A Shuffling of Planets (The Chained Worlds Chronicles Book 3) Read online

  "Maybe I could stop by the old Principal's house and take a look at the maps. I am pretty sure I can identify at least three worlds. Maybe four if Diego's world is an Earth analog. I should be able to guess at the rough location of the portals and maybe figure out where she went."

  "I wanted to study them myself," started Sembling with a hint of enthusiasm. Obviously, he was distracting himself. "But the last month has been insane and the meetings with President Carlos have been time-consuming. Believe it or not, this is only the most horrible thing to happen this week."

  Carlos and I took a moment to glance around the city and take in the billowing smoke and distant screaming. The people of the city around us seemed to be taking in the events with rather haggard aplomb. After hearing Sembling I suppose it was understandable.

  "You have my most heartfelt sympathies," Carlos said as he took off his hat and pressed to his chest as he looked dejectedly at the ground. He looked very sincere. I smiled at him in admiration. He was way better at this people thing than I was. He was even better than Jeremy was. I gave him a covert thumbs up, which he dutifully ignored.

  "As long as I am in your world, your troubles are my troubles. I will do my best to defend it and keep such evil's away." That seemed a bit over the top but based on the teary glint in Semblings eyes, maybe it was just right.

  "I know you are simply a visitor, but I appreciate your sentiments. Perhaps while the Professor tries to decipher where... um, Lady Estella went he can find the way back to your own home."

  Wow, so that's how that charisma thing works. Cool but too much work.

  "In fact, since you have just arrived and have no home, you could stay in the old demon's den. Both of you. You too, Professor. I don't know where you are staying but it's unlikely to be as nice as the previous Principals home."

  Diego and Faramond were looking at each other doubtfully. It took me a moment to figure out what they were worrying about.

  "Ah, right. Durmont means Vanth. The Demon Lord that masqueraded as the Principal. Actually, he was also the previous Council Head." Diego looked at me blankly. Faramond knew most of the story so the vacant look left his eyes. Well, most of it. "I'll tell you about it later. It’s a story full of invading demon armies, mind control and heroic vanquishing of demon lords."

  "Really? That sounds incredible. We have a bit of a demon problem in our world too. How did you get rid of the Demon Lord?"

  "It wasn't too hard, it just took a little bit of ingenuity to make use of..." I paused a moment to look at the trail of the smoke caused by my anchor fragment and Sembling, who was looking on in interest. "You know, it has been a long day and I am feeling a bit tired. I'll tell you the story later at the old demon lair." I chuckled uncomfortably. I looked back at Durmont, "Could you send them with an escort? I have a few things to finish up before I try to decipher the portal locations."

  I had memorized the maps in the house but it was certainly easier to make sense of them when they were physically in front of them. There was also a chance that there was magic placed on them to link them together in a way I wouldn't be able to perceive. It was small but since I preferred to work with the physical maps, why not camp out there for a while. There was plenty of room and maid service.

  "I will send them off then," he gestured at the two grimly floating patrolmen that had followed Faramond. "While I appreciate you slaying the Hydra that was plaguing the woods, let us take the head off your hands. There is actually a reward for killing it. If you really want to keep it, we can have it preserved and mounted for you."

  "It's not dead," the fairy knight stated reluctantly.

  "What?"

  "It's only a single head," I interjected politely. "No doubt it stung more than a little but it will grow back in a few weeks. If it makes you feel any better, I doubt old Kregar will stay around the forest. I think you had sent a portion of your army over there."

  "A large portion," Durmont replied grimly. "Well enough then. They can certainly do more good in the city rather than chasing overgrown lizards through the woods." I gave him a disgruntled look. "Anyway, please don't disappear for another month. President Carlos said you are the preeminent expert and the magical and supernatural. I have been looking forward to discussing many things with you. You can leave the patrolman's ring with me. An ingenious method of bypassing the restrictions. It shouldn't theoretically work."

  I smiled and nodded while tossing him the ring. It was true that it shouldn't have strictly worked. I had a rather large magical energy reserve that I didn't presently use for much besides the occasional word, circle, and cantrip. You might say I was using a metaphysical lever combined with a tad of brute force. I mean they were mass produced trinkets, what did he expect?

  I continued to smile at Durmont's words until I realized I was also the only expert Carlos had. All the other mages and magical experts had gone underground after they had basically botched a worldwide mind control ritual intended to hide their existence. My expression gradually faded a bit.

  "Also, there is a dinner we are having in honor of our new ambassador. You are, of course, invited." He looked at Faramond and then Diego. "You too. Its formal, but there will be music and food. Hopefully, you won't find it too dull. With half the council dead it's more important than ever to work on our ties to one another's worlds."

  My smile froze. How awkward. Does that mean it would be inappropriate to invite Maribel?

  Chapter 7

  I put my feet up and rested my head back on the chair as I looked out into the evening sky. A cozy fire was crackling away in the fireplace. Of course, the entire wall was missing, so the room had a bit of a breeze, however to scenery from our floor was exquisite. Even the smoke and fire that could be seen against the evening sky looked gorgeous. The particulates and odd chemicals combined to add a reddish hue to the sunset.

  "Derek?" A hesitant voice called out from the bedroom opposite mine. "Is it over?"

  "Is what over," I asked as I reached over and poked the fire with an iron rod to stir it up. When I had time, I should develop my pyrokinesis. While I was proud of my breed it was a bit embarrassing sometimes to just have my lighter cantrip. It was my first spell and I had created myself, but it was distinctly underwhelming. I just had so little free time.

  "The explosions!" Beth's shrill voice exclaimed. "There was an explosion and the wall was simply gone!"

  Looking out at the opening I nodded silently. Yes, it certainly was. We were lucky that Beth wasn't in the way or I would have had to figure out how to reconstitute her from blood vapor. "Nothing to worry about, just a little feedback from a portal that opened up in the city. It shouldn't happen again."

  It certainly shouldn't, considering the anchor shard was gone. I glanced at the hole in the floor. Fortunately, the regeneration circle was undamaged. With a groan, I stood up, walked over and stood in the center.

  "You can come out now. It is safe." I stretched out my hand. More to help me visualize the process than anything else. Injecting a bit of energy into the circle I felt arcane energies rotate around me as the circle came to life. "Oh, that feels better."

  Although the flesh was no longer raw and bleeding, my own regeneration would have taken a couple of days to reform the shoulder and arm. Within seconds of activating the circle, motion was detectable under my robe as the shoulder reformed and then budded an arm. Several minutes later a rather underdeveloped hand poked from the sleeve and visibly bulked up. Ten minutes from the beginning I examined my hand and nodded. It was indistinguishable from the original.

  "What was that? Did you get hurt," Beth asked almost uncomprehending. She had cautiously crept out and had witnessed the end of the healing. I could understand her point of view. My flesh was several magnitudes stronger than hers, even after she had undergone the Academy's method to transform the mage apprentices into supernatural entities.

  "Just a flesh wound," I reassured her. Sighing in relief I wriggled my fingers. The method I had used to numb my pain
had worn off and although my own regeneration ensured I didn't have open wounds I was still missing almost a sixth of my body mass. It ached in ways I prefer to avoid. "I was stuck in the same portal accident. It all turned out well."

  My senses detected the dimensional fabric around me was unstable. There was no anchor fragment in proximity to me. There was no fragment even in the same dimension. It took a constant low level of concentration to keep the forces in balance and prevent the primary anchor stone from hurling itself through the two portals, half a world and straight at me.

  "I'll have to leave for a few days though," I said as I moved out of the circle to the missing wall. What a great view.

  Naturally, this would be undesirable. Although I had used this as a last-ditch weapon it was more luck than skill that allowed me to survive the consequences of having several tons of indestructible stone hurled at me at a significant fraction of the speed of light. Even the tiny fragment previously embedded in the hearth had been a few inches from killing me. If it wasn't for the peculiarities of the anchor rune that resisted large areas of devastation there's a chance that an area the size of a state would have disappeared.

  "Leave? What about the wall?" Beth said with impending panic. "What about the room?"

  "The rooms fine," I snorted. "Mostly. Bring me the psionic crystals. Maribel dragged me out before I could grab them."

  Holding them I drew on them. They could store energy but you couldn't withdraw it back into the body. Not like similar items created for storing arcane energy. I hadn't had a chance to recover yet so I pulled out some of the power and activated a bit of telekinesis.

  "I'll take care of the wall," I said as I drew the loose rubble from the floor and directed it towards the wall. It was like a puzzle. With missing pieces. "Darn it, missing a few bits."

  We were missing more than a few pieces. I leaned out of the hole in the wall and did my best to pull up what rubble I could see from the ground below. I could see a few students turn from looking at the fire and smoke in the distance to looking in askance to the rubble floating upward. I ignored them and did my best to piece together the bits. Frowning I noted some gaps.

  Shrugging, I stretched out both hands and draw on my energies. "Repair." Cracks and seams merged into a mostly intact wall. Or at least a few feet of it did. This would take more than a few applications.

  After a dozen castings, I had the wall and window complete enough that I did not have to support it with my psionics. After two dozen I was getting a bit low on magical energy reserves but it was mostly complete.

  "Done!" I lowered my arms and said with satisfaction.

  "Well... it's better," Beth said somewhat skeptically. I looked at her and frowned.

  "It's only a cantrip," I replied defensively. A few holes were left where the puzzle pieces were simply missing or insufficient to complete the repairs. There were a half dozen fist-sized craters and most of the window frame was still missing. Still, compared to a missing wall I was pretty satisfied with the results.

  "Have a carpenter," I paused in thought. "Or a mason. Have whoever you need come and fix the rest. I'll leave in the morning but I should be back in a few days."

  "Can you show me how to cast the spells," Beth sighed longingly while staring at the reassembled wall.

  "When I come back," I nodded to her. "If you kept on the schedule you should be almost ready for it. You're already a year ahead of your fellow students."

  "You said that’s because they purposefully cripple their students' progress."

  I didn't reply. She was right.

  Studiously ignoring her, I settled myself into my second favorite armchair in the multiverse and pulled the book for the fourth semester out of the enchanted pouch.

  The first spell of the night was Protection. It took a few hours to get my head around the spell. Afterward, I was a bit disappointed. It was a physical force field. Inexpensive as far as energy went but not very strong. Probably twice as sturdy as Beth presently was. This meant it was perfect for a student, however it was a bit weak compared to my psionic fields. It did add a bit of resistance to direct magical effects such as mind control, petrification, and paralysis... but not much.

  Well, it was good practice and would be excellent for Beth. She could use it almost continuously and the exercise would help expand her reserves. Putting it out of my mind I went on to the next spell. Stun.

  This was perhaps the first offensive spell students learned. In keeping with the spirit of the Accord, it didn't actually do much damage, while it allowed the student to practice the theory other more destructive spells were based on. It was a magical taser.

  Cast on a baseline mortal it would paralyze them for an hour. On minor magical creatures, it might knock them on their butt and make them a bit slow to react for a few seconds. Anything greater than that might jerk away from it, more from being startled than any real effect.

  The third spell was Sleep. It was simple as its name. Its target would fall asleep. It had similar limits as Stun. It was very effective on mortals and for minor entities would make them groggy for a few minutes. No real effect on greater creatures unless they actually relax into it. Like taking a mild sedative. That does sound a bit more humane than tazing the humans. Not as fun though.

  The last spell of the semester made me grin. Counterspell. This was what those assassins had prepared in their rings. With this, I could actually confront mages without relying solely on my inherent resistance. I closed the book and slowly set it down as I stared into the fireplace.

  Then I frowned. The fire had turned off. I was about to wave my hand to reactivate the magic when I glanced outside. It wasn't quite morning yet but it was very close. With a huff, I stood up.

  Beth had gone to sleep on the couch under a cozy looking quilt. Holographic light danced above her active terminal. Glancing at images, it appeared to be an inventory from a side business she had going on. I kind of missed having the terminal, but since Durmont had taken mine I only had the one Beth had. Considering it was her only contact between her brother I couldn't take it away from her. Besides, if I did then I would be stuck answering his calls.

  I carried Beth into her room and tucked her into bed. I suppose I should have helped develop her clairvoyance and danger sense by attacking her in her sleep but she looked so peaceful. Also, the few human development books I read mentioned that this could cause trust issues. I think that may be one of the points where Maribel is having issues with her own pets.

  I nodded in self-satisfaction. If I could subtly get other people to attack her it would be far better for our relationship. I just needed to find someone scary but mostly ineffective. I wondered if they had attack clowns in this dimension.

  Thinking of ways to help Beth, I drifted off to sleep.

  It was late morning when I got up. Stretching my arms, I walked into the kitchen. Beth had gotten more food as well as a large storage box. Opening it up I saw a large array of food such as bread, roast chicken and several condiments. It even had a large tray of ice. I poked around it in fascination. I didn't exude any chill until I actually touched it.

  Distracted by this phenomenon I lifted up the chest and examined the ward engraved on the bottom. Temporal stasis ward. Ingenious. Too weak for combat and limited to inanimate objects, not in contact with an active aura. Neat.

  An hour later I realized I hadn't put down the chest yet or eaten. I shook my head. I had stopped by the magic shops but had neglected any other shops. In a society where magic was so pervasive, I should have known that such things would be sold everywhere. I definitely should have browsed the furniture shops, the general retail shops, the clothing shops. Well, maybe not the clothing shops.

  Finally pulling the food out I mulled over my discovery. Although it may not be practical to reverse engineer oral spells, I was good enough with wards and circles that I could reverse engineer most of them given enough time. Even if I didn't use it much these days, I was an excellent hand at alchemy. Since the
ingredients used in the ink, wax and other reagents were a large part of wards and circles I was practically born for such work.

  Enthusiastically slapping together a few large sandwiches and cleaning up with a spell, I was about to charge into the city to boldly explore the wards and circles engraved on the buildings and statuary. Who cares if the spells were restricted and the circles and wards only taught to apprentices? I would wrestle their arcane knowledge from their stingy grip and swallow it whole! At the door, I paused mid-bite.

  I didn't have time for this. I didn't have time to do much of anything. There was so much I wanted to do. So many things to research but I had so many other things to do and my commitments were getting rather tiresome. When did I get so stretched out?

  I closed the door and went back inside. I mean I was still young, with centuries before I even reached adulthood. There was time to do it all, I just needed to manage it a bit better. Still, first thing first. I needed to gather more anchor shards before I lost my balance with the dimension forces and the anchor stone swept through two dimensions to crush me.

  Moving to the center of the room I felt for that force that bound me. It was like phantasmal chains that kept me from going in any direction except one. With a grimace I let my grip on this plane go and found myself tearing through space, constricted and blended, then poured into the eye of eternity as energies twisted through space. As always, it was excruciating.

  At least three eternities later I came to myself. I was back in the crater, collapsed against the chunk of rock that made up the main body of the anchor stone. Per my previous experience, the rough sides made an uncomfortable shelter. I glanced above me at the corner where the flat part of the stone began. I knew if I stood up and looked at it from the side it would be recognizable as pavement.

  It used to be part of some random alleyway until an ancient evil dragon made it part of my prison. It only became this fragmented piece after I had used it to kill a demon lord. Unfortunately, I knew it wouldn't stick. Demons and gods are hard to kill forever.