64. The Tower Conclusion

"Could you guys hurry up a little? I am not, nor do I have a desire to be a threat. I haven't had anyone to talk to in almost a hundred years."

They all froze at the sound of the voice but Novum felt that the voice was being honest. He was not sure what gave him that impression but he could only imagine spending a hundred years without talking to anyone. He stood to his full height, and while he did not put his sword away he did take the aggression out of his stance. His reflexes were good enough for him to react before something really bad happened. Without any further hesitation he walked forward and through the door.

Right before he was about to step through the door Crystal reached out like she was going to stop him but just before she could reach him she pulled her hand back. She could feel negative energy often associated with undead or necromancers seeping through the door but it did not have that evil heavy or maybe sticky feeling to it. Like the energy that was there was the minimum necessary to keep whatever was in there conscious, she could not say alive since this energy would not keep a living being alive. With a confused feeing in her heart she stepped through the door behind Novum.

Novum walked in and stepped forward far enough that the rest of his group could come in behind him. He was in to much shock to walk any further in through. There sitting behind a desk that appeared to me made out of pure obsidian was the silhouette of a man. As he looked a little harder he realized that it was not a man's shadow but the shadow of a man. His spirit was still here even though it appeared that his body was long gone.

"Greetings young adventures. I have not seen a living face in almost a hundred years. There was an accident before my first investors even showed up. I made a miscalculation on one of my spells and shredded by body between multiple dimensions. Luckily the magic protection of the tower prevented it from being destroyed."

"That is tragic. Sir, quick question, who are you and if I may be so bold what exactly are you?"

"Oh where are my manors. I am Dordrest Norvil. A powerful mage who is also a bit of a business man. I invested everything that I had into the creation of this tower and the farm in the previous room. And as for your question about what I am, that one is a little more complicated."

"Well since you have not talked to anyone for a hundred years I am willing to listen. Oh an my name is Novum."

"Such a polite young man. Well when I was attempting to expand my room one more time I made a miscalculation and created a rift in time and space. I was cast adrift in a void without a body, since it was completely disintegrated. This was a place without light or any of the laws or forces of nature. I was nowhere and yet it was like I was everywhere. As I drifted I had more time to think that I know what to do with. I came to realize that the one thing that I had created was someone to continue my work.'

'The moment that I came to that realization I appeared back in this very room. The rift that I created closed and based on everything I realized that while the time in the void seemed infinite no time at all had passed here. So I came to study myself more and more and after twenty years I realized that I am the knowledge of magic that my mind and soul from before contained. Yet I am not able to use any of it. My purpose here is to pass on a legacy, the legacy of all my accumulated knowledge of magic and the world.'

"Since I did not have any magic and I am only a part of a soul I could not get past the lich that was created through my ambition. I could have probably gotten out right after I came out of the rift but by the time I realized what was going on it was to late and I was trapped. His ability to control the undead made me very susceptible to him. And if I became bound to him I could have been forced to teach him what I knew."

Novum spoke up, "would that not have its intended purpose?"

"Yes and no. You see I need a successor that has the right mindset and affinity to magic to really pass on the amount of knowledge and have it live on in this world." In an instant the figure disappeared from behind the desk and appeared right in front of Berry, inches from being nose to nose. "This one here is very interesting. I can feel her magic and that it has a base that is a lot closer to mine that she realizes. She only uses her energy to protect herself and others but it only developed as far as it did because of her desire to protect others."

"I have heard of you mage Norvil. I even have one of you spells that I am trying to learn. It is still just a little beyond me. Although looking at your board I saw something that may help me in my comprehension."

"So a few of my spells have survived. That is outstanding news. So young mage what do you say would you like to become my pupil? I will teach you everything I know and once I pass on everything to you I will be on my way to the rest of my soul that is already in the afterlife."

"I would be honored but there might be a few complications."

"What might they be?"

"Well the first one is that this tower is on the bottom on the lake."

"I am on the bottom of a lake? Where did the lake come from? I am still in the northeast of the realm right?"

Novum spoke up. "When you opened the rift and destroyed your body, the tower may have been protected but the surrounding area was not. You destroyed a huge chunk of the earth and created a lake. This tower is currently sitting on the bottom of the lake. Actually the only reason that we found the tower at all was because it has started leaking something into the lake and it is driving the animals crazy."

"It is a little disconcerting knowing that my barrier has started leaking after only a hundred years. How did you know that it came from this tower? Better yet tell me the background?"

Novum quickly and efficiently broke down the situation outside of the tower to the entity. He made sure and broke down not only the size change but also the temperament change but also the possible intelligence change of Fang. After he was done the entity simply floated there in thought.

"I find it interesting that only the aggressive breeds of animals have been affected. Bees are the least aggressive of everything that you listed but there are some groups of bees that will chance you until their death. So it appears that it is only affecting the predatory animals. That is very interesting." There were a few more minutes of silence and it appeared that he came to a conclusion.

"I think that the reason that barrier is leaking and the way that it was working is the lich that was below. He was trying to find a way through my barrier and the negative energy that he was using was finally starting to break through the barrier and the byproduct was the miasma gas that was affecting the animals. I also think that the negative energy was more effective on predators. But I would still keep my eyes open for a few other animals that may be more violent and larger in the near future."

"But with the lich dead will that not go away?" Berry asked.

"Not necessarily. The spells that he is throwing against my barrier is a spell that does not require him to be actively using a spell or even alive. But once the barrier pops the negative energy will be spread out in a big area so that the concentrations of energy will not be enough to affect individuals. At least that is in theory."

"But if we pop the barrier this entire place will be flooded. I do not know of a mage or anything that will get this tower out of the lake."

"Well if you look you will see that this tower is part of the manor house that you came through. That means that it has the same magic on it and can shrink down like the manor house."

"Okay so that solves part of the problems. But the other issue that I am going to run into is that by law this tower belongs to Novum and thus everything in the tower belongs to him."

Novum let out a belly laugh. "That is not a problem. Once we read all the instructions or Master Norvil guides us, we can shrink the tower and then set it back up on my property and then take all the other buildings out and set them up as well. You any anyone that Master Norvil agree will have exclusive access to the tower."

"Thank you Novum. Now the only issue that I have left will be resources and funding."

"Again I will handle that. You can be my official mage and work for my manor. I will pay you a reasonable salary and provide you with resources that you need for your research. I will only ask that you assist in times of war and be a magical advisor to me and my people."

A tear rolled down Berry's cheek. "Thank you Novum. You are too good of a person to be a noble."

"I will take that as a compliment. So Master Norvil how doe we proceed?"

Norvil gave Berry some very specific instructions and told her the exact spot on the tower to activate in order to shrink it down so that it could be carried. He also talked her through drawing the dimensions of the manor and tower in order to place the tower in the exact point that was necessary in order to make everything line up the way that they wanted.

Once all that was sorted out the group was about to head out of the tower and Dordrest spoke up. "Follow me to the side. I built a special door that will bypass the farm. Imagine if you had to walk across that thing every time you wanted in or out."

Novum looked at him. "If that was the case why did you not use it to get around the lich and out of the tower?"

"There is a magical barrier on the hallway that prevents all external energies from existing. If you have a shield or temporary magical affect on your body it will dispel it." He held up his hand and the tip of his pinky finger was missing. "I was lucky that I did not make the enhancements on it more aggressive."

"Then we will see you soon." The group headed down the secret passage and Berry paused when she felt the barrier. It was stronger than anything she had ever made but also more subtle. It was amazing and the thought of learning from this entity excited her.

They made it to the first floor and all chugged the potions that they needed to get to the surface and swam out. Berry went to the point that Dordrest told her about and triggered the spell and shrunk it down to match the manor inside. It was less that two foot tall and was actually heavier than she expected. She quickly passed it to Novum and they group swam to the surface.