Twenty Three
Astralode's Tower, Myst City
It was obvious that powerful magic was present as Umbra was led towards the tower of Marin's teacher, Myst City's Chronicler and Archmage, Astralode.
The shining stone tower shifted near the top, the bricks reassembling into different combinations as if in the grasp of an inquisitive child. Magic danced between the runic bricks; the entire cylindrical tower was awash in the golden glow of Astralode's enchantments.
Umbra was mesmerized by the sorcery in front of him, the bricks were akin to animated puzzle pieces.
He could feel the refreshing mana in the air so foreign to the foul mana permeating in the Heartless Swamp, it was pure untainted arcane power. He had noticed a similar but weaker power in Marin's own sorcery.
It gave a warming serenity as Umbra swirled the lingering airborne magic with a dirty finger.
"Hurry up, Umbra!" Marin called over as she stood at a magical stone gateway.
Umbra was eager to see the source of all this power.
Recognizing Marin, the gateway opened as the bricks faded away like dust in a breeze.
The exposed hallway was polished to a mirror shine, floor tiles checkered to resemble a giant chess board. Floating candelabras illuminated the pristine halls.
Umbra was half expecting to see giant stone chess pieces against opposing walls, instead seeing brightly colored sprawling tapestries.
He stared up at the twinkling stories-tall crystal chandelier levitating near the high ceiling.
He stepped forward with a muddy boot and was immediately accosted by a floating white satin glove furiously cleaning his mess.
What a strange familiar he thought.
Marin pointed to the vast chandelier. "Look closer."
Umbra strained but was dumbstruck by the sight.
Hundreds of satin glove familiars were frantically cleaning each and every diamond in the colossal chandelier. It was a veritable army equipped with feather dusters, shammy cloths and soap.
Umbra had never seen so many familiars active at once, it was like watching an ant colony hard at work. This was certainly far beyond anything Lady Crow was able to conjure in her wildest dreams.
Marin was striding nonchalantly to a marble spiral staircase that descended to meet her.
She had seen this enchanted bastion every day since she had been adopted by the eccentric Archmage and given her own living quarters in the upper floors.
I guess three years of majesty can lose its lustre Umbra thought as he raced to catch up to Marin, the cleaning glove following him closely to catch every spec of mud that fell loose from his steps.
Umbra was eager now more than ever to meet Marin's surrogate father, this enigmatic ageless wizard, a centuries-old living relic.
A strange inert helper glove lay on the foot of the banister, snoring like a sleeping pup. It perked up and floated over to Marin as she cradled it like one would a cherished pet.
Marin chuckled. "And here is my own familiar, Lefty." She held out the enchanted glove that was by now already snoozing in her arms.
It was identical in appearance, but behaved completely different to Astralode's army of restless cleaners, but charming in its own way.
Umbra stared at Lefty. "Is it a pet?" he inquired, confused.
Marin blushed, hiding behind a stray lock of her blonde hair. "It was supposed to be a helper, but well..." she trailed off, a little embarrassed of her ineptitude as a conjuror.
Umbra was impressed nonetheless, he hadn't bothered to create his own familiar, he was disgusted enough by Cassius lingering around already.
Umbra noticed the dimensions of the stairs were strange, the towering height seemed to be scaled to its summit in just three steps.
Once again Marin was accustomed to and unfazed by the wondrous enchantment all around her. "As a prank once he made the stairs go on for hours. I had tried his personal arcane-brewed tea and had been astral projecting uncontrollably for days," Marin chuckled as she remembered of her own hijinks.
The way forward was impeded by a door of long splintered crystals floating in unison to form a tight barrier. Like everything else it was thick with Astralode's golden mana.
Marin cleared her throat. "Astralode is the king of the stars and I am humbled in his majesty," she recited, annoyed by the old wizard's humorous password.
A childish chuckle followed the fragments scattering to form the crystalline door into an endless library.
And endless it seemed, far bigger than the logical size of the floor space afforded by the tower. Reality itself had been folded and stretched to suit the needs of the vast collection.
The shelves were multiple stories tall, crammed full of every scrap of information the aged Archmage had collected over his eight centuries of life. He had certainly amassed most of the books and scrolls of Turbulus and probably from even further.
The shelves were illuminated by floating candelabras and tirelessly tended to by an army of floating helper gloves armed with cleaning tools.
Maleficae by contrast committed all knowledge to memory in special mental archives. They were paranoid and secretive by nature and guarded their knowledge zealously.
Lady Crow only had a dozen or so books in her shack, that was nothing compared to the galaxy of books and scrolls that lay before Umbra now.
"Jeeves!" Marin called out.
Suddenly shreds of inscribed paper blew in on a wind restructuring into a paper caricature folded to resemble a butler.
The new creation bowed courteously, the magic ink on its pages glistened that same golden hue. "Miss Marin and guest, how can I help you?"
"Where is Astralode?" Umbra blurted out; his anticipation overwhelming.
"Master is in the Inquisitor's archive, the ancient cartography chamber, the nautical reference section..." it paused as it traced its creator's presence. "and the children's aisle."
Umbra's jaw dropped. "How can he be in four places at once?" then he recalled Marin mentioning how her master brewed tea to help with astral projection.
"Call them together and meet us here," Marin instructed Jeeves confidently.
The paper creation bowed courteously and spirited away its paper scraps to relay the message to its master.
Later in the Map Room...
Umbra and Marin sat waiting at a round navigation table covered with sprawling maps of various parts of Turbulus and a few strange blueprints.
Umbra squinted at one diagram trying to make out the script but it was written in an ancient Turbulic language, he did recognize the picture however.
A schematic for an arcane golem with a scale measuring eight feet tall caught his interest.
Is that one of his toys? Umbra wondered.
Marin craned her head to gaze at the diagram. Unlike Umbra, Marin's mentor had taught her most of the local and ancient languages of the land.
Lady Crow had only taught Umbra the bare minimum, other knowledge was hoarded by his spiteful former master. But Umbra did know demonic tongue.
Astralode hadn't taught Marin that foul language, deeming it unnecessary.
Marin pointed at the picture, guiding Umbra's finger softly. "That is a stone golem, you can see the runes there that give it life and the restraining bracers to keep it obedient."
She smiled at Umbra, so relieved to be in his presence again. "These gauntlets can cast a spell to incapacitate even the strongest targets," she continued, proud of Astralode's genius.
"So, a glorified prison guard?" Umbra scoffed.
Marin smirked. "Pretty much." Her hand wandered onto Umbra's knee subconsciously.
"Am I interrupting something?" an old man's voice rang out. Marin snatched back her hand and averted her gaze away from Umbra's.
Astralode, Archmage and Chronicler stood before them.
He grasped a long enchanted staff covered in enchantments to steady himself. Regardless, Astralode looked middle-aged despite being over eight hundred years old. His thin gray streak of a beard hung to his waist and an oversized wide brimmed royal blue hat sat on his head to match his similarly colored robes.
Umbra spied a golden magical cuff peering out from under one sleeve. He recognized immediately as a magical lock to tie a sorcerer to one place.
Astralode peered at Umbra with his gray-blue wizened eyes.
Umbra was expecting the same arrogant stare of his own ornery instructor. Instead Astralode returned a warm smile and held out his arms for a long hug from Marin.
"Old man!" Marin beamed referring to an amiable nickname she gave her teacher.
"Little sprout," Astralode replied with a warm smile. Their relationship was akin to that of a father and daughter.
Astralode approached Umbra excitedly. "And you must be Marin's childhood friend," he whispered audibly in Umbra's ear: "She always talks about you."
Marin blushed, embarrassed by her jesting mentor.
"I... uh, nice to meet you," Umbra replied awkwardly, unaccustomed to such hospitality.
Like a courteous magician, Astralode didn't violate Umbra's privacy by peering into his thoughts.
He motioned for them to sit.
A levitating pot of tea complete with three cups conjured itself in front of Astralode. "This special tea is always your favorite flavor," he explained as a steaming cup floated over to Umbra.
It smelled just like the tea his mother brewed in his childhood.
Umbra cut to the chase: "I hear you can enhance magical skill and purify corruption," Umbra pressed, secretly hoping to remove his demonic brand and hopefully escape his impending doom.
Marin sipped her tea slowly as she watched the exchange.
Astralode leaned back in his chair and stroked his beard thoughtfully.
A well-meaning helper glove tidied the clutter on the table and put coasters under the cups, giving a thumbs up gesture and then floating off.
"I do sense a lot of untapped strength in you. Someone powerful has put barriers on your power however," Astralode explained as he closed his eyes to focus his divination.
Umbra knew immediately, only Lady Crow would be slimy enough to tamper with his powers, though he did not know how long ago she had done this to limit him.
"A purification ritual will set you right again, son." Astralode stood up energetically. "To the font of renewal!"
Astralode had made the process seem easy as he marched forth.
"Teacher!" Marin called out.
Astralode paused.
"The font is that way. You moved it last week, remember?" Marin pointed in the opposite direction.
"Oops, now I remember," he chirped, red-faced.
I have a bad feeling this could go wrong Umbra worried.