Published at 30th of April 2026 7:04 am

Chapter 286 Letting the Days Go By

This chapter is updated by JustRead.pl

Cycle 308

The Council met, as they now usually did, in the Ominians dream, the same night that the violet focuses finished being delivered. Ibrahim, in one of his typically dramatic outbursts, had once said that every path they took in the time loop led to a dead future. Gabriel had taken to calling their meetings the Council of Dead Futures.

Mirian thought it was a fitting name.

Gabriel was the last soul-shadow to appear in the dream, but the first to speak. It didnt work, he said simply. We finally finished one, and not only did your leyline regulator not work, it didnt even delay the thing.

Ceiba Yan is working on moving pieces of the Labyrinth, Xecatl said. And, there is further research that can be done on the spirit construction helping absorb excess energy in the region.

It was Zhuan who sent out the feeling of shaking her head. Thats not the issue.

Then what is the issue? Gabriel asked. Because its starting to look like this has all been a huge waste of time.

This again, came Jhericas annoyed thought. Mirian wasnt sure if theyd meant to project it or not. Probably they had. Jhericas arcane power was now also one of an archmage. The only Prophet who wasnt now was Celen.

Mirian stood by the foot of the Ominian, not facing the group. Ive told you. The temporal anchors must be returned to the Ominian. Thats the only thing that can prevent the entropic field from decaying like it does. Its like theres two magnets repelling each other. We control the magnet on the ground. We know how to fix that one. The one in the sky is losing its magnetism. That, we must wait on.

Gabriel projected a mental sigh. Yes, but the fully functioning device didnt even slow the damn thing!

Mirian ignored him. Everyone else save perhaps Celen seemed to understand the arcane physics at work. Liuan?

Liuans soul-shadow stepped forward. I made a breakthrough in research. My priests unearthed several troves of documents in Baracuel I hadnt seen before, and it corroborates archival records in Alatishad and Rambalda provided by Ibrahim. We have new estimates of the number of cycles and length of cycle for the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Prophets, as well as a few historical individuals who may have been Prophets, but were never declared. We should expect a temporal anchor to appear on the Ominian in one year of our time. In five more years, likely two or three. Obviously, an upper bound cant be constrained given its entirely likely some of them experienced loops they never recorded or spoke of, so it could be longer.

Ibrahim nodded, but was silent. He had spent more and more time working on the Councils projects as of late. The feel of him had changed, too. When hed first gotten his focus, hed been happy. Now, she saw less of that same joy. She worried for him, but he usually said as little as he could in the meetings, and what he did say was always about logistics, historical research, or religious philosophy. He didnt speak of himself.

Gabriel groaned. Right. Fine. So we just wait? Im happy to wait. But I want a real test of that regulator so we know were not wasting our time. If its going to be a year, Im taking this cycle and the next one off. You all can do whatever you want.

Fine, Mirian thought. I have some theoretical work Id like to do down in the Labyrinth. Two cycle break. Just make sure the Torrviol Gate doesnt get blown up.

I will continue my research, Xecatl said.

Are we adjourned? Zhuan asked, looking over at Celen.

Celen was sitting on the floor near one of the walls as he usually did. He was an effective writer and propagandist, but even after all these years, he didnt like being in a room with more than two people at once. Break seems fine, was all he said.

Well, it was more words than Ibrahim had produced. As far as Mirian could tell, Celen and Jherica were still going steady, which was nice to see. Liuan had continued her celibacy, while Gabriel continued to prefer non-Prophet relationships. Mirian glanced over at Zhuan, who sent the private feeling of winking at her. Mirian sent back a sly grin.

When the others had vanished, Mirian said, I was serious about the Labyrinth thing. The entrances are in east Baracuel, several days remote from any civilization. But youre welcome to join me.

Maybe next cycle. This cycle, I have my own experiments I want to run.

Zhuan vanished next, and Mirian turned back to the Ominian. Perhaps that was one of the reasons they both got along so well. They were both dedicated to pushing their research and to the task at hand. Enteria and its people came first.

For you too, Mirian thought, brushing her ethereal hand on the Ominian, sitting on Their throne.

***

After fixing up the Gates, Mirian left out of Palendurio. She was planning on meeting up with her fatherwith a few centuries behind him, he was one of the better conversation partnersand had decided to surprise him with an old friend.

She shared dinner with Grandpa Irabi, then that night, found her fathers ring and dug up Meu. The old cat was as dumb and cute as he always was. She put him on her shoulder, secure with little force bindings, then sped off south.

***

A few hours later, Mirian had made her usual introductions and they were on the plateau above her fathers hideout. Meu was licking his paw despite his tongue being dry and the paw not having any fur. It seemed the habits of the soul remained even in death.

When Mirian had discussed which Labyrinth entrances she wanted to hit, the conversation had veered towards combat, and Gaius had asked to test her capabilities.

Whens the last time we had a practice duel, Naluri? Gaius asked.

Almost a hundred cycles ago. Mirian had dismissed Equinox. It simply wouldnt be a fair fight with it on.

Hmm, Gaius said. Myr rating?

I havent tested it recently. I have to make a specialized detector. Im working on something thats a bit more reliable at higher energies. Itll help measure the effect Ceiba Yan and I are having on the leylines, as well as better assess the stability the regulator is providing.

Hmm, Gaius said again, raising a weathered eyebrow. Alright. Ready?

Begin, Mirian said.

Gaius and Mirian both started by snapping black shield over themselves. Mirian then immediately started lifting a large boulder up to batter her father with.

The necromancer went to start stripping the spell by casting quick transformation spells on the arcane energy being funneled into it, but she already knew about that tactic, and was using shifting coordinates to evade his efforts while using her own energy transformation spells to interfere with his. Fragments of arcane energy splashed outward in every direction, with both spellcasters working to exert their own control over the remnant energy.

But that left the lift object spell untouched.

With Mirians position established over the battle for the boulder, her father went on the offensive, levitating forward as he reached out with a soul-energy fortified curse spell, looking to pierce Mirians black shield with a concentrated attack. That let him dodge out of the path of the boulder Mirian was bringing to smash him.

Her father favored using Masikatts web, a necromantic binding that he hoped to use to surround and control the arcane energy fueling her shield. But hed taught her that spell years ago. She drilled through it with her own tendrils of soul energy, then used blink twice in quick succession to reposition herself behind the boulder that she had redirected towards him.

Gaius looked around only for a moment, but his reaction time to all things magic was still absurdly fast. Seeing that the boulder had curved through the air, he smashed itwith the quickest shatter rock shed seen, giving her no time to bind the spell. However, the relief in pressure gave Mirian time to cast her own offensive. She cast multiple lift object spells, using a different pathing structure for each one. That made the boulder Gaius had just shattered ten boulders, and all ten of them were now streaking back towards him.

Predictably, the necromancer was attempting Masikatts web again on the arcane energy fueling her spells, but Mirian constructed her own necromantic bindings around his spell. The delay of a second was enough for the boulders to come crashing down on Gaiuss shield, causing it to blacken as it blocked the repeated blows.

Her fathers shield barely held, but it came at the cost of his perception. No doubt, he was using detect life to watch Mirians soul and basic divination to watch her arcane energy, but he couldnt see the actual battlefield.

Mirian reached out with arcane energy in several directions, as if she were going to hurl more boulders at him, but as soon as he moved to counter her efforts, she dropped the spells and used greater coruscating beam to smash his shield.

This time, it shattered.

Gaius landed a web spell that tore apart her beam, and then each of them began rapidly moving to siphon the others spells. It became a clash of raw arcane and soul energy, dozens of different tendrils and bindings reaching out, each looking to prevent the other from firmly establishing a full offensive spell. Bit by bit, the old necromancers efforts were being beaten back.

Gaiuss face was fixed in concentration. He hadnt been able to reestablish his own shield, while Mirians was still up.

Suddenly, he released his spells. Mirian stopped as well.

Naluri, her father said, exasperated. Are you going easy on me?

She grinned. Maybe.

Show me, he said.

Alright, she replied.

He snapped up another black shield, but this time, Mirian didnt bother with the back and forth of trying to siphon or transform bits of Gaiuss arcane energy. Her own spells were flexibly built as she needed them, no longer using the set sequences so many mages relied on. That, and with her dervish form, she could cast full spells quicker than her father could form his less complicated siphon and web necromancy.

She came at him this time with blasts of every type of energy. The gravity under Gaiuss feet reversed, disrupting his levitation. Hammers of kinetic energy, beams of intense light, arcs of lightning, and gouts of flame all came in at him from every direction. His shield shattered, and as he tried to counter the bombardment of offensive magic, she came in with her own necromancy, wrapping him in three curses as she dismissed her arcane spells.

With his soul disrupted, her father lost control over his body, too. Gaius unceremoniously toppled over, landing on the plateau like a dropped wooden board.

Mirian undid her own curses, then helped him to his feet.

He dusted himself off, then looked at her with beaming pride. Outstanding. You are truly a master arcanist. I doubt I have anything more to teach you.

She smiled.

Meu, who was staring wide-eyed at the both of them from his spot off to the side, let out a confused Mrrew?

***

Entering east Baracuel, once one went about fifty miles past Madinahr, felt like stepping back in time, and not in the way that Mirian was used to. The towns and villages were all fortified the way they had been in the rest of Baracuel before spell engines and Unification. A few places by the coast that had easy access to trade ships sometimes had spellward barriers protecting the farms, but most still used the traditional patrols. A lot of them used hand-me-down wands, and when shed been investigating Labyrinth entrances a few cycles back, shed even seen a few old Persaman scepters still in use. Altrukyst knew how those had survived the centuries.

They stopped in a few towns to eat and gather supplies, with both Gaius and Mirian using illusionary disguises. There was a suspicion in town that came from their isolation from so much of the rest of the world, but she admired their strong traditions of community support. Everyone had a home. Everyone contributed what they could. It was simply necessary; out here, the myrvites still roamed the countryside freely, and trade goods from the rest of Baracuel were rare and infrequent. Everyone relied on each other to survive. It wasnt an easy life.

The arcanists didnt learn theory, they just memorized the traditions that told them how to use the spells and how to keep their artifice maintained.

Ah, it has me all nostalgic, Gaius said. It was a simpler time, back then, he said, and then launched into how it felt to discover new magic back in a time before the general theories were either rediscovered or reclaimed from the ruins of the Triarchy. Mirian had heard a version of it before, but she listened quietly.

After a while, they flew north, and there were no more towns, just the wild eastern plains. Finally, they arrived at the Labyrinth entrance.

Which level are we going to? Gaius asked.

This ones unexplored, Mirian replied. From what I can tell from archival work and hearsay, this entrance was discovered shortly before the Unification War, but abandoned when there were no Vaults found in the top four levels. We can scout around those areas just to check, but I imagine it will be the fifth or sixth level. Ive only been to the seventh level a few times. We can split up and meet back in a few hours to hasten our mapping of the upper levels.

Gaius nodded. Then lets begin.

***

Over the next few months, they scoured the Labyrinth for miles in each direction. Annoyingly, the Labyrinth shifted twice. However, every Vault shed found so far stayed in place, so with their divination-assisted maps, they didnt need to recheck areas theyd already visited.

The first three levels were trivial. There, she could zip around using supreme levitation, using a spinning force blade barrier in front of her to mince any labyrinthine horrors unlucky enough to appear in front of her. She didnt slow down much in the fourth or fifth levels, but it was more mana intensive because she had to occasionally blast apart a carapace crushers shell with shatter rock or find a voidling hiding in the fourth dimension trying to cut off her air. She also had to repeatedly reconstitute her force shield as it got covered in causter acid.

Still no Vaults, she complained when she resurfaced, Meu riding contentedly on her shoulder. A snowstorm had blown in, but Mirian had shaped a cottage out of the stone and created a basic spirit-construct that provided heat, plus another that repelled most myrvites. When she slept, her father kept watch, amusing himself by experimenting with tests on some of the rune sequences Mirian had copied down from the old ritual circle up on Divir.

Every so often, Mirian would take a break. She visited one of the nearby towns if she needed more spices, and used those to try out a few different recipes. She played with Meu, using the ring to make him do tricks. She sat and meditated.

No matter where she went on Enteria, she found beauty. The wind blowing across the fields. The way a distant mycanoid tree looked in the sunrise. The songs of the razorback groundhogs at twilight.

Then, it was back to the Labyrinth.

On the sixth level, they no longer explored separately, and their progress slowed down considerably. Twice, they found that annoying combination of an enervator and centiscerator working together. Occasionally, thered be a half-dozen voidlings in a single room. One particularly nasty room had an entire wall that wasnt a wall; it was carapace-crushers lined up all waiting to strike.

Then, there were the hazard rooms. Rooms without air, rooms with floors of lava, rooms with severe magnetic anomalies, and ooms that sapped away heat. It wasnt anything that she couldnt handle, but it did slow her as she had to stop and use divination spells to figure out what exactly awaited her.

Worse, there were no econodes to move their camp to, so they had to make the journey to the surface each time they rested. The Labyrinth wouldnt react strongly if she slept in an econode, but it would if she tried to sleep in a hall or room.

It took some time to locate the entrance to the seventh levela gaping pit that shot out periodic gusts of energy that stripped parts of their auras. They avoided it at first, but after scouring the sixth level for miles in every direction, Mirian prepared.

They took a few days break to rest up and prepare. Mirian improvised a detector that would gather data on what she was dubbing the antimagic wind, though she already had a working theory for what was going on based on her analysis of Labyrinth entropic barriers, Divirs antimagic shell, and the Ominian.

Then they descended to the seventh level.

Share