Ends of Magic

Nathan looked out over the wide ocean, marveling at how calm it was given the craziness of the last few hours. The clouds behind them were gray and frothy but bore none of the threatening weight they’d had before. Soft waves lapped at the hull and the only sign of the giant monster they’d just defeated were some bubbles welling up from the sea behind them.

“By the dawn’s light.” Aarl breathed out, clapping Stella on the shoulder. “That was strong magic.”

She grinned widely, but dipped her head towards the rest of them. “I couldn’t have won this battle on my own. Khachi’s magic of binding is beyond me, and Sarah’s class has shown her power. We couldn’t have held the ship without Aarl, and Nathan…” She trailed off, gesturing vaguely in his direction. “You carried the weight of this battle on your antimagic.”

He snorted lightly. “I didn’t do much against the hydra eel.”

She rolled her eyes. “You won the fight against the Maelstrom. They would have lashed us from afar with magic and storm without you.”

“Indeed.” Eolinne broke in, finally standing from the captain's chair she’d sat in for the entire battle. “Ours would have been a song of driftwood and red waters if you hadn’t called them to battle.” She cocked her head at Nathan. “How did you find the Maelstrom ship? They are invisible inside their own storms.” She hesitated. “Unless this question has a valuable answer, of course.”

“It was in the air. Flying.” Nathan said, smiling wryly. “The ship had enchantments that let the storm mages keep it aloft. It was also invisible and behind stealth skills.” He shrugged. “But I’ve dealt with that before.”

Eolinne’s lips parted. Nathan had never seen her at a loss for words before, but she was now. She gazed off into the distance, then her eyes refocused on him. “And how far were they, for you to detect them?”

“Some distance. About three or so miles and a thousand feet in the air.” Nathan’s response was even, and he watched for her reaction.

The only response he got was a slightly raised eyebrow and an acknowledging nod. Then she clasped her hands together and addressed all of the Heirs. “You have won a victory worthy of a song, if any bards should hear of it.” She gave a private smile, then continued. “If a Maelstrom ship has failed to kill us, no others will try. The Maestro will have harsh words for Badud for sending one of his students to their death.”

She gestured back towards the body of the ship, and the luxury accommodations within. “We have much distance to travel before we reach the waters of Keihona, so let us celebrate our victory.”

–

The Heirs took the next couple of weeks easy. They kept up their training but otherwise filled their time with idle conversation and Eolinne’s library. Nathan told a few thinly-disguised stories from Earth, and though Eolinne looked confused at a few of them she seemed to assume he’d merely come from a far-off corner of Davrar.

They ate good food, enjoyed the sun and the sea and the minimal risk of death. It was a time to relax, to set down the burdens of responsibility and constant improvement for a moment. They’d been moving from battle to battle for a long time. The future would bring more battles, but it was time to step back from chasing the next Development, and enjoy life for a moment.

Or else we'll burn out. You can't work all the time or you'll forget what joy is like.

Nathan especially tried to forget about his woes. He was on a ship, and he couldn’t do much until that ship got where it was going. He did his best to unwind, to have fun with his abilities instead of being constantly focused on honing himself to the sharpest possible edge for the next life-or-death fight. And he had to admit, soaring through the air far above the ship and then falling out of the sky to dive into the ocean at near-terminal velocity was a lot of fun. He didn’t even see anything that wanted to take a bite out of him.

One morning, Eolinne gave them an update on their progress. “We should and should arrive in two days, though an escort boat will arrive soon to guide us in. After your deeds, your arrival is anticipated.” She gave them a sharp, satisfied smile.

Nathan nodded along and caught his friend’s eyes meaningfully, jerking his head belowdecks.

The Heirs convened in one of the larger bedrooms just a short while later. They were still relaxed and joking around, but there was an air of seriousness that hadn’t been there for the last several days. They all knew it was time to talk about serious topics.

Nathan got them started. “Stella, can you cast [Muffle] please? I’ll take care of magical eavesdropping.”

“Sure and certain,” she replied, casting the magic around the room. Nathan layered his aura over it, tuning it to make sure that Eolinne couldn’t eavesdrop through the ship.

I don’t know if she can actually do it, but I would definitely feel it if she tried.

“Sarya Pamaris.” Khachi’s words were low, a dissatisfied rumble. “May the third Questor we meet be kinder than the first two.”

Nathan nodded. “Yeah. We should talk about how to handle that meeting. We need more of a plan than to just ask how to stop the Endings.”

Sarah frowned, rolling a long rifle cartridge between her fingers. “Eolinne said Sarya doesn’t like the Endings. What else can we do?”

Aarl spoke up. “My bones say she’ll set us against the Questors of Badud’s grid. Do we want to do that?” He lifted his hands in an uncertain shrug. “It’s a worthy fight.”

Khachi shook his head. “But that is not the path towards our goal. Our target is the Endings. Our minimum aim must be to save Gemore from the Ending of History, or at least delay it.”

“We have a hundred years,” Sarah mused. “Maybe we should be agents of Sarya. Gain her favor before asking for Insights around the Endings.”

““I don’t want to hide the cost of our service from a Questor." Stella replied with a grimace. "Or to serve one at all, but certainly not without mentioning our price.”

“She could tell us the only way to stop the Ending is to destroy all of Badud’s works.” Aarl waved his hand. “We wouldn’t know the lie.”

“Sure and certain, we don’t know enough to catch her in a lie.” Sarah replied. “Though under Khachi’s truth magic we would be more certain.”

The wolfman shook his head. “She fought the gods. She knows more of divinity than I. Would she let me cast such magic on her?”

“If she wanted us to follow her, she would,” Aarl replied snidely.

Sarah’s voice grew heated. “Are we a true treasure to her? She is a Questor, like Brox. I bet dragon bones to stalker teeth she’s dealt with dozens, hundreds of teams of powerful Adventurers.”

“Nathan killed Badud.” Stella said in a calm rebuttal.

“But now he’s back, and hiring mercenaries to sail across the oceans,” Sarah retorted. “Killing a Questor isn’t enough. They play games above our station.”

“Nathan?” Khachi asked, having noticed that he wasn’t contributing to the conversation. “Speak your thoughts.”

Nathan blew air through pursed lips, emerging from his thoughts. He’d been listening to his friend’s conversation with half an ear, but most of his attention had been on an internal question.

Do I tell them about my suspicions of Davrar? About how I think the Questors created Davrar itself as a setting for their game. It will probably change how we approach Sarya. If anything will make her take us seriously, that will.

The Heirs were all watching him now, familiar enough with his mannerisms to know that he was about to say something important, and that it would come in due time. Stella cracked a joke. “Do you have another deep secret of Davrar to share?”

Ah, to hell with it. They deserve to know.

Nathan gave a small chuckle. “Yeah, I do.”

“Hear me, not again,” Sarah groaned. They all looked at her and she raised her hands defensively. “What? At this rate Nathan will become the god, not Khachi.”

The wolfman glared at her but didn’t reply, instead turning his attention towards Nathan and cocking an eyebrow to urge him to continue.

He acceded. “I’m not sure about this, but I think that all of Davrar is a game and the Questors are the players.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Sarah nodded. “Davion called it the games of Questors. They control nations and play them off against each other, leading as champions.” Her tone was nonplussed, not understanding Nathan's underlying point.

“It’s more than that,” Nathan said. “I think Davrar was created for the Questors to play their games. That is the purpose of Davrar. Why it exists.”

Khachi’s brows drew down in bemusement, and the rest of the Heirs looked similarly lost.

Nathan did his best to explain. “This world isn’t something that forms naturally. A spinning cylinder, with an artificial sun? Monsters to fight and magic that cooperates with physical laws? And most of all, the system of Davrar, which encourages levels and power, and rewards satisfying Insights. It’s too close to what somebody would design as a game. All of it is built for Questors, who can learn magic, fight monsters, build civilizations and scheme against each other.”

"It is our world." Khachi spoke simply. "Why must it be artificial?"

"It's too perfect," Nathan replied. "Davrar is what somebody would design as a game. Every part of it."

“This - What of the Endings?” Stella’s voice was small and a bit fearful.

“Game resets, or expansions. Any game will get stale if it's the same for too long, and we know the Questors control them from what Badud said. It sounds like Davrar has changed a lot over time. Monsters, gods - I bet dungeons didn’t used to be common. Maybe they were created to set up the Ending of History. Why would so many pieces of dangerous magic from so many different time periods survive this long? Why would the Edrani Empire tolerate dangerous ruins from the Kalis Conclave or the Skilias Dominon mere miles from where they built their own fortresses? It doesn’t make sense.”

“The Ending of Elements could have unearthed them?” Khachi’s voice was uncertain, like he was trying the argument on for size and finding that it didn't fit.

“They’re matched to the terrain,” Aarl replied. “Fortresses on hills, towns in caves. Towers atop mountains. Most dungeons have not been uncovered from where they were first built.

Khachi breathed out a heavy sigh of acknowledgement and waved his acceptance of the point.

“What of the Seals?” Stella’s eyes were troubled as she looked at Nathan. "What is their purpose?"

Nathan gave a small shrug. “Maybe defending them is an extra challenge for the Questors who want to fight more monsters.” He jerked his thumb upwards, indicating the sky above and the blight that was visible in the world above at night. “Or if a Questor doesn’t want to fight other Questors, they can fight to push back the corruption. Fighting to a Seal during a Solstice would take a team of heroes backed up by a nation, but wouldn't entail fighting other people.”

In other words that's the endgame PvE content.

There was another moment of silence while the Heirs chewed on Nathan’s words. Then Khachi broke it. “If the Questors aren’t from Davrar, where is their home?”

“I don’t know,” Nathan admitted. “I think they’re from my universe because that’s the simplest explanation. But it doesn't matter. They’re not from Davrar. That’s why Eolinne has never heard of somebody becoming a Questor. Questors come from somewhere else.”

“And they made Davrar.” Khachi said, completing the thought as an angry light sparked in his eyes, darker than anything Nathan had seen in the wolfman before. “Smoke and blood. They made our world. They crafted it as one would lay an enchantment.” He shook his head, not in denial but in disappointment. “They have complete power and they chose to make monsters and dungeons. And Endings.” His lips curled, exposing sharp canines. “They are the greatest monsters of all.”

“Fighting them would be a dungeon for fools,” Stella replied uncertainly. “They made Davrar. They control it. They can make the Endings happen. The very system that gives us levels. We can’t fight that.”

Sarah pursed his lips. “Nathan killed Badud. We can fight them and win.”

“That was him playing the game,” Aarl said caustically. “If we try to stop the game, then they will stop playing and use Davrar itself to destroy us. We would be helpless."

Nathan tapped a finger against his lips thoughtfully. “Do we need to stop the game?”

“What else could our target be?” Khachi replied hotly, the light in his eyes an angry red that promised bloodhset. “They play the game, and we die.”

“Without the game, Davrar wouldn't exist,” Nathan replied calmly. “Is this world so terrible that we should try to destroy it?”

A growl rumbled from Khachi’s throat. “They send the Endings upon us to avoid boredom. They create monsters because they are fun to fight, ignoring those times when the monster devours the innocent.”

Nathan raised a hand to forestall the wolfman’s tirade. “They also made a magic system that can easily be used to dominate and enslave people. Davrar has problems.” He met the fires in his friend’s eyes with an even gaze. “But we can try to fix the problems or we can try to burn the whole thing down. One of those is possible, while the other leads to us fighting every single immortal Questor on Davrar.”

“But how do we change the game?” Sarah’s gaze was far away. “We don’t even know the rules. How can we change them?”

“We learn. We find allies,” Nathan said. “We’re already headed towards somebody we expect to be friendly. We talk to Sarya, and get her to help us.”

Aarl sighed out a raggedy breath. “This is a prophecy of death. How do we do it? Changing Davrar is an impossible deed.”

Khachi stood, his armor clanking and beginning to shine with a faint inner light. “It is what we swore to do. This is how we stop the Endings.” The light in his eyes had brightened from their bloody hue to a richer gold. "This is a challenging Path, but finally, finally we see it laid out before us."

There was a pause, then Sarah chuckled. “A ghoul slain, but now a dragon rises in its place. Why would Sarya help us? She’s a Questor who plays the game of Davrar.”

“Eolinne said that Sarya disliked the Endings,” Stella said, her lips pursed.

Nathan nodded. “We know there are a lot of Questors, and some of them will definitely want Davrar to change in one way or another. It sounds like Sarya is one of them, which means she could be sympathetic to us. We might not even need to convince the normal Questor. There might be a smaller group that oversees how Davrar works, we might just need to convince them.”

Though they’re more likely to be concerned with a bottom line than the ethical and moral stance of a game they’re running. I don’t know, I’m kind of hoping that any society that could build Davrar is post-scarcity.

“Or kill them,” Aarl said roughly.

Nathan snorted. “I don’t think that will work. But maybe! We just don’t know enough until we talk to Sarya.”

“Should we tell her that we know Davrar is a game?” Sarah asked, tension clear in her tone. “She might kill us for that.”

Aarl’s mouth twisted wryly. “Try to kill us.”

Nathan ignored Aarl and replied to Sarah. “I think we should. It will make her treat us seriously. But I'm not sure how we should approach that conversation. I want to talk to Eolinne first and try to get more information about Sarya. This is a big decision and we need all of the information we can get. Let's also all think about it, and try to talk about it again before we meet Sarya.”

“I will follow your light,” Khachi replied, pursing his lips at Nathan’s words. “It is only through your light that we have found this Path. Now you must lead us along it. We must learn more, and we cannot do that without revealing what we suspect. We will follow your decisions.”

“Great,” Nathan agreed, feeling the weight of responsibility settle onto his shoulders. “Now, let’s talk about how we could change Davrar while keeping it fun for the Questors.”

Status of Nathan Lark:

Permanent Talent 1: Arcane Nullfield 8

Permanent Talent 2: Immortal Body 6

Permanent Talent 3: Airwalking 8

Class: End of Magic level 834

Bottomless Stamina : 84400/84400

Indomitable

The Undeniable Strike of the Antimage

Stamina Burn

Momentum Mastery

Stoneflesh

Arcane Nullification

Galefoot

Close Quarters Mastery

Boundless Aura

Denial of Mysticism

The Ending of Magic

Aura Projection

Selective Dispel

The Living World

Class: Spellslayer level 564

Regenerative Focus: 5740/5740

Catastrophic Blows

Battle Stealth

Mage Infiltration

Forgettable

Sneaky Blow

Antimagic Stealth

Magical Manipulation

Lethal Index

Wizard Resistance

Magic Jammer

Controlled Failure

Utility skills:

Tranquility 3

Inspiration 8

Impulse 3

Mystical Discernment 3

Forewarning 2

Arcane Insight 4

Evasion 1

Mental Vault 5

Tutoring 9

Parkour 9

Visibility Control 5

High-tier Disguise 5

High-tier Battle Cry 3

Aura Control 5