The Last Smile in Sunder City (The Fetch Phillips Archives #1) - Luke Arnold Page 0,82

on specific locations.

“All of these attacks happened in Human-only cities and the survivors have told the same story: no visible assailant, no obvious Magum fleeing the scene. It was” – she looked at the piece of paper in front of her to accentuate the fact that she was quoting from a source – “as if a hole opened up in reality and pure magical power tumbled out.”

I’d stayed in some of those cities myself. Met the locals. Been welcomed with open arms.

“So, it’s the same essential process as ditarum but from the other side. Instead of summoning energy from the source of power to a Wizard’s hands, this is a Wizard sending magic from the source out to a specific location. A Human location, full of civilians and families and innocent people who have no way to protect themselves. In Braid and New Lanfield, we lost Human lives to pure magical energy that arrived from an unknown location.”

The room of Generals muttered in sadness and concern.

“So, what does this mean? This means that a Wizard is able to summon a spell to a location away from his physical self. This must be a new talent. If Wizards had these abilities in the past, they would have used them untold times over the last century.

“Therefore, we must ask ourselves: what would the next evolution of ditarum be? One possible theory is that the Wizards can now create two portals, both of them away from their bodies, both unseen, and transfer magic between them. A terrific jump in their abilities if it were true. The other theory is that their talents have not changed at all; just the direction in which they use them. One portal in their hands, the other at a distance, same as always. But rather than bring the power from the source to their fingertips, they stand at the source and use the portal to push the magic somewhere else. This, I think you will all agree, is a far more likely explanation.

“The obvious next question is: ‘How can a Wizard stand at the source of magic when all the pockets are deep underground?’ To find that answer, I combed through the pages of every Magum document brought in by our intelligence team, and I found this…”

She opened up a leather-bound book and read from a marked page.

“The creator stepped out of the river and put her feet upon the world. In her wake, she left an open gash in the earth; a well of pure energy where the river kissed the air.”

She closed the book and took off her glasses to show that she was serious.

“You may think I’m desperate. But we are desperate. Our people are dying. Our children are dying and we have no way to stop these attacks. There is no evidence. No attacker. The only conclusion I can come to is that the Magum are working from this place, this gash in the earth, and they are using its power to destroy our cities without consequence. If we can discover this place of legend we can find the perpetrators, stop the attacks, save our citizens, and prove to the rest of the world that these Magum are trying to wipe us out.”

I expected the room to collapse into outrage; wild shouts of anger or support. But it didn’t. It stayed silent, as if everybody was waiting for someone else to make their move.

They were. They were waiting for me.

I’m sure it’s obvious in hindsight that everything was a lie. Not the “gash in the earth” (that turned out to be true), but the attacks, the evolving ditarum and the idea that we were protecting ourselves from anything at all.

But back then, I had no idea. Maybe in the back of my brain or deep in my withered, weak little conscience, I sensed that something wasn’t right. But I blocked that information out because I recognized the moment for what it was: my chance to do something meaningful.

Of all the things I’d ever done in my life, only one thing had ever earned me real congratulation: murdering the Chimera that killed my parents. I was craving that high again. I’m not trying to excuse what I did in any way. I promise you, I will never ask for that. But I just want you to understand that I had been trained to believe that this kind of thing was right. We were going to stop the Magum who sent these attacks. We were going