Plopping himself down on one of the recently manifested stone benches in the simple common room, Crusher pulled out a small keg of ale from his runically enchanted pouch and set it up on the shelf over his shoulder with a practiced one-handed flip. Without bothering to look, he filled a mug by activating the valve with his forefinger and gripping the mug with his thumb.

  “Alright, so what do ‘e think?” he asked tersely, wanting to hear everyone’s impressions concerning the humans and their possible trading partner, Lord Walker.

  The other dwarves all took their seats, having pulled out their own kegs along with some food. The stone room was bare of anything other than essentials, and by its nature hid them from anyone scrying on them… or at least scrying on them in ways that they knew about. Although, they knew well enough that human magics might be able to do what theirs could not.

  Not that that would have any bearing on how they conducted themselves. For the most part, dwarves weren’t too considerate of anyone’s opinions but their own.

  Mouth full of a hunk of meat, Darvina started the conversation off with a garbled, “Well, tha melee and ability users ‘ere all right enough, I s’pose.”

  The other female dwarf in the party, Oskarni, replied, “They all seemed pretty skittish to me. Not a lot of pushing or fighting to advance their position. Either they always fight in formation like that, or they were just willing to let the scaly bastards come to them.”

  Everyone was nodding in tentative agreement, not willing to make a determination as to the human's true combat abilities just yet.

  Before Crusher could ask them about what they thought of the lad’s magical display, Ullie spoke up. “That kobald whatsis… ya know… that illusionary magical stone they used to hide their tunnel? That was interesting. It reminds me of the Sosex lights clan Naminor uses in their city for decorations and such.”

  Yornick, the fifth and last member of their little group, along with the oldest, replied quickly, “What’s a ‘whatsis’?”

  Now, translation magic worked for everyone, even dwarves. So, Yornick knew exactly what Ullie had meant. However, as a long-lived dwarf, he tended to enjoy stirring the emotional pot of whatever group he found himself in. And since everyone was speaking the same dialect of dwarven, they would recognize that Ullie had just made up a word… most likely unintentionally.

  Yornick couldn’t just let that go.

  Ullie was a younger dwarf, but still old enough to recognize what Yornick was trying to do. Therefore, he calmly took another sip of his ale and replied, “I just meant that the enchantment the kobalds were using was interesting.”

  Yornick, not willing to drop it, smirked and asked, “Yeah, I figured out that much. But, what’s a ‘whatsis’?”

  Ullie, frowning in annoyance replied a little heatedly, “Ya know damned well what I meant!”

  Yornick, now smiling replied, “Oh? But what is a ‘whatsis’?”

  Darvina, chuckling, replied helpfully, “I think it’s a type of burrowing bird if I’m not mistaken.”

  The entire group, other than Ullie who was getting progressively more annoyed, and Crusher who wanted to keep the conversation on track, were thoroughly enjoying themselves. Oskarni was openly laughing and patting her knee at Darvina’s comment.

  “It’s not a bird! I was just expressing my interest in something I didn’t know how to reference!” Ullie shouted.

  Fed up, Crusher intervened before Yornick could instigate any further argument. “Would ye two shut up! We’re having a serious meetin’ here!”

  The giggling and chuckling died down, and Yornick ducked his head a bit to show that he wouldn’t push it. Ullie on the other hand, leaned further back against the wall and crossed his arms in anger. His expression made it perfectly clear that he intended to sulk.

  His blood pressure rising alongside his anger, Crusher mentally cursed his luck at having to be the one in charge. Despite how annoyed he was at having to put up with this kind of nonsense, he tried to get the conversation back on track. Looking over at Ullie, he asked, “Now, what were ya saying about the lizard’s illusions?”

  Ullie, sounding exactly like a petulant child, replied, “I thought you wanted me to shut up!”

  Yornick, Davina, and Oskarni all burst into laughter.

  Every dwarf has a limit, and that comment was enough to put Crusher right over his. With a vein twitching in his forehead, he launched his half-filled ale mug across the small room and struck Ullie directly in his face, knocking his head back against the wall and causing him to fall over off the bench he was using.

  While Davina and Oskarni’s laughter grew, Yornick mockingly said while huffing in amusement, “Well, Crusher, our fearless leader, I don’t think ya’ll be finding out about that whatsis now, will ya?”

  Knowing damn well that it was Yornick who’d started this all, Crusher lept off the bench he was sitting on and tackled him. Right as he did, Ullie was just coming to his feet and shaking off the daze.

  When he saw Darvina and Oskarni both laughing hard enough to lose their breath, he was infuriated at seeing them enjoying themselves at his expense. Since Crusher was already in a fistfight with Yornick, his only option was to lash out at them… so he did.

  Leaping across the room, he led with his fist directly into Darvina’s face, his thoughts stuck on that comment she made about the fabled burrowing bird called the ‘whatsis’.

  While they tumbled together into another brawl, Oskarni drained the last of her ale and hurled her mug in the general direction of Ullie’s back.

  “Oi, ya right little bastard! Leave ‘er alone!” she shouted with a mad grin before jumping onto the pile and twisting his beard.

  —--

  Considering that their entire team was only 15 people, dwarves included, Nick wasn’t all that difficult to find. Nero found him squatting in front of his freshly assembled tent, putting the finishing touches on the open flap. As one of the last to choose his spot, the tent was placed in what had become something of an ‘outer ring’ of their little camp.

  Looking over his shoulder, Nero frowned in confusion at the disruption in the essence flows that were coming out of the dwarven structure they’d built. It felt like something was happening there, but he couldn’t understand what it was. Something about the feel of the essence reminded him of a college frat party, but he wasn’t sure why.

  Shrugging off the curiosity, he walked up right behind Nick.

  “Hey, man. I heard you were looking for me?” he asked.

  Nick, seeming surprised at having been snuck up on, turned around and stared blankly at Nero for a second or two before remembering why he had been wanting to talk to him.

  “Ah! Yes. I wanted to let you know what was happening with your idea,” he said while brushing off his robes and standing up.

  Nero, somewhat confused, replied, “What idea?”

  “The one about the kobald illusionary technique they’re using to hide their tunnels?” Nick asked, equally confused.

  Nero, not remembering any idea he’d had, but not that interested in getting into it, replied, “OK. What about it?”

  Nick, happy to have the conversation returning to its expected course, replied, “The first thing you need to be aware of is that it won’t be easy to do. Our Tower of Magic’s scrying array isn’t configured for this type of thing, so a great deal of work is required to update it.”

  Nero, having no idea what Nick was talking about but wanting to move the conversation along, replied, “Of course, that makes sense.”

  Nodding in commiseration with how much work was ahead of them, Nick continued, “Currently, mages are already working on reconfiguring the impellent flow controls and course tracking crystals to measure the necessary frequency harmonics. I believe that we have a solid understanding of what we need to do, and they seem confident that they will be able to make do with their current design paradigm.”

  Nero kept his expression blank while wondering in his head if Nick was finished.

  While taking a seat on one of the folding chairs that someone had placed around the camp, Nick added, “The next step for us is to get the survey teams here. We need to get as many readings from as many illusionary walls as we can find. The more data we have, the better our scrying attempts will be. The key, as you said, is to not focus on the projection they’re displaying, but on the reality that they are hiding!”

  Nero could see that Nick was getting worked up but didn’t know how he could possibly contribute so he kept his mouth shut.

  Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

  “The first of the teams are already on their way, and Cathleen has begun coordinating with command for their deployment. We’ll be escorting them through some of the cleared areas and attempting to locate more false walls. Most likely, we’ll be leaving within a few hours,” he said while tapping his fingers against his leg in thought.

  “Once we have the data we need, we’ll be able to confirm that we have control of the area and begin clearing out the mountain in detail. While the defensive positions the kobalds are currently holding may become more difficult to take, I agree with you that it is more important for us to consolidate our position before we push for more,” he stated emphatically.

  Nero, while keeping his confusion hidden, thought to himself, ‘When the hell did I say that?’

  Lost in his own thoughts, Nick continued on, “If your theory about the kobald illusionary techniques proves valid, we may be able to pierce their illusions on the lower city and truly see what we are dealing with. Then we can confirm what the dwarves have warned us about and start making some real plans on how we’ll deal with them.”

  Pausing for a second, Nick’s expression became serious as he looked up at Nero from his seat. “If what you’ve figured out turns out to be as important as I think it will be, you will have done a great deal to win us this war,” he said with no small amount of sincerity.

  Nero, still not having any idea what Nick was talking about, replied, “Well, we’re all just doing our part.”

  Not bothering to listen to any more of Nick’s nonsense, Nero pulled out his trusty stump from his personal space and copped a squat.

  Changing the subject, Nero said smugly, “So, I read that book on Thought Hubs you gave me. I found it a bit elementary, to be honest.”

  Nick, accepting the subject change easily enough, leaned forward in his seat and asked excitedly, “You did? Already? That’s wonderful! Feel free to ask any clarifying questions you have. I’m more than willing to help.”

  Nero, not expecting Nick to ask for any follow-up questions, quickly began trying to come up with an intelligent question to ask. He did not want his best friend in this world to think he was an idiot.

  Thinking to himself, he tried to remember if he’d had any questions worth pursuing while he’d been reading the damn thing. He must have had some… right?

  Before he could come up with anything good, he asked the first thing that came to mind, which unfortunately had to do with his recent search on the Thought Hub for prank spells. There had been so much information available, that he ended up getting distracted by a memory broadcast by two young mages who were intent on disseminating ways to use magic to mess with people. Although Nero had only been able to watch the introduction in the time he’d had before he found Nick, it had been enough to pique his interest.

  “How do people set up their channels for people to watch?” he asked, hoping that the question might be interpreted as remotely relevant.

  “Good question! That’s right, the book I gave you wouldn’t have covered modern practices and uses of the city’s Thought Hub,” Nick replied quickly, seemingly happy with Nero’s chosen topic.

  Letting out a relieved breath, Nero tried to look interested as Nick began chattering away.

  He’d come over here expecting to rub Nick’s face in the fact that he’d read the damn thing, not for a lecture. Yet again, Nero felt like Nick was putting another point in the win column at his expense.

  Even worse, what Nick was saying was actually somewhat interesting.

  According to him, the Thought Hub was available for everyone to use after they’d awakened and sometimes before… depending on their mental advancements. People used the technology like Facebook to update their friends and family on what they were up to. Groups used them to keep in touch with one another while sharing an account. Businesses and even arena teams used them to keep in contact with their fans and supporters. Even noble houses had their own for what sounded like P.R. purposes.

  Nero found it somewhat fascinating that the ‘accounts’, which were actually referred to as presences, could only be managed by people, as whoever had an account needed a mind and a spiritual presence to interact with it. Surprisingly, House Walker’s was being handled by Natalie, and Nero took a moment to wonder if he’d already at some point been told that.

  Nick went on to explain that news was distributed to the city through certified information distributors who were monitored by both the Center and the Council of Leadership. Laws were in place to ensure that only verified facts could be listed as ‘news’ and everything else was on the whole considered editorials. There were noble families that basically ran this part of the Thought Hub, and Nero couldn’t help but wonder how effective that might be at limiting the information the average citizen ended up hearing.

  Houses and some of the fancier nobles had their own talk shows, although according to Nick that wasn’t what they were called. The terminology Nick used was both odd and at the same time quite self-explanatory.

  When a person posted something, it was referred to as ‘cast’. Nick even went into explaining how the terms came to be. A person uploading a memory of an event was like ‘casting’ out their memory for other people to fish out from the sea of thoughts within the Thought Hub.

  Everything on the Thought Hub was memories, and there were even nobles who paid people to stand there and ‘watch’ as they discussed current events. The memory of the watcher would then be used as the memory that they cast onto their ‘presence’ in the Thought Hub.

  Nero found the entire thing both fascinating and at the same time rather limiting. The nature of the technology made concepts like imagination and fantasy completely impossible. If something hadn’t actually happened, then no one could cast it.

  There was also a difficulty concerning long-term storage. Data and simple things could be kept in the swirling mass of thoughts quite easily, but the memories themselves tended to degrade over time. Nick ensured that Nero knew that overcoming that limitation was a core research direction that every city was intent on working on.

  Nero did end up asking a ton of follow-up questions, and as a result, they spoke for a few hours.

  Nero learned a great deal about how the common citizen lived with the Thought Hub, and what they used it for. He also had one of his earliest questions about the Center answered.

  The Center library's Thought Hub, which was separate from the one for the city, included mountains of books and information. Books and such were not so easily ‘downloaded’ as they weren’t memories. While someone theoretically could cast a memory of reading an entire book, it wasn’t done due to its inefficiency.

  Nero had wondered why it was so much faster to watch a memory than it was to read a book, and now he knew. He still didn’t necessarily understand why, but at least he understood that there was, in fact, an explainable reason.

  Plenty of the little questions Nero had always wanted to ask were easily handled by Nick, and Nero found himself for once actually understanding the answers. For a moment, he felt like he finally might be catching up with the general understanding of things that everyone else took for granted.

  Unfortunately, they eventually ran out of time as Natalie and the scouts had returned from wherever they had ended up going.

  Almost as soon as she finished briefing them on what their new mission was, everyone was already ready. Even the dwarves had somehow realized they were moving out and were lined up in front of their little stone building ready to go.

  Nero was somewhat unhappy to see that Nick’s former aides were part of the survey team they were going to escort. It wasn’t due to the fact that Nick was now ignoring him in order to spend some time with them, it was just that he hadn’t been finished asking his questions. There was still so much he was unclear on, and so many little things that he still didn’t understand about the city he was now living in. It had been a rare productive conversation, and he hadn’t been ready for it to end.

  It wasn’t like he could just ask a random person what kind of music they liked. Even if they answered, he wouldn’t understand anything they said. He had no frame of reference. Nick at least understood that, and he was obviously becoming better at dumbing things down for Nero to comprehend them.

  Regardless, their new group quickly set off back for the tunnels. The survey team had their own team of scouts who would be working with theirs, so they all led the way. Altogether, their group now numbered 35.

  Hilariously, the dwarves still maintained their position in the rear, and their smaller stature made them practically disappear behind everybody. Nero, on the other hand, still found himself stuck in the middle. Luckily, at least this time he had a few more mages that he might get a chance to watch doing something.

  Or at least that’s what he’d hoped for. In actuality, the entire trip was as boring as a trip to the grocery store with his significant other. The whole thing took 4 hours, and all they ended up doing was watching as the survey team’s scientists and engineers deployed their machines around 3 hidden walls the scouts had discovered. He and many of the others ended up being window-dressing, at best.

  Nero hadn’t even been able to ask them questions about what they were doing, as they all looked too busy with their little fiddly knobs and essence readers. While he and the mages watched on, and the melee fighters maintained the perimeter, Nick led the survey team’s investigation like a general leading his troops into battle. Science was truly the man’s element.

  Optimistically, Nero understood maybe three words out of ten. He did however lean heavily on his translation ability to get the general idea of what they were doing. From what he could tell, they were trying to isolate the spell signatures of the kobalds that cast the spells. He also heard that they confirmed his theory that they weren’t spells, but enchantments.

  Although he really wanted to ask them how they were powered, he realized that there wouldn’t have been much of a point. Anything they explained to him, he probably wouldn’t understand.

  Luckily, he didn’t actually need them for anything. He had plenty of time to use his essence senses to get a good look at how the enchantments were made. While he doubted he’d be able to copy them any time soon, he was at least able to determine how they worked.

  The kobalds had somehow cast a spell but tethered it to the ether by tying multiple flows in a bundle that looked like a kink in the essence flows. It allowed the spell to maintain its position and somewhat ‘feed’ off the flows that were keeping it in place. Had they not been evil scaley little murder asshats, Nero might have even been impressed. Rather than being a spell, it was instead like an enchantment hovering in the ether affecting reality.

  With nothing better to do, Nero spent most of his time either making small talk with the people around him, watching prank memories by ‘Niel and Kevin’ over the link, or just attempting to get a self-charging light spell to stick to the essence flows in the ether. Honestly, aside from the prank show, his success was rather middling.

  On the plus side, his ability to split his attention was growing. He had no problem streaming the show in his head through the link while he chatted with Merrick about his time at the magic academy he went to in some city called Catherton.

  Interestingly, citizens were able to change cities as long as their skill and overall level remained within their requested city's development level. Magic academies provided the basics for the most part, but anything advanced was required to be taught by whatever city they ended up in. Considering their life spans, many people ended up transferring cities in order to move up the power ladder. Merrick’s mention of the term ‘climber’ made Nero recall some of the references he’d heard other people use before, and was happy to now have a little more context to understand what they had been talking about.

  But, back to the prank show he’d been watching. ‘Niel and Kevin’ were two young guys who were studying at the Center in Gate 6 and uploaded, or cast, their show once or twice a month. In it, they described what spell forms they’d found and where, and how they used them to piss everyone around them off. Nero loved it.

  His favorite episode so far was where Kevin enchanted his father’s pipe to change the color of its smoke to green whenever it got hot enough. The memory of them hiding behind a bush and watching the man stare confusingly at the pipe until the smoke’s color returned to normal, and then having to repeat the process over and over again as he began to get more and more agitated was priceless. The poor guy repacking his pipe with fresh tobacco, or whatever it was he using, over and over again caused Nero no end of amusement.

  It truly was amazing what a person could do with the reality-altering power of magic.