Primer for the Apocalypse

My timeless moment was interrupted as the reverberations of an [Interdiction] rippled by. I could feel the echoes in the nearby mana from Time magic being forcibly countered, and I immediately winced. I’d experienced the backlash from an interdiction during my training with Master Kairos, so I had little doubt Faith was reeling from the effect.

Though my spell was not targeted by the [Interdiction], I canceled it anyway and fully returned to the timestream.

Faith was spasming on the ground with trails of blood flowing from her eyes, ears, and nose. Aiden was crouched beside her, reaching uncertainly without making contact. I noted none of the bodies remained, including those of their friends.

“What’s wrong with her?” he asked as soon as he noticed me standing there. “What happened?”

“I think the dungeon has some kind of [Interdiction] against uncontrolled Time magic.” I nodded toward the trembling woman. “That’s what backlash looks like when you try casting a full mana pool spell against something that can forcefully break it.”

I cast Restore on the other woman, healing some of the physical manifestations of spell backlash but not all of them. There were some wounds that magic just didn’t do a good job of healing.

We spent the several minutes it took for Faith to regain consciousness inside one of the extra pods I’d brought with me into the dungeon. It only held a few cots and a table, but that was all we really needed. The most important thing was the enchantment that prevented creatures from noticing us. Neither of us felt like dealing with a wandering attack while we waited for Faith to recover.

Once she was fully aware and cognizant, I explained what happened, along with a stern rebuke for her knee-jerk use of uncontrolled Time magic. I also informed them both that what happened within the dungeon was not private – it was being broadcast to the people in the town outside the dungeon.

Neither of them seemed happy about that fact, though learning artificial constructions (like my pods) and private dungeon structures were protected from such observation seemed to mollify them slightly.

Further, I reminded Faith about the history lessons we received during virtual sect orientation about how Time Mages had been killed outright for a long time due to the rampant misuse of uncontrolled Time magic.

She argued that the dungeon should count like a rift since it was clearly separate from the rest of the universe. While that was true, it didn’t address the fact that people were watching and judging. If certain people decided she didn’t have the discipline to use Time magic properly, she’d likely disappear if she ever made it out of the dungeon.

The fact that the dungeon seemed to have built-in [Interdiction] wards (or was capable of casting the equivalent) helped in a lot of ways. Those who were taken from Earth and really didn’t know better would quickly learn not to cast such spells freely – if they survived.

Had Faith tried such a thing in the middle of a fight, she would have likely died without someone there to cover for her.

“But I’ve used Rewind before,” she argued, causing me to wince at the admission.

“With a domain?” I asked hopefully.

The brunette stopped to consider the question. “Probably,” she admitted. “I try to set one up as soon as it’s obvious something is going to happen, but I never even saw the attack this time.”

Aiden nodded in agreement. “Yeah. She was the first one they took out, right at the beginning. I’m not sure what hit her, but Faith dropping was what alerted the rest of us that we were being attacked.”

When I’d healed her the first time, it looked like she’d gotten slammed in the back of the head with something heavy, like a stone or maybe a baseball bat. While beasts didn’t often have ranged magical attacks, they were not unheard of.

It was too bad the bodies had all been absorbed by the dungeon. It would have been nice to see if I could identify what might have caused such an injury.

Once she’d recovered from the shock and injuries enough to move, I agreed to escort the two survivors back to the village. Neither appeared to be in the right headspace to make it back without incident, and I didn’t mind getting to know my fellow Time Mage a bit better.

Unsurprisingly, Faith was heavily shaken by the loss and was taking it as a personal failure. Aiden wasn’t taking it quite so personally, but he was also understandably upset at the loss of two people he’d known and relied on since arriving in the dungeon.

Neither of them spoke much during the trip, but I still managed to learn a few things. For example, Faith’s cohort and the one after it had included several Time Mages, none of which had awakened prior to their arrival.

They had all been taken in the month following my deal with Sir Eri’Non to trade places with my brother, making me suspect their presence in the dungeon was at least partially my fault. It seemed likely that making the deal with Sir Eri’Non had led to the surge of other Time Mages getting abducted, most likely for comparison studies.

The knowledge weighed heavily on me.

I accompanied them to the edge of the village but declined to go further. I didn’t feel like dealing with anyone else at the moment, having exhausted my social stamina already. Before leaving, I gave both of them a reactive [Barrier] talisman to prevent something like that from happening again.

Had Faith had her Barrier active before the attack, she would have likely avoided being knocked unconscious, and her friends might still be alive. But I wasn’t going to say that aloud. There was no reason to pile more guilt on the woman.

She was probably lucky the blow hadn’t killed her outright.

The next several days were spent in a weird state of melancholy as I considered the potential unforeseen consequences of my deal with the elf. I sent a long message to Master Kairos about the situation and what I’d learned, but I knew it would be more than a month before I got a response. I had to wait three or so weeks for the message to go out, then another month for the reply to arrive.

The delay was frustrating.

Eight days after meeting Faith, she sent me a message asking me to meet her and some of the other Time Mages in the village. My feelings of guilt had driven me to offer guidance and potential training in using Time magic during our trek back to the village, and it seemed Faith had decided to take me up on the offer.

We met in the apartment she shared with Aiden. I’d been fairly certain they were an item, so learning they were living together was not much of a surprise. Though the apartment was small, it held more than enough room for Faith, me, and the two other Time Mages to meet.

I wore my sect robes without any kind of disguise. While I wouldn’t share anything I felt was a sect secret, being known as a disciple of a prominent Time/Fate sect could only add weight to any guidance I might give on the topic of Time magic. Thankfully, neither of the two other Time Mages showed any inclination to become irrational or violent because of my association with an Alliance sect.

Obviously, I kept my presumption that I was likely the cause of their abduction to myself. I tried to see it from Master Kairos’s perspective – as an opportunity instead of a burden. I struggled to maintain that mentality, especially since none of the others had a choice in the matter.

“This is Emie. She’s the one I told you about,” Faith said by way of introduction to the others. Sitting at the table was a dark-skinned man with tightly braided locks who looked to be in his early thirties and a much younger man with medium skin and short brown hair.

She introduced them both as I cast Assess on each of them.

[Antone Jarvis – Level 28 – Healer/Tinker – Time/Air]

[Markus Daniels – Level 22 – Healer – Time]

I quickly learned that both of the Time Mages were part of Faith’s cohort, abducted just after my agreement with the elf. They’d been in the dungeon for just over two years and had all been pressured into taking the Healer profession due to the need for such a role, especially on the first floor, where people were still struggling to adapt.

Both Antone and Markus were familiar with the game, though Antone had only played it once on his cousin’s DIVE equipment shortly after its release. Though the game was hyper-realistic, the slog of getting through the Training Tower had completely lost his interest, and he’d never cared to try again.

Markus had been the opposite but was limited to playing at public gaming booths since his parents had refused to pay for the expensive gaming system. He’d just turned eighteen a few weeks before he was taken.

Being a Healer was of little interest to him, but he understood the need for people with such skills. Markus had only taken the profession at the urging of others, but it was by no means his focus. Markus was purely a chrono-melee fighter who occasionally tossed out a Restore to those who were injured. It was his only healing spell.

It seemed Faith had been an outlier and refused to take the Healer class, instead focusing on Cooking since she’d been trained enough to use it to gain benefits beyond mere sustenance.

I told them about some of the training I’d had, including the virtual classes I’d taken after awakening but before the reintegration. That led to a lot of questions, and I could sense more than a little jealousy being directed my way by all three of them. I ignored it.

“So, if you had all this training and backing, what are you doing here?” Antone asked.

“My master made a deal with the elf in charge of the Earth study after he took my brother,” I replied. “He wanted to study me because I was the first native to naturally awaken. Since he was the one running the dungeon, he agreed to let me take my brother’s place.”

“You sacrificed yourself for your brother?” the younger man asked in surprise. “That’s some love, there.”

I shrugged lightly. “According to my master, it’s not really a sacrifice as much as stealing an opportunity. He actually wanted me to join my brother, not take his place,” I said with a frown. “Apparently, getting access to this dungeon is a pretty big deal for the elites in the Alliance. A lot of sects and noble houses pay to send their elites here. It’s supposed to be a huge opportunity to ascend, especially at the higher tiers.”

There were scoffs and a couple of eye-rolls. Even Faith seemed to balk at my comment.

“They probably have some cheat-ass way of getting out without dying, too,” Antone grumbled. He wasn’t wrong. I doubted any of them sent their elites into the dungeon without a strong [Mana Barrier], just in case.

“If it’s such an opportunity, why didn’t you push to keep your brother here?”

I eyed Markus. He wasn’t being rude or belligerent. He seemed genuinely curious about my motivation. “He had a baby on the way. Actually, twins. Babies. They were just born, like, right after we traded places,” I said grimly. “He also has a four-year-old. I didn’t think it was right to make his kids grow up without a father when I knew he’d choose to be with them if he could.”

“You said they were born right after you got here?” Faith asked. I nodded. “How do you know?”

I told them about the interface upgrade and how it would grant them access to the dungeon’s messaging system. I also explained how the upgrade could help them easily learn new spells without paying for them and how it included a more intuitive and helpful Interface Assistant (IA).

Once I finished answering their questions, I had the three Time Mages learn a few of the basic spellforms I’d picked up before my interface upgrade was complete. I’d embedded the most up-to-date copy of the game/integration guide into a crystal and brought it along with me, so it wasn’t very difficult to access the spellforms.

Of course, I could have done it manually, but if even one of them didn’t have Mana Sight, it would take way too much mana to make the spellform visible. Using the tablet I’d brought was much easier.

During the lesson/meeting, I couldn’t help but wonder if it was possible to distribute a copy of the game/integration guide through the dungeon system. Considering it was not something impacted by tier, it might be something the dungeon would let anyone from Earth access via the kiosk – preferably without charge.

After a couple of hours of helping the three Time Mages manually learn what basic spells they could, I left Faith’s apartment and headed to the Tavern to access the kiosk directly. While Lisa could interact with some things remotely, copying the game guide into the dungeon’s kiosk was beyond her abilities.

I wasn’t even sure the kiosk would accept such an item. But now that it occurred to me, I felt driven to find out.