Gentleman’s Guide to Fantastic Beasts 47

Gentleman’s Guide to Fantastic Beasts 47

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Wordcount: 2500

Commissioned by Sivantic.

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I was reminded of stories of rulers with vast wealth and prestige, who could make a command, and see it fulfilled in an instant.

Their nation serving their needs to utter absurdity as they were considered divine or beyond reproach.

Perhaps even both.

I saw that in motion now.

The crowds parted in the wake of Lassandra’s stagecoach. The tumultuous cacophony of the intermingling mass of people that I had ridden through to reach her became silent and straightened. The sea of people parted in twain, giving her and her people passage, with nary a word. People saw the banner that she flew, that of a stylized dragon with silver threads upon a blue fabric, and they parted.

No.

They did more than that.

They bowed, they supplicated, and they did all but offer prayer.

These people were not just rulers.

They were nearly deities.

The divine mandate that some people claimed to have in my world came to the forefront of my mind. They espoused that they had the right to rule through God, which was reinforced by the papacy when the Catholic Church was at the height of its power. Even after the schisms, the Protestants did the same with their kings and lords, and claimed those appointed by the Catholics to be heretical rulers of their own nations. What then, would’ve occurred, if some bloodlines indeed carried more power and strength than the normal person?

What if those appointed to rule were truly orders of magnitude stronger and with power that reflected myth legend?

Would the rulers not be lauded and thought of as truly mandated to rule over the masses?

My silent stare at the reactions of the people to Lassandra drew the attention of the Archmage who accompanied me in the following carriage.

“Your people don’t venerate your chieftains? In the tales I read of the Great Desert, the chieftains, and heads of the clans of your people are afforded immense respect. You should’ve received it as well.”

“The As’Kari honor and respect the strong and the powerful, but our people are all made strong and made to understand that strength is gained through the effort of the tribe.” Kan’Is and Djet’Is and all the other heads and heirs of each clan were powerful. However, the fact remained that they did not reach such a height on their own. They could not hunt all the monsters that they consumed, fight against all the foes they face, and make all the weapons and armor that they use. None of them could cross the Great Desert alone, live in the Great Desert alone, and reach the height of power that they have. Each one of them is a product of the As’Kari’s efforts a nation. As are these people. “I know not of the other tribes of the Great Desert, but I have never heard this worship taking place for any chieftain of any tribe.”

“Well, I won’t lecture you on such matters then. Our observations are largely second-hand from intrepid scholars… that is to say, second or third sons of noble families that had the funds needed to go forth there in comfort and return with knowledge that had worth.” I’d heard of such things in my previous life, primarily from European countries where wealth amongst the landed gentry was immense indeed. While the heir would be in charge and raised to dutifully manage an estate, the second sons or even third would go forth into the world with retinues at their backs to find prestige and honor. They’d write books of the indigenous populations they met, the beasts they hunted, and without saying a word of the guards and translators and servants that followed them into the deep jungle… mere miles from the nearest river village with a port that housed their entire steam ship. “Would you tell me of your people, then? The As’Kari, I believe, are the closest to the trade sites when you arrived at our lands.”

“They are not my people, and nor am I theirs. I stand by myself and my own actions. Speak to Djet’Is when she returns. Her father and herself wish to exchange soldiers and warriors for various things your lands produce.” The arms and armor of the common warrior were derived from the hunted monsters. They were strong, even better than normal equipment made with normal steel. However, all the knights and soldiers wore armor that glimmered with magic. It gave them strength, endurance, speed, and more, as well as more protection than it should with its weight. Upon normal men, it gave a decisive advantage over foes that did not have such things. What if such armors and weapons were upon the warriors of the As’Kari? They would be unmatched across the Great Dessert, save for chieftains and clan heads with their living armors. “Archmage, I have no desire to associate myself with you and your people.”

Harold gave a hum at my words. I felt the gaze of the knight that sat by his side. It was the same, titanic figure with the massive blade that had looked upon me with disdain.
I was tempted to tell them what I saw, what her rulers did, but I abstained.

I was not skilled with words.

Sometimes, I could not even convince my patients to regularly take medicines that would save them.

There was no hope that I could sway the minds of these people.

Harold, eventually, spoke to me once again.

“Then, I would like to ask you of the parasites. You would be amenable to providing some more information regarding this grave threat, no?”

“…I would.” I wrote as much as I could regarding them, but questions could unearth facts that I had not written. If this scholar sought to save more lives, then I would not stand in his way. Regardless of what I felt, the people of this land did not choose to abandon the lands that they did. They live and die by the command of their rulers, who have greedily taken power for themselves and purposefully withheld power from their people. Some would say they are still at fault for benefiting from the suffering of others beyond their reach. However, who doesn’t? “What questions do you have?”

“I have been reading your scroll. You mention the application of heat to the creature itself would kill it with ease outside the host body. How did you manage the feat?”

“From a dissected corpse of a host. While it’s body spread and replaces vast portions of the host, it still has a core. A main body from where the rest of the tendrils stem. One eight cadavers, it was in the brain.” I allowed myself to relax slightly and simply speak on my findings. I could ignore the crowds in awe, the ostentatious display of wealth, and the disdain aimed at me by the knight sitting beside Harold. Only facts, only the truth. It was a welcome change in conversation.  “One was in the heart. The other right below the sternum. I am sure that it can be anywhere in the body, which is why I recommend finely cutting them through and burning them to ash. In a sealed space, I extracted it with my wires from the body. Each time the main form perished completely and only the creature remained.”

I opened my hand face up and focused to display the shell I could create from the surrounding air and surrounding force around us. Movement was a constant, as was heat, and when affected by both air could become a barrier. The addition of light was needed to make it visible to the naked eye, which allowed me to work with greater ease and allow others to see it.

Harold stiffened at the sight of the small cube and he leaned forward in his chair to study it with great interest.

His interest was entirely upon the containment vessel I created.

Not the creature that I described.

But if others could learn this technique, they could more easily protect themselves and isolate the creatures.

So, I obliged him.

“Hold out your hand. Fill it with your soul. Feel everything within your hand. The air. The movement. The heat. Light itself. Shape them and move them like you would clay with your will.” They called it magic, arcane, and more. However, from the moment I was born, I knew it was there within me and that it crept along with me from my past life. It is the soul. I strengthened it from the weak embers that I heard from my birth, and it bloomed and blossomed as I consumed and took the essence of other living things in this world. In this world, many things invigorated the soul and they were normally consumed by monsters, concentrated, and they proved the best vessels to invigorate oneself. “Create a vessel by turning it all into walls. Begin small and make it grow larger.”

Harold nodded eagerly at my words, the wizened sage that he presented himself as fading away, as he was confronted with his passion. Holding out his hand, he took measured breaths, and in a few moments a sphere formed in his palm composed of air, movement, heat, and light. He stared at it with awe.

“The concentration required… it’s far less than what our spells require. I see. It takes more from what is already present. Using what exists would naturally lower the strength needed to make effects occur.” Harold sat back in his chair at the stagecoach with a smile stretching across his face. “What we use is bullheaded and blunt in comparison. This is simple. No. It is elegant. Wonderful. Magnificent.”

He was silent in his contemplation for a moment, before his head suddenly snapped in my direction.

“You can level this entire city. No, this entire nation, with your power and this much strength.” The statement was simple and succinct. A truth aired into the world. “You oppose us and are disgusted us, but you do not act with the strength and might that you have. Why?”

The knight sitting by his side seemed shaken by his words, and they moved to reach for the sword propped against one side of the carriage.

I answered Harold simply.

“My desire is to heal, to help others, and protect them from dire threats. I am not the same as those in your lands who wield power. Or even those in the Great Desert. I left the As’Kari, as I wished no part in their war to rule over the Great Desert in its entirety.” Harold’s reaction spoke of the use of power in this world. Here the power of the soul was used to dominate and destroy. Even in these lands, there was no sign of the healing techniques that I created from the knowledge I had in my past life. People are surprised with every ounce of knowledge that I have that pertains to healing and caring for others. In this world, might is all that matters, and the weak and sick perish. “My power is for the good of people. To save from sickness and from injury. Not to cause them.”

I am a physician who swore an oath in my previous life to do my utmost in saving lives. With their permission, I shall do all that I can to save others. Such is my desire, my want, and why I would fight and stand my ground.

Harold looked my way for the longest time in silence, as searching me for duplicity and for a hint of falsehood.

Then, he bowed his head to me.

“Please, if you could spare the time as the ships are gathered, teach me your magics in healing and saving others. I swear that the knowledge will spread from these lands and benefit all the peoples that it could reach.”

I nodded and was ready to speak, when the knight that sat beside him as his protector spoke.

“You are coward, unwilling to fight and have blood on your hands for the sake of others. That power you hold would save tens of thousands more lives if you used it to fight.” As I suspected, vaguely, from the faint inklings I gained from the knight’s form. The knight was a woman and a young one. Much like Djet’Is, she most likely comes from a strong household that fed her purposefully with the flesh of monsters and taught her from an early age to fulfill a singular duty. Though Harold looked at her with alarm, I raised my hand his way and listened to her slow tenor barely above a growl. “I heard tales of the people of the Great Desert. My household fought with the tribes there long ago, even living with them, and learned how to grow in strength and power. You bring shame to the vaunted warriors of those lands for choosing this path and running from your duty to your tribe.”

She took of her helm, and though she had fair skin and blonde her, her eyebrows were fuller, nose sharper, and cheekbones higher than the women of these lands. The people of the Great Desert’s traits were with her, and she aimed to shame me with them.

I was tempted to inform her that whatever tribe allowed her people to intermingle with them and take their secrets was probably annihilated and its clans taken apart into other tribes once her ancestors absconded.

But I elected against such a boorish tactic, and addressed her view on my cowardice.

“In a thousand years, you and this kingdom and myself will be nought but notes in history, but the knowledge I will pass onto your Archamage now will be spread across all lands and will be cared for and will save lives long after we are all dust.” I met her gaze through my mask. If her eyesight was as good as a warrior’s, she’ll see my own through the crystalline lenses. “I will spend my entire life saving others, teaching them how to do as I do and become as I am, and they will remember, teach their children, and prosper.”

I made sure that she listened to my words.

“There are enough people with power and might in this world willing to bloody their hands for the sake of their justice. I am willing to toil until my own death without scrap of fame or an ounce wealth so that my knowledge does not die with me.” My goal in this world, ultimately, is to see physicians become as common as back home. “My hope, is that when I reach my deathbed, I will rest easy knowing there are countless others who can carry on my work and be as cowardly as I am.”

To those words, the knight had no answer, and so I refocused on the archmage.

He seemed to look upon me in a new light, and I hoped that the newfound respect he felt for me would help spread the knowledge that I would give him today.