Ignite the Sun-Chapter 59: The lab

On the next morning they were greeted by Alison, just like before - the only thing that changed was her attitude, she seemed much more calm and relaxed than before.

To their utter shock, she was even the one to start the conversation on the way to the lab.

"I never met Geo’s assistants you know, they haven’t left the lab since they started working there."

"They just live there? Did Geodor force them to or something...?" Isara’s brows furrowed.

"Quite the opposite, he was very distraught when they refused to leave the lab." Alison chuckled. "Only after a few days of pleading them to take a break he gave up on the idea, and ordered to build a living quarters for them attached directly to the lab."

"What do they eat then?"

"Whatever Geo brings them I imagine."

"Do you know what they work on?" Calen asked.

"From what I understand they mostly research stuff, and most of their ideas are scrapped because of how insane they are - still, their inventions contributed a lot to the city in these past few centuries."

"... centuries?"

"Yeah, these two are from the first generation born after the invasion, and according to Geo they were quite talented, he even mentioned that they could probably become archmages under someone else’s tutelage." She paused. "I wouldn’t be surprised if they were more powerful and knowledgeable than him at this point."

"How come they’re still his assistants then? Shouldn’t one of them inherit the title of grand mage?"

"The job comes with formalities that would keep them away from research, they prefer letting Geo handle all the burdensome stuff."

"If they are so talented, why didn’t they go to the Fallen Tower? It seems like it would be easier for them to grow there." Cassian questioned."

"Cass, since they value a academic freedom and organisation ran by a council of archmages would be a nightmare for them - with them there’s no experimentation, only following a strict curriculum." Calen explained.

Alison eyed him suspiciously.

"I thought you guys were from the past, how do you know so much about the Tower?"

"I don’t, I just know about the institution that eventually became the Tower, as an apprentice of an archmage that refused to join them I had plenty of interactions with them." He scratched his chin. "I wonder if any of the original members still remain."

"All of the archmages are from before the invasion, or at least they never announced any new ones."

"Huh, that’s weird... do you perhaps know how many members the council has?"

"Seven I believe."

"...less than a quarter remains then."

It was a really sobering news, sure they already knew that most of humanity died, but this was something different - archmages were paragons, some of them were called demigods, and yet only a few of them remained.

Granted there were most likely more of them out there, as those gathered in the high council were only a third of all archmages, but their total count probably didn’t exceed twenty. Additionally many of them could be in a state like Koravel, where casting even a single spell would mean death.

In fact Calen was almost sure that vast majority of them was in a pitiful state, otherwise the barrier they were inside would have been at least looted, if not completely dispelled.

As he fell deeper into his thoughts, Alison led them further and further away from the fortress and towards the hidden lab.

***

The facility was hidden to an impressive degree, not only was it covered in layers upon layers of illusions, but the entrance was behind a triple false wall - no one would find this place unless they knew exactly what to look for.

"I’m staying here." Alison announced in front of the lab.

"What? Why?" Isara looked at her quizzically.

"Because I don’t actually have permission to come inside, in here Geo has absolute authority and our relationship is... strained to say the least."

"Because of Konrad?" Calen guessed. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

She shook her head.

"Our disagreement goes as far as my appointment as the capitan, he was very disapproving of Sylara’s choice and he let me know about it at every moment possible - so I reciprocated in the exact same way, ridiculing his work, competencies, and so on."

"And Sylara didn’t intervene? It seemed like she stepped in really fast during the breakfast two days ago."

Alison looked a bit uncomfortable discussing the topic, but she answered:

"Lady Sylara believes it it the best to let people settle their differences on their own, so she doesn’t normally interfere unless the argument goes too far - and her definition of too far is very, very far..." She waved her hand. "But we can discuss that some other time, for now go in, people are waiting for you inside."

"Will you be standing here all day?"

"Yes, but don’t get sad on my account." She smirked. "This beats writing down reports about yesterday’s incident, something Maya will have to do in my stead."

Calen stopped right before the entrance and asked one last question:

"...who are you even reporting to? You’re in charge of the whole operation."

"Lady Sylara of course, whether she reads the documents I submit is another matter altogether." Alison clicked her tongue. "Now go before I shove you in."

***

"It’s a magic lab alright..." Isara mumbled looking around the space.

Calen could only agree - the space was huge, easily large enough to fit two or three houses from the surface. Its walls were covered in bookshelves creaking under countless heavy tomes, and blackboards filled with half-finished magic circles accompanied by notes and calculations.

Scattered around the room were many workstations occupied by strange devices and tools, most of them were either incomplete or turned off, but there were a few which emitted a low hum or a suspicious amount of smoke.

"It’s like master’s lab but twice as big, and he went away for a few days without telling us." He commented.

"Welcome, welcome!"

Geodor appeared from a door on the opposite side of the chamber, accompanied by two middle-aged looking people dressed in dull gray robes.

On his right stood a stern looking woman with straw-like hair tied into a messy bun and green eyes obscured by a pair of thin rectangular glasses.

The left side was taken by a jovial man with a scruffy beard and curly black hair, his brown eyes full of energy despite the dark circles beneath them.

And it seemed like Alison was right, both of them were significantly more powerful than Geodor, perhaps they were only a few steps away from becoming archmages.

"Allow me to introduce my associates." The grand mage gestures to hos right. "This is Martha, she specialises in magical engineering and rune theory."

"Charmed, I’m sure" The woman greeted in a dry voice.

"And this is Joel - he’s well-versed in practical usage of magic and its applications."

"I look forward to working with you." The man smiled.

Something in Geodor’s pocket vibrated and shined with a red light.

"Oho, I’m afraid something important came up in the academy that needs my attention, I’ll be back soon but you can start without me."

The grand mage hurriedly left the room, angrily mumbling something about ’kids these days’.

Joel grinned.

"That’s our Geo, he’s barely ever here, even when he promises to help us."

Martha didn’t look particularly amused.

"Take out the dagger, I want to finish this quickly and get back to my projects."

"Woah M, don’t you think that we can chat a little with our new friends before we get to work?"

The woman accepted the blade from Calen and started inspecting it.

"I don’t care about social interactions, if you must spit your senseless drivel you can do so while we work."

"Are you sure about that? Geo told me two of them apprenticed under an archmage for over a decade, they’re from before the invasion, and they have a wyrm with them."

A flicker of interest flashed in Martha’s eyes, but she quickly masked it and sighed dramatically.

"Fine, you can question them but I’ll keep taking notes about this thing while we talk."

She took out a quill and some parchment and started scribbling on the surface, however her posture was betraying her keen interest in their conversation.

"Which archmage did you study under? Did they publish any scientific works? Were they a part of the high council?"

Isara and Calen looked at eachother - in their silent conversation Calen was chosen as the one to answer the questions.

"We studied under Alarion, he published a few books and papers, but he only allowed us to read two of them since he deemed the rest to be ’subpar’. And no, he wasn’t a part of the high council."

"Alarion... Alarion..." Joel scratched his beard. "Ah, I know where I seen that name! He wrote ’Codex of Souls’ didn’t he?"

Calen was quite surprised.

"...he did, but that’s definitely not the work I thought you would be familiar with."

"Why not?"

"Because it’s a book for kids that covers the very basics of spellcasting."

"That’s precisely why we both know it." Martha commented without stopping her quill. "It’s used as a basis for teaching in most magic schools."

Of all the things Calen expected to learn here, revelations about his teacher’s work weren’t one of them.