’d never prayed directly to a visage, of course. I’d never seen a visage before, not even from a distance.

“Great Visage of Selys, forgive me for my insolence in speaking to you without permission. I was amidst my Judgment when I stumbled on these people, and beg your leave to take the unconscious child and continue in my tests.”

Katashi turned to me. I kept my eyes low, not daring to meet his gaze. “Your respect is a credit to your bloodline, scion of House Cadence. I will consider your request. Assist me and you may earn my blessing.”

I pressed my head further into the carpet. “Thank you, Great Visage. How may I assist you?”

I felt the pressure lift from my shoulders. Breath swam into my lungs. I lifted my head, noting that Katashi had turned back toward Keras.

The visage pointed at Keras. “Do not allow this one to escape.”

Oh, curse it all.

The last thing I wanted was to get involved in a battle between these two, at least one of which literally had deific levels of power.

Nevertheless, if I didn’t act at all, now I risked antagonizing the visage. That couldn’t possibly end well.

I was shaking as I stood up, unclipping the dueling cane from my belt. I looked at Vera. She shook her head at me vehemently.

I sighed, walking to take a position near the doorway on the left side of the room. I chose that exit because it was the furthest from where the combatants stood, meaning that it was the spot where I was least likely to be a victim of collateral damage. I tried to position myself in alignment with one of the pillars, so that it could also serve as a shield.