The Last Utopia Page 21

  “Freeze!”

  A familiar, sonorous voice came from my back, this time tinged in sharpness. I let go of my sister's body and turned around to face her killers. At some point, someone must have realized my suspicious actions, so I found myself opposite two guards. Two beasts.

  “Hands up and don't make another move!” one beast shouted at me.

  How could I follow their wishes? Without raising my arm, I shaped my mana into a fist. This time I wouldn't skimp on power. By now, I didn't have to preserve mana anyways. The titanic gust of force rammed into the guards like an avalanche and crushed them against the opposite wall.

  On my way, I had spent my time well and studied up. After studying the disk I had taken, I knew how to force my way past the red guard barriers. As the beasts smashed against the wall, the shelves behind them shared their fate. I could sense the blood within them stop its flow, yet I felt no remorse. If the people inside these caskets had suffered only half as much as Eileen, they deserved all the horror I could offer.

  After the idea had lodged itself in my head, I aimed to destroy the entire facility, an outlet for my rage. However, more guards came around the corner to present a better target.

  Gotta destroy them first.

  Mana coiled behind me like an ancient beast ready to pounce. There was no reason to retain anything. Even if I were to die here, at least I would ruin whatever this place was. I would make them suffer, just like big sis had suffered.

  “Halt!”

  A droning voice ran down the corridor and stopped the beasts in their tracks. They were still vigilant, holding their muzzles up to me, but no one attempted to fire. After a few moments, sharp steps on the floor turned into a figure who moved through the rows of beasts like he owned them. Soon I was faced with an old man. His beard was shaven neat, while the wrinkles around his glasses gave his face a friendly quality.

  Not what I expected from a monster.

  “There's no reason for violence. No reason to start a war. No reason to waste our strengths when our prospects are so dire already.”

  The newcomer first addressed the guards, who lowered their weapons in response to his speech. I however found no cause to release my tension. As far as I was concerned, the bearded man was the same as the beasts, no matter how well-spoken he was.

  “If I may introduce myself,” the stranger said, “my name is Titus Dawne, a Grand Mage of the tower and head of the City Council of Astralis.”

  There he was, the chief criminal. I didn't need to hear any more. Behind me, the mass of mana shaped itself into a spear to pierce the heart of this city.

  “You better stop, young mage!” the culprit shouted. “Amy's life depends on it!”

  My eyes dilated for the fraction of a second, but I soon controlled my emotions.

  Don't let him know anything. Don't give yourself away. Don't show weakness.

  “No idea what you're talking about,” I replied in a cold and callous voice, one which would have shocked my normal self.

  “That's Eileen Rovis there behind you, isn't it? You came all the way here in search for one specific person, so you must be her brother Brayden, the young man who disappeared several months ago.”

  My palms began to sweat. This was bad.

  “It's quite remarkable how much you've learned in a single year, and without proper training. It was our mistake to let you slip past our tests, but it's time to stop now. Your other sister is Amelia Rovis, isn't that right? It appears she entered our academy today. I am not a man of violence, but I will have to insist that you do not destroy the facilities which keep Astralis alive.”

  “If you dare touch my sister I will burn your entire goddamn city to the ground!” To defend against my roar, the old man just held up his hands.

  “That is only fair. I don't want a fight. All I want is to find an amicable solution for both of us. I know that right now, you might believe that there is no way for us to reach common ground, that the only choice is to continue your destruction, but that would be a grave mistake. All the council wants from you is an honest talk. Unfortunately, we have no choice but to leave Amy at risk until you hear us out.”

  I weighed my options for a few seconds, but in the end it came down to one thing: They had Amy, and I had no choice. With a beast-like growl, I retreated my half-shaped mana back into my body. Some had already been wasted, but I had a feeling that soon, I would need as much as I could spare. For now though, I would have to go along with Dawne's wishes.

  “Very good.” The man clapped his hands together in satisfaction. “Please follow me.”

  Without a word, I followed the Grand Mage through multiple corridors, my tensed body always two steps behind him. The guards however seemed unconcerned about the tower lord's safety and had stayed behind in the destroyed hallway. Not long and we arrived at a place so familiar from the other towers: The elevator. Once inside, Dawne used a card key and formed a complex magic shape to set us in motion. I looked up at the expected floor: 525. The very top. Up there, the council members would hold their meetings and look down on the ant-like mortals of the city. Why would they let someone like me, who was so openly hostile towards them, into their most vulnerable core?

  “What are-”

  Just as I turned around, about to seek answers from my guide, I saw that the old man had disappeared into an alcove in the wall, covered by glass. Just like the fake teacher before him, Titus Dawne began to disappear as well. This was impossible!

  How had I not sensed that he had been nothing but a husk? I went on alert right away. By now, I had no Idea what to expect. Once the elevator had reached the top floor, a meeting with the council was just as likely as a drop back to the bottom.

  Although the thought of a break-out crossed my mind, forcing magic into the elevator wouldn't end any better for me than doing nothing. Even in the worst case, I could still attempt my final struggle. For now, I would widen my senses and wait for my inevitable fate. After my uncertainty had stretched seconds into hours, the elevator reached its top. The silent doors slid open, accompanied by a quiet ding, and revealed the endpoint of my journey, the central core of the city's truth: The Astralis Council of Seven.

  - Six

  When the doors of the elevator opened, I was greeted by a long, red carpet. Running wall-to-wall, it covered most of the expensive wooden floor. Unfazed by the opulence, I marched down the long hallway, towards the light in the distance. The walls were lined with framed portraits, which depicted the ancient Archmages of the seven towers, the founding fathers of Astralis and predecessors to all generations of Grand Mages. At least that was what the plaques beneath the paintings told me.

  Not long after, the narrow hallway released me into a large, circular room. Just like in the hallway, the rounded walls were covered in wooden panels. However, I had no more time to marvel at the view, as right before me stood seven lecterns. Behind each sat an old man or an old woman. Right away, I recognized the one in the central seat. He was the one who had blackmailed me, the one who had brought me here: Titus Dawne.

  These must be the seven Grand Mages of the council, I thought. No wonder the other towers had been abandoned. All of the council members had gathered here.

  On instinct, I collected mana once again, ready for a fight. However, I realized just how stupid my reaction was. If I couldn't detect the fake Titus Dawne before, what proof did I have that the ones before me were real? Why would they be dumb enough to show themselves in front of someone who wanted to kill them and destroy their city? Once I understood the truth, I reclaimed my mana and tried my best to calm down. For now, I would just listen, though I had to stay vigilant of more lies and trickery.

  “Young Brayden, we are exceedingly happy you have decided to visit the council,” Dawne began.

  I just snorted in reply. The grand mage ignored my silent protest and continued.

  “We have called you here to tell you about the city of Astralis. About its past, its present and its future. I'm sure you wo
nder why we would talk to you, a simple apprentice mage, but I am sure that at the end of it, you will understand. I hope you will see things in a new light and help us create a better tomorrow for everyone. As someone born with the unique gift of magic, this is your responsibility, your burden. Just as it is ours”

  “Talk. I'll hear you out so long as you don't try anything funny,” I answered.

  No matter how polite they were, my anger wouldn’t vanish. There was no reason to give these monsters any quarter. Not after what they had done to the people of Astralis, to the people of the Squalor, and to Eileen.

  “Good. First, we should start with the past. Back in the old days, when our great founders, the seven ancient Archmages, built this city, they found the world engulfed in an overabundance of mana. The richness on offer was immeasurable, and so they created this city, a perfect society, a place for all humans to strive for perfection.”

  “..except the non-mages weren't allowed to do anything and lived like cattle,” I added.

  “An unfortunate side-effect of progress.” Dawne sighed. “Because of the increased importance of mana manipulation in any productive work, those less talented could no longer contribute to society. However, the mages gave them ample space for self-improvement, and thus the chance to find value in their lives nonetheless. While the non-mages would provide the city with culture and free thought, knowledge and progress were laid into the hands of the mages. And it worked. The rule of the towers stood stable for centuries.”

  Though Dawne's voice had oozed pride at first, it had turned thin and wistful by the end, a distant memory of a better time.

  “However, after centuries of prosperity and many generations of Grand Mages, the world itself colluded against the bounteous paradise of Astralis. One day, without warning, the mana of the world began to seep away and corrode. Today, we call this event the Mana Blight. Not only became mana less plentiful, sucked away to some place far away, it also began to resist, no longer malleable by human minds. The Grand Mages of the time began to despair. There had to be a way to save Astralis, this paradise of knowledge and artistry.

  “So the Grand Mages decided to take a great sin upon themselves. Except for the Grand Mages themselves, anyone with a mana reservoir sacrificed their lives, and the natural mana they were born with, to provide the precious lifeblood for the city. At the same time, the Grand Mages, the most talented among the scholars, would dedicate their lives to research, until they found solutions to our problem.”

  “You enslave everyone else, just so you can stay around?” I sneered.

  “How dare you slander the conviction of our ancestors!” Another council member burst into the conversation. His bony finger pointed at me in accusation, trembling with anger. “The choice was made for the good of the species! Not only the mages, the council also sacrificed far too much to secure the future of the city! We have spent our entire lives in research, in attempts to find solutions to the blight!”

  “...you already did, didn't you? Find a cure to the blight? I've heard your fake Magister Sandow say so. You’ve learned to draw ambient mana again. Why isn't that solution taught to the students? Why do you keep enslaving the mages in the lower floors? Why turn them into monsters and force them to enforce your will as the red guards?”

  “Boy, you have no idea what you speak of!” the angry mage answered. “The guardians of peace are a remnant of the great ancestors! You will not slander the descendants of the Archmages!”

  “Huh?”

  For the first time since I had entered the room, I had been truly caught off guard. After Sophie's explanation, I had been convinced that these monsters were the creation of the council, formed from the enslaved mages to tighten their grasp on power. However, while I had plenty of reason to believe in another lie from the council, I somehow felt that the story might be true. While I was still conflicted, Dawne picked up the conversation to present his version of the truth.

  “The guardians are the offspring of the Archmages. It is regrettable, but time has not been kind to their bloodline. However, out of respect we have done our best to keep their offspring alive. Even more so, once a generation, a true talent of magic rises among them, one to inherit the virtues of the first masters.”

  “So the inbred rule over us and you rule over them. Just a convenient excuse to take our freedom.” My sneer had returned. Even if Dawne's words were true, they changed nothing.

  “It is unfortunate, but law and order cannot be avoided, even in paradise. People can't handle perfect freedom and absolute choice. Without any direction, they will only stay adrift, with nowhere to go. At first, the outer city didn't have currencies, did you know that? Everyone could take whatever they wanted. But some began to bunker popular and essential products, and drained the city of mana with their incessant greed. Once they had created a shortage, they could sell off their stockpile, and gain the new money the mortals had invented once again, all by themselves. Human nature cannot be changed, no matter how good the system. However, despite our hardships and despite our flaws, Astralis still stands, as a beacon of light in the never ending darkness. In its current state, Astralis might not be perfect, but out there, nothing but death awaits.”

  “There's other places in the world. Maybe they'll be less corrupt. What do you think?”

  “You should take a look for yourself, at the world as it is today,” Dawne replied in a solemn voice.

  A wide gesture of his hand swiped past the wall behind him. In response, the wooden panels behind the lecterns slid into the ground. With the covers gone, the room was fully exposed to the outside. Nothing stood between me and the world beyond the city. Bound by the view, I walked past the council and stepped out through the open window, onto the balcony which led along the now opened wall. Although the cold, sharp wind blasted my face, I could see the entire city stretch before me, all clean and tidy, way down below at the foot of the towers. This was my home, the place I had explored for nineteen years of my life.

  However, beyond the familiar I could see even more. My view went far, much farther than it had ever reached from the ground. Beyond the wall around Astralis was a sea of rubble. What once was part of the city had turned into a circle of ruins, run-down buildings and cluttered streets for miles on end. I had never realized how much the city had shrunk over the years. No one had ever told us. If this was what Astralis had once looked like, then right now it was no more than one hundredth of its original size.

  Even more shocking was a look beyond the limits of my own perception. The world outside had never mattered to me. Like most, I had assumed it to be similar to Astralis itself, with the other cities of the Great Alliance of Mages closeby and easy to reach. However, right outside the city limits began a hell like I had never seen. Colored in red and yellow, I found nothing but cracked earth, baked by the never-ending, relentless assault of the sun. There wasn’t a single cloud to spare rain or shadow, no solace for the tormented earth. Outside of Astralis, there was nothing. No signs of life, no roads, no trees, no anything. Nothing but sun and heat and dirt. I stood there in shock, my view engulfed by the terrible sight.

  “This is the present state of our world,” Dawne's voice sounded from behind me. “The earth is scorched and the oceans dried. We don't know if there is any life left out there, but none of it has ever reached the city. We are the last bastion of light in an ocean of darkness; and we are drowning. The ancients were unsuccessful. We still haven't found a way to convert the blighted mana back. The entire city is powered by its own mages alone.”

  Somehow, I tore my eyes away from the real world and looked back to the rulers of the city. As I was shocked into silence, the Grand Mage continued.

  “This is why you stand here, why we want a peaceful solution. There is no reason to fight each other and waste precious mana. Even united, we're already losing the war against nature. One hundred years ago, or maybe longer, another young man stood before the council, just like you. And just like you, he saw the truth
of the world. He knew what the destruction of Astralis would mean, what hell would be unleashed on its people by its destruction; and so he chose to stand down. Can you shoulder this burden? To snuff out this flame and release us all into a hostile, dead world? Are you prepared to shoulder this sin, young Brayden?”

  Now I understood what the Mystic had meant when he had talked about his lack of conviction. He must have stood here and chosen to back off at the words of the council. Ever since then, he had regretted his decision, but I understood why he had made it. No one would be this selfish, to destroy this world based on nothing but one's own opinions. However, I was different from the Mystic. Unlike him, I had something more to lose than my conscience.

  “So I and all the other mages need to sacrifice themselves, for nothing but a temporary stay of execution? My sisters as well? You pretend this is the only way, but you've been researching for centuries and you're nowhere near an answer. I'd rather try my luck out there, with the heat and the dirt, than stay and watch my second sister follow the fate of my first, you monster!”

  My words aggressive and my pitch low, I accused and insulted the council for the first time. My tensed body was prepared for a fight, but the Grand Mages stayed silent. I knew they were waiting for me to calm down again. They must have realized that I still had scruples and wouldn’t attack for no reason. I had only tried to provoke a reaction and blow off some steam, but they had denied me even that most simple pleasure. When Dawne continued, I did nothing.

  “It seems you do not understand. Your sister, Eileen Rovis, is still alive.”

  Unconvinced, I scowled at the mage's words. I had seen Eileen die right in front of me. How could she still be alive?

  “You underestimate the power of magic, young Brayden. With the ancient knowledge of Astralis, almost anything is possible. All we need is enough mana. In fact, there is no need to sacrifice yourself, or your sisters. This is the true reason the council decided to bring you here. Finally, after all these years, we have found a path into the future. You are a mage. Your older sister is a mage. Your younger sister is a mage as well. Do you understand what that means?”