A Long Time from Home Ch. 32

"Well, I guess that it's according to the law." Said Chili with a little smile and glanced over at me. "Have you heard about this?"

The question made me pause. Before the disease, there was no way that I would have answered that, but now that Ordo Gladius was an official order, I could at least give details that was already publicly known.

"Yes." I said with a nod. "As far as I remember, Mettius Clodius Pulcher was arrested for that crime some years ago."

"Mettius?" Chilli asked, surprise in her voice. "I went on a date with him once, but he turned out to be a creep. He even asked if I had thought about leaving Baylon for a while to see how it was to live in the colonies." She chuckled. "Not that living in the colonies is creepy, but the way he asked was."

I sat still for a moment, thoughts racing in my head. I knew, that the Pulchers had been working on becoming a power in the human world for a long time, but as I had told Master Vibius of Ordo Arbites at the debriefing so long ago, such a plan only made sense if the Baylon Empire wasn't there to oppose it.

"I have a serious question for you." I said to Chili. "Well, two actually."

"Ask away." She answered, still kissing Atia's hand.

"What would happen, if all the Dimensional Anchors were removed?"

That got her attention and she turned towards me. "You're kidding, right? Every man, woman and child know that... Baylon would return to our home dimension!"

Atia nodded in agreement.

I chuckled. As Chili had said, everyone did know that. It was part of the general education, but there was one part the teachers usually left out. "No, I meant, what would happen here? In this dimension. Nobody ever talks about that."

"Oh." She looked thoughtful for a moment, and I could almost see her mind starting to dissect the problem. "Well, first of all, Baylon is the largest power node on the planet and if it disappeared, the whole structure of Lower Magic would be destroyed." I must have looked clueless because Atia smiled and added. "That means no more magic for the humans... At the very least, it would be severely limited."

I nodded slowly. Since humans didn't have the Centre Potentia to control the magic, that made sense. Chili saw the nod and continued. "How the removal of a power node will affect the world, is anyone's guess." She looked at Atia. "What's your opinion?"

The brunette looked into the air over my head as she thought it over and looked at me again. "My guess is that magic will stop working and that's about it... unless they screw up one of the rituals and doesn't manage to remove all three anchors for some reason."

"What will happen then?"

"It takes at least two anchors to hold Baylon here, but if one remains while the other two is removed, Baylon will start to re-enter our own dimension along with the power from the node." Her face contorted in a grimace. "At some point the lines of power leading to the node will snap and return through the dimensions. Violently return, I might add, because that will destabilize the dimensional rift, causing shockwaves to run through the planet. Floods, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions will happen all over the planet and wipe out most of the human civilizations."

I frowned at the unpleasant thought. "Will Baylon be affected?"

Chili shook her head. "It'll get hit, but not enough to break through the shield. I can give you the calculations if you want. We did them as an assignment some months ago. Mostly because now is the best time to do it."

"What do you mean?" I asked as a sinking feeling started in my stomach.

"As you probably know, traveling through the dimensions depends on the energies, which in turn depends on the planets position in the solar system."

I nodded slowly. That was the reason for the political debate in the Senate.

Atia saw the nod and continued. "Right now, the alignment is so perfect, that if the anchors were removed for some reason, Baylon would return to its home dimension in six days without the need for any form of active guidance."

"I did not know that." I admitted, as the sinking feeling in my stomach became worse. The tale of how Magister Grande ex Magica, Flavia Porcius Dives and others had sacrificed their lived to guide Baylon to this dimension was well-known. However, if such guidance weren't needed, no one needed to sacrifice their lives and I could see how that would please the magi, making it even more likely that something was going to happen soon.

I looked over at Chilli, as I reached out and connected with her. "Could I get the calculations, please?"

As a Mentat, I have always been much better at mathematics that my mage sister and I have helped her with calculations since we were teenagers, since I was able to reach her even from Arcem, where I had spent most of my time. Complex formula entered my brain and as so often before, I recalculated everything, but there were no mistakes. Still, something that I couldn't quite place my finger on kept nagging me, so I kept studying the calculation. Suddenly a piece caught my attention.

"According to this, the best time to do this is today." I said slowly. "Is that true?"

Both Chilli and Atia nodded in unison, with Chilli adding. "Yes, but as the Senate have already voted against it, that not going to happen." She shrugged lightly. "You said you had two questions, what was the other one?"

"Do you know who this guy is?" I said and projected the mind-image of the Unknown Mage to them.

They looked surprised for a moment, but then Atia slowly said. "That's Angus Nigrus Cor... Our teacher in Dimensional Magic."

Chilli nodded. "And the one that gave us the assignment with the calculations."

The name Cor echoed in my head for a moment. "Please don't tell me, that Angus Nigrus Cor is related to Dominus Grande Cor of the Ordo Presidium. Also known as the Boss of my Boss."

Chilli swallowed something. "The Dominus Grande is Angus Cor's Uncle."

I sighed. The Ordo Presidium controlled both the Securitas' and Ordo Gladius, and if the Dominus Grande was in on the plan, it explained so many things. Like how they had known which prison Chuzara had been taken to, the authority to change reports, the inability of the Securitas Interna and the Imperial Guard to find the small group, and how Angus Nigrus Cor had known how to Gate to all the anchors. Since the security of the Anchors also sorted under the Ordo Presidium, the Dominus Grande could easily have given any of the information to his nephew, or Angus Cor could have stolen the information from his uncle.

The only bright point in all this, was that Dominus Grande Cor was a politically appointed noble and so high up in the system, that he would have little to no idea about what individual Inquisitors could do.

Without warning, the house shook as a wave of magical power rolled over us, making me see stars for a moment, while Atia collapsed in the sofa and Chili screamed, hands cradling her head and I could see blood running out her nose, while vases fell from shelves and paintings came crashing down. Another wave hit us, shaking the house again and increasing Chili's nosebleed.

"Dear Goddess, let them take the third Anchor as well." I prayed in a low voice, hoping for another wave, but nothing happened.

Taking a deep breath, I cleared my head and reached out with my senses to quickly examined my sister, but the nosebleed wasn't serious, so I transferred it to myself and stopped it with a simple trick, before I turned my attention to Atia. Fortunately, the wave of power had just knocked her out cold and she would wake up in some hours.

Remembering Kima, I hurriedly walked to the kitchen and was relieved, when I found her unconscious on the floor. It was bad, but at least not as bad as if she had fallen onto the stove.

A quick examination showed that she, like Atia, had just been knocked out and would be fine in a few hours. Just to be on the safe side, I used a healing Vis power to speed up the recovery.

A thought suddenly struck me. Vis Vitae!

Every living creature contains a certain amount, but in death it gets released as Vis Mortem or negative Vis. Being a weak force, Vis is rarely physically felt, but it did have an effect like Magic and Mental energy, meaning that it could and would affect a dimensional rift.

Another factor would be the sheer amount of energy such an event would create. Atia had said that shockwaves would wipe out a lot of humans and even a weak force like Vis could create massive effects with that amount of energy. Especially since humans had a lot more Vis than any other creature on the planet and that was really what mattered.

I walked back to Pandora, while my brain accelerated as the shockwave formula flashed through it, but this time I added a low estimate of the Vis energy that would be released at the same time, if some of the largest cities in the world were wiped out. The eighty thousand people in Babylon and Waset, as well as the more than hundred thousand people in Pi-Ramses and Yinxu.

The result wasn't good, as the amount of force now reached a level, where it was touch and go if the shields held or not and that was just the major cities. I added a few smaller cities and ran the calculations again. I had just entered the garden, when the new results showed it was more likely than not, that both Baylon and this world would be devastated.

I cursed loudly, causing Chili to ask. "What is wrong?"

"We have a serious problem." I stated and quickly explained about Vis to her. As a weak force, magi weren't taught about it, and she needed to know before I could move on. Then I showed her my calculations. "This is your calculations, but with the inclusion of life energy."

Chili blinked a few times, her eyes wide with horror. "Not good... not good at all."

"Agreed. Some quick questions. Is there any chance they can remake the anchors?"

"No." said Chili with a shake of her head. "The other planets in the solar system affect any dimensional spells and their position is totally wrong."

I nodded with a sigh. The disappearance of two of the Dimensional Anchors, meant that the Return was going to happen no-matter what I or anyone else did, and the only thing I could do was to try getting the last anchor removed before it was too late.

Reaching out with my mind, I tried to contact first the Ordo and then the Dominus Grande, but to no avail. Somebody must have activated the emergency wards, which blocked all powered communication.

That puzzled me. At this point Baylon would return no matter what happened, so cutting off communication didn't make sense, if it were connected to the Return itself. That meant, that is was most aimed at something else, since the planners of this seemed to be both intelligent and organized.

Then I felt like slapping myself. The most likely target of the communication cut-off was... Me and Dominus Grande Maximus. The planners had no way of knowing that I would wake up at least two days early and by stopping powered communication, they had minimized the chance of either Dominus Grande Maximus or I could transfer the incriminating mind-image of Angus Nigrus Cor to anyone else. That would lower the chance that they would be arrested and if they managed to assassinate both Dominus Grande Maximus and me, they might even get away with it.

If that was the case, getting to Arcem Discendi was easier said than done. At least from Grove. The sheer distance from Baylon to Arcem meant that after the Disease, only the Ordo Vectio in the Capitol had mages that were good enough to send me all the way in one go. However, if the communication stop were aimed at me, the Ordo Vectio building in the Capitol would be guarded by troops meant to stop me, and the only reason why I managed to get to Grove in the first place, had to be due to my early awakening. Not no mention, that just getting out of Grove would be a challenge all by itself if they were actively looking for me.

The thought made me chuckle at myself. To be honest, there was an equal chance that I was vastly overestimating my own importance in this, but on the other hand, I would rather err on the side of caution than being ambushed in the Ordo Vectio building or sent directly to jail or some private prison on the Cor family estate.

I looked at my sister. "If we assume, that the anchors weren't dispelled by a ritual, but right out destroyed, how did they do it?"

"Oh... most likely with some kind of anti-magic device. If the magic of the anchors is negated for half a glass or so, they will implode on themselves." She said absently, but then looked at me with large eyes. "No! That's way too dangerous!"

"Not more than being blown to pieces by staying here and watch Baylon fall apart as the energy crush the shields." I stood up. "Now you need to gate or teleport to the Capitol along with Atia and hide somewhere safe. If our opponents are as skilled as I think, and if their plan is to remain hidden, they'll try to eliminate you."

"What?" exclaimed Chilli, as she looked at me with shock in her eyes, but before I had a chance to explain, she nodded slowly. "Sorry... I get it. You and I have been in contact, so no-matter if I have seen the mind-image or not, I'm a liability that must be eliminated."

"Exactly my thoughts, so bring Atia and yourself to safety."

"What about you? Where're you going?"

"Arcem Discendi... hm... By the way, do you still have grandmother's old stuff?"

"Yeah, it's in the last guest room as always." She sighed. "I should have cleared it out long ago, but I miss her too much." She tilted her head. "Why Arcem? That's the first place they will look."

"I need an anti-magic device or two." I said drily. "Since that's the only way to blow the last anchor."

For a moment, Chili looked like she was going to protest, but she knew me well enough to recognize a lost battle when she saw one. Instead, she gave me a hug. "Take care, Ivah, and be fast. Our calculations showed that it only takes about three days from the disappearance of the anchors before the lines of power leading to the node snaps and return through the dimensional rift." She held up a finger. "One more thing. Once the lines of power snaps, you only have about half a glass before any gates leading to Baylon will stop working."

"Thank you. Now get out of here."

She nodded, walked over to Atia, and leaned down to touch her. Then she cast a teleport spell and grimaced. "Apparently, teleporting out of the city is impossible at the moment. They must have activated the wards."

I had feared that much, so I nodded. "I guess so. Do you have another place?"

Pandora nodded, cast the spell again and a moment later, I was alone in the room.

The problem I had right now, was that even if I could get out of the city and away from the wards, I didn't have the range to teleport to Lescare or even to one of the colonies. The only Power that could do that was Gates and I never had the skill in Magic to learn how to make those.

Varro could, but unless Verina had gotten hold of him, he was in the Capitol and I was fairly certain that the Capitol was locked down as well, eliminating everybody I knew there.

An idea popped up in my head. Tia Magnus was still enchanting items in the crafting halls of the Ordo Architectus (Baylon: Order of Engineers), and she was more than capable to gate from Baylon to the colonies. It had a been a couple of years since we saw each other, but with our jobs and the chaos the Disease had caused, that was to be expected.

More to the point, Ordo Architectus had almost total control over the forging halls and even the Dominus Grande of the Ordo Presidium would need a very good reason for them to lock down their halls.

Still formulating a plan in my head, I walked to the back of the house where my grand mothers' stuff was located. As typical for her, everything was neatly packed in square baskets with labels on them and placed on shelves, making it easier to find what you were looking for.

As a result, I quickly found what I had been looking for, which was a big basket named 'Costumes'. My grandmother had loved costume balls and always kept usable costumes in her house, which was one of the reason Pandora and I had loved visiting her. Right now, it was a chance for me to find a disguise, that could get me out of the city, so I could get hold of Tia Magnus.

Placing the basket on the floor, I quickly looked it through, trying to find something I could use. Unfortunately, since they had belonged to my grandmother, the costumes were for females, which limited their usefulness a lot.

In the end, I opted for a mage costume, since the traditional mage robe would hide both the iron silk clothes and the sword, and with the hood up, it would cover my face just enough to make me hard to recognize.

Satisfied, I walked into the garden and used a childhood path through the bushes to get to the street on the other side of the house than the main entrance, and then walked towards the city gates in a tempo that suggested that this mage wasn't in a hurry.

Choosing the smaller roads, I arrived at the city gates without any problems, but that was as far as my luck held, because the open square in front of the gate was suspiciously quiet. Normally, there were people entering and leaving all the time, but now, it seemed almost deserted aside from the city guards, who looked extremely alert, and a few people sitting in the small open area outside a café, looking they were debating something. With the waves of power that had swept over the city that was understandable.

The waves would also explain why the gates were locked and the lack of ordinary people, but it still made my danger sense scream that it was a trap, so I activated the usual combat Mind Tricks as I turned left and walked to the main street to see in something was blocking the traffic. To my relief, there was, which made my use of the combat tricks feel rather unnecessary. There was a large group of wounded people outside the hospital, waiting to get in and they were blocking any traffic of the road.

Relieved, I turned and walked towards the gate, taking my captains badge from the pouch and as I walked. There wasn't a city guard in the whole of Baylon that would deny an Inquisitor the right to passage, so I simply walked over the guard, showed the seal, and got a salute in return. "Have a nic..."

Sensing an incoming attack, I rolled to the left as a fireball exploded right between the guard and the place where I had been standing, cutting off the guard's sentence as she fell screaming to the ground.

Without thinking, I flowed into the state of Mutatur Tempus Mente (Baylon: "Time shall be changed in the mind."). My brain accelerated and everything else slowed to a crawl, as I activated the adrenaline in my body, and sprinted away from the guard, glancing around to get a sense of the situation.

It wasn't good, as about a dozen people in dark red uniforms had suddenly appeared near the walls of the houses that surrounded the square in front of the gate, effectively covering every exit. Some wore weapons and had dark red armors, while others wore dark red robes of the style magi preferred, but all had a facemask that obscured their identity.

Elemental spells of fire, light and ice hammered into the wall behind me as I moved into cover behind a wooden cart, pausing to rip off the fake mage robe and get my weapons, as I slipped into Vis Meditation to activate Pugna Promptu to alert me of attacks.

One against twelve was not good odds. Especially not if many of them were magi. With a sigh, I activate an Ars Mentalis trick that should have teleported me to the other Gate, but nothing happened, proving that they had also activated the wards that prevented any form of teleports within the city itself. Not only was that a potential death sentence for me, but it also showed that they had access to the city defenses at the highest level.