Into The Abyss (Demons of Astlan) (44 page)

"No, there are not enough of them.  Of the ones I can rely on, I've only got two thirds, three second and three first.  Besides, if I did that, Exador would certainly find out and know we'd lost the book.  Then he would be out searching for the thing.  At least for the moment he's penned up here with us at Freehold."

"I suppose."  Jehenna decided to change the topic.  "Any luck on your end?"

"Some.  I've managed to contact both Trisfelt and Hortwell.  Elrose is still unaccounted for."

"That is something, I suppose.  No word on the other groups?"

"None, but they're irrelevant.  Actually if Trisfelt could get back in time for the council meeting it would be a nice touch.  He's got the kids in tow.  Their tear-streaked muddy faces could do a lot to persuade the council.  Unfortunately, when he bugged out with them he went to his old home in Scarpsdale.  It's about a day short of Hoggensforth.  Since he hasn't been to Freehold in the last twenty years, he's a bit squeamish about teleporting blindly here with a bunch of kids. 

"Man's always needed a push now and then for anything, " Lenamare added.  "I decided
I need the little urchins bad enough not to argue with him.  He'd do what he wanted anyway, I'm sure."

Jehenna just shook her head.  "And Hortwell?  He's still alive."

"Yes, it wasn't clear exactly what had happened to him.  He wasn't saying.  However, the important thing is that he's with Zilquar's army.  They're just out of sight of Exador's army.  Staying invisible, I guess."

"Zilquar's army?  He made good time.  Given the time it would have taken to raise his forces, he must have come 600 miles in about 5 days.  That's incredibly fast for supply wagons and footmen."

"Aaaahh!"  Lenamare smiled.  "Why do you think I called on him, despite his distance?  Why did I ally myself with someone so far away?"  Lenamare paced the room, his arm waving above his head, in a rather excited lecturer format.  "You see, I knew that no one, such as Exador, would believe any distant ally like Zilquar could get there in time.  But you forget that which many wizards forget when considering Zilquar.  What are his school's main areas of expertise?"

Jehenna shrugged, "Enchantment and
Thaumaturgy I believe."

"Exactly!  Air and Earth!  Like so many, you miss the military implications of his areas! Despite the fact that they do little
Pyromancy or Conjury, they still are extremely useful for military situations. You see, one of the things that he routinely has his students making as an exercise, is flying carpets!"

"Of course.  He flew his people in!"  Jehenna seemed a bit miffed that she'd missed this.

"Well," Lenamare conceded, "I suspect, to get an entire army, plus horses, he partially flew them in.  I would guess he had all his horses and cavalry riding hard.  His foot soldiers and supplies he probably flew.

"However, in
addition to being able to arrive very quickly, his larger carpets would have made the perfect platforms from which to launch aerial attacks against that usurping son of a swamp lizard and his now glowing army."  Lenamare stopped and scowled at the floor.  "Unfortunately, we had no time to reveal my plan.  That demon and what's his name, the dead student, conspired against me."  He waved his hand at any possible argument Jehenna might consider.  "Oh, I know.  Not directly conspire, I'm not that paranoid.  Indirectly though, their incompetence aided my enemy, thus I use the word conspire, albeit rather loosely."

Lenamare sat down again, resting his chin on his fist.  "The problem," he tilted his head to look up at Jehenna, "still remains.  We don't have the book.  Nor does Exador, fortunately.   We must have that book. Since, at the moment, we can't get it, and since I suspect the council would find itself disagreeable to my venting steam by doing another Fission spell here at Freehold, I must find some other way to release my anger.  Why don't we plan the destruction of Exador?  Yes, what can we do to discredit and ruin him here at Freehold?"  Lenamare smiled to himself.   Jehenna simply shook her head and pulled up a chair.

~

Maelen finished up the last of the wounded sailors.  He then ran up to the forecastle to quickly look
Rupert over.  The boy's body was a mess, severe burns, charred at the edges.  Giant blisters had formed almost immediately.  In a couple places on the outer extremities the very bone itself was showing through.  His teeth appeared locked in a rictus of pain.  Maelen did a quick scan for life.  He found none.  Admittedly, his senses were slightly obscured by the residual mana still clinging to the boy's body.

The lightning spell had apparently been powerful enough that, even now, the mana used to create it, hung over the boy's body in a haze.  Animus was also present, however, it was not in the body as it would be with someone still alive.  Rather it was the hazy
disbursement of animus found shortly after the body was vacated by the soul.  Actually, there was quite of bit of left-over animus, more than a boy of this age should have left.  On the other hand, he'd noticed the boy had very high animus and mana concentrations while alive.  That had been what had led Maelen to believe he was actually Edwyrd's student.  They both seemed to have very strong animus and mana  auras.  Much as he regretted it though, there was nothing he could do for the boy.

Edwyrd
, on the other hand, was a different story.  He'd plunged out of the sky and into the sea.  It was pretty clear that he'd used up all his reserves in doing his last attack.  Actually, Maelen would never have guessed the lad had enough reserves to do what he did.  Edwyrd had had to use a fantastic amount of power.  The Living Flame alone was taxing, add the prolonged strike against the Oorstemoth ship, finally the Avatar and then the increased heat of the blue-white flames must have drained him to the core. 

Obviously, Edwyrd was more than just a one discipline idiot-savant.  While one could specialize enough to become a
pyromaster at the expense of other disciplines relatively easily, only a true master animage would have the power reserves to do what Edwyrd had done.  Maelen didn't have those kind of reserves, even if he had known pyromastery.  Judging by mana output alone, Edwyrd would have to be a Seated Member of the Society of Learned Fellows, entitled to the Chevroned Robe and Mortar Board.

So why did he look like a lost youth?  By all actions, save the use of
pyromastery, he appeared to be exactly what he claimed, exactly what Maelen had Seen. This, however, indicated that his aura was actually correct, that he was a master in disguise.  Maelen shook his head, he really would have to have a long talk with the lad.  If he lived.  Maelen began busily scanning the area of the sea with both his eyes and his Sight. 

He waved to a crew member to attend him.  He'd need help to pull Edwyrd out of the water, if he found him.  There, about a hundred feet from the ship, below the surface.  A large collection of animus and mana that had to be Edwyrd.  Maelen  used his limited telekinetic strength to try and lift the lad
’s head above water.  He only hoped it wasn't too late.

Animus and Mana

Curriculum Vitae: College of Wizardry

University of the Council States

Animus

Animus is the "energy of life" it is roughly speaking the spirit or soul, the "living" part of all living creatures. All things that are alive have animus. Animus inundates every cell and the very molecular and genetic structure of living creatures. It is what separates organic compounds from living organisms. When a creature dies, the animus leaves the cells of its body and either disperses into the world around or in the case of high animus concentrations, may travel to other locations or planes.

Higher levels of animus result in higher-level beings. Plants and non-thinking life forms have the lowest levels of animus, animals considerably higher, and sentient creatures higher yet. Many theorists have hypothesized that it is actually the concentration of animus that causes thought and eventually consciousness. If the animus collects beyond a certain point, thought and instinct become possible, and then, past some other point, true consciousness, or awareness occurs.

Animus is not static. It grows with the thing to which it is attached.  Or more precisely it is both generated by the interaction of the elements within the body and also collected from the environment. As something ages, or becomes more experienced, its animus grows. In the case of sentient beings what this means is that as a being grows in life and experience the animus grows with it. Individuals collect it in the process of their daily life, the more they get around, experience the world, the more animus they are able to collect.  In particular, at a given time there is only so much animus in any region; thus travel truly does broaden one’s horizons, and one’s animus.

Where does this additional animus come from? Ultimately, it would seem, from mana. Animus by its very nature attracts mana. The more animus a thing has the more mana it attracts. Some of the attracted mana is apparently "consumed" by the animus and the animus grows.

In principle, on the physical plane, animus must be contained or it will quickly disperse. Larger concentrations take longer to be dispersed; thus when a plant dies its animus tends to go back into nature rather quickly, breaking back down to other substances and perhaps back into raw mana. When a sentient creature dies, its concentration of mana is large enough that it usually has time to exit the physical plane, usually with the assistance of some higher being (a god for example). In certain cases, discussed later, it may be possible to contain the animus with mana, and the spirit may stay around on the physical plane for a longer period of time.

Mana

Mana is the fundamental energy of the universe. It is a fundamental property that is either created by, or intrinsic to, the elemental forces. All of the elements radiate mana into their surroundings. It is this radiated mana that binds the elements together. Some theorists have thus referred to mana as the Binding Element of the Universe, or the Raw Energy of the Elements. Whatever it is, it is usable by those who understand it.

As mentioned earlier,
animus attracts mana to itself from its surroundings. The more animus, the more mana collected. While all creatures collect mana, only those specially trained can hold on to it, or do anything with it. Non-magical, and non-magic using creatures, accumulate mana, and store some of it in themselves to sustain their animus. The rest radiate it away either to the environment, or they can channel it to some other being, such as a god, through prayers, sacrifice, and religious rituals.

High emotions tend to cause mana to bubble to the surface of a being more easily. Thus it can either be radiated away faster or given up in religious rites more easily. It is for this reason that priests often like to incite religious fervor and emotion, in order that the worshippers may more easily donate their excess mana to the god. It is also for this reason that certain dark and nefarious creatures and beings thrive on fear and pain, as this can make the mana an individual has, easier to "harvest." Finally, it is also this reason that causes battlefields
to be large regions of mana which consequently causes a larger number of ghosts.

Animus must be contained or it dissolves away. If after death (the separation of Animus from its physical host) the Animus (spirit) can collect enough mana, it can form something similar to a "mana body," and thus one has ghosts. Similarly, spirits can sometimes collect enough mana to reanimate a dead body and contain the animus within
it; however, in this case, the mana is no longer infused within the cells of the body but is just sitting in it with the mana keeping it inside. This reanimation is where one gets revenants, Liches, and other similar creatures. (Note that zombies and other truly "lesser" undead are different, zombies are corpses reanimated by mana, but with no animus huddled inside.) It is because emotion can free up so much mana, that one most often finds ghosts and such creatures being the product great battles or highly traumatic experiences.

Mana Absorption and Transmission:

Unless something else is done with it, excess mana simply dissolves back into nature. Certain magical spells and magical creatures are capable of harnessing this mana before it is absorbed by nature. Strong emotions greatly amplify the rate at which mana is radiated from an individual and make it much easier for the mana to be harnessed by other beings.

Creatures that absorb radiated mana include ghosts, ghasts, wraiths, revenants, the Ban-Sidhe, pooka and many of the other 'malevolent' races of fairy. Vampires also steal mana as well as animus, however they steal directly from the individual rather than from the mana radiated by the individual. Liches also may steal mana from individuals, but if so, then it is by standard Necronomical spells. For most such creatures fear is the predominant emotion they prefer to tap for getting mana.

Divine entities may also, and in fact almost always do, tap the mana radiated by individuals. The normal method is through the prayers of their worshippers. Prayers channel all excess mana during the time period of the prayer to the deity. Extremely devout and fervent prayers may actually transmit all of the mana the individual would normally collect in twice the period directly to the deity. In either case, the person 'dries themselves up' for that time period; thus by praying in the presence of a mana absorbing creature, one can prevent them from absorbing mana (it is be rerouted to the deity). It also tends to make the creature really mad.

Finally, the mere presence of a deific individual (normally a saint, etc.) absorbs radiated mana. Physically present deities automatically (unless they will it otherwise) absorb
much of the radiated mana from all creatures who view the deity, regardless of whether they are worshippers.