Chains of magic a progre.., p.1
Chains of Magic: A Progression Fantasy Epic (Restriction Book 3), page 1
THE CHAINS OF MAGIC
©2023 DK Holmberg
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ALSO IN SERIES
The Weight of Magic
The Shades of Magic
The Chains of Magic
Check out the series here:
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Contents
ALSO IN SERIES
1. The Viper’s Prison
2. Rune Variants
3. Out to the Wagons
4. Private Lessons
5. About the Viper
6. A Glimpse of Shadows
7. Talk of Shadow
8. The Permanence of Blades
9. Blade of Earth
10. Chasing the Shadows
11. Preparations for Leavetaking
12. A New Possibility
13. A Saith Injury
14. A Blade Bargain
15. A Search for Runes
16. Plan for a Predator
17. An Act
18. Rusav Moves
19. The Second Lesson
20. Finding the Flow
21. The Viper’s Capture
22. A Feel of Shadows
23. A Dangerous Return
24. Mother
25. A Willing Teacher
26. Another Lesson
27. Instructions
28. Runes and Subrunes
29. The Shadow Forms
30. An Old Friend
31. Choices
32. A Trap is Sprung
33. A New Restriction
34. Breaking the Stone
35. An Old Friend
36. Pushing with Lessons
37. Questions
38. New Restrictions
39. The Headmaster
40. Another Attack
41. Speaking Freely
42. The Truth
43. A Death and a Dilemma
44. A Betrayal
45. Rusav Attacks
46. A Decision Made
Thank you for reading The Chains of Magic
Chapter 1
The Viper’s Prison
Torian approached the holding cell with trepidation.
He doubted that he was in any real danger. The protections that were placed on the holding cell were far too potent for anybody to be able to break through, though the university had believed that before and had been wrong. At least now, the university treated the Viper with a measure of respect, and a hint of fear, which Torian thought was probably the right strategy to take given that this person had the power to influence even while captured here.
But what would happen to him?
Professor Order stayed behind him, saying nothing, though Torian didn’t think that she needed to speak. He could feel her nervousness as well, though he suspected hers was for a very different reason. She didn’t say it, but Torian had begun to suspect that she had her own connection to the Viper, and it was one that left him wondering how much she was willing to acknowledge.
“He can’t harm you here,” she said finally, giving him a slight nudge from behind.
Torian glanced back. This section of the hall was completely dark, though much of that had to be tied to the way that Professor Order was using the shadow. He couldn’t see the pattern that she was using, but he felt as if there was some connection to it, something that he should be aware of, yet…
He wasn’t.
He took a deep breath, and he started forward, once again approaching the emptiness, knowing that was what he needed to do and that this was where he needed to go. The headmaster had made it clear that the Viper was fully secured and it was safe for Torian to come here. Otherwise, he knew that she would not have permitted this.
“I know that he can’t harm me,” Torian said, and he focused straight ahead of him as he said it, feeling the weight inside of him and repairing for the possibility that he might need to shift some of that weight to draw on it. “It’s just…”
Professor Order chuckled softly. “You don’t have to explain how you are feeling, as there are quite a few people in your circumstance who would be very unsettled. I’m just reminding you that he can’t harm you here. We have placed quite a few different runic markers that will ensure his captivity, and they diminish his access to that power. You do not have the same weakness. If something happens, you will be fine.”
It was so logical, and yet it did very little to fully encourage him.
He found his hand going to the slender hilt of the Blade of Wind, feeling his fingers along the surface of it as he focused, tempted to trigger it and extend the blade, as it was one more weapon that he could use against somebody like the Viper, but Torian did not.
“All right,” he said, finally. “I’m ready.”
He took a few steps more, and they reached a door where he found a series of other runic markers on it. Most of them were incredibly potent, and they would require somebody with incredible skill to make. Maybe somebody like Professor Noble, though even he may not have been included in this. Torian suspected that the headmaster had placed most of these herself, which was one more indication of her skill.
But she had also shown him the sequence of patterns that he needed to trigger, along with the type of power that he needed to put into them in order for him to open the door. Taking a deep breath, he focused on the series and then pushed some of the hidden power inside of himself, a power that was connected to the Saith, out through his hand and into the trio of markers.
It was unstructured Saith power.
For somebody like the headmaster, she would have been able to open it using a series of different patterns, but they would’ve been advanced patterns that would have been beyond Torian’s ability, and because he could not make them like that—yet—he had to use unstructured power, which he thought was better anyway, as it was something that only he could do.
He didn’t even know if Professor Order would’ve been able to open the door. Maybe with shadow, but in order to fully open the door, she would probably need to have access to more complicated patterns than only dark, which he didn’t know whether she possessed.
A soft click, and then the door came open.
“Don’t linger here too long.”
“I’m not,” he said.
“Do you want me to come with you?”
“You aren’t coming in?” That was news to Torian, as he had believed that Professor Order had been planning on coming inside, so for her to wait outside was a different concern.
“I intend to ensure that the door is secure. And if anything were to happen, I would provide a line of defense.”
“More so than the blade masters inside?”
“What I provide is quite different,” she said.
He didn’t care for that, but he also wasn’t sure that there was anything different that he could do or say at this point, and so he just nodded, stepping inside the door, which closed with a tension rolling through him. A pair of men stood on either side of the hall, dancing in his direction. Both carried swords that were probably rune marked, but he suspected they were fully capable blade masters as well, expert martialists.
“We were told that you were going to come,” the first man said. He had a mustache, silver eyes, and short cropped gray hair. “You don’t have to be too concerned about him. He hasn’t even tried to move.”
Torian wasn’t sure how much the headmaster had shared with these men about the reason that he was here or what he might be able to learn from him, but he wasn’t about to make much of an issue of it, as he didn’t think that it would make that much difference, anyway.
“He doesn’t try to break free?”
The other man, slightly shorter and with a more muscular build, shook his head. “The headmaster placed the markings on the chains herself. He’s not brea king free of them. And we have others searching through the depths to ensure that we don’t have any other unwelcome visitors.”
The depths.
The way that he said it made it sound as if it were really some mild journey through the forest, but Torian had come to learn that the depths were a place buried beneath Corsalt and an ancient connection that linked many of the buildings. Most of the people in the city did not even know such a thing existed. Torian certainly had not prior to the attack. He wondered how many of the university instructors had known, either. The headmaster had brushed it off as if it were nothing of concern to her, and while it might not be overwhelmingly concerning to her, it did make Torian feel more uncomfortable with the security of the university.
“Go on,” the tall, mustached man said. “We will keep an eye on you.”
Torian stepped forward.
The prison, such as it was, was different than the last time that he had seen the Viper imprisoned. There were bars like a traditional prison, but they were made of stone and metal, alternating one after another, with small slits in them. Runic markers were worked up the length of each of them, and they ringed a space containing the Viper inside of an otherwise empty room. Runic markers were placed on the ground as well, along with the walls and the ceiling, all of them designed to keep the Viper in place. He was held inside of the center of the bars, with his hands and feet shackled with what looked to be stone chains, though Torian wasn’t sure if they were actually stone or if that was something different. Regardless, there were runic markers all along the chains, as well, which kept the Viper in place.
The Viper was an unassuming man. At least from a distance. Only when Torian felt the effect of his power, the overwhelming sense of valsahir magic, did he recognize just how dangerous he was.
He approached carefully.
The Viper was seated so that he looked toward one of the nearby walls and not toward the guards, though it did look as if he had some slack on the chains holding him so that he could shift his positions. Torian wondered how heavy those chains were and if it was difficult for him to move. He found himself also wondering how they managed to get food in there to him, as it seemed as if the stone and metal bars were a continuous and impenetrable circle around him. Maybe they had some other means of doing it.
Magical, probably.
As Torian approached, he felt his heart hammering. His hands were sweaty, and he wiped them on his jacket. He focused on the weight inside of himself, pushing it aside so that he could draw upon the power that he needed, assuming that he might need something. He was careful, nonetheless.
“They send the cub,” the Viper said.
He still didn’t turn to Torian, but for some reason, Torian felt as if his attention was fully upon him in a way that it had not been before. He exuded power, which seemed to creep along the stone before fading.
How much had it cost him just to demonstrate that much?
It would’ve been an enormous amount of valsahir power.
And if he were testing the chains and getting an opportunity to keep pushing through that power, it left Torian thinking that maybe holding the Viper here was only giving him an opportunity to grow stronger. Torian certainly had felt something similar to that when he was working with his own weight inside of himself. By learning how to shift it, to find a way to push past the restriction that was there inside of him, he had found it increasingly easy to understand that power and to try to find his way free of it.
“I figured that you would eventually come.” He looked over to Torian. He had a lean face, though Torian didn’t know if that was from his time in prison or if he was naturally lean. His eyes were intense, dark depths of black that were flecked with a bit of yellow. He had on a tattered brown shirt and pants, but he somehow made it look as if he were dressed in finery. “Do you think that I will share secrets with you?”
Torian shrugged. He had been prepped for this meeting. Not only by the headmaster, who had been working with him on what he would do and say, but also by Sylvia, who had been worried for him, but she also had her own set of questions that she wanted him to ask the Viper. There were things that she needed to know that the Viper might be able to provide some answers—and perhaps closure—for. Even if Torian didn’t get the help that he wanted, there was a part of him that wanted nothing more than to try to help Sylvia find her own satisfaction.
“I’m not asking you to share any secrets,” Torian said, trying to exude more confidence than he felt, “but I was told that you would be granted a few favors if you were to work with me.”
The Viper snorted, and he glanced back toward the door and the pair of guards that were there. “Favors? Does she really think that she can control them when she is not here?”
Torian looked over his shoulder. What were the men doing to him?
“I don’t know that she intends to control anybody.”
He jerked on the chains, holding them up for Torian to look at. “Not attempting to control? And what do you think this is?”
The chains rattled, and for a moment, Torian was tempted to take a step back, but he steeled himself and stayed in place. He had stopped on top of a runic marker for a containment pattern, one that he thought might be beneficial if the Viper decided to attack, though he didn’t know if it would work quite like that. He had studied his runic markers and considered himself passingly skilled with them, but he didn’t have nearly the amount of knowledge—or experience—that the Viper would obviously have.
“I think this is prison,” Torian said. “And considering what you have done—”
“And what do you think I have done?” The Viper’s words dropped, and he leaned toward Torian, holding onto his chains.
It relieved Torian to see that the Viper could only push forward a little bit, keeping him still about five feet away from the edge of the ring of stone and metal bars. Still, it felt as if the Viper were able to lean forward and managed to practically radiate a sense of power as he did, something that left him feeling unsettled.
Torian scrambled to come up with an answer, but at this point, he wasn’t sure what the answer was supposed to be. He knew stories, but they were rumors and little more than that. There were the things that Sylvia had suggested that the Viper was responsible for, but at this point, Torian didn’t know how much of that was true and how much of it was what she believed.
“Why don’t you tell me what you have done, then?”
“It doesn’t matter,” the Viper said after a moment before yanking on the chains and turning away. He shook them for a moment, and then he settled back down, crossing his legs as he took a seat, staring at the wall. “None listen. Not in Navarin, at least.”
“Do you think they would listen to more in Rusav?” Torian asked.
He found himself drawn forward, and he stopped at the edge of the bars, not wanting to touch them, but also wanted to get close enough that he could see the Viper. The man didn’t turn his focus to Torian. It was almost as if Torian didn’t matter to him. And at this point, given what Torian knew, that was quite the likelihood.
“It doesn’t matter,” he said again.
“You seemed awfully concerned about what I knew about your exploits. So why don’t you tell me? What did you do?”
The Viper did look up at him, and as he did, there was another surge of what Torian could only think was valsahir power, as it seemed to flow out of him and into the chains, where it sputtered for a moment before fading. How would that feel? Torian couldn’t even imagine the difficulty that might be; then again, he also had lived with something like that for quite some time, knowing the power that was there and how it might impact him.
