Multiverse of Magic & Mistakes (Completed)

2.1.11 Chapter 11

The Red Dunes, Ashein, 328 years ago.

Caeli strode through Tower Fourteen, heading towards the one place she had sworn to never visit again. The disused storage room that was now cloaked in concealment charms and served as the Echelon's not-so-secret meeting place. The air was thick, hot and humid and permeated with the earthy scent of soil. She took several deep breaths, that did nothing to calm her nerves. Caeli was truly out of options, and coming here in person was her last resort.

She passed through row upon row of stunted corn and potato plants, their limp leaves slumping into the soil, the crops withered and failed. Caeli could not help but pause to examine them and ran her fingers over the dry, drooping leaves. That was bad. Very bad indeed. No wonder the food parcels lately had been so meagre, and the produce market was shut down. What was happening to the city? Caeli more than suspected she knew exactly who was ultimately behind it all. The very person she was on her way to visit.

She paused at the storage room door, just for a second to gather her thoughts, then knocked hard, in a series of taps that she had heard visitors perform upon her last visit. Luckily, the door was opened by just the mage that Caeli needed to see.

Reinard loomed over her, his auburn hair unusually messy, with dark circles under his eyes. If he was surprised to see Lissa's oldest friend at the door, his expression did not betray it. In fact, Lissa wondered if he even recognised her, for the two of them had never properly spoken before.

It was Caeli who broke the silence first, "I'm Caeli Azabin, one of Lissa's friends from school, she told me all about you, all about the Echelon and what you are doing. We need to talk."

"Very well, come in," said Reinard, stepping aside and opening the door wide.

Caeli stepped into the Echelon's headquarters and looked around her in shock. The room now resembled nothing like the storage room it had upon her last visit. All traces of the grower's equipment, storage boxes, trowels and bags were gone. Instead, the space resembled a common room at the university, a haphazard collection of chairs, some simple wooden stools, others plush comfortable armchairs were arranged in a wide circle, taking up most of the room. An overflowing bookshelf filled the back corner, and then more books were stacked in tall piles around the edges of the room. Caeli tried to scan the titles as she passed and realised most were master-level grimoires, obviously 'borrowed' from the restricted master library. Loose sheets of parchment, covered in handwritten notes, and perfectly sketched runes, were pinned to the walls, and Lissa had to step over several open notebooks, loose charcoal pencils and empty mugs that had been left on the floor. The Echelon were serious about what they were doing and were no longer even trying to hide it. She blinked in shock. The Guardians would have to up their game to stop this from getting any worse.

Reinard took a seat in a tall backed, deep red armchair and Lissa sat opposite, on a hard wooden stool, both feet firmly planted on the ground. The only other mage present, Calem headed over to join them, taking a seat in the chair to Reinard's right. They surveyed Caeli. Caeli surveyed the mages.

"Something about you, makes me think that you are not here to join us, Caeli Azabin," stated Calem quietly.

"No, I most certainly am not!"

"Then what brings you to our door?"

"I'm here to insist that the Echelon must stop immediately. Can't you see that all of the issues in the city are your fault? The failing crops, and reduced rations, the water shortages, the schools and university having to close? Tawny Towers is literally falling apart. Another Tower started to crumble yesterday, and now all the towers are evacuating, did you even know about that, whilst you stay in this room with your books, studying runes that you do not have the rights to know?" her calm was gone now, and Caeli was yelling, at the top of her voice at the two mages "How dare you. How dare you be wilfully complicit in our destruction! You must stop! You've fucked up the balance of the desert and it must be restored!"