Chaos magic is a complex and unexplored field of science. It is not suited for creation, nor is it suitable for use on the battlefield. Its only purpose is to siege magical constructs, or, in simple terms, to destroy or disable stationary spells. With a lot of luck user could hope to block the work of artifacts as well. In general, its complexity ensured its inapplicability in an open battle. While the chaos mage would perform the required effects he would have time to kill hundreds of times. And in contrast to the higher spells that also took a long time to create, a Chaos Mage was unable to inflict any damage on either humans or mages. So in a group fight, let's say five on five mages, four of the same team can go into a blind defense, waiting for the fifth to create a higher magic spell that will pass through their own shields and incredibly hit the enemies, but at the same time chaos magic only destroys the enemy's shield. And that's in the best case scenario. Against this method, a trivial placement of a second shield underneath the first one worked perfectly. So the area of use for this type of magic was quite narrow.
The principle was simple, but the implementation was incredibly complex. In this direction of magic almost no spells were used, except for a couple of spells not exceeding a fireball in complexity. How, then, could any effect be desired if the effect on the material world is impossible without spells? The fact is that the object of chaos magic was not the real world, but exclusively the magical plane of existence. And although spells could be affected by ordinary enchantments, it was relatively easy to set up a defense or alarm against them, informing the owner of the effects made over his creation. Only about fifty years ago, a phenomenon was explored that marked the beginning of a new direction of magic. It consisted in what the magicians for a long time noticed, but to what did not give value - magic gravitation. The fact was that the mana of the respective types tended to be attracted to each other. In nature, the effect was not noticed, because the energy was attracted with incredibly greater force to the object containing it than to anything else. But if you placed a certain amount of earth mana a meter above the ground level, it would gradually begin to be attracted downward. It took one hour to traverse that meter. Just as ordinary matter was attracted to each other, so was mana, but only of the appropriate species behaved in a similar way. But the energy did not go anywhere from the finished spell, because its structure severely limited this possibility and there was very little room for mana movement.
The phenomenon was long and well-studied, but because of its seeming uselessness, research in this area was abandoned. It was not until the moment when this effect was thought to be applied in conjunction with the theory of resonance of magical constructions. It turned out that if you move large amounts of energy next to the spell in a certain way, the mana inside the weave would move in certain patterns, affecting the power lines of the charms. When the entire weave began to resonate, then, depending on its structure, it would either destroy itself or from the slightest external influence. This way it was possible to destroy any weave filled with energy. Of course, for every attack there was a corresponding defense. There were only two methods to counteract the magic of chaos, or as it was called, the magic of resonance. The first was, if I may say so, an active defense. Any mage who was present at the application of this magic was able to simply use his aura to keep the power lines of the weave from vibrating, thereby preventing resonance from occurring.
The second method is passive. Even the most complex spells contained a maximum of four types of mana, usually less. More was simply impractical. In this case, in order for resonance to appear, it was necessary to make each type of energy in the weave fluctuate. Breaking a spell filled with one type of mana was easy enough. With enough time, even a sophomore could do it. But adding a new type of energy to the weave made the task a lot harder, and with spells containing four types of mana only masters could cope. Now, the second method of protection involved creating completely useless elements in the weave, filled with types of mana not needed for this spell. Consequently, the chaos mage needed to simultaneously move all eight types of mana, according to a certain scheme, next to the enemy's weave, and in huge quantities at the same time. An incredibly difficult task, even for archimages. Thus, all important stationary spells contained eight types of mana each, thereby preventing the effects of the chaos mage. Or at least, making it incredibly difficult.
Faraz suited these charms perfectly. What could be better for a burglar than the opportunity to destroy the front door of his target? Unless it is a stealthy penetration. But he had no idea how to achieve that yet. Perhaps the knowledge he'd gained on today's foray would help him do just that. The Shields of Darkness, he was told, had excellent cloaking capabilities. All that remained was to figure out a quiet way to infiltrate the facility. Now that was a difficult task. After all, as soon as he disrupted the security weave at the entrance, the battle alarm would go off immediately. He'd have to think in the direction of forging a pass, breaking a recognition spell, or maybe using a portal. But these methods required such high-level knowledge that one could only dream of them. Whereas chaos magic relied on the basic principles of magic, requiring vast experience, talent, intuition, and patience, which Faraz had plenty of.
Under cover of darkness and cloaking charms, the sorcerer made his way to the entrance to the underground laboratory. The entrance looked like an unremarkable section of rock. Naturally, it was an illusion. It concealed a rectangular-shaped metal door. The illusion itself was part of a security spell protecting the entire research complex from intrusion. The door was not large or strong, as it had no protective function. If the invaders destroyed the protective magic, no door would help. The spell was a typical Sheehan protective spell. To be more specific, it was an "external defense spell for small high-secret facility number 4. Such information is not easy to learn, but for this mission Faraz's informants did a good job. Normally the wizard had no knowledge of the enchantments that protected the object of his depredation. Now he knew not only that, but the entire structure of the building. Even if some of the rooms had changed their purpose, obviously there was still a huge advantage.
There was no excitement at all, after all, wizards were much less emotional than humans, and they already had enough experience in similar operations. The wizard, immediately without a second, extracted the required amount of mana of all eight types from his aura. This emptied his reserve almost completely. Attack him now, and defeat would be imminent. It was a good thing no one was going to attack. Finally it was time to begin the hard work of creating resonance in the protective spell. With honed movements of the aura, Faraz moved the mana around the weave in a certain sequence. The work was painstaking and hard, but unlike other forms of magic, it was forgiving of mistakes. Activating an energy-consuming and incorrect spell could easily kill you. In chaos magic, mistakes only increased the time spent by the user. But Faraz made no mistakes, and after twenty minutes of hard effort the protective spell vibrated and began to come apart at the seams. This could go on long enough, and there was no reason to wait, so the sorcerer destroyed the weave with a single point impact of his aura.
Now we had to hurry. Until this moment, no one suspected the presence of the enemy mage. After destroying the security charms, the battle alarm would go off, and the risk of being caught or killed would increase with every second. In fact, the alarm had already been raised, as evidenced by the howling of the siren, and the characteristic fluctuations of the magical background. Ripping the door from the opening with an earthen hammer spell, the mage ran inside. In front of him was a long corridor, descending at a steep incline. The roughly hewn walls and ceiling flowed smoothly into the perfectly smooth floor. This indicated that the tunnel had originally been made by ordinary people. It was easier for wizards to make a smooth surface for all the planes at once. On the walls of the passageway, closed doors multiplied, leading now and then to separate rooms, then to other corridors, braiding the entire lab with a dense cobweb. It was easy for a novice to get lost in such a stone labyrinth. Fortunately, Faraz had a plan of the whole structure, and he knew where he had to run. Turning several times in places he knew only, the sorcerer ran into the portal room. He needed to disable the portal as quickly as possible, but not in any way, but in one particular way. There were two portal rooms throughout the facility, connected to each other by a single energy source. One portal, the one with Faraz, was at the very entrance. The other was located on the lowest levels of the underground fortress. It was a gross violation of safety. Perhaps the lab was built before the rule was invented, perhaps there was a cost savings or simple carelessness, but connecting all the portals to a single mana source was the decisive factor that convinced Faraz to choose the object of his attack.
Each guarded magical structure must have at least two portals, distant from each other. That way, whichever side of the attack is made, one portal would remain safe and could provide a timely approach of reinforcements. A hundred years ago a young magician Linus Rashaf invented a spell that allowed access to only one portal, connected to a common power source, to disable the other portals by destroying it. Unfortunately, not forever, but only for a short time. But that's enough time for a professional. Faraz was going to use this very method. True, there was not much time. A small mistake or hitch, and from the portal in his face out of a dozen battle masters, and they are not slow and they will not make mistakes. They would twist the intruder and send him to the interrogators. Counting the seconds to himself, he quickly composed the spell. Of course, the sorcerer had practiced before the mission, but still the weave was rarely used, so he had to check every step. It was fortunate that such enchantments took place at his home academy at all. Finished before the appointed time, the wizard looked at his creation with a doubtful look. Life had too often treated him cruelly to rely on luck. Finding no fault, Faraz quickly filled the weave with mana and activated it. There was no change on the physical plane. But those capable of seeing magic saw the complete destruction of one portal structure and two waves rushing in, one to the second portal and the other to the source of mana for both of them. They would incapacitate both spells for quite some time. So the robber will have fifteen minutes to do his criminal work.
And Faraz was going to make full use of the time he had gained. Running, he visited all the rooms that, according to reports, might contain the documents he needed. Some of them were on incredibly expensive memory crystals. By the end of his wild run, he had six of them. Each one contained information from thousands of books. Successful and unsuccessful experiments, reports, hypotheses, spell charts-all of this fit into the small and unsightly pebbles. The rest rested in stacks of papers, which the mage now had to carry in his hands. As said before, a mage didn't really need his hands for maximum efficiency, so they could be sacrificed. Several sorcerers were encountered along the way. Not rivals to Faraz, they still rushed into the fight, which they naturally lost. The robber nevertheless left them alive. There was no profit in it, it just made his conscience feel a lot better. Robbery and murder are two very different things. A mage wasn't afraid of murder, but there are different kinds of murders. It's one thing to kill in self-defense, revenge, or just killing nasty people, but killing innocents, for immediate gain, was not Faraz's thing.
After counting down the time to the line of safe escape, the sorcerer ran in the opposite direction. There was a look of regret on his face. He had managed to visit only half of the places available. And a few times in the archives was not the promised data. Though the sortie was still incredibly successful. Faraz, of course, understood that the robbery would only be successful if he was safe. In fact, that's why the wizard didn't relax and ran at full speed, sometimes aided by spells, toward the exit. It would have been difficult for a man to run up such a hill, but the wizard's body had been altered by magic to be stronger and more powerful than a human's. Finally, having escaped into the chill of the night, he created a spell of levitation and flew to the nearest portal from the secret web, without a second's hesitation. Let the spells leave a bright magical trail, but it was the only way Faraz would make it to his destination.
He was flying toward the ocean. Secret portals, designed to teleport out of them rather than into them, are very rare. Unlike the gates through which Faraz appeared, these ones had to have an accessible entrance for a mage. This condition explained the location of such portal rooms inside caves and grottos, where they could be well hidden. To one of the grottos the sorcerer right now was rushing at full speed. The portal there had been pre-checked, prepared, and awaited its master. When the mage saw the grotto he wanted, he estimated that thirty seconds remained before the arrival of enemy reinforcements. As he flew up to the entrance, Faraz cancelled the spell and ran to the portal again. He had quietly managed to get away, so he could afford to relax a little. And for nothing.
An enormous spear flew out of the darkness of the grotto at tremendous speed. Apparently, it was accelerated by telekinesis. Even a sleeping mage is always covered by a shield. All the more so when a mage is awake and on a dangerous mission. Spears didn't scare wizards at all. Faraz was just beginning to anticipate taking out his assailant when the stupid weapon ricocheted off to the side. But at the same instant, to his surprise, two light spells flew at him from both sides: a "river of light" on one side and something unknown, but no less frightening and dangerous on the other. It wasn't the spells themselves that were frightening, and it wasn't even the speed with which they were created, which was far too fast for Faraz himself. What was frightening was the ease with which the unknown mage had exposed the weaknesses of his defenses. It was a spell he had designed himself. It was not without flaws, vulnerable to light and fire magic, but still a well-designed personal weave. And in a magical duel the shields changed like gloves, so that the mage would not grieve over it, but not after the first attack? Those thoughts flashed through the back of his mind while he was busy making up another defense. His cocoon would not last more than three seconds, and he needed to be able to make a new weave in that time. The task seemed impossible for those who did not know about the "acceleration" spells. They accelerated perception and thinking speed by fifteen times. Even faster was possible, but it was bad for the brain and useless because of the limitation of the speed of the aura. So forty-five seconds of subjective time is quite adequate time to create the necessary protection.
As it turned out, no one was going to give him time. "The fire fan blew the remnants of his defenses away, scattering two webs of light as well, scorching the wizard's skin. And immediately an earthen hammer, like the one he had recently used to tear open the door of the research complex, crashed into his back, sending the wizard into the darkness of the grotto. But he was not destined to face one of the walls. Right in mid-air he was grabbed by the neck by the arm of a huge skeleton. Beside him stood two of his fellows.
- So, Faraz, how did you like your lesson in combat magic? I tried not to hurt anything but your pride.
"What is this nonsense? When did necromancy become so powerful? It was always at the level of dead-end branches, like life magic. Okay, voice transmission, but the skeletons' master could get information from them instantly, and somehow create spells. Besides, skeletons are invisible to all magical senses and charms. In such a case, it is useless to twitch. It's too early to confront such an opponent."
- What do you need?
- Get to the point? That's good, I don't like idle chatter either. So tired of it lately, you know. But business can wait a minute more. I think this will have a positive effect on your future compliant. Why don't you tell me why I threw the spear at you?
- You'd better tell me why you attacked me.
- I told you, not yet-" The bony fingers on my neck loosened slightly-"so, with the spear, I learned the structure of your defense weave. If you know where to look, you can see the basic parameters of the defense when you affect it. A magical attack is also suitable for this purpose, but its background will obscure the object of observation. It's obvious you're an amateur, since you didn't try to fend off a physical attack. You thought you were safe if it wasn't magic, didn't you?
- Then can you at least tell us what we are waiting for?
- We are waiting for your pursuers. - At these words, Faraz's blood froze in his veins. - They are already a few minutes away from here. Do you know what the Sheenites do to intruders? First, they torture you physically until you're on the brink of madness. Needles, fire, skinning, teeth grinding. Then they'll hand you over to the mental mages. They'll turn your mind inside out and you'll go insane. And then you'll be a guinea pig. It's not often you get to do your experiments on mages.
- I would prefer not to wait for them. I hope there is such a possibility?
- There is, how not to be. You take a temporary oath of allegiance to me and fail.
- I agree.
- Then get started. Here's the basics.
An unfinished weave of the temporary oath of allegiance appeared in front of Faraz's face. If he completed it, he would be obliged to obey his master, who had created the first part of the spell, in everything for the next few months. Faraz hastily completed the spell and activated it. It immediately enveloped his aura with ethereal tentacles and infiltrated him. It might have been a hard choice for someone else, but not for him, not here, not now.
- That's great. Meet me the day after tomorrow at St. Latonia Square in the capital city of Innsbruck.
The skeleton tossed the sorcerer to the floor of the portal room and vanished into the darkness.