Andrew Rowe - Sufficiently Advanced Magic

Reason for Entering Tower: Accompanying multi-national climber force for confidential research: Code Q-STN.

There was a bit more info on there, but nothing nearly as interesting as her reason for going in there. I’d have to see if I could find out more about that research project.

I showed Jin that page. He just said, “Interesting,” and went back to his own reading.

I dug a little further, finding a list of the people who had accompanied her into the tower. Lawrence Gold, Rochelle Gold, Carter Bishop, Echion Valden, and one name that I actually recognized: Elora Theas.

That’s the Summoner that was feuding with Derek, and also the same Theas that was in the Council of Lords with my mother. Could she be the one who’s preventing Vera from being arrested? If she’s a council member, she’d probably have sufficient influence.

House Theas was an old family. They were one of the founding families of the city, much like House Hartian. I didn’t know how far their influence extended, but either she or one of her relatives was definitely a council member.

I pointed her out to Jin. He seemed more interested this time. “If House Theas is involved with whatever this research was, you’re going to be in for some trouble.”

I rubbed my temples. “More than I’m already in?”

“You’d be surprised. Still, we should dig into this more. I haven’t found anything of interest in this pile. I’ll go see if I can find anything on Elora Theas or that code name.”

I nodded, continuing to read more about Vera. I found references to her coming into the city with her brother — Aloras — so I’d been right on that regard.

More references to that secret project, but nothing concrete on what it was about, or if she had any sort of sponsors.

Jin sat back down a few minutes later with a new stack of papers. “Researcher informed me that we’re not authorized to know about that secret project, so she couldn’t help. She did point me at the files on Elora Theas, though.”

We dug through those. Elora Theas was a Lorian Heights graduate and long-time climber. There were records of dozens of visits she’d made to the Serpent Spire, as well as at records of her leaving the country to visit other spires. That meant she might have foreign attunements in addition to local ones.

Derek had accompanied her in many of the tower visits with earlier dates. Those seemed to have stopped… right before the time Elora had entered the tower with Vera.

Now that was interesting.

I’d known they had some sort of falling out. Could it have been directly connected to whatever this secret project was?

I’d have to tell Professor Orden about this; it seemed like a potentially significant lead.

I did have one final thing to look into before we left, though.

I returned the files that I’d been reading through to their proper places and walked back to Researcher. “Can you direct me to any files on Tristan Cadence?”

She grinned. “Of course! They’d be in Row 20-A.”

I withdrew the single file with a shaking hand.

Name: Tristan Cadence

Age: 17

Ethnicity: Valia

Attunements: None

Reason for Entering Tower: Judgment

And I read further.

Date of Entrance: 4-13-55

Date of Exit: Not Applicable

Status: Presumed Deceased

It hurt to see the words, even though they didn’t differ in any way from what I’d expected.

There were other pages in the file — old records from his schools, a record of his pre-Judgment practice test…which had been a rousing success.

He’d been brilliant, from everything I could see. Physically fit, amazing grades in all of his classes.

How had he failed?

There were no hints here. No signs of any conspiracy. No records pointing at secret projects or hidden agendas.

Just another ordinary seventeen year old, lost to the tower.

I set the files back in the box and walked back to Jin. “Let’s go.”

He set his own papers down. “I did find something else, actually.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“One of the records on Elora referenced her leaving an item at this facility for research. Could be connected to this secret project.”

I grinned. “Nice find. What is it?”

“Files called it the Jaden Box. Let’s go ask Researcher about it.”

We put Jin’s files back and moved back to the center of the room.

Researcher was floating in a cross-legged sitting position, and rotated toward us as we approached. “Oh, hello again! I trust you found everything you needed?”

Jin nodded. “For the most part, although I did find an unusual reference. What can you tell us about the Jaden Box?”

Researcher’s eyes did the creepy white thing again. “Jaden Box. Attributed to Wrynn Jaden, sorceress of the Pre-Attunement Period. Artifact demonstrates remarkable storage and summoning capabilities beyond the scale of all other known items. Deposited here by Elora Theas on 6-12-51. Research in progress.”

Jin nodded. “Is the box connected to this secret research project Q-STN?”

Researcher shook her head. “Unrelated. The box is simply a powerful item. It is not classified as secret.”

“What does it do, exactly?” Jin continued.

“The box is capable of storing items that appear to be too large to fit inside an extra-planar space. In addition, when an object is placed inside and a specific command word is used, it is capable of performing a summoning spell that will attempt to summon the person connected to the object.”

My eyes widened. “What are the restrictions on that?”

Researcher turned to me. “No known distance limitations. This summoning effect appears to be capable of bypassing most, if not all, anti-teleportation limitations. Lead Researcher Orden has placed an additional external seal on the box to prevent reckless tests, such as attempting to summon visages, which she deemed to have potentially catastrophic consequences.”

No distance limitations.

Could I summon Tristan with it?

I’d need an item strongly connected to him. I had a few things in my room that had belonged to him, but I wouldn’t want to risk the chance they’d fail. I was confident I could find something at home, though. Maybe even a brush that still had some of his hair?

It sounded so…easy. So much easier than trying to climb to the top of the tower.

Would it work if he was dead?

I’d need to find out more about this.

Researcher had mentioned Lead Researcher Orden, meaning Professor Orden was studying it.

I’d seen the box before. It had been in her drawer, and I’d marked down the few runes I could remember.

I scratched my chin. “Is the Jaden Box in this facility right now?”

Researcher nodded. “Yes, although access to the item is restricted to members of Lead Researcher Orden’s team.”

I raised the key that Orden gave me. “As it happens, we work for Professor Orden.”

Not strictly a lie, but I felt a little bad for the deception.

Jin gave me a raised eyebrow, but Researcher just beamed at me. “Of course! It’s in a box labeled Lyras Orden on row 15-C. Be advised to follow all of the instructions with the attached documentation. Also, the box is inside a safe. The safe code is 13-9-63.”

Sorry, Professor Orden. You were the one who encouraged me to break in here and take what I needed.

I found the box, Jin following close behind me. “Are you certain this is wise?”