Magnus arrived back with Dirk and Sinead all too soon for Verdan’s peace of mind. He had already warded the room even more thoroughly than usual, but he knew that was at least in part to help him avoid considering how this could go.

  Kai and Natalia had both taken the revelation well, neither had particularly cared, in fact. The three Kranjir were a different matter, though, especially when he was going to explain more to them than he had to the others. He’d learned a lot since that first confession to Natalia, after all.

  “Master?” Dirk spoke up as he walked down into the secure room at the base of the workshop. “Magnus came and fetched us, but he wouldn’t explain what for. Is everything well?”

  “Yes, all is well,” Verdan said with a strained smile. “It is only that the time has come for an explanation. Please, the three of you, make yourselves comfortable.”

  The Kranjir shared a concerned look before doing as he asked.

  “The first thing I should say, is that as far as I am aware, we are the last living Wizards in the world, but it was not always this way. Once, a long time ago, the three Wizarding races lived together in what was called the Grym Imperium. It held dominion over the entire known world, and while not perfect, it held the darkness at bay.”

  “What are the three Wizarding races?” Dirk asked, the question seeming to tear itself from him.

  “Humans, Vesperai and Neisar. The Vesperai were the first to discover Wizardry and tried to teach it to all the other races, but only Humans and Neisar were able to learn. Where we are flexible and generalised casters, the Vesperai specialised in more abstract magic and the Neisar Wizards were the best fighters. My master was Zathir Heolaeth, an old Vesperai who studied the stars, time and the laws of the natural world. I lived within the Imperium and fought in the wars that ripped it apart.”

  “I remember learning about the Imperium. That was thousands of years ago, how are you here with us?” It was Magnus who spoke up this time.

  “One of my friends was on the other side of the war, I killed him without knowing who I was fighting. His wife, a Hex Witch even greater than Hedda, hunted me down with vengeance in her heart. I fought her, and as she lay dying, she cursed me with endless pain.”

  “Endless pain?” Sinead looked horrified at the thought and Verdan shivered as he nodded.

  “Every moment hurt, and slowly, it got worse. My Master searched for a cure, but she had anchored the curse to the very Aether within me, or so we thought. Eventually, we found what we hoped would be a solution, and I was placed into stasis. Whenever the spell ended, I would wake long enough to cast it again, putting myself back in stasis…”

  Verdan explained it all, going into more detail than he’d ever thought he would. He shared everything the Eldest of the Maevir had told him, everything he had learned from the Fwyn.

  “This is too much to take in,” Magnus said, staring blankly at the wall. “I knew that something was different, but this?”

  “This is why you were so comparatively weak when we first met, isn’t it?” Dirk asked, nodding to himself. “I’d realised recently that I’m already wielding more Aether than you were back then, which makes no sense with how experienced you are. Not unless you had to rebuild your spiral from scratch.”

  “Exactly so.” Verdan wasn’t surprised that Dirk had picked up on that, his first Apprentice was a sharp one. “I’m stronger now than when I lived in the Imperium. Both in terms of my gathering spiral, and because I have found my calling.”

  “Animating constructs.” Dirk motioned vaguely above them, to where Rocky would be standing watch.

  “Yes. What I learned at the imperial academy was important, but we had far less freedom than I have given the two of you. Arcane Lexicons were what we used to learn new Words, not the older ways that I have shown you.”

  “I can hardly imagine learning a Word from a book,” Magnus said, shaking his head in disbelief.

  “What you said about breeding,” Sinead said, cutting into the conversation. “This Melnin Hyne created Sorcerers by making people more like monsters?”

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  “That’s how I have understood it, yes.” Verdan spread his hands and shook his head. “The reality is that whatever he did was far, far beyond my knowledge.”

  “We know that unions with Sorcerers or those south of the mountains can sometimes weaken bloodlines,” Sinead said slowly. “That is something all Keepers are taught. It is part of why we keep separate from them, to prevent the inevitable from happening.”

  “What do you mean, weaken bloodlines?” Magnus asked, cocking his head to one side.

  “She means less Chosen, or ‘weaker’ Chosen with smaller Aether reserves,” Verdan said, nodding slightly as he shared a look with Sinead. “This is something I’d considered myself.”

  “What is?” Dirk asked, glancing between the two of them before his eyes widened. “We’re descendants of Wizards, not Sorcerers.”

  Verdan hesitated briefly before answering. “I believe that the last stand of the Wizarding civilisations that followed after the Grym Imperium was in the north. Your people are their descendants, and the culture you’ve all developed was in part to protect their legacy. Your Keepers know too much of things that everyone else has forgotten for all of this to be a coincidence.”

  Verdan could see it all play out in his mind. A last few Wizards, hidden away in the north while the continent fell into chaos. Perhaps they had hated the idea of passing Wizardry on, much as he had once felt, or perhaps they lacked the knowledge outside of Sigils. Either way, the traditions the Kranjir followed to this day resonated with that ancient knowledge.

  A single Chosen with a group of Thearns, not so far from a Wizard and a squad of Imperial guards.

  Verdan ran a hand through his hair and leaned back against the cold stone. He could be reading altogether too much into everything, it was hard to know. It didn’t matter in the end, anyway.

  “So, anything else you want to know?” Verdan asked, breaking the others from their thoughts.

  “Yes!” Dirk rubbed at one of the intricate scars that formed his Caelin. “So much, I don’t even know where to start!”

  “Don’t worry; we’ve got all day,” Verdan said, leaning back and motioning for them to take the lead. “Ask away.”

  -**-

  Hours later, Verdan was finally able to escape from the three young Kranjir by heading upstairs and letting Adrienne bully them all into a hot meal. It was his own fault for giving them free reign to ask whatever they wanted, but really, the whole experience had been relaxing for him.

  It was a nice change to be able to speak honestly and openly about his home, even more so with the few people who perhaps understood the context of what he was describing.

  “So,” Verdan said, his voice a little hoarse from talking too much. “I hope you realise why I keep some things private, and I’m trusting you to do the same.”

  “Of course, Master!” Magnus didn’t hesitate at all, which was typical of his brave Apprentice.

  “Dirk, Sinead?” Verdan turned to see the other two having a whispered conversation.

  “Sorry, Master,” Dirk said, turning back with a determined set to his brow. “Of course, your secrets are our secrets. We were just discussing how this changes our plan for the Chosen and the Clan.”

  “Has it made you reconsider?”

  “Not at all,” Dirk said with a half-smile. “If anything, this has proven to me that we had made the right decision. If Wizardry is the legacy that was left to us, then it is time we started to claim it. The only thing I had worried about was what a society filled with Wizards would look like.”

  “And now that you know?”

  “Well, we know it won’t be perfect; you’ve made that clear,” Dirk said in a deadpan tone that drew a laugh from Verdan. “But we can try to make something better, like you have with the two of us.”

  “I know that I’m not really part of this,” Magnus said, straightening up as he spoke. “But you can rely on me to help. I owe a lot to my Clan, but I owe just as much to you, Master.”

  “You owe me nothing, Magnus,” Verdan said softly. “It has been my pleasure to teach both of you, and the pair of you are growing into fine Wizards.”

  “Dirk is right, though, this is even more important than I thought,” Sinead said as she stared down at her hands. “This is bigger than our Clan. I have to know one thing, though. The things you’ve described seem fantastical and beyond us; do you really think we can get there?”

  “Yes.” Verdan made sure they could hear the certainty in his voice. “It will take years of effort, maybe even decades, and that will only bring back a fraction of what I’ve told you about. In time, though, we’ll manage.”

  Sinead took a deep breath before nodding. “Alright. We’ve written out the message already, so all that is left is to send it with a courier. I’ll arrange that in the morning. For now, we should head back, we’ve been here quite a while.”

  “Right, I suppose we should,” Dirk said, though Verdan could tell that he wanted nothing more than to stay and ask questions. “We’re having a sparring tournament this evening, if you want to join, Magnus?”

  Verdan’s other apprentice perked up immediately and joined Dirk and Sinead as they bid Verdan farewell and set off back to the Kranjir quarter.

  Taking the last bite of his sandwich as Adrienne slid a fresh cup of coffee in front of him, Verdan sat back in his chair and considered the afternoon. Sinead’s question about if it was all possible had left him unsettled.

  Not because it wasn’t possible, or that it would be difficult, but because he knew what she was asking about. He’d described life in the Imperium to them, and it was the most mundane things that had impressed them the most.

  Hot water on demand, sanitation spells for the city, roads that resisted plant growth. Guardsmen trained to fight monsters and warding spells that kept farmers safe. These weren’t big things, but they’d impressed her more than the powerful magics that the older Wizards had wielded.

  Hopefully, he’d see the day where she would no longer view something as simple as healers with magical equipment as far-fetched.