The Supreme Guardian

– Kazimir! – I shouted. – What do you see around?

Why not? He’s the only one present I don’t pity.

– I see an oak, – Kazimir replied after a pause. – A huge, green one.

All clear. I cautiously opened my eyes and looked around warily. Indeed, we were standing near a tree in the sorcerer’s office.

– You can open your eyes, – I graciously permitted. – Is everyone alive?

A discordant chorus of feeble responses followed. Excellent. They can speak, so all is well. Well then, welcome back to us.

Chapter 5: The Neverending Story

Outside the castle windows, primordial darkness still reigned. Having returned from the world of spirits, we found ourselves again in the sorcerer’s office. None of us knew what to do next. The entire academy was still trapped in a time loop, locked in a spatial pocket outside our reality. And we still had no idea who was orchestrating the ritual of forced evolution. Initially, we wanted to banish Kazimir from our friendly company, but after appreciating his plan to seize the dragon’s body, we kept him as a villain-consultant.

– What do we know about the ritual of forced evolution? – I paced the office, musing aloud. – The ritual was created as a panacea, a cure for all diseases. However, after practical trials, it had a downside – it forced evolution, and not always appropriately. Mice grew gills, rabbits developed trunks, and rats even began to read minds…

– Wait, – Asya interrupted me. – You said this is the first time the ley lines have shifted. But how was this ritual performed before if it requires so much energy?

– Failing grade! – I cheerfully chided her. – Ancient magicians used magical power capacitors – pyramids, henges, and more. This allowed them to perform such energy-intensive rituals without tapping into free energy and altering ley lines.

– But why doesn’t our mage conduct the ritual using these capacitors? – Zheka wondered.

– That’s a good question! – I praised my roommate. – I don’t know. Maybe because using stored energy requires permission from the international council of mages, or maybe for some other reasons.

– Has anyone ever conducted this ritual on humans? – Kazimir cautiously asked.

Damn trickster! Still hoping to evolve into a dragon!

– Of course, – I didn’t hide it and grinned. – The Atlanteans decided to take a risk and covered the whole of Atlantis with the ritual’s weave. After which they turned into dolphins. Want the same?

Kazimir turned pale and shook his head negatively. Good. He’s getting smarter.

– We need to get out of the spatial pocket, – the dragon said tiredly. – Since Kazimir laid the veil of despair, it’s possible that the ritual organizer isn’t even in the castle.

Indeed. To cast the veil, one had to be inside the space. That was the basis of our search. But if someone else was preparing the ritual, they could have stayed outside. Meaning we need to go back and start searching anew.

There was just one tiny thing preventing me from immediately performing the return ritual to the real world – the time loop. I could have untangled it with my eyes closed, but the time loop had its own laws. For example, the first to die inside the loop would die upon exiting it. And this feature worried me the most because I was the first to die inside the loop. But I couldn’t leave my friends in the closed time circle either, I didn’t have the right.

Ah, I never knew I would meet my death willingly. But that’s the fate of Guardians – to sacrifice themselves for others. I sat in the runic circle and methodically untangled the unfortunate weave. I wonder, will Asya cry? Maybe I should tell them? No, better not to say. Ignorance is bliss.

I carefully reconfigured the power flows, feeling the vibrations of space. And how did I agree to trust Zheka with this? No wonder he messed up. A loud pop sounded, and bright sunlight hit my eyes. It worked! Great! Wait. Why am I still alive?

Suddenly, a pain-filled scream echoed, and Asya collapsed to the floor. Damn it! When will I learn to consider all factors in my plans? I was in Asya’s body when Kazimir killed me in the time loop! Idiot!

I rushed to my fiancée. Just hoping she would survive. Pushing Zheka aside, I fell to my knees before the girl, weaving diagnostic spells of the druids on the go. Her pulse was rapidly fading, vital signs dropping. What to do? It should have been me in her place! Need healing weaves, therapeutic rituals, anything! I can’t lose her…

My mind was blank. Not a single thought. As if all magical knowledge was instantly erased from memory. I saw the dragon applying ancient druidic weaves, but it was all in vain. Spells, charms, rituals… I needed to come up with something. Rituals? Of course!

– The ritual of forced evolution was created as a cure for all diseases, – I repeated my own words. – It should help. We’ll conduct it ourselves.

– Have you gone mad?! – the dragon shouted. – The ritual needs a very powerful magic conductor. Even your homemade staff can’t channel all the accumulated energy into a specific person. You’ll repeat the mistake of the Atlanteans!

– I won’t, – I quietly replied.

Need a powerful conductor? I looked at the mighty oak in the middle of the auditorium. Will it do? I don’t know, but there’s no choice.

– Zheka! – I yelled at my shocked roommate. – Bring Asya to the oak! Quickly!

Without asking questions, he picked up his sister and carefully seated her at the roots of the tree, leaning her back against the mighty trunk.

I confidently approached the oak and knelt before it, pressing my forehead against the warm tree bark. I felt its power, the streams of magic flowing through it.

– You helped me once, help now… – I whispered barely audibly.

A clear pattern of a powerful spell formed in my mind, and its delicate structure immediately began to fill with force. At first gently, a small stream, but the flow kept increasing and increasing until it reached its peak. I could barely hold the weaving. The old oak creaked under the pressure of energy but did not give in. Focusing the magic, I carefully placed my hand on Asya’s forehead, channeling a colossal flow of magical energy through her body.

The girl screamed and arched in pain. Tears squirted from her eyes, but the main thing was she was alive. I did it! We did it! Struggling to remove my hand from Asya’s face, I tiredly lay on the floor. I hope she doesn’t turn into a dolphin or grow a trunk. We’ll handle the rest somehow.

The castle lived its own life. Students were slowly learning, drinking, and having fun, while teachers desperately tried to instill at least a bit of knowledge into their thick heads. The sorcerer also returned to his professional duties. Asya was still recuperating in the infirmary but was recovering quickly. No extra limbs grew on her, and no new organs seemed to have appeared yet. Even Kazimir returned to the director’s chair, giving me a magical oath that he would never again try to become a magical being.

But we never found the organizer of the ritual of forced evolution. However, now I was grateful to him. I don’t know what our villain had in mind, but he helped save a person’s life. And for that, he has my thanks. Magic was gradually returning to the world, and the pattern of ley lines was slowly restoring. Yes, many artifacts around the planet were rendered useless, but we managed to avoid a catastrophe, and that’s the main thing.

I no longer had any reason to stay at the academy, but just before leaving for home, I remembered one unfinished business. After saying goodbye to my friends and setting a date with Asya for the weekend, I slipped unnoticed into the library.

– My light, mirror! Speak and tell the whole truth!

Ripples spread across the mirror surface, and soon Marfusha appeared in the reflection.

– Hello, beauty! – I cheerfully greeted her. – Ready to move?

– And what took so long? – the voice assistant pouted offendedly. – You could have hurried up with your ritual!

Now I’m confused.

– Which ritual should I have hurried up with? – I asked suspiciously.

– Well, this one! The evolutionary compulsion or whatever it’s called… – the girl indifferently waved her hand.

I’m completely lost.

– Marfusha, my sunshine! Could you please explain why you think I conducted the ritual of forced evolution? – I kindly asked.

– Well, how, – the girl in the reflection looked at me in surprise. – You asked me yourself to start drawing the world’s magical energy using the castle’s protective charms, to conduct this ritual and save someone. So I connected to the academy’s storage system and drew power from the ley lines…

This is nonsense. What does it mean? Marfusha is the villain who almost left our world without magic? Or is that villain me? I don’t understand anything.

– My darling, – I smiled kindly. – And when did I ask you about this?

– When creating the mirror protection, you asked, – the girl rolled her eyes. – Like three hundred years ago… And by the way, you didn’t say goodbye, rude!

I think I’m starting to understand.

I paused on a small cliff. Beneath my feet stretched the boundless sea, annoying seagulls screeched around, and the sun unpleasantly scorched. Unfortunately, sunset was still far away. In my memories, this place was definitely better. But that’s not important. This time, I was interested in the artifact I had once hidden here.

Moving a huge boulder with a simple weaving, I carefully descended to the ground and pulled out old wooden prayer beads from the hiding place. I never thought I’d want to use them, but fate always has its plans.

Time travel is a very dangerous and unpredictable thing. Take, for instance, the paradox of the missing starting point. I learned about the plan to save Asya yesterday from Marfusha but told her about this plan hundreds of years ago. Yes, I can go back to the past and inform the voice assistant about the details of the operation and the timeline will be restored, but… it doesn’t add up. I’ll be telling Marfusha in the past what I learned from her in the present, and she in the present will be telling me what she learned from me in the past. Complicated? Very. And the main question – when did I actually come up with this plan? I hate temporal paradoxes.

I cautiously wrapped my wrist with the powerful artifact, squinted my eyes, and activated the ancient mages’ gift. Oh, I’ll feel bad when the other Guardians find out about this! The wind suddenly intensified, throwing cold sea spray in my face. I cracked open my eyes and exhaled in amazement. Night had fallen. Or rather, it only seemed to me that night had come. In reality, the ancient artifact had transported me back several hundred years, and I had just ten minutes to prepare my brilliant plan.

Not wasting any time, I concentrated and teleported to the academy’s library. The familiar hall was empty. Even the bookshelves were barely a quarter filled. A sad sight. But the mirrors around ostentatiously glittered with gold.

I rushed to a familiar mirror, not thinking about the possible activation of protective charms. According to my calculations, the mages hadn’t yet set up the system, which meant I could access the factory settings.

– My light, mirror! Speak and tell the whole truth! – I blurted out on the go.

Ripples spread across the mirror surface, and a girl appeared in the reflection, unchanged for hundreds of years.

– Voice assistant of the mirror protection system Marfusha welcomes you. How may I assist you? – she said politely.

– Change of factory settings, – I began. – Time interval – two million six hundred thirty thousand hours. Upon expiration of the time interval, begin drawing the world’s magical energy using the castle’s protective and storage charms.

– Time interval set, – Marfusha said complaisantly. Young still, quite harmless. – Would you like to leave any explanatory comments?

– I would, – I nodded. – The magical energy will be needed to perform the ritual of forced evolution, which will help save a student of the academy.

– Comment recorded, – the voice assistant smiled. – Would you like to make any other changes?

I would, but I completely ran out of time. Only three minutes left. Without saying goodbye to Marfusha, I teleported to a sparse forest on the outskirts of a tiny village. In a hundred years, it will turn into a small, but quite charming city, and only an unkempt park under the windows of my apartment will remain of the forest.

I quickly knelt down, scooped up a handful of soil, and placed a pre-prepared acorn in the hole. Someday it will grow into a mighty, beautiful oak. Someday it will save a good person’s life.

The prayer beads on my wrist crumbled to dust, I jerked sharply and was literally hurled into the present time. Well, it seems I managed everything in time.

Part 2: Offspring of the Abyss

Chapter 1: The Last One

I stretched, laboriously stifled a yawn, took a cup of aromatic coffee, and approached the window. After our recent adventure, the park near my house had hardly changed. Except for the mysterious disappearance of the old oak, of course. I honestly wanted to return the tree, but the dragon-charmweaver adamantly refused to give it back. He claimed that the mighty oak was now the highlight of his office. And here I naively thought his highlight was a human heart preserved in a three-liter jar.

The disappearance of the oak, by the way, piqued the interest of journalists from tabloid newspapers, ufologists, and conspiracy theorists. But the main thing is that none of their theories even came close to being as insane as the mundane reality. A pity. If everyone knew that I saved the world, they would immediately give me a hero’s star. I would have become famous, starred in commercials. Maybe for some expensive car… Or at least socks. On the other hand, why do I need it? They might dig up that I was the one who caused all this commotion. And then what?

Anyway, it was funny, of course. I nearly destroyed the planet, and I was the one who saved it. What an achievement. And a good holiday it was, entertaining. It’s a pity that I have to go back to work soon. Interestingly, why haven’t they called me back yet? After all, the Guardians are facing many problems now: artifacts all over the globe are discharging due to a lack of energy, masking charms are malfunctioning, and certainly, rifts in the veil of our reality are appearing. Look, people might start noticing magic soon. Or maybe my colleagues have already dealt with it without me? I’ll come back to everything ready… That would be great.

– Stop admiring the views! You’ll be late for work! – a bright female voice sounded from the corridor.

Yes, it’s good that I swiped Marfusha after all. She would be gathering dust in the castle now, but here it’s more interesting for her and more fun for me. I wove her into the protective charms of the entire house, she controls them so it won’t turn out like last time. Now she informs me about any fluctuations in power. My smart girl. And as an alarm clock, she’s simply irreplaceable… In a word – an assistant.

And now she was definitely right. I was indeed already running late. Putting the empty cup on the windowsill, I put on a jacket over my T-shirt, smoothed my tousled hair with my palm, and teleported to the Guardians’ headquarters. By the way, calling this building a headquarters, in my opinion, was incorrect. Our place of work resembled more a state museum. A highly secured, secretive, incredibly extensive museum-library. Yes, that’s exactly it.

I found myself in the middle of a huge hall. High bookshelves with books and artifacts of ancient mages surrounded me from all sides. More precisely, with a small part of the artifacts entrusted to our headquarters. The most dangerous ones were here, and the rest were equally distributed among the Guardians and rested in hiding places all over the planet. For example, ninety-three powerful artifacts were under my care. Or rather, now ninety-two.

However, something in the surrounding environment categorically displeased me. But what exactly? I slowly walked among the shelves toward my office, trying to understand what was bothering me. Wait! Why is it so quiet?

There was always noise and bustle in the headquarters. Hundreds of Guardians from all over the world wandered through the main hall, carrying books and studying artifacts. Periodically someone yelled, cursed, or laughed. In rare cases, even fights broke out. True, only with fists. Using magic in the main hall was strictly prohibited. With such a number of artifacts, it was akin to smoking in a powder keg, and the distinctive feature of the Guardians, as is known, was precisely prudence. But I had never heard such silence.

Turning at the nearest crossroads, I approached the stairs leading to the second tier of the hall. Usually, this balcony was used by observers to watch what was happening in the main hall, but even they were not to be found. I leaned on the wooden railing and peered intently into the dimness of the room. No movement. Absolutely. The main hall of the headquarters was completely deserted.

But where is everyone? Even during the last war of shamans, there were duty Guardians here, ready to fight and repel an attack in case of an assault. But there were no duty officers. Nobody. Oh, I feel that serious problems are looming again. I knew I should have stayed on vacation longer. Well, I’ll get to the office and contact one of my colleagues and find out everything.

The protective spell on the door of my office let me inside without any trouble. A thick layer of dust covered the worn, massive table, the shelves of old cabinets, and even the small sofa. Strange… The entire headquarters building was entwined in a dense web of conserving charms, and this was the first time I had seen dust here. Could there have been some kind of malfunction? Or maybe someone played a prank? Anyway, it didn’t matter. A short mental impulse, and the dust rose into the air and immediately vanished. Thankfully, using magic in the offices was allowed.

I habitually glanced at the world map, covered with an uneven network of ley lines, and smiled. Magic was gradually returning, and the magical streams had almost taken their usual places.

Settling into the office chair, I took out my cell phone. Yes, Guardians used phones too. It’s much easier to make technology impervious to high concentrations of magic than to send postal birds every time. Pigeons, owls, and ravens – they were more a tribute to traditions and a beautiful gesture, but for work communication, it was easier to just call.

However, none of my colleagues picked up the phone. Even my grumpy chief refused to pay attention to me. All this was strange.

– Well, if you don’t want to talk on the phone, let’s try to contact you another way, – I thought.

Extending my hand forward, palm up, I lowered my eyelids and began to fill a complex, intricate weaving with power. Feeling a pleasant heaviness on my forearm, I opened my eyes and smiled. On my hand sat a beautiful indigo-black raven, as if woven from swirling darkness – the oldest method of sending messages between Guardians. The ghostly messenger required quite a lot of energy but could find the recipient anywhere in our world. Rumors even said it sometimes found them in other worlds too. A smart bird, overall.

– Find any other Guardian and deliver the message, – I ordered the raven and scribbled a few words on a piece of paper. My messenger cautiously took the note in its beak and dissolved into a dark mist. Well, let’s wait…

I was about to walk to the coffee machine when the raven returned.

– Good job, that was fast, – I praised the bird and extracted the reply from its beak.

“Contact me if you read this message. Guardian Vsevolod I.”

Something I don’t understand. Did the raven bring me my own message? Why? Did I formulate the order poorly?

– Deliver this to any other Guardian! – I said clearly and handed the ghostly bird the message.

The raven looked at me thoughtfully and shook its head negatively. What kind of joke is this? Did I mess up the weaving? I closed my eyes and focused on magical vision. The naughty bird immediately appeared before me as a tangled ball of shimmering lines. Yes, the weaving was complex, but perfectly executed. So why then did it refuse to deliver my note? A terrible guess pierced my mind. I abruptly opened my eyes and looked at the bored raven.

– You’re not delivering the message because you can’t find the addressee? – I asked, with slight anxiety in my voice.

The bird nodded in agreement. Damn it! What does that mean? Could the ghostly messenger really not find a single other Guardian? But where did they disappear to? I slowly sat down on the old sofa and thoughtfully looked into the black eyes of the ghostly messenger. And now what to do?

***

– No, no, and no again! – the sorcerer decisively waved me off and nervously paced around the office. – I won’t step foot into the Guardians’ lair!

For half an hour, I had been trying to persuade my former teacher to help me. However, the dragon wouldn’t even hear of rescuing my colleagues. And honestly, I understand him. Since ancient times, we, the Guardians, have protected our world from intelligent magical races from other worlds, including massive lizards capable of taking on human form. The fact that Altair managed to stay unnoticed was the exception that proved the rule.

Still, I desperately needed help. All my fellow Guardians had vanished, and of all the other mages I knew, the dragon was undoubtedly the most prepared. And probably the smartest. But how to persuade him?

– Aren’t you curious to see the most powerful artifacts of the ancients? – I asked again. – Or try to read the Great One Almanac in its original form? Where’s your draconic curiosity?

– I got rid of it many years ago, – the sorcerer looked at me seriously. – And only because of that, I managed to stay in this world.

– Fine, – I gave in. – What do you want in return for your help?

– You’ll owe me a favor, to be called upon when I ask, – the dragon smirked. – And you’ll pull me out of the spirit world if your colleagues send me there.

Any favor? That’s quite a price, of course. But fair.

– Agreed, – I nodded. – When do we leave?

The sorcerer paused for a moment, glanced at the reddening sunset outside the window, and waved his hand dismissively.

– Let’s go now!

That’s more like it. I firmly grabbed his forearm and deftly wove the spatial transition spell. The surroundings instantly transformed. Gone were the shelves with flasks, the student desks, and the majestic oak. Even the stone walls of the castle dissolved. Now we were surrounded by millions of books and thousands of artifacts.

– Wow… – the dragon exhaled in amazement. – Not a bad office you’ve got here!

Not bad? The main hall is the jewel of our world! The greatest creation of several generations of Guardians! A magnificent example of the symbiosis of magic, technology, and architecture!

But as I inhaled to start my tirade, the sorcerer managed to derail me again.

– Why did you bring me here, by the way? – he asked innocently.

Why?! To help, of course. But… what help can he offer if even I don’t know what to do?

– We need to check the records of the duty chroniclers and inventory all the artifacts.

– All of them? – Altair asked suspiciously, eyeing the numerous shelves with magical relics.

Yes, many. Or rather, very many. But what can we do?

– Will you at least make some coffee? – the dragon resigned to his fate.

Now that’s a good idea. I didn’t even have lunch today. And they’re probably serving porridge with butter at the academy now… But coffee it is.

Leaving Altair to wander among the rows of artifacts, I leisurely strolled towards my office, enjoying the silence and peace. I don’t know what happened to my colleagues, but I liked this atmosphere in the headquarters. The main hall had transformed from a noisy office into a very cozy library. No one was rushing between the rows, carrying stacks of books, or chatting on the work phone. Beautiful!

I was so relaxed and lost in thought that I hardly noticed a loud explosion somewhere deep in the building. But I did notice the next one. And the third as well! What’s happening there? I dashed towards the loud sounds, remembering whether I had warned the dragon that magic couldn’t be used here…