Gentleman’s Guide to Fantastic Beasts 56

Gentleman’s Guide to Fantastic Beasts 56

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Wordcount: 2500

Commissioned by Sivantic.

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Harold’s tower was just a few minutes away from the palace. Situated on the outskirts of the city, the lands around it was bare, grassy fields. No roads led to the tower, but docks for flying vessels surrounded the tower like a ring. Pure white in coloration, it was like a spear jutting out of a grassy plain, and I realized why it was solitary as we grew closer.

The lands around it was awhirl with power. I used the technique Harold taught me and found layers and layers of power in the soil and it even rose above a few feet from the soil. The grass was an illusion, and in truth there was only barren earth suffused with so much chaotic power that nothing could grow in it. The material of the tower, and even its height, were all to ensure that the structure and its inhabitants could practice in the land without being harmed.

Harold was swaddled in thick robes when I met him at the tower’s dockyard.

“Welcome. Welcome. Thank you for coming. I was hard at work ever since we last met. The notes you shared with me have been incredible. Very incredible.” His face was gaunt and he looked as though he lost a good deal of fat. There were large bags beneath his eyes, and he looked ungroomed. He looked as though he was working an a truly great project. “We acquired fresh samples of the creature to study and experiment upon while you were gone. We’ve created a simple wand that can detect them which we’re already sending out to all cities and mages who can make them, and preparing arcana that solely target the creatures. Assaulting the creatures like they are an illness is proving to be very effective… unfortunately, it’s a lethal cure.”

“The creatures integrate themselves too much with the body. Once it dies, more than half the body’s tissues, bones, and nerves die with it, as the creature converted it into more of itself. Even if you manage to heal all the damage at once, what you’ll be left with is a heavily damaged brain.” I studied the creature and its effects carefully since my first encounter. Even rapid healing of all the creature replaced wouldn’t work, simply because the brain would be so heavily damaged. Even with all the creature replaced and the tissue healed, the destruction of the brain would leave the patient without memory and knowledge. It would be a new person born into a body that’s already old, if they were not completely comatose forever. “A preventative measure is an inspired choice.”

“Thank you. I cannot take full credit. My students copying and translating your notes found your mention of preventative measures implemented in the Great Desert. Using a weaker form of the disease, so that the body can learn to fight it… brilliant.” I nodded at Harold’s words as he escorted me into the building. The inside was square in shape, like a normal building and much smaller than the width of the cylinder. It must be thickly armored to protect the people within. Harold was bowed to and greeted by many passing by on the stairs ascending and descending the tower. We made our way up, past many floors, each one holding eclectic and strange instruments and at least half-a-dozen people. “If they cannot make hosts of us, then we deprive them of their ability to make their strongest spawn, while also retaining our own strength. Once the knowledge spreads across the world, it can keep other lands safe from them. With constant effort, they can even be wiped out.”

I nodded at his words, but took note of his mention of other lands.

“Would your nation allow for this magic to spread?” Harold easily nodded at my question, as we stopped at a barrier to ascending further up the stairs. He held out his hand and whispered some words, and the stones shifted. “This would give them a clear advantage over other realms.”

“Ah, it would. It truly would, but as focused as the crown is regarding their supremacy, they know that they cannot allow this disease to spread. They, after all, unleashed it on the world.” Harold’s words gave me pause, before I shook my head. As an eminent researcher on the subject, of course he would naturally know the truth. “They will have too many foes to even retain this land of theirs, if they do nothing to stem the infestation. They will be put to the sword, if they do not do this much, by an entire coalition of nations. Already, the darkness that covers this vast swathe of the world has strained foreign ties immensely.”

“They must have warned them ahead of time, and made promises on the matter being solved. This perpetual night must be causing issues all over the world. Even in the Great Desert, monsters have grown mad.” This world was a large one. I would not be surprised if this nation and its traditions and customers were completely different from the rest. I doubted that all nations of this world operated as these people did. They reminded me of Spartans, though their citizenry were not slaves without rights, they still treated all others beyond their lands as people who will inevitably rebel. “You speak of the crown with less fervor while not in the princess’s presence.”

“And, I’m sure that she does the same with me. In the realm of the arcane, they cannot afford to hoard power as they do. If they did, they would lose us all to other lands eager for our talents.” There was no better way to lose talented individuals than to ostracize them and make it so they have no voice. Nations with wealth most certainly attract talent, but if that wealth cannot build a household, then it is only a matter of time before that talent leaves with wealth in tow to another land. “But let us not speak of such unseemly things. Let us speak of saving as many as we could. Here is our first construction: a sphere that will stay buoyant in the stomach that will wreathe the individual wearing it in flame should the parasites come forth to take their body.”

“Well done.” I praised the Archmage without hesitation. The solution was elegant. Imbibe the small, thumb-sized artifact so that it cannot be removed. If it can be mass-produced, then it can be spread across the land and ‘consumed’ by the people once. It was a simple white sphere in coloration, and it was smooth to the touch. Harold took it from me and took it near a jar of brackish fluid, sealed shut and chained down to a table. His approach had a parasite lurking in the fluid try to bypass the thick glass and fail, but the proximity was enough. He was immediately wreathed in intense flames. A single step back and it sputtered out. “Can it be produced in the required numbers?”

Harold gave a proud nod.

“We are using the method you’ve shared. Simplify the creation of many components, then put them together into the more complex piece.” The As’Kari were firm on not wasting resources. If a sword was to be made, the forging of the blade would be done by a skilled metalsmith. The scabbard would go to the leather worker. Any ornamentation would go to a jeweler. Even the color of the scabbard would be done by someone skilled in the matter. They would all work on the order at the same time, all the pieces joining together at the end, and presented to the commissioner. With larger orders, more people got involved with similar skills, until a pseudo-assembly line spread across the tribe. The As’Kari hardly needed any knowledge from me for manufacturing. They found their own path because of the desert’s harshness. “We have the shells being manufactured by jewelers, idle mages are providing power in gems, and blacksmiths are carving the inner workings. Once the design is good enough, we’ll send it throughout the realm, and many will find work and wealth in making them. They’ll last for a decade each, before going inert, and then outer shell will become porous so that it’ll no longer float in the stomach. It will pass through without issue.”

Harold stroked his beard with pride at the creation and it was a well-earned pride.

It wasn’t what he wanted advice on, though.

It was the large artifact next to the small ball on a pedestal. It was about the width of two persons and one person in height. Plain in coloration with a smooth surface, it resembled a simple box, but Harold moved to open it and inside was a dizzying array of mechanisms. However, what caught my attention, was a similar part of the top of Harold’s staff embedded inside that was generating a small ball of light pointed directly at the sample of the infestation just a few feet away.

“As you displayed in our flight together, better detection of the creatures and their dispatchment is the best method of prevention. The flames we provide can be outlasted. The creatures may even gouge out the stomachs of our people, then heal them by filling them with more of their kin to replace what is destroyed.” I grimaced at Harold’s words. Unlike disease, these creatures had intellect and could indeed adapt in such a manner. If the truth of these orbs were determined, then I wouldn’t put it past the creatures to inflict injury to remove them from people. The Archmage was correct. “However, we cannot simply send out so many skilled practitioners out there. They are better here, producing items that can do their work for them, so that they cannot be found and taken by the enemy with all their power and skill taken from us.”

“So, you’ve devised this contraption. It will create small orbs of light that point in the direction of the infected individual.”

“Correct, but we can’t make it any smaller and its range is limited to the length of a street. How do you send out your power to such a long range?”

I touched the device and closed my eyes.

I found the problem swiftly.

“It is the center of a large sphere, which looks for infected creatures within that sphere.” Harold nodded at my words. “Don’t change that. It’ll be perfect for finding foes when they are near. However, you’ve misunderstood my method of searching. I don’t search in every direction at once. Allow me to demonstrate.”

When he nodded head, I created an example with my wires.

“The circle is myself and the rectangular plane is what I’m sensing.” I created a circle on a flat plane, and to it I created a long and thin triangle with the flat side far away from me. Harold grasped what I was portraying with ease thanks to the visualization. I began to spin the flat plane around my representation. “The surface area of detection is smaller, but it’s far less costly to move it around constantly than always create a sphere. Of course, a sphere in all directions is better in conflict to avoid being surprised, but for detection this method allows a far longer range.”

“Of course! Hold on. Give me a moment.” Harold was swift to go to the machine and he fiddled with various parts and pieces before touching the staff portion. He muttered words beneath his breath and in a moment, I felt something pass through me. In another second it did so again. Harold trembled and shook with excitement while a smile split across his face. His next words were breathless, while he fiddled with the machine, and soon enough I could no longer feel the sensation. “Magnificent. The whole sphere is now a flat plane that just moves and scans everything around the machine. With a student operating it, they can focus on locations like a telescope! A few of these on flying ships can scan a city from above as you did, Lord Will!”

“That would be best. Have them patrol from the safety of the skies, then have them formed perimeters, and descend upon the infestation from above with absolute force.” It was like the methods used by As’Kari warrior groups. In their doctrinal texts, they would find their foes and use overwhelming force to ensure their victory, or peel off parts of a larger enemy force to ambush them with greater numbers. The As’Kari were not wasteful with the lives of their warriors. Or, rather, they could not afford to lose them casually. Every warrior is the product of almost two decades of investment of the tribe in resources ranging from water to the flesh of monsters. “Now, what is this last one?”

“Ah, that one is an artifact commissioned by the royal family. It is a pointer of ways.” A needle with a tipped end was suspended in a glass ball. It was held within a pocket-watch-like container. The red tip of the needle pointed towards the sample of the infestation that was on the table. When I moved it, the arrow stayed pointed at the creature. “I’m afraid that it is much to expensive to mass produce. It points towards the closest thing that matches the thoughts of the user. Lord Will, if you would please have it point towards the As’Kari, then feed it with your magic.”

I complied with Harold’s request and was surprised as it spun towards the southwest and slightly downward. It began to move every so slightly, like tracking movement.

This was closer to the magic of fairy tales back home.

A compass that pointed at the desire of the user.

What a dangerous thing to be made.

A hunter’s tool that can be used on people.

I shook my head at it, at the power it gave to those who asked for it, and set it aside.

I set my thoughts towards the infestation, and it returned to pointing towards the sample in the jar.

Harold waited for praise, but I just gave him a nod.

“Have you seen such a device before? I had hoped to impress you, Lord Will.”

“I’m not a lord.” I corrected him with a shake of my head. I noticed his words earlier, but I ignored the implication until now. “No, I have not, but I can imagine that wars and conflict would be invited by such a thing. I fear its potential in the hands of the people you’ve created it for, and those who they wish to find in the future.”

Harold didn’t seem to understand, and I wondered how I would tell him the truth.

That little bauble will not be used to find monsters or lost things.

It will be used to hunt down and kill the enemies of the crown.