Mark of the Fool

Alex Roth, General of Thameland looked over three different scenes.

In one, Merzhin was struggling with the divine ward around Uldar’s throne.

In another, the Ravener was battling his friends in its lair.

And in the third, monsters were spreading across Thameland, bringing chaos and death to the kingdom.

So, he got to work.

Channelling the power of the Traveller, the Mark of the General, his streams of consciousness, and all he’d learned since the auspicious day he’d left Alric with his family, he set about making things right.

Simultaneously, though in three different places, Alex got to work.

In Aenflynn’s castle he teleported to Merzhin, examining the divine ward closely. The Saint’s head was bowed in concentration, while Carey poured power into his soul.

“I’m back,” Alex said.

“It’s better if I’m invisible for now,” he said.

“No, not that part,” she shook her head. “Though you did startle me. No, it’s more than that. You…what did—Hannah’s power, I can feel it in you but in a way, it feels different…in her name, what ever have you done, Alex?”

“Adapted,” he said. “In short, I’m in three different places right now.”

Within the Ravener’s cavern, he studied the construct. “And soon, I’ll be in four.”

“I am not sure I quite understand what you mean,” Carey said. “But…I do feel the energy within you…though, it’s as if you are both here and far away. It’s quite remarkable.”

“And I’m going to use it to do as much as I can in as many places as I can.” Alex looked at the divine ward. Merzhin was so deep in prayer; he was oblivious to their conversation.

The General of Thameland didn’t want to interrupt him, instead, he continued his conversation with Carey. “Listen, I’m going to focus on the ward. I want to see if I can use Hannah’s power to try and teleport some of Uldar’s energy away. I’m not sure it’ll work, but it’s worth a try. If it does, it could weaken the ward enough for Merzhin to get through it.”

“It might work, I think,” Carey said. “And I’ll keep empowering Merzhin, and maybe together, we’ll get through.”

“Yeah, but we’d better hurry.” Alex listened for explosions outside. “Sounds like Baelin’s still got Aenflynn’s attention, but, the bastard’s still dangerous. I’ll focus on trying to teleport away the divine energy as fast as I can.”

“Are you sure you can give this problem with the ward your full attention?” Carey asked. “We do have a lot to do.”

“I know.” Alex focused on the divine ward, a stream of consciousness channelling Hannah’s power. “I’ll give it all I can.” Alex said, dispelling Steel Body.

He needed to have his mana flowing freely for what he was about to do.

“I can also help us by starving the Ravener.”

At the same time that he was channelling power, looking to break through the resistance from the divine ward, the General of Thameland was also floating above a sea of devastation in Thameland. A single stream of consciousness was guiding him in the material world, engaging with a spell.

He cast Army of Heroes over Ussex again, joining it with Hannah’s blessing.

Alex teleported across the land then, searching for settlements and soldiers. Over every group he found, he would cast Army of Heroes.

Courage returned to the defenders of Thameland…while at the same time the Ravener was facing new problems within its lair.

‘Something is wrong!’ the Ravener thought. ‘Very wrong!’

Channelling its inner energies, it threw magic, monsters, death beams, poisons…everything it had at the mortals battling it.

And yet…they fought on…refusing to…die!

The Champion of Thameland and the strange interloper with her many arms, stalked and attacked it like a pair of starving wolves.

Both teamed up, their aggressiveness high, not giving it even a heartbeat to gather its thoughts. If it had lungs, it wouldn’t have had a single chance to breathe under their onslaught.

The Champion swung Uldar’s sword, cutting through its deadly, protective cage. His every slash grew more precise with each swing. The powerful warrior was learning how Uldar’s construct fought, exploiting any weaknesses, distracting it, doing terrible damage each time its focus left him.

The culmination of thousands of years of combat experience had been brought back to its full potential in Hart, by the General of Thameland.

The Ravener’s other opponent could never be called a minor threat either.

The six-armed, four-legged entity was quick, strong, and bristled with divine weapons and commanded an inner destructive energy that would punch deep into the construct each time she struck. It could not ignore the way she fought.

As the battle played out, a distinct…rhythm appeared in her combat style; it was like she was drawing it into a cadence of violence and carnage that was her ultimate goal, leaving it increasingly vulnerable to her attacks.

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She’d been struck many times by the searing death beams, but—even thoughopen wounds and burns accumulated on her body—she simply laughed and threw herself at it with greater enthusiasm, speed and violence.

And yet, as terrible as the two warriors were, they couldn’t hold the Ravener’s full attention.

Nor could the other mortals; as devastating as they were.

The Sage and Chosen destroyed Ravener-spawn by the horde, all while he channelled divinity, healing his ally’s wounds and fighting off the worst of the Ravener’s magics.

Wizards were using magic, supporting their allies, while warriors were cutting through its servants.

That golem could not be forgotten—its energy was so similar to the Ravener’s own, yet so different—wielding its fists, war-spear and fire beams. Apart from a few scratches on its metal surface, none of the spawn had damaged it.

But, neither the golem nor the mortals were the true source of its growing distress.

‘I can sense the former Fool,’ it thought, trying to find him with its senses. ‘That Usurper is here…yet…it feels like he is not here. And I sense him elsewhere too! How can this be? Are they using some foul magic to confound my senses?’

It desperately wanted to find him—especially if he was here in its lair—but the thrice-damned mortals were not letting up, not giving it a moment to truly concentrate.

And making things worse…

‘Why does it feel like the flow of fear from Thameland is dropping again?’ it thought. ‘Something is truly wrong. The General must be doing something…’

“Show yourself, apostate of Uldar!” the construct’s voice filled the cavern. “Show yourself!”

At the edge of the battle—at the same time that Alex was flying across Thameland, and helping Merzhin in Aenflynn’s castle—the young archwizard was watching the Ravener battle his companions as it screamed for him to show himself.

But, he simply remained quiet, studying it, using the Mark of the General to analyse its movements, calculating…looking for the perfect moment, while hiding under the cover of his invisibility spell.

Slowly, he began to predict how the flying orb moved…how it responded to Hart and Asmaldestre, how it tried to respond to the rest of his companions…and in his mind, a plan formed.

Teleporting to the platform with the equipment on it—he quietly alerted Bjorgrund that he was there and warned him not to react—then stealthily slid a device off the disk, one they’d made to syphon away the Ravener’s mana, and turned it invisible.

‘Alright,’ he thought. ‘Let’s ruin your day.’

Alex turned his mind to the Ravener, calling on the Mark of the General, focusing it on the task of teleporting into the construct.

The Mark brought up images of his previous teleportations as well as images of his brief glimpse into the Ravener when he’d touched it before.

The Traveller’s power welled up.

‘I couldn’t teleport inside you before,’ the young archwizard thought. ‘But with access to Hannah’s full power, let’s see you keep me out now.’

Memories of Kelda’s sanctum came to him.

The Fool of Hannah’s time had made it appear in four places at once; Alex was, at the moment, in three places at once.

It was time to be in four.

Calling on Hannah’s energy, he focused.

One body. One mind. One soul.

Three places.

Three different positions.

Multiple streams of consciousness controlling himself in different places.

But, he would go beyond that.

‘One body,’ he thought. ‘One mind. One soul. Four places. Think. Adapt to the idea. You must.’

Hannah’s power churned inside him as he clenched his jaw, steadying himself, his mind and soul shaking from strain. Getting to the point where he could appear in three places at once had been tough.

This?

This was going to be tougher, considering that the fourth place he needed to be in was inside Uldar’s construct.

It would be tough, but he knew it was possible.

Kelda had proven that an object could be in four places at once.

The sanctum had been in four…

Alex’s thoughts fixed on a single truth. ‘When I was in the sanctum…I must have also been in four places at once because it was in four places at once. Which means, I’ve experienced something similar before. Come on. Use that experience to guide yourself in how to do it. Focus. Focus. Focus.’

He bent his other streams of consciousness to the task, even as two of those streams continued to help Merzhin in Aenflynn’s castle, and move across Thameland, empowering the armies of his kingdom with his magics.

‘A mastery of space,’ Alex thought. ‘A mastery of space. Remember: you got through a divine ward that channelled the power of a dead god. You can teleport into the Ravener in the same way. Concentrate…just concentrate…’

The Mark of the General continued focusing his mind on every experience that had brought him here, and that could get him over the next threshold. Hannah’s power reverberated through him, body and soul, threatening to wrench it apart in some sort of foundational split.

But he wasn’t splitting himself.

He was still one body.

One mind.

One soul.

In four places.

Hannah’s power surged.

He opened his eyes as the energy raged within him, granting him more power.

Alex felt the Ravener’s consciousness shift its attention to him.

“Where are you?” it said.

‘Where aren’t I?’ the General of Thameland thought, channelling his power, sending a stream of consciousness hurtling through the space between planes.

Merzhin was bent in dedication in one place, sweat trickling down his face.

While in another, he was above the countryside in his burning kingdom, channelling his magic into a Thameish battalion.

In a third, he saw the Ravener struggling against his allies, shouting for him to show himself.

But now…there was a fourth place.

A fourth set of eyes watching images from dozens of planes and thousands of locations. And ahead? He felt his destination approaching. The energy of the Ravener built around him, the images of the planes fell away.

Suddenly, up ahead, a towering wall of endless white deadly energy loomed.

He considered it, his eyes narrowing.

‘Looks like a divine ward,’ he thought. ‘A defence inside the Ravener; damn, even in death you’re defending your abomination, Uldar. Well, it’s going to take more than a corpse to stop me.’

Concentrating on Hannah’s power, Alex warped the space around him…then teleported.

The wall of white deadly energy was suddenly past him.

But, the death beams were waiting.

Scores of hungry streams of energy shot at him from all directions, trying to fry his soul before he could breach the Ravener’s core.

‘That’s not going to stop me either,’ the young archwizard thought.

Again, he channelled Hannah’s power, teleporting between beams, letting them pass by him like he was only mist.

More white walls sprang up, looking to block his way, but he teleported through them.

Suddenly, in the Ravener’s cavern, the dark orb stopped in mid-air.

“What? What is this? This…what are you doing?” it shouted, its flat voice sounding frantic.

“It’s pretty obvious what we’re doing !” Hart growled, carving another deep channel into its ebon surface.

“Not you!” it howled. “General! Fool! Apostate! Usurper! How are you doing this? It is not possible! Begone! Begone! Begone! You are not to defile the creator’s work! It is not for your inferior eyes!’

‘I’ll be the judge of that,’ Alex thought, teleporting through the last of the death beams.

The archwizard reached out then, feeling a deep darkness rise before him…accompanied by a towering hatred.

But he was not afraid.

‘Here I come,’ he thought.

Hannah’s power bloomed.

And he was through.

One body.

One mind.

One soul.

Four places.

One inside Aenflynn’s castle.

One in Thameland’s skies.

One in the Ravener’s lair.

And the final one?

Alex opened his eyes…confirming that he was the first mortal ever to look upon the world inside the Ravener.

His eyes widened. “Oh, by the Traveller.”