The Newt and Demon-7.64 - Restricted Access

“Under no circumstances is Balkor allowed to use the bridge,” Theo said, placing his hands on his hips as he glared at Uz’Xulven.

The Queen of the Bridge of Shadows looked at Theo with a nasty glare. “What if I don’t wanna?”

“Then I’ll ask the gods to replace you,” Theo said. “If I’m in charge of travel between worlds, I need certain people restricted from using the bridge. I didn’t think you like Balkor.”

“I hate him. But I also don’t like you.”

Theo had spent some time getting the recipe for the destruction of Balkor’s phylacteries. It was simultaneously easier and harder than he had expected. The method would be obscure, requiring him to dissolve the objects in a specific mixture. There was also a step in the process that required him to bleed off a significant amount of energy. At least he had a way to do that with the shards back on the mortal plane, but now he faced one of the most challenging parts of the process: keeping Balkor where he was. This required the cooperation of the Bridge of Shadows.

"I'm not interested in arguments today," Theo said. "I know we like to take jabs at each other, but now is not the time."

“Oh, you're no fun,” Uz’Xulven said, crossing her arms. “Do you know how boring it’s been in here since my power has diminished? I can't even look into the other realms to see what’s going on.”

Theo stared at her blankly. Sometimes he wondered if all the old ascendants were absolute morons or if they were so set in their ways that it only appeared that way. He shook the thoughts away. "You can leave the bridge," he said. "You're no longer an ascendant, so there's no restriction on you traveling through the metal realms. Hell, you're welcome to come to my planet and hang out as much as you want."

Theo didn't see any sign of revelation passing across her face. Instead, Uz’Xulven’s expression shifted to one of concern. She looked around the shadowy bridge and clicked her tongue. "Maybe," she said, sounding more nervous.

"You've been here for so long that you don't want to leave, huh?" Theo asked.

"When you put it like that, you make me sound like an idiot," Uz’Xulven said. "You don't understand how many thousands of years this has been my home. It's a part of me, and I'm a part of it. Leaving seems... wrong."

The Ascendants had a very strange life before the first change. She was one of the few Ascendants who survived with their realm, and that was only because it was integrated directly into the Alchemist's own realm. But she was right. Before the most recent change, the time scale was 20 to 1, meaning that since the last Ascendant War occurred some 30,000 years ago, you only needed to multiply 30 by 20.

“I find it easy to forget,” Theo said. “That you manned the bridge for 600,000 years.”

“Exactly! I’ve fallen into a routine,” Uz’Xulven said.

“The invitation is open,” Theo said. “I suggest stepping out of the bridge for short times to start, then you can practice going for longer without being in here.”

Uz’Xulven went silent, giving Theo a chance to inspect the magical energies of the area. Unlike the other realms, the bridge was allowed to keep some of its influence, but it was now completely self-contained. None of the energy inside could leak out, meaning there was no risk to the mortal plane. However, that also meant that when she finally stepped outside, it would be alien to her. Every other Ascendant had an acclimation period where they were forced to quit their energy cold turkey. But here she was, languishing on an endless bridge. It was kind of sad.

"Just remember that Benton and Belgar are more than happy to help you if you reach out," Theo said. "You're connected to a bigger world than ever before, and you need to realize that."

"I know," Uz’Xulven said, seeming bashful about her own inadequacies. "I just need to get used to it."

The only places she couldn't travel to were the mortal plane and the heavenly realms. However, other than that, she had quite a few people she could interact with. Both Tero’gal and Khahak were densely populated, and it would only be a matter of time before the other locations in the middle realms were filled with interesting folk. Before leaving, he made sure she was feeling well enough to be left alone. Then he blinked from the bridge with Alex, cascading through the void and soon landing back where he started in Broken Tusk. The people he had left behind were gone, long since bored with waiting.

Theo should have expected it, but Fenian and his crew had retreated to the Marsh Wolf Tavern for drinks. Of course, the most popular drink around had become the watered down zee liquor, but the elegant elf sipped on a large glass of mead. He still had a taste for the sweet stuff produced in Rivers and Daub. Of course, Fenian had stolen the alchemist’s private booth.

"What?" Fenian asked, holding his arms wide, "you weren't using it."

Theo took a seat in the booth next to Jan, getting comfortable but feeling out of place. "I just had a chat with Balkor, who told me how to destroy his phylacteries. Unfortunately, it's a multi-step process, and we'll need to use the bridge to get some rare reagents."

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"You're telling me we're going on another adventure?" Fenian said, practically vibrating with excitement. “I never thought I would hear the day when my stuffy alchemist was ready to leave the confines of his comfortable city.”

"This is true. I rarely see him leave," Twist said.

"My status as a homebody isn't in question here," Theo said. "But Balkor said you would know where to find the volcano we're looking for."

“Ah, Slagrot,” Fenian said, wincing. “Of course we need to go there. I hate that place.”

Of course, Theo had heard of the home of the ogres, which was supposed to be a dreadful place filled with giant ogres and perpetual war. However, if it had the volcano they needed, that was where they had to go, and there was no choice. The alchemist considered the best approach, but there was a first step that needed to happen before they could proceed. He cleared his throat. "We need to drain the phylacteries of their realm-aligned energy before we do anything else."

“Then we throw them in lava?” Jan asked.

“No, I’ll need to brew a potion that can break the items down. Balkor thinks I might need to make an even more powerful version of my potions. Perhaps even Tier 5.”

“You must understand we don’t know what that means in relation to what you can do now,” Fenian said. “But I’m guessing it is difficult.”

“Yeah. I can use a trick to brew potions above what I can normally do, but this one might be out of my range,” Theo said. “And it isn’t as though levels are coming quickly for me anymore. I’d have to push for Level 40 if my idea doesn’t work.”

“Which means what for us?” Fenian asked.

“I’ll have to grind a lot of experience, then we can see.”

“So, we’re facing a roadblock because you’re lazy,” Fenian said, taking a long sip of his mead. “Interesting.”

“Getting from Level 30 to 40 is really hard, okay?” Theo asked. “Give me a break, I have a nation to run.”

“Not that he really runs it,” Sarisa said from somewhere nearby.

Theo heard the woman scamper off when he turned to glare at the place she was hiding. “Look, we’ll worry about that part when we get there. You’ve got all the pieces of Balkor in a sack, right?”

“Yup,” Fenian said, hoisting one of many burlap sacks for Theo to see. “The size of the pieces ranges from tiny to arm-length.”

“Okay. Get off your asses. We need to take the pieces to the shard,” Theo said.

“But we’re waiting on our food,” Fenian said.

Theo glared at Fenian for a while, but eventually, he simply reached across the table and snatched the burlap sack from his hands. "Then I'll do it," he said with a huff as he left the Marsh Wolf tavern. The problem with these pieces of Balkor was that they wouldn't enter his inventory. Theo was fairly sure Fenian had carried the original piece within his inventory, but these ones were different somehow. Perhaps it had something to do with the system change, but he hardly had time to think about that and made his way to the farmer's rise to the north.

Somewhere along the way, Tresk joined him. She didn't bother asking for the story and must have simply plucked through his memories to figure out what had happened. She had doubts about whether this would work and had voiced her concerns about it carelessly. Perhaps they should ask Elrin first, but he had recently vanished from the city and was likely somewhere underground searching for more dungeons.

Even before they approached the tower housing the shard, the light within grew in intensity. Thiel stopped his march and cast a concerned look at his companion. "Better to be safe," he said, handing the sack to her and withdrawing a small piece of bone from its contents. “Just stay here for a second while I test this.”

When Theo brought the first fragment to the shard, it barely responded. The glow intensified slightly but remained at a steady, humming glow. He then brought another fragment and another after that. After bringing about a quarter of the contents of the sack into the tower, the stability of the shard faltered. He removed a handful of them, returning them to the sack and contemplating the best way to store them.

"I think the best place for them is in Fenian's hands," Theo said, smiling to himself as he saw a procession of three people moving up the road. "Speak of the elven devil."

"You guys want a job?" Tresk shouted, laughing to herself.

"Not particularly," the Fenian said, flashing his trademark smile. "You need me to guard the fragments, don't you?"

"If you don't mind keeping an eye on both the sack and the ones I put by the shard, it seems to have a limit on how many it can process at the same time. We'll know when the energy dissipates completely."

"We have adventures to go on," Twist objected. "We can't sit here and watch this all day."

"We can and we will," Fenian said, placing his hands on his hips and thrusting his chest out. "It is our duty to help the world."

"Don't be so dramatic about it," Theo said. "I don't imagine it would take long. Just make sure to save the bits of useful bone when you're done. I have no doubt an ascendant's bones would make some decent potions."

"Ew, you're going to keep Balkor’s bones and brew them into a potion?" Tresk asked, her wet little brows knitting together.

"Isn't that cannibalism or something?" Jan asked.

"Waste not, want not," Theo said, smiling to himself. "Seriously, just keep a good eye on this stuff and make sure nothing weird happens. If things get too strange, make a call to Elrin. He knows more about these shards than anybody else."

"Well, anyway, is everybody ready for the games?" Fenian said, clapping his hands together. "I'm particularly interested in the duel they're planning. Are you participating, Theo?"

"Why would I squander the chance to beat your ass?" Theo said, grinning at Fenian. "Isn't there also supposed to be a crafting portion?"

“Yeah! And I’m a judge in the cooking competition,” Tresk said, her tail wagging from side to side much more rapidly than normal.

“You don’t even taste when you eat. You’re like a duck,” Theo said.

“Yeah, but presentation goes a long way with food. Taste isn’t everything, ya know.”

Theo shook his head. “Let’s go get some dinner. I’ve got some stuff to test in the Dreamwalk, and a bunch of deep sea junk to brew tomorrow.”

“Nighty nighty,” Fenian said with a wink.