On Cosmic Tides

Emerald eyes flicked open. A quick glance around the room showed he was alone. Good, exactly as planned. He stood and smoothed down his blood red robe, picking off an imaginary piece of lint. The mirror hanging on the far wall showed him no change from when he went to sleep. His hand dragged over his jawline, not even a millimeter of growth, it would seem. A line of runes divided the room in half. Inlaid with silver, they glowed faintly, fading away to nothing over the course of a minute. When they were once more dull metal, he stepped across and approached a plane of crystal inlaid in the wall.

A few taps brought up a map of the continent. A dozen small yellow lights appeared, spread out throughout. A few dead spots showed up as well. He would have to take a tour and see if they had simply woken up early or if a landslide or something had destroyed the enchantments. That was unlikely. Marcia had been the best in the world before a crisis of conscience meant she had to be culled from their group. His fingers tapped another pattern and the map disappeared, replaced by a few lines of Alrasian. The top line read one thousand five-hundred and seven years. His eyebrows raised, that was far longer than predicted. Even their most optimistic estimates had been seven centuries at most. He thought for a moment and decided this was an excellent development. The farther removed from the paradigms of the past, the easier to replace with something better.

The next line indicated ambient mana density. Almost back to historical levels, that was good. Not too much time for the cosmic anchors to be re-established. More information on the mana infrastructure scrolled past, but Lawrence mostly skimmed. The main idea to take from all this was that their project had been a success. Since no one was waiting for him, he could safely assume he was the first up. Perfect. He might respect the others, but it would be best if he had some time to establish himself before they muddied the waters with their constant squabbling.

He picked up a ring that was left on a table and put it on. Running through the contents he saw a few reagents that he would need to dispose of, but overall it had held up satisfactorily. Storage rings were not perfect, but far exceeded anything except for the tattoos the Eternal Archive could make. A shame the technique had to be lost but he was sure they would rediscover it in time. Their masters were likely to be the most problematic to work with as well, but they were all pragmatic enough to see reason. Eventually. One last survey of the room told him he had everything and it was time to go.

Lawrence exited the cozy bedroom back out into the crypt with a slight smile. Another plan well realized, mortals were always leery of doing anything to disturb the dead. No defensive measures had been triggered and he was able to return to the surface with no one the wiser. The tunnels eventually let him into the back of a rundown building, which itself opened onto an out-of-the-way alley. The sun was bright enough to make him blink once, though not enough to make his mana-reinforced eyes so much as water.

Making his way to a busier thoroughfare, Lawrence took note of everything he saw or felt with his spirit. Far too much lead, but that was something they could work around. Too many people, many more than their predictions accounted for. Even without pressing he could tell the ambient mana was in chaos around such a large population center. Language had gone further than he would have liked as well. A few words sounded familiar but he couldn’t quite understand. Frustrating, but fixable. He casually strolled down the grimy street. Reaching out, he grabbed a man and dragged him around a corner and out of sight without anyone noticing.

“Now let’s see,” he said. His arm was cutting off the man’s airway enough to prevent him from shouting, but not enough to kill him. Lawrence rifled through his mind, picking out the useful thoughts underneath the terror. A bit of language was naturally transferred as well. A strand of mana left the man unconscious on the ground as the cultivator went back to the road. The process repeated several times gave him a decent enough understanding.

The ugly castle on the hill belonged to an emperor that had outlawed magic. Even with all their planning he was unsure if he could have designed a better place to start. The message would need to be altered slightly, but a mistrust in anyone unauthorized using magic was an excellent foundation.They hadn’t discovered how to use the City Core but he could enter as the wise master and take that responsibility easily enough. Or pawn it off on one of the others when they showed up.

An initiate level cultivator leapt out of a shadow he was passing in an attempt to subdue him. Lawrence simply grabbed the girl by the throat and forced his way into her mind. She had no defenses to speak of and he was left with an even better understanding of the situation. Magic was outlawed except for what the emperor used for himself. That, he could most definitely work with. These so-called magehunters would need some attention, however. It seemed most of them were barely cultivators, with the stronger half having opened their meridians by accident, and the weaker ones left to molder in a prison compound of sorts.

A quick twist of his arms snapped the girl's neck, her body sent to his storage ring before she even realized she was dead. He continued his survey. Political climate, somewhat contentious but workable. Military strength, excellent. Population centers, good for now, and growing. Knowledge on cultivation, sorely lacking.

His meandering path had led him to the castle gates, where he joined a line for entry. This emperor would be one to keep. Set on the right path he would work towards Lawrence’s goals well enough, and leave him enough time to take the rest of the masters in hand.