The Rossem Project

The Assembly - Part 2

     The head of the Rossem project did not speak immediately but paused as he swept his single eye across the crowded rows of benches as if gathering his thoughts. Thomas shuffled uncomfortably in his seat as the old wizard's eye fell on him and rested there for a moment, and he sensed some nearby wizards turning to look at him as well, no doubt wondering what it was about this rather ordinary junior wizard that should make him the subject of special scrutiny. Some of them knew he'd been visiting Saturn's laboratory for the past few days, of course, but they didn't know the reason for these visits. Of the valley's junior wizards, only Lirenna and Pondar's assistants knew that, and they only knew what Thomas himself had been able to tell them, which wasn't much.

     Finally, Saturn cleared his throat. "Most of the people in this room know that something unusual has been going on in this valley for the past few months. Some of you know that it's something called the Rossem project, but only a few of you know what the Rossem project is. Now the time has come to reveal the truth to everyone. Not just you, but eventually the whole world, for events are unfolding that will, we believe, eventually effect every living person, everywhere.”

     He glanced around the chamber to make sure that he had everyone's attention and nodded to himself before continuing. “I can begin by telling you that the word Rossem refers to the former province of Belthar, now an independent Kingdom. It was here that it all began, on a spring morning seven years ago when an iron meteorite fell in a farmer's field.

     "The farmer, knowing that meteoric iron is valuable to wizards, sold it to a wizard who lived close to him, who sold it in turn to another. It passed through several hands before it came to me, and it was the last of these prior owners, a chap called Nelkor Po, who discovered that the meteorite carries a magical charge. Not a normal magical charge, though. It carried a different kind of magic. Something undetectable to our normal magic sense but which has the ability to interfere with conventional magics. Nelkor Po lost a valuable wand when the meteorite's magical charge caused the wand to suffer a charge failure and explode. Luckily, the man himself wasn't injured, but the incident intrigued him sufficiently to send it to me for further investigation, as he knew of my fondness for such things.”

     A couple of hushed conversations had begun at the back of the chamber. Some of the mundanes, growing bored with this talk of meteorites. Saturn stopped speaking and glared at the offenders, who looked up to see why the wizard had fallen silent. Saturn glared at them, and they wilted in fear and shrank down into their seats. “If I have your attention?” he said acidly. Silence was his only answer and he nodded to himself before continuing.

     "When the meteorite first came into my possession, I too thought that it was a natural object. A lump of debris drifting through the emptiness of space and gradually picking up a natural magical charge. A charge of magic that was, somehow, of a different variety to that found here on Tharia. However, as we created spells and orbs capable of detecting and probing its strange, alien magical charge directly, we discovered strange regularities in its magical field. Regularities that could only be the remnants of structured magical spells that had once been held by the object. The obvious conclusion was that the meteorite was the remains of an artificial object made mainly or entirely of metal. An object designed to do magic, much the same as the wands, staves and orbs that we ourselves use.

     "This, however, led to a new problem. How had this object come to be floating through empty space, as it had to have been in order for it to enter the atmosphere with enough speed to be melted out of all recognition? Had it been teleported to a great height for some reason? Possible, but hardly likely. Had it been lost from the surface of Kronos? Also unlikely, as it would have to have been thrown with great force to escape the smallest moon's feeble gravity. Kronos has an escape velocity of fifty miles an hour, which is within the capability of any reasonably capable redball pitcher, but the important point is that an object could not be lost by accident. You could not just drop something and watch it float away. It would have to have been cast with great force by someone standing on the surface of Kronos and wearing a Necklace of Vacuum Breathing. Possible, I admit, but again hardly likely. Also, any object lost in this way would have a conventional magical charge, perceptible to a wizard's magic sense, rather than this object's strange alien magic. No, I'm afraid there is only one reasonable conclusion. This object did not come from our world. It came from another."