Death's End

Chapter 7 - Help

Jerius reunited with Mirayoung ten minutes before the time was up. Half-expecting them to head off and seek an audience with the administrator, Jerius instead was asked to sit down. Mirayoung poured him another cup of hot tea and asked. "I considered what you told me and corroborated some facts. There are enough threads of a complot to take this up with the administrator and be heard."

Darting his eyes around, Jerius sensed the residue of a recently-cast spell in the air.

Tracing his eyes and anticipating his question, Mirayoung said. "One of the benefits of being an archmagus of the elite Guild is the access to the Cabal Network, and a set of spells you can cast to scry through the network to learn certain truths."

"Truths like?" Jerius said, his expression betraying amazement.

"Manmade and natural disasters. Wars. Army movements. Strange magical fluctuations," Mirayoung explained. "The network constantly feeds data back to us, which an archmagus of the Guild can tune in. Of course there are limits to it. I can't learn about conversations happening in the bedchamber or courtroom. I did scry for anomalies from the arrays near Nox, and found something of concern. Traces of a greater demon's magical scent linger. It's faint, but it's there."

I suspect so. The cityfolks of Bliaton were turned into bloodthirsty savages. No mere mortal spells can muster an act this sinister," Jerius narrowed his eyes. "Was this not caught earlier by those who monitor the happenings? Or is there an Order of Demonic Craft in the Guild, and therefore the collective approach is to tolerate such occurrences?"

Mirayoung said, an expression of concern crossing her face. "You're keen of mind. We do have learned scholars and mages forming the Order of Demonology but such orders work within strict laws and principles. Outside of that, we do not take lightly spells cast with or for a greater demon. And the fact this did not raise an alarm in the Guild is concerning. But it may be that the management body is aware but chooses not to divulge to us during the Council of Archmagi."

"What authority do you hold as an archmagus of the Guild?" Jerius said. "An archmagus is the highest of magician's ranks. Such information should be privy to you."

"Fermand as an administrator tends to aggressively guard information," Mirayoung said. "It matters not. This will clear up soon enough."

Jerius's tone still carried a trace of astonishment. "That said, this Cabal network is incredibly handy. I can hardly imagine the complexity of arrays and arcane energies you need to sustain the data transfer across such a long distance."

"Our scouts and mages have painstakingly built erosion-resistant arrays along the Gaia Lines," Mirayoung said. "They are powered by the Cabal Source, a collective reserve of arcane energies that siphon a tiny speck of energy from every denizen of the Guild over the centuries."

"You can use the Gaia Lines that way?" Jerius asked further as he could not help to be intrigued by the magical marvels of the Guild. The Gaia Lines were the lifelines of the world they lived in, channelling and distributing the flow of arcane and other forms of energies. By riding on the natural flow of the Gaia Lines, the arrays could more easily pass data back to the Guild. But the distance will still present problems, he mused. Data loss is one.

As if reading his mind, Mirayoung said. "Your expression tells me you've answered your own question, but some confusion remains. If it's the distance, believe me it was through sheer grit and endless attempts to finally build nodes that can maintain the integrity of the data. Then there's security. How do we prevent malicious parties from intercepting the data? Coding the data is a start. I can go on, but I hope that helps to sate your spirit of inquiry enough for us to go on with the matter at hand."