Book 3 Ch 10: The Past

Michael expected to wake up as the vision ended, but instead he found himself pulled into yet another one, his mind barely having time to finish processing what he had learned from the previous one before he was sucked into the next.

…

In the dead of night Sylas walked around the spell apparatus they had spent the last several months constructing. It was not just a simple spell circle. Instead they’d built a dome and within that dome they’d dug out the bottom to create a perfect sphere within. The sphere was covered from end to end with runes, intersecting circles of powerful energies, and dozens of slots and indents for different reagents.

It hadn’t been his work alone, as thanks to the Emperor he now had access to dozens of lesser mages. They were competent enough at spellcraft and ritual to help him, but their true value would be when he was able to add their magicka to his own during the ritual itself. The Title he’d arrived with Lifeater let him consume their magicka and make it his own. He’d used it to build strength since he’d arrived, seeing from the start that magic would be the key to returning home. He hoped his wife could still love him in the form he was in. Hoped his daughter would recognize him by his manner if not his face.

He shook his head as he checked the fourth row of runes for the third time.

“You are close,” said a now-familiar voice from the ceiling.

Sylas looked up to see the Creature hanging from the ceiling. It was the same size it had always been, and crawled carefully along the smooth surface as it got nearer to him.

“Soon, we shall make it home.”

“Yes,” said Sylas, double-checking a rune his hand was resting on. Any excuse not to look at the horrid creature.

“The barrier has weakened more. The continued assasination attempts against you have been as much a boon as the increased resources from the Emperor,” the creature seemed to put a lot of emphasis on the word Emperor as it spoke.

“We may have been able to break through anyway,” replied Sylas. He wasn’t comfortable with the church’s reaction to what he was doing and he was even less comfortable with the emperor’s reaction. They’d already been on the decline with the arrival of takers like himself. The Titles and Deeds were a great boon to their people and the world, but few thought it was worth the price of their children and their promises that it would end with enough worship and devotion rung hollow. With the emperor coming down on them as well they may not even be a church soon. Though, that was for his benefit as well he supposed.

“Yes, but without weakening the gods it would take much more effort. You’d burn out before you could ever see your wife again.”

That or she’d die. She was safe when I left, but the conquerors have been weakening. Without the stability they provide…

He turned sharply as he heard a scratching noise and saw the Creature tinkering with a rune.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“The line was missing an indent here,” indicated the creature.

Sylas looked, but had difficulty noticing the change. “Don’t touch the apparatus. It needs to be perfect to work. For both of us.”

The creature shrugged. “Magic works based on your perception and focus here. It’s not as if I can influence your spell.”