Chapter 41 ALLEY OF SMOKE AND MACHINERY OF MAGIC
Xyra reached over to the slumbering sorcerer and placed a hand on his shoulder. She began to shake him a bit, trying to get him to wake up. He was a pretty deep sleeper, so it took a few times. Eventually, his eyes opened, and he looked up at her. He still looked half asleep.
She removed her hand from his shoulder, allowing him to sit up and stretch a bit. A yawn escaped him, and he began to rub his eyes. He still looked tired though. All the better, I guess. It'll work best if he isn't aware of anything that's happening tonight.
"What time is it?" he asked her, but he didn't need an answer. All he did was look out the window. "Night? Why would you wake me up?"
"Um…" she began, hoping he wouldn't get too suspicious. "There's something I want to see, and I was wondering if you'd come with me."
"Why?"
"Because it's dangerous at night." Well, he couldn't argue with that. Even though this town was small and seemed relatively decent, there was no telling what could happen at night. It truly wouldn't be safe, especially for a woman, to go out alone.
"Fine," he sighed, getting out of bed. Xyra just smiled and ran to the door. She seemed pretty anxious about whatever it was she wanted to see. Hopefully, it wasn't anything that had to do with something he hated, like the Sorcerer's League. He really didn't want to get involved in anything pertaining to those people.
He listlessly followed her, not saying anything as they left the inn and began heading down the streets. He was only going as an escort of sorts. He didn't even know what it was she wanted to see. She seemed a little excited though, but she also looked rather nervous. If there was one thing he was good at, it was reading people. From her eyes to her posture, she looked scared. It must be because it's so dark.
They walked a little further, and Xyra turned down an alley. Magnus was a little confused, but he followed after her nonetheless. She was walking rather far ahead though, so he jogged to catch up. When they turned the next corner, he stopped dead in his tracks. Right before them was the stand for the Sorcerer's League. What the hell…? Is this some kind of joke?
He didn't keep going as she continued walking towards the stand. Instead, he just stood there, his eyes wide. Why would she bring me here? What's to see here anyway? It was just an empty stand… However, the sound of footsteps quickly notified him that they weren't alone. There were people wandering here. Maybe it's someone from the league. I should probably get outta here…
"I'm leaving," he called out, halting his companion. She turned to look as he turned his back and began to walk away.
"But…" she began, but she couldn't figure out a way to end it. Anything would sound stupid, and if she begged him to stay, he would ask why. She couldn't tell him what she had been planning. He would hate her. He was going to hate her for a moment anyway, but she would rather stay in his good favor for as long as she could.
From the shadows of the alley, three men jumped out, surrounding Magnus. The sorcerer stopped instantly, glancing around at them. One quickly pulled out a vial and threw it down on the ground. The glass shattered, and the contents reacted. Lightning traveled along the ground, heading right for Magnus. However, the sorcerer simply set up a barrier, keeping himself protected.
One man threw down a different spell just as the barrier faded. Magnus prepared himself to counter, but all that came from the vial was a cloud of smoke. Caught off guard, he began to cough as the dust started to fill his lungs. He collapsed to his knees, holding this throat as it began to burn. Damn… I should have been expecting that. Gotta get outta here.
He began looking around for Xyra, and through the smoke he could see her. She was standing a ways behind him. However, she was making no attempt to help him. She was just watching, her eyes a bit sad but not scared. There was worry but no fear. It was as if she knew these men weren't going to hurt her. Unfortunately, this meant that she wasn't frozen from fear, unable to help him. She was willingly allowing this to happen.
"Xyra," he called, but his voice was caught by the smoke, and he began to cough harder. Why…? A horrible thought crossed his mind. What if this had been her reason for leading him here? What if she had planned this all out? These men had tricked her into helping them. He couldn't think of any other reason for her actions. How could you do this? I trusted you… She was the last thing he saw before losing consciousness.
Xyra slowly began to walk over to the three men. She already knew who they were. All of them were just waiting for the smoke to completely clear away so that they could make sure that Magnus was unconscious. The last thing they needed was for him to just be faking it. However, that was highly unlikely.
When the smoke finally cleared, they saw that Magnus truly was unconscious. He was just lying on the ground, not moving. The only evidence that he hadn't suffocated was the slow rising and falling of his chest. That was a relief, at least to Xyra. She would have drawn her blade if they had killed Magnus. Money was important to her, but she cared quite a bit about his life. Such a thing wasn't worth money.
"Well?" began Xyra, addressing the three men. "What now?"
"We're going to take him back to headquarters," answered Lambert as he pulled out a vial. He gave her a smile, but just like all his others, it was sly. "Would you like to come along? We can pay you then."
Xyra's rather distraught expression quickly brightened at the offer. She was praying that they were serious.
"You mean it?" she asked excitedly. He nodded. "That's great! I've always wanted to see it!"
"Then come over here," said Jex. Xyra walked over willingly, and when she reached them, one threw down a vial just like the one she had been given. In an instant, they were gone from the town.
When Xyra was aware that she was on solid ground again, she noticed that the dark scene had been replaced by a rather bright one. Her eyes widened in shock when they fell upon what she was seeing. This was the main headquarters of the Sorcerer's League, the most advanced organization in the world, and now she understood why.
Everywhere she looked she saw machines. Nowhere else in the world did such contraptions exist. Mechanical operators like this that required no human work were supposedly just a myth, but here she was standing before one. It was made of metal, strands that looked like arms hanging above a long conveyer belt. Things were moving along it, vials full of different spells. The arms would reach down and separate them. This was truly something she had only dreamed of seeing.
"Incredible…" she stated. "How does it work?"
"There are people monitoring it," explained Gian. "They're upstairs in a small control booth. All they have to do is watch to make sure nothing happens to the machinery."
"This is the world's only operating machine," added Jex. "You'll never see another one like it."
"Amazing… Is there more to see?"
"Just follow us." Jex and Gian bent down and picked up Magnus, carrying him with them as they walked along. Lambert was leading them, explaining things to Xyra as she pointed and asked about the machinery.
"You really must love the league," said Lambert with a smile.
"Of course," she replied sweetly. She really was enjoying this. Everything about it was absolutely amazing. She had never known that the league was quite this big. Sure, she had known it was the largest, not to mention one of the only, organizations in the world, but this was just too much. The machinery was far advanced, and a lot of money had obviously been spent to build such a place. The ceiling was lined with huge candlelight chandeliers. It kept everything well lit so that they could always see where they were going and what was going on.
The three men led her through a pair of doors into the back area. There were even more machines there, including a side room connected by a huge pair of doors. They spanned the entire wall. Xyra was instantly curious as to what was behind them. Hopefully she would get to see, because she desperately wanted to.
"This is where we make the spells," explained Lambert as he pointed to a few of the machines. There were glass tubes everywhere, transporting a red substance into a huge beaker-like object. From there ran a different tube that carried it into the machine itself, and from that machine came thousands of different tubes, each carrying a different kind of liquid. They were the hundreds of thousands of different spells that existed in the magic world.
"Are those what I think they are?" asked Xyra as she pointed to the multi-colored liquids that were traveling into different machines via glass tubes.
"They are spells," explained Gian. "Each color signifies a different type, and each shade is a different spell. However, they have to go through one more process before becoming functional. It would be stupid to keep such powerful spells in something like those tubes. If one broke, we'd have a horrible chain reaction."
"Wow…" So, basically, this place is just a few steps away from going up in flames.
"Now, let's get on with the tour," said Lambert as he began walking over to the doors that were indeed an entire wall. "But first, I have to ask you something."
"Okay," she replied, waiting for the question.
"Do you love the league?"
"Of course."
"Do you promise then to never say anything about what you're about to see, and that once you do see it, you won't try to stop us?"
"Um…" The more he said, the more suspicious she was. She really didn't like the sound of all that. It was almost as if he was threatening her, telling her that she better not interfere. Just what kind of secret could be so great? What kind of skeleton did they keep in their closet? She wasn't sure if she wanted to know anymore.
Xyra stole a glance at Magnus. He was still unconscious. She had noticed that they hadn't done anything with him so far. They had insisted that they needed him here because they wanted his help, but she wasn't even sure what for. She didn't know how he could help them either. They seemed to be doing just fine on their own. Were they intending to use him for something against his will? They had promised they wouldn't hurt him, so… why do I feel so nervous? I'll just promise him and wait until I see what he has to show me, and then I'll decide what to do.
"I promise," she told him, keeping a serious face. She didn't want him to see that she was planning something. Some people were able to tell just by looking at someone that they were lying. This man obviously wasn't like that, because he only smiled and then began to pull one of the doors away. Jex took care of the other side.