The First Archmage

(Gavin)

Sitting on the stump, I focus, reaching out with my senses and looking at the souls around me. The fish swimming peacefully in the nearby pond, long-since used to my presence and comfortable knowing that they aren't to be eaten (they are, but their memories are awful), the horned rabbits that keep their distance from my clearing ever since my last little rampage on them, the kulkrul tigers, the various bears, deer, squirrels, and other beasts.

Further out, I can sense Litrar, as he stalks through the forest, doing his best to remain as quiet and stealthy as he can as he hunts a deer for dinner. At least, I'm pretty sure that's a deer he's hunting, and that he's not hunting something completely different.

I continue to reach out with my mind and my soul-sensing abilities, pushing them further and further. I sense the people within the town, counting each and every last soul in there – fourteen thousand nine hundred seventeen humans – before moving on, allowing my mind to expand over the world.

Straining myself like this gives me a headache, but it's also the only way I can push my limits and let them grow. A year has passed since I arrived here, and I need to be able to blanket a lot of space and pick out each and every soul, no matter how strong or weak, no matter how larger or small, if I want to detect the Divine Soul I shredded.

This isn't my first time enveloping the entire world with my mind and soul sensing, but something's different this time. Not that it's easier and more fluid – that doesn't surprise me – but because of an unfamiliar soul. I don't recognize it, and yet the signature is familiar to me.

Snapping my eyes open, I immediately teleport to the location, startling a few regular, harmless rabbits that were feeding on the grass.

While the soul isn't visible to normal eyes, my soul sight allows me to witness the wispy, grey-white existence. A small fragment, barely the size of my little finger, drifting lightly in the air.

Extending a hand, I allow the fragment to draw towards me, and I pull the fragment out of my ring. The fragment of the Divine Soul that Litrar had captured by luck has formed into a grey-white marble the size of a blueberry.

Comparing the two, I confirm that the new fragment is a portion of the Divine Soul I ripped apart. One thing about souls is that they don't have to match up exactly how they were previously, which means that I can take two fragments of the same soul that originated from opposite ends of the soul and weave them back together, and there are no issues.

Souls are a weird thing, and they're a mystery. Nahor said that even Nies and Twist can't understand them properly. Then Nies protested that and told Nahor to screw off and stop talking with his Hero, because he most certainly could, and Nahor made some comment about 'then you aren't registering the continued existence of a certain being'.

None of the Divine Beings I've spoken with are sure who Nahor's referring to with that, and I had to yell at those two in order to have some mental peace.

Speaking of Nies, I do have to wonder if he's the reason this fragment ended up here, since it wasn't here the last few times I checked – the latest check occurring yesterday.

There's always the possibility it drifted here on its own as well, but I'm doubting that, even with how randomly powerful my coincidences are.

Bringing the two fragments of the Divine Soul together, I begin weaving them back together, a process that takes me around five minutes, though that's much better than the hour I used to take for similarly-sized fragments.

As soon as they're done, I return them to the marble state of the fragment I'd already possessed, and note that it's only slightly-larger than before. Other than that, it doesn't look any different, so I return it to my ring, then sit once more, crossing my legs in front of me before reaching out with my mind and soul once more, blanketing the entire world, looking on the surface, in the skies, and deep, deep beneath the land.

Not a trace of the Divine Soul around. If I really can sense it now, that means there aren't any other fragments here. After carefully performing another sweep of the world, I return to the clearing, where Litrar is roasting the deer he caught. The technique I use to check the world like that takes me a long time to read and assess. Hours. Judging by my internal clock and the set sun, it's been about eight hours since I left the clearing.

"Welcome back," he dips his head to me. "I sensed you doing the second check. Trying it from another angle?"

"Found another fragment," I shake my head. "The second check was to see if there was another around, but there's not. I'm ready to leave this world anyway, so I'll be departing tomorrow."

"Any idea where you'll try next?" He asks, knowing I can't sense the Divine Soul fragments on other worlds.

Try Eitarol.

"According to Nies," I say. "I should try someplace called 'Eitarol'."

Litrar snorts, then returns to cooking. I let him know I'm going to do a scrying to see if I can view the place, then teleport to another clearing that I've placed fear wards around, specifically to deter monsters from setting home up in it or being around when I arrive.

It's easier for me to focus.

Once I'm seated, I clear my mind and focus solely on the name of the world Eitarol, enhancing my thoughts with my psychic abilities until I'm able to glimpse a portion of the world.

The glimpse I receive is more than a little disturbing, a city of stone and metal with thick, black and grey clouds filling the air. Or is it smoke? The city itself isn't burning, it's coming from within the buildings, and nearly all of them. Yet people walk the streets just fine, their bodies covered with something black, as well as sweat. Their skin almost glistens from whatever it is.

Shaking my head, I stop the flow of power, then teleport back to the home clearing, enjoy dinner, then head to bed as Litrar starts cleaning up from dinner. I'd help him, except I'm extremely exhausted from everything I've done today, and Litrar seems content to clean everything, anyway.

Apparently, using my magic to clean stuff bothers him, because he just scrubs it all down after anyway.

When morning comes, I dress, listening to Litrar as he sits at the table outside, drumming his fingers on the top of it. It's him waiting for something. Is he waiting for me to come out?

Shrugging, I make my way outside, and as soon as I open the front door, he looks over to me, standing.

"Gavin," he says. "I would like to come with you."

"Really?" I ask.

"Yes."

"What about the farm girl?"

"Tie myself down," he says. "Or explore the universe with a godlike being such as you?"

There's more to it than that, and my gaze doesn't soften until he relents.

"You've told me much about your Order," he tells me. "And I want to help you with it. You mentioned yourself that soul magic wasn't something really studied on your world. I can help the Order, and the idea of being a place of protection, freedom, and the advancement of magic appeals to me."

There's probably still more to it than that, but I'm not going to push him. He's being honest, and I don't sense a darker intent in him – he can't hide that in his soul, not from me, at any rate. I'm simply too powerful of a soul mage, now.

"Have you packed your things?" I ask, and he nods, holding up his hand to show me the spatial ring I'd gifted him.

I gifted it to him mostly so he could transport things around, though it's still fairly large. He's become something of an apprentice to me, and I felt obligated to gift it to him. It's not like I had any reason not to gift it to him – I do trust him.

I also gifted one to the king of Haivural, the last time he visited the local town, though that stemmed from me being an in exceptionally good mood at the time, unlike with Litrar, where I simply felt he deserved it.

And it seems he used it to pack his stuff, now that I reach out with my senses to see what he's taken. Anything that's 'his', and any food as well. He really hopes he can come with me.

"It might not be easy," I tell him. "We'll be going through a lot worlds, realms, and planes, and as quickly as we possibly can. You won't understand anyone anywhere we go, and when we enter different planes, things might… function weird. Are you ready to accept that?"

He nods.

"Very well, then," I say. "Come in close."

He does, and I draw upon my power over the aether to open up a Rift as I focus on Eitarol, opening an 'instant Rift' – that is, a Rift that simply takes us from location to location, no Rift Realm between.

We step out into the smoke-filled streets of the same city I saw before, my only visual image of the world, and as soon as we arrive, I seal up the Rift, looking around. The people here have either frozen up, begun prostrating themselves, or taken several steps back.

Dammit.

I'd gotten used to people not doing this. I really, really wish I could turn off my fucking Aura of Power. I'd settle on being able to make my eyes normal again!

Wait.

I…

Please tell me this isn't that simple.

Taking a deep breath, I slowly let it out as I perform a spell. I've done it enough times through the System to know how it works without Access just from reading it, and if my theory is correct…

My Aura of Power vanishes as my eyes turn to normal, and Litrar jumps, startled, and looks at me with wide eyes.

"What did you just do?" He asks.

"I'm a fucking moron sometimes," I tell him. "I… can change my form entirely."

"Your eyes looking normal – even if purple – are the only change."

"Yeah, I know," I shrug. "Though I guess there's another issue – passing through a Rift will undo any alternate forms, much like it undoes me retracting them when I have Access."

Litrar nods, not questioning what Access is anymore. I've mentioned the System enough to him that he eventually got curious and asked me what it was, and I had to explain it to him. He finds it fascinating.

I revert my form, since my Aura of Power already affected everyone here. If we ever arrive somewhere without people, though, I'll change my form. Unlike when I use the Skill for it, doing it on my own actually takes up power and energy for me.

Of course it does, why are you surprised by that?

Stop talking to yourself and deal with the situation at hand, you've already learned a fair bit of their language just from listening to the conversations going on around you. Well, mostly from conversations of people who aren't aware of your presence here, being too far to feel the Aura of Power, though there are some affected by it whispering, with a few spouting off worship nonsense.

"I'm just passing through," I say in their language, waving a hand through the air dismissively. "I'm looking for something, and once I've acquired it, I'll be gone."

"Please, O God, tell us if we can be of help," one of the worshipers says in the most reverent voice I have ever heard.

"Erm," I hesitate. "Not really, but I do have a few questions. What is this black smoke filling the sky?"

"The smog?" He asks. "It comes from our factories, from the coal we burn and from working the metals and forging our tools and weapons."

His mind shows him wondering why a god wouldn't know that, but he's too terrified of voicing that to mention it.

"Shouldn't a god know that?"

Someone else, on the other hand, isn't too terrified, though when I turn my starry gaze to him, he pales and takes several steps back. His body's devoid of the dust – likely from the coal, I'm guessing – that everyone else has, and his velvet clothes are as pristine as they can be in this environment. He's a magician as well, and the only magician I'm sensing within five hundred yards of me.

Magicians are likely nobles around here.

"Yes," I smile at him. "A god would know about that, wouldn't he?"

The magician gulps.

"The air is difficult to breathe," I say, gesturing to Litrar as I form a layer of purified air around his head. "And as such, my quite mortal companion is choking. Your people have probably had to get used to it, though I'm sure it's decreasing lifespans… except for a magician like you, I'm sure. Especially with your own little spell giving you clean air. How many people here die from the smog every year?"

The magician gulps again.

"Run along, little child," I say, even though he's probably old enough to be my dad.

Not my real dad, just to be a dad of someone my age.

"Go on," I gesture with my hand, then look at the sky, inhaling deeply with an air-filtration barrier in front of my mouth.

Once I've sucked in as much air as I can, I exhale, a gust of pure, clean air filling the sky, neutralizing the smog and purging it from the area. Not pushing it away, purging it. I have to use a bit of Aether to do so, but there's a touch of Arcane as well, with the people actually wanting clean air.

When my endless breath finally ends, the sky is clear, as blue as it ever is anywhere I've been, the sun shining down, the people covering their eyes with their hands, unused to such a bright, harsh light.

"There," I smile at the magician as I cancel the air-filtering spells. "The annoying smog is gone. Unlike you, even after being dismissed."

He gulps again, bows, apologizes, and leaves.

"Hm," I look at the people, who are giving me even more reverence, now. "Is there somewhere I can relax a little bit?"

"The baths," the man I spoke with initially begins to tell me. "They are-"

"I don't mean relax in that way," I say. "I'm going to be performing a very powerful magic, and would like somewhere to focus."

I'm led to a very spacious room at the magician's home – mostly because he had a servant intercept us and invite me to use their space. The mansion itself is extremely clean, and I'm kind of disgusted buy this. He uses his magic only for himself, not for his people. His servants might be clean, but that's probably only to keep his place clean.

They have a separate entrance and everything, so that they can scrub themselves down and change into their clean work clothes, and they're required to keep that room pristine as well.

After several hours of pushing myself, I locate three fragments of a Divine Soul scattered across this world, which is a little bit smaller than Litrar's home world.

Three of them.

I had absolutely nothing to do with that, Nies tells me once I teleport to the first fragment.

"Then why are you telling me that when I never even brought it up?"

He doesn't respond to that, his presence quickly vanishing from my mind.

I weave the fragment into the other, then track down the other two and weave them in as well. One was in a forest, the other two were in cities; one in some sewers, the other in a factory. Litrar and I find a quiet place to rest once everything's assembled, with plans to visit a random world tomorrow from the list of ones I know of due to my brothers' travels.

This is going to take awhile, especially since once I've run out of places I know of, I'll need to start interrogating people for more places to reach.