✅ The Day The Magic Died - Indefinite

[Vireylda Saharn]

For countless eras, Vireylda wished to see the Academy of Magic in Aelyria Prime. Yes, her entry in it was likely forbidden concerning her sphere of choice. Necromancy remained illegal in the Empire. Vireylda doubted they'd change that soon. They fostered some of the most brilliant magical minds here, tutelage given by Masters of their chosen field. What secrets lay within those storied halls, rapt with lore and ancient magical knowledge? Were she a less principled sort, Vireylda might consider storming it, and taking that knowledge for her own. The Academy remained a constant on her list, as it had for eras.

Of course, that was before.

Standing here again, staring at the smoking ruin? Vireylda tasted despair and even a hint of fear. She thought back, remembering the encounter with Z'kron, the sound of his bomb going off in her ears. Realization that he was the one responsible for this. The ensuing interrogation by the Ancient Aelyrian Octavia. It reminded her of purpose, of her original reasoning for being here. Besides the rescue efforts and the ensuing carnage.

He'd merely plucked that bomb from the corpse of the ravaged building. What else lay within the Academy that might fall into unsavory hands? Vireylda couldn't stomach it, not when she might do something in response. Her failure, and cowardly flight from the Cyraxians that poured from the Palace grounds couldn't save her, but this? She was a Master Mage, who better to delve into this than her?

So, quenching her reservations, Vree tried to make her way toward her destination.

 

[Indefinite]

By this point it had been several days since the incident itself occurred. Around the Palace there had been significantly more activity as a result of, well, the Cyraxians that had spilled out of the location, and in the grand scheme of things perhaps the Academy had been de-prioritized somewhat. That didn't mean that it hadn't received its fair share of attention, however.

It was the Academy of Magic, after all. And there was a very real problem with its destruction that people had eventually realized.

Vireylda, upon approaching the Academy grounds, found that the Imperial Legion stationed in Aelyria Prime had established a cordon around the site. Soldiers manned checkpoints leading towards the location, and it seemed like at least some amount of work on trying to disassemble the ruins had begun. There (supposedly) weren't monsters like the Cyraxians lurking about within, after all, and so arguably it was easier to start sending in laborers to start slowly de-constructing the building.

There was another problem, however. Vireylda would hear two individuals yelling at one another, slightly behind the checkpoint.

"...not sending my men in there without some sort of protection! I don't know what sort of loopy crazy crap those mages got up to! I'm not getting my workers blown to pieces!"

 

[Vireylda Saharn]

Well, like any law abiding citizen hoping to help Vireylda would approach the checkpoint.

"Excuse me, am I to understand you're having difficulties with the Academy? I'm a mage of some power. Perhaps I could assist?"

 

[Indefinite]

One of the legionnaires stepped forward towards Vireylda as she approached the checkpoint, presumably to do the usual thing soldiers did to civilians - tell her it was a restricted area and to sod off.

However, before anything could happen, the person Vireylda had overheard cut them off. It was a dwarf, from what Vireylda could see, gruff and fairly covered in dust and dirt. Across from him was the person who'd been yelled at, presumably some legionnaire officer, a human man who looked quite done with the conversation.

"Oi, you!" the dwarf pointed at Vireylda. "You one of the nonces who worked in this place?"

"Sir, there's currently no way to verify-"

"Shaddup, you! Unless you wanna send your soldiers in to clear the debris, you'll keep your mouth shut!"

 

[Vireylda Saharn]

Ah. Um. Well she wasn't told to feth off at least?

Vireylda considered her answer a second before she gave it. Technically she visited the ruins before? A few days ago, did that count as 'worked' in this place? Well, the alternative was convincing them that she should be given entry for another reason. Vireylda took the path of least resistance. "Very recently, but yes."

 

[Indefinite]

The dwarf squinted at Vireylda. The wording of that was quite weird, wasn't it? "The fuck is that supposed to mean?"

The officer had, by this point, just pinched their forehead between their fingers. At this point, they might as well take all the help that they could get, at least. "Would you be capable of providing any level of protection for the workers as they clear out the ruins of the Academy, lady mage? If not, unfortunately, I don't think you'll be of much use here."

Legionnaires, in general, didn't trust mages much. It didn't help that just a few short days ago some nutjob of a mage had apparently smacked a giant tree down in the middle of the capital and started preaching heresy right after. Or that there'd been a magical attack against the Ancients, who'd been riding the Legion's asses ever since about tracking down the person responsible.

Mages had their uses, arguably, but the soldiers never much seemed to be on the positive side of it.

 

[Vireylda Saharn]

Really?

"It means I was part of the rescue efforts a few days ago. When people were still dead and dying from the explosion."

Instead of antagonizing the dwarf further, Vree turned her response to the legionnaire. "I can, yes."

 

[Indefinite]

"That ain't what I asked!" the dwarf threw his hands up in exasperation.

"We're working on dealing with the ruined structure and clearing it out," the legionnaire officer explained. "The problem is that we don't know what sort of dangerous experiments or hazardous items might be contained within the Academy. If you can provide some sort of protection against those risks, I can see about securing you clearance to access the area."

 

[Vireylda Saharn]

She wisely refrained from asking what else he meant. In Vireylda's mind the answer she offered was perfectly acceptable.

Yet again the officer salvaged the situation. Vree smiled. "I'm a Master mage, sir. I think I can assist." The esh'lahier reassured, a simple statement of fact, offered without smug superiority. She glanced at the workers milling about, then the officer. "My name is Vireylda, what's yours?"

 

[Indefinite]

The officer held his hands up.

"That's not necessarily what I asked for," the man stated. "Now I know there are different types of mage, of course, and each of them can do different things. But I need a mage that can actually do something about the issue that we're facing. Somebody who can... I dunno, detect magic. Or protect the workers, give them some sort of armor. I can't go to my superiors with something as vague as 'just a master mage.'"

Bureaucracy! That and, well, it wasn't every day you just met a master mage, either. Some of the surrounding soldiers seemed just a little cagey, with that information in hand.

Vireylda didn't necessarily have to help them, of course. She could just be interested in looting the Academy.

 

[Vireylda Saharn]

Ehhh, this was a little too close for comfort. That said, she certainly didn't fault the officer for his caution. Of all the things Vireylda Saharn understood these days? Bureaucracy was high on the list, considering she essentially did that as her day job now. Still, her power aside, Vree didn't like the idea of proclaiming her quite illegal profession to the world.

Sure, she appreciated her abilities, but that was edging into Dead/Dumb necromancer territory. Neither were acceptable!

"The best defense is a better offense. I specialize in destruction. Your workers won't need armor when I can disintegrate whatever plans to attack us before it gets close to them."

And if none of that worked? Yes, she did very much want to loot the academy. Vree would figure something out.

 

[Indefinite]

Ehhhhhh.

"Is there stuff down there that we need to worry about attackin' us?" the dwarf asked.

"I... don't know?" the officer added. "The problem with destruction is that we don't know if there's anything delicate down there. If there's, say, explosive materials that are triggered by your magic, and they wipe out three blocks... it just brings us back to our original problem. We don't know what sort of hazardous materials might get released into the area, or unstable components that might somehow be a threat."

"S'why it would've been good if ya worked at the Academy before," the dwarf explained the question he'd asked before. "Then at least ya might know what the blue blazes might actually be down there."

"Still, somebody has to do the work. Those problems remain, regardless of whether we clear the ruins or not."

 

[Vireylda Saharn]

Right.

She sighed. "Look, you've got a problem down there and I'm willing to solve it for you. As you said, the works needs doing regardless. If something might attack down there? I don't know, but magic can be tricky." As if to accentuate this, Vireylda's staff materialized in her outstretched hand. A length of bone white petrified wood, cracked through with a baleful green light. A brilliant red blossom bloomed at the top, wrapped by it's searching green vines. "But the point is? The work needs doing. I'm willing to do it for you, so your people won't get hurt." She gestured to the smoking hole of the Palace in the distance. "Listen, the city has suffered enough. I want to do my part, alright? My abilities can help, and better said I specialize in focused destruction."

 

[Indefinite]

"Well, you're willing to help out," the office retorted to Vireylda, "that doesn't mean it'll actually get solved. I hope you understand the dilemma I'm faced with, I don't want to have to explain to my superiors how somebody got in and made things worse."

No offense or anything.

There was some flinching from everybody in the area as the Staff suddenly appeared in Vireylda's hand, but thankfully it wasn't interpreted as a hostile gesture, lest the elf find herself riddled with arrows. Don't say magic could be tricky in the same sentence as doing something unexpected.

They were more or less all on the same page about the problem being that somebody needed to do the work. Vireylda figured it might as well be her. The dwarf didn't want it to be his people, not without proper information and security. And the officer wanted to make sure that somebody was the 'right' somebody.

"I suppose there's no other choice, though, if the people brought in won't do it," the officer noted with a gesture towards the dwarf, apparently having a bit more backbone than your average military rank-and-file to be found in the Legion. "I'll have you work closely with them, then. You'll be an attaché to their operation, they'll supervise you. How's that sound?"

 

[Vireylda Saharn]

Take help where you got it, all that. Vree understood that. "I understand, officer. Any port in a storm, right?"

Sounded fine to her! Long as, of course, they'd allow her to investigate and take what she considered of interest. "Sounds reasonable. When you say supervise, what exactly does that entail? I'm used to working on my own." She offered a smile. "What exactly is the operation? Run into specific issues? Magical? Creature based?"

 

[Indefinite]

The office shrugged and handed it over to the dwarf, who didn't really have any other idea what was going on, since this hadn't been his idea or anything. But he'd run with it.

"Thorim," he introduced himself, offering Vireylda a dusty hand. "We'll figure out the exact details, I suppose. And know, nothing specific, this is my gut feel. But we did have to deal with that green fire and that was a pain in the arse, I ain't having my lads venture any further if I can help it, not unless we've got some way to deal with any other nastiness that might be lurking in that place."

There was a gesture of his hand, for Vireylda to follow him, so that they could walk and talk.

 

[Vireylda Saharn]

"Vireylda, or Vree if you like." She shook his hand, initiating pleasantries.

Let's get down to business! She followed. "I saw that before, what did you do to handle it? Just a fire brigade?" And then, once that question answered? "So, is there a plan other than improvise as we go? A specific goal?"

 

[Indefinite]

"You can't put it out with water," the dwarf explained as they talked. "We wound up smothering it wherever we found it. Sand, for the most part. For all we know there's more smoldering further down, but we haven't seen any resurgences yet."

A very troublesome incendiary component, for sure.

So, what was the plan? "As far as we're concerned the building isn't recoverable. We're basically running demolition," the dwarf noted, folding his arms as he looked towards the ruined building up ahead. "But we can't do this the normal way, not without knowing what's inside. Might do best with a simple strategy - just start stripping it from the top down as bets we can. What we want to do is take apart the building and make sure not to disturb anything sensitive or fragile that'll make our lives worse."

 

[Vireylda Saharn]

Lovely. Well, hopefully if they ran into the fire again that same tactic would work again. "Well, if we see it we'll deal with it." Not much else to say in that regard.

"Controlled demolition. I see." Vireylda smirked. "Well I tell you what Thorim, you tell me the area we're digging, and I'll see about clearing it for you. If there are any odd magical effects here, I'll look into it before your men get hurt." She snapped her fingers. "Just say the word and we can get started."

 

[Indefinite]

"All right then, let's see about making our way to the top. We've got some equipment in place that'll let us ascend, but, watch your step. The ruins aren't the most stable thing at the moment." Nothing about this job, unfortunately, was typical. Under other circumstances they might have just whacked at the thing until it collapsed, but with so many potentially volatile substances buried in the Academy, that could easily cause an even greater problem.

Potentially, though, being the key word. The problem was that nobody knew what was down there.

"How long will you be able to stick around and help?" the dwarf asked Vireylda as they continued to approach the ruins of the Academy, a greasy burning smell lingering in the air. "Granted, any help is appreciated, but if you're only available for a little while, I'll want to try and better direct where you'll go."