Multiverse of Magic & Mistakes (Completed)

2.1.2 Chapter 2

The Mages College of Verdyn, Verdyn, October 2019.

Riley, Linnea, Theo and Mallory all crowded into Master Allen's small corner office. The Master Imburer's room was much messier than Riley had expected, the walls lined with rows of haphazard shelves each one overfull with a variety of magical artefacts, that Riley assumed Allen was going to get round to repairing sometime this century. There were only two seats, one of which was the Master Imbuer's. Riley, who had been stuck on kitchen duty all day, took the only guest seat. The others remained standing, shoulders pressed close together. Allen greeted them all then squeezed past them to place his palms on the closed door. A stream of black waves slowly emitted from his hands and spread out surrounding the doorframe.

"Privacy charms," he explained to his visitors "No one will be able to listen in on us. We can't be too careful!"

Allen squeezed back around to sit again on the other side of the desk across from Riley. She hadn't spoken to the Master Inbuer before, but she had seen him in passing throughout the school. Allen looked younger up close, Riley realised he was young for a Master, late twenties or so. His long dark brown hair was sticking up in odd spikes; clearly, he had been running his hands through it, and there were deep dark circles under his eyes, not hidden completely by his square-framed glasses.

"I've gathered you all here today, as I understand that you all also received peculiar letters from Violet Talloway," began Allen. Riley, Linnea, Theo, and Mallory and all nodded. In her letters to them, Vi had explained everything Allen had just mentioned. They had all been shocked that Vi had managed to open so many portals and accidentally make them of a sort that stayed open. Hadn't Vi mentioned something recently about Striders only being able to open one portal at a time? That was a damn impressive feat of magic, she had them somehow pulled off, thought Riley.

Vi had written that they should all speak to the Master Imbuer. But Allen had been the one to contact the four of them. Ever since Rho had got lost in the void, and they had agreed to help cause a distraction so Vi could take something she needed from Reynold's office, Riley felt like the four of them had become a special secret club. And the secrets they were uncovering were only getting bigger.

"In her letters to you, did Vi say that she was responsible for opening multiple portals from here into Azuhelm? That she had contacted Rho and he is OK, that she was heading to Earth, as there were problems there? Earth tech suddenly not working? And, what I called you all hear for, that she had overheard Reynold and Callistan, that they appeared to be examining the portals she has opened and they look like they are up to something suspicious?"

"Yes, that's a summary of it all," said Mallory "Theo and I went out earlier on our Dryfters to check out the portals and see if we can find out more about what's going on. Reynold has blocked off the Dryfter meadow, and it's like a huge campsite!"

"We hid and tried to count all the tents, but there were hundreds, the whole meadow is full of them. And there are all these older Mages gathering, with more and more portalling in!" added Theo.

"We used all the Anti-Detection and Anti-Tracking charms that we could cast, but it wasn't enough and one of them saw us. I made it out like we wanted to go Drifting and didn't know the meadow was closed."

"Riley, Linnea, did you have any luck?" asked Allen

"We tried to watch some of the portals" replied Linnea "There are many amongst the orchards, so I tried to make it out like I was showing Riley how we harvest. Reynold has set up all these barriers and blocks, so parts of the orchards are off-limits. We made it as close as possible in the lemon orchard, we could see the portal through the trees but it has two guards."

"We hid and tried to see where the portal went, but it was pure black, I didn't know they always looked black, I thought you would be able to see through to what's on the other side..." Riley added. She realised she was rambling slightly and got back on track "Anyway, the portals apparently go to Azuhelm, that's what Vi said, and all the ones we could see had at least two guards. We saw a group of mages go through one, and we waited as long as we dared, but they didn't come back out. Or at least they didn't come out of that portal, they may have come out of one of the other ones...!"

"Thanks, Riley" said Allen "I think that confirms that Reynold is definitely planning something malevolent regarding the portals. "Now, what have you been able to find out about Azuhelm?"

Mallory, who had managed to get hold of Vi's Stryder lesson notes, launched into a detailed description of Azuhelm. The peaceful inhabitants, the worlds rich level of magic, the largest archipelagos, the impressively long bridges, and causeways constructed between some of the island cities and the world's reliance on boats for everything else. To Riley, Azuhelm sounded incredible, a beautiful tropical island paradise of lush tropical islands.

She was filled with immediate outrage, why would the Governor of the Mages College of Verdyn wish to interfere with a world like that?

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