Modern Age Online

“Y’know, Viv. I feel we need to a have a discussion about what you consider ‘having a fit.’” Kaleb said as he sat in a hard plastic chair, staring at a white brick wall.

click

“I believe this falls into that category.” Vivienne’s electronic voice said.

click

Kaleb turned his head and stared out the heavy-duty glass window embedded in the wall. On the other side, Vivienne and Jar-lock were grinning at him. He pulled at his hand, the handcuff on his wrist digging into his skin. His other arm had been temporarily placed in stasis. Which was a new one. At least he didn’t have to worry about the long-term effects of an EMP or other similar device.

“I’ve been arrested, Vivienne!”

Jar-lock leaned in close and pressed a button on their side of the window.

click

“Technically, you have just been detained. No charges have been filed and nothing you say can be held against you.”

click

Kaleb grimaced. “And they took my damn pickaxe!”

The clicking speaker turned on again, as Jar-lock leaned closer to the window. “Dude, it’s a pickaxe covered in unknown runes. Of course, they were going to confiscate it.”

“I was going to study that here. They can look at it all they want later.”

“I think they are looking at it now.” Vivienne said.

“Well, make them keep notes. That thing has some sort of energy transference rune on it! The Demons were transferring and containing magical energy somehow.”

“That’s impossible.”

“Clearly not. Cause they were doing it. At least temporarily.”

Vivienne and Jar-lock went silent and when Kaleb glanced over, he saw a trio of witches and wizards having a heated conversation with Jar-lock. The big mage’s face was set in stone, however, as he shook his head. The short bald wizard in the trio's front grew more irate. His face visibly reddening until the taller female witch put a hand to his shoulder. The lot of them continued discussing something as Kaleb sighed.

It was a surprisingly long few minutes as the magic types all conversed with each other. Kaleb tried his best to make himself comfortable. But the plastic chair they had him on was almost designed to be uncomfortable. He was thinking about trying to pick the lock on the handcuffs when the wall next to the window opened up. The trio of wizards moved into the room cautiously, giving Kaleb some space. He smiled at them, but that didn’t appear to make things any better. Jar and Vivienne came in right after the trio and gave Kaleb apologetic looks. Before he could discern what those looks meant, the bald wizard spoke, his voice gravely and hoarse from age.

“You will hand over that mystic item to the university immediately.”

Kaleb blinked in surprise. His shock carried on for a bit too long, though, as the bald wizard snorted and looked back at his compatriots.

“Great. He’s an idiot! You! Will! Give! Me! The! Item!”

The wizard slowly enunciated and yelled each word in Kaleb’s face. Which shook off his surprise and replaced it with mild annoyance. Kaleb settled into his chair and responded slowly.

“No.”

Baldie sputtered and his face turned to shock as he asked. “What?”

“Oh great. You’re an idiot. You are not getting my Pickaxe asshat. I came here to study it. If you lot will not let me do that, then you can all fuck off!”

“Now see here, you young-”

“Malcolm, he has made his point clear.”

“Yes, Igraine. But the boy clearly doesn’t even know what he’s saying. Surely, the demonic artifact has a hold on him.”

“Ahem,” Kaleb coughed. “We both know the pickaxe has no such runes on it. While I am not a hundred percent sure of what is inscribed on the item. I know it doesn’t have any mind-altering effects.”

“And how do you know that, hmm?” asked Malcolm. “Your many years of advanced study of Demonology? Please, a neophyte such as yourself cannot comprehend the-”

“I can comprehend the law. Your institution has no right to hold me for an extended amount of time. Like I said, I came here to study the pickaxe. If that will not be possible, then please return the item and let me be on my way. I have better things to do than be berated by an old wizard who thinks he knows better.”

Malcolm sputtered in anger for a few seconds. His face going red. His fellow mages both looked like they were holding in laughter as the bald wizard’s lips flapped ineffectually. Jar-lock and Vivienne were standing inside the door, hands over their mouths, trying not to smile or say anything.

With a dark look, Malcolm finally burst out of the room. Stomping the entire way like a petulant child. Kaleb snorted and tried to stand. But his hand was still cuffed and his robot arm was still in stasis. He gave the remaining pair of mages a pitiful look. Although, by the way they stared at him, it probably didn’t work. Soon, Igraine’s partner moved to undo Kaleb’s cuffs as Igraine explained.

“You’ll have to excuse Professor Malcolm. He has been studying Demonology for over two hundred years now and the item you procured has him stumped. Can I ask where you found it?”

Kaleb wrung out his wrist as it was freed. “The Ainsley family’s new dungeon. The Ant Hill? There were a group of Demons trying to break into the dungeon.”

Both Igraine and her partner snapped to attention. “Demons!? Real demons on this plane of existence?”

“No, no!” Jar-lock interrupted quickly. “Not real Demons. They are just a gang calling themselves Demons. They also dress up or are made of species that look like the earth’s stereotypical idea of a demon.”

Igraine put a hand to her chest and blew out a breath. “Goodness! That was almost an incident. Well then, that explains the demonic runes on your… pickaxe. They are authentic. But beyond a few simple runes, Malcolm couldn’t make heads or tails of what the thing was supposed to do.”

“What were they doing with it?” Igraine’s partner asked, finally speaking up.

Kaleb had mistaken the fair-haired, pale-skinned Mage as a man. But their voice was melodic and high pitched. It reminded Kaleb of the one elf he knew of in the game. Their ambiguous features also played into the stereotype too. He was trying to look for pointed ears as he answered the question and stood.

“They were smacking it against a giant magical ward. Nearby a lantern was absorbing the excess magic the pickaxe seemed to pull out from the Ward.”

“A lantern? Were they trying to make a battery?” The androgynous mage asked, chuckling softly.

“Avi…” Igraine admonished. “You know the magical energies of the universe can’t be contained. They’d be foolish to try.”

Kaleb shrugged his shoulders, his robotic arm slowly whirring to life. “I don’t know. But the lantern had its own set of runes on it. The runes I deciphered say Transference and Sturdiness. The lantern had some of the same. But the rest of the markings are beyond me. They don’t relate to any of the other markings I have seen.”

“And those are?” Igraine prompted.

“Gnomish, Elvish, and the standard wizard rune set for enchanting.”

Avi quirked an eyebrow. “You know the Gnomish and Elvish rune set?”

Kaleb scratched his cheek awkwardly. “Well, I don’t. But I work with a Builder Gnome who is pretty well read.”

Avi’s face darkened as Igraine’s became unreadable. “You’ve captured a Builder Gnome?”

Kaleb snorted. “Pfft. I wouldn’t say captured. It’s a partnership. He’s kind of like my Familiar. Although you wouldn’t know it to look at us.”

“He’s more like your foreman.” Vivienne giggled while Jar-lock nodded.

Both Avi and Igraine relaxed and Kaleb pulled his hand away from where his gun would’ve been. The university still had his equipment. Noticing the issue, Igraine waved them all out and back into the hall. She made quick small talk with Jar-lock and Vivienne as they walked down the hall and toward a small door at the far end. Kaleb had just spotted the door when it exploded outward. A scorched looking Malcolm slammed into the hallways opposite wall and collapsed in a heap. Kaleb and his friends ducked down into fighting stances. Jar-lock and Vivienne pulling spells into their hands and wand. Igraine and Avi, though, just looked annoyed. Spinning to face him, Igraine said.

“Apologies. I worried Malcolm may get overzealous. So I rigged your item with a tamper-proof seal.”

Kaleb glanced down at the smoking heap of Professor Malcolm. “That’s some seal.”

Igraine smiled. “Malcolm is a professor for a reason. The seal needed to be powerful enough to send the right message.”

“For all parties?” Kaleb asked. But his only response was another smile.

A group of mages came and collected the smoking and injured Malcolm. Avi sneered as the bald man was taken away and they were led into what was essentially a lost and found. Kaleb’s equipment was laid out on a wooden table. The pickaxe was right next to everything. A black scorch mark covered the table, and Kaleb was sure he saw an eerie glow coming from the pickaxe.

Igraine quickly made some hand signs above the table while whispering to herself. With an almost inaudible cracking sound, a dome of light shattered over Kaleb’s stuff. She waved for him to grab things, so he did. Leaving the pickaxe for last. He was almost worried he would be the next one to go flying out into the hall. But nothing happened. Instead, he hefted the dark-metal instrument up onto his shoulder.

“Well, this has been a wonderful afternoon. I hope to not do it again anytime soon. If you’ll excuse me…” Kaleb said, backing toward the door.

“If I could have a moment...” a voice whispered into Kaleb’s ear.

Fighting the urge to leap into the air, Kaleb came face to face again with Avi. They were done sneering at Malcolm and were standing in the doorway. A slight smile pulled at their lips as they gazed at the pickaxe. Kaleb pulled the tool closer and looked around. Jar-lock and Vivienne were still behind him, ready to help. At least he hoped so.

“I was just wondering if you still wanted access to the library?”

“Avi…” Igraine said warningly. “You know he won’t have access to the right books for the library to be any help. As administrators, it is our duty to ensure that the rules are followed. One of those rules is that no Non-student can have access to restricted books. Demonology falls into that category.”

“Yes, Igraine. I understand. However, what if we help our young lizard friend find what he needs? He can not truly be evil. Not if he has a gnome companion.”

Igraine bit her narrow lip for a few seconds in thought. “What are you proposing?”

“Limited supervised access to find what he needs. Once he is done, he has to leave the item here, though.”

The last sentence was aimed at Kaleb, and he gave it some serious thought. On the one hand, he was sure this Pickaxe would lead them to the Demon gang. From there, his group could crush the entire gang and get bragging rights before they were audited. Add on to that the notion that the Demons were responsible for the Magic Tree’s issue as well, and Kaleb couldn’t resist.

“You have a deal, Avi. I only need to know everything about the runes on this pickaxe.”

“Everything?” Avi grinned, green eyes almost blazing. “If you wanted to sip from our fountain of knowledge, you only had to enroll.”

“Yeah, well, I have things to build and enemies to crush.”

“Most times in that order.” Jar-lock whispered, but Avi and Igraine both seemed to hear him.

“Ahh, yes. An industrious person would surely be the one to draw a Builder Gnome’s attention.”

“Actually, I rescued a bunch of magic students from him. They had captured him and were going to do some experiments on him, I think.”

Again, Avi and Igraine froze. This time blocking the doorway as they both turned to Kaleb.

“Experiments you say?”

“Where, pray tell, was this?”

Kaleb blinked, dumbstruck, as he tried to remember. “The Austin College of Magic? I was with a woman named Araella at the time, though. So I am sure she handled it.”

Both mages blinked at him owlishly, but it was Jar-lock who surprised him this time.

“THAT’S RIGHT! You know the hot elf chick on the Magic Council!”

Vivienne stared daggers at Jar-lock’s head. The Jack-mage stood unaware of the doom that was about to befall him. But Kaleb simply nodded as he downplayed the connection.

“Yeah, I mean, we met a few times. I had that whole trial thing, remember? I wouldn’t call us friends. But she was there when I found Daivor.”

“If Lady Araella was there, then there is nothing to worry about.” Avi smiled. Although the look never reached their eyes.

Igraine also had the same evil smile on her face. Kaleb thought he heard the woman mutter something about some ‘damn college.’ Ignoring it, Kaleb tried to wave them through the door. It took them a minute. But once they got on the way, Jar-lock and Vivienne broke off to do their own things. By the look in Vivienne’s eyes, part of that thing was a rather harsh conversation.

Kaleb watched as the blissfully unaware Jar-lock was almost dragged down the hall and toward a large building. He figured it was a dorm as Igraine gave him a quick tour of the campus. Apparently, this school was called the Austin School For Magical Studies. A separate but just as important institute as the Austin College of Magic. At least the way Avi and Igraine told it. Kaleb could almost see the school spirit behind each of their eyes.

“THIS!” Igraine exclaimed, pointing at two large wooden doors. “Is OUR state-of-the art, Magical library. It contains books on all magical subjects. From Angels and the other Denizens of the Heavens, to Magical Zoological research.”

“We even have a few Scholar Spirits.” Avi bragged.

Kaleb nodded politely. His pickaxe was still clutched in his hands. Avi and Igraine shared a smile as they both threw a door open. Bright lights slammed into Kaleb’s eyes and he was immediately enthralled by the sights and sounds of the library. The Austin College of Magic’s library had been impressive, but this one seemed to stretch on forever.

Students and ghosts zipped around the enormous stacks of books and shelves. Electric candles hung everywhere, and images were projected into the air from books on pedestals. Bits of magical history played out over everyone’s heads as Kaleb and his two guides stepped into the library, and that’s when all hell broke loose.

BREE BREE BREE

The stacks of books disappeared, and Kaleb was thrust into darkness. The last voice he heard was his own as he swore.

“SONOFABITCH!”