Expanded Horizons: Beyond the Blue

Hoarding Knowledge: Chapter Four

 After three days of long hours, the students had pulled many artifacts from the ruins and collected them outside. So many, in fact, that Alden had already organized groups to start moving them back to the ship at the coast, starting with the most valuable to his research. Thomas helped organize the artifacts while Alden remained underground to explore.

Alden became so preoccupied with his research that he was only taking breaks to eat for fifteen minutes at a time, plowing through his food as if he hadn't eaten in a week. The central tower garnered the majority of Alden's attention, a critical structure to the cave's physical and social integrity. It reached all the way to the invisible ceiling, so it was obviously an important part of the ruin, but it was only when Alden went inside that it became abundantly clear just how significant it was.

Gold ornamentation, jade statues, gemstones of many types and colors, all done in very specific patterns. To the trained eye, they represented different bargains being made, all with a particular being. Alden determined that this being must have been some sort of god to them, given that every deal they made with him granted the Mohrnighans some kind of great boon.

This being had enormous power, and on the third day in the tower, Alden finally understood just how powerful this being was. It was undefined; unrestricted by the bounds of the world. Magic itself was difficult to comprehend, but this being, whatever or whoever it was, had power that bent reality itself. Using its undefined magic, this being could create from nothing, could alter time, could do countless seemingly impossible things that made defined magic look like child's play.

And in one of the depictions of this being, he had given the Mohrnighans their magic.

Alden now understood. The Mohrnighans hadn't created magic at all, it was gifted to them, by this strange being known as the Pact-Maker. In some stories he wanted something from the Mohrnighans, like a sacrifice, but when they refused, he was unable to do anything to them. From all the stories, it appeared that this being could only use undefined magic in the context of a deal, either in making it, paying out on it, or collecting on it.

"Hey!" Alden called out from a window in the middle of the tower. "Someone bring me Thomas!"

"Here, professor!"

"WHOA!" Alden spun around at the sound of Thomas' voice directly behind him. He gripped the wall with white knuckles as he slowed his breathing to calm himself. "If you do that again, I will put a bell on you."

"Fine by me, professor," Thomas replied coolly. "What did you need, sir?"

"Thomas, I believe I have discovered the origin of magic," Alden said. "The Mohrnighans did not create it, they were granted it. By some sort of undefined being, the 'Pact-Maker'. After some time, they made a deal to gain power like his, and he actually gave it to them."

"The 'Pact-Maker'?" Thomas asked with a strange smile.

"Yes. A being whose power only comes with the creation of a deal, a bargain. After many deals made with this being, the Mohrnighans decided they wanted some of that power for themselves, and struck some accord with him. "

"Or her," Thomas piped.

"But now I've run into a dilemma. I have no idea what the price was. I've hit a dead end." Alden paced the room. "Perhaps if I can understand the price paid for magic, I can equate it to something? I can use the connection to establish how the speaking of words and thoughts of the mind are able to interact directly with the physical world..."

While Alden prattled on, Thomas simply stood patiently, hands behind his back, eager to listen to the professor go on. He had always enjoyed the parts where Alden went on and on, a man of little emotion getting all worked up over something relatively small in the grand scheme of things. Like seeing a cat react to its owner coming home.

"Is there anything else on this Pact-Maker?" Thomas interrupted.

"No, only that he was very powerful, and could do almost anything when making a deal," Alden said. "He shows up at seemingly random points in the history of the Mohrnighans, when they either need something as a people or one individual wants something that would fundamentally change the fates of many."

"Interesting," Thomas replied. "A catalyst of history, so to speak?"

"Yes!" Alden burst happily. "You see, this 'being' advanced everything so quickly! Outside the creation of magic, nothing that he caused wouldn't have happened without him, I believe. It simply would have taken longer."

"Haha, yes, I think you have a-"

Thomas was cut off by the sounds of screaming from down below. Alden startled and ran to the window; if someone dropped an artifact, there would be hell to-

At the window, Alden froze. Down below, in the center of the path, one of his students was on the ground, blood all around, hulked over by some gargantuan beast. The other students scurried away like mice from a cat as the creature tore into the student and began to feast.

"Wha- no, no, no, no!" Alden panicked.

In mere moments, several more creatures dropped from the abyssal ceiling onto the student body. Cries of terror and commands to flee rang out in the ruin as the creatures bellowed at their prey.

Alden turned to Thomas. "We have to run!"

"Right behind you," Thomas said in a cool yet alert tone.

The duo descended down the spiral stairs of the tower and exploded out the archway entrance. On either side of the street were several of the hulking beasts. Upon a quick closer glance, they were clearly morlocks; trolls who loved the dark and dampness of caves. There was no way they should have been there, though, if the cavern had been sealed off for however many thousands of years. They should not have been able to survive.

As they ran down the path, The morlocks on either side of them began to close in, slowly but surely. Many of them had blood on their mouths and carved, rocky hands. Alden just managed to pass a pair and avoid being grabbed as he approached the entrance and burst out.

He ran up the slanted corridor with everything he had, faster than he ever thought he could run. Ahead, he could see several students limping up or helping each other escape. Their injuries slowed them terribly and rendered them in the way, and Alden shot past them, nearly knocking them over in the process.

Once outside, Alden fell to the ground, exhausted beyond measure. Panting and coughing, he tried to catch his breath, but it seemed to escape him no matter how hard he tried for it. Being in the cavern for so long clearly affected his lungs.

"Thomas-" Alden coughed. "Thomas, we have to get the research out of-"

When he turned around, Thomas was nowhere to be seen. When Alden passed the two morlocks trying to trap him, Thomas must have gotten stuck on the other side of them. No one could hope to fight those beasts, at least not in this motley crew of students, so it was clear the boy's fate had been sealed.

"Dammit," Alden cursed. "Dammit dammit dammit!"

He lost his best assistant. He lost everything that was inside the ruin, as he couldn't possibly go back in now. Half his students had taken research back to the ship, and the few who remained were hardly going to be useful getting the rest back. He would have to do a second expedition to return and retrieve everything.

All wasn't lost yet, though. With this research, he had potential, and with that potential, he might finally be able to attain the ultimate knowledge and limitless possibility.