Bisha looked at the high walls surrounding the Adikha Yunavarasiti, they were easily as tall and thick as those around any city. From their construction he couldn't decide if they were designed to keep attackers out or keep something inside. They were obviously a defensive structure, but what were they designed to defend against he couldn't guess. After some consideration he settled on that they were designed to contain the magics of the Yunavarasiti, to keep runaway experiments from ravaging the countryside. He figured that at a school devoted to majic theory and experimentation, safety was of the utmost concern.
The Ravi river completed the walls on the east side. Apparently the Yunavarasiti wasn't worried about attack from the water, since as far as Bisha knew the main dangers in the area were from animals, he figured that they were right. Not that he knew all that much about dangers from animals in the water much less any other areas, he was a scholar not a hunter or fighter after all. Either way the walls were very impressive to him and as far as he knew they were impressive to the others in his party, Nahla at least looked impressed. Bisha had a harder time reading the rest of the group.
Bisha was waiting at what he later learned was the Logistic gate. One of the guards had stopped them to tell them where they were supposed to go, the other guard had taken off at a run, he had assumed they were expected. On his return the guard was accompanied by three robed Michocanos each wearing a tall ornate fez with different colors and different colored tassels. The guard clearly was concerned about the three gentlemen with him. Bisha wasn't sure if it was for their safety or what they would do while they were there, either way that was one very nervous guard coming his way.
Seeing how nervous the guard was started to make Bisha nervous too, he really wanted to run away. Maybe coming here hadn't been a good idea after all. Well it was to late now, he was here and he wasn't going to run away, not on the doorstep at least. It wasn't like he was going to have to teach anyone after all. he was here to work on the project and finish his degree. At least he hoped so, he was starting to wonder as he watched the faces of the three men with the guard, was there more going on than he'd thought?
Bisha started to relax just a bit as the one in the middle, who happened to have the fanciest hat started to speak. All the man did was introduce himself as the Archanseller of the Adikha Yunavarasiti, well that explained the overly fancy head gear. Most Kishnagari and Ashfani people usually only wore turbans if they wore any head gear at all. Mages and majic users wore a fez to distinguish themselves from any other craftsman or artist, it was a sign of their occupation and more importantly their dedication to the art. The more important the mage the more elaborate and taller their fez and the Archanseller's fez was very impressive indeed. It was made from the finest crushed felt and decorated with embroidery of the finest golden thread. The tassel was quite elaborate and had what looked like jeweled beads woven into it. There were strings of the finest pearls and gems draped for effect, his hat alone must have cost a small fortune. The quality of the Archanseller's robes matched his hat, giving the impression of a very important person indeed.
When the Archanseller, who didn't give his name, introduced the other two he was even more relieved. The Archanseller only quickly introduced the Dean of Students, also not giving a name, who had the second fanciest hat. Then he moved onto the Senior researcher of high energy Jaduism who he named as Vicaravana Sevaka who he would be working directly with. Then the world dropped out from under Bisha's feet with the Archanseller's next sentence, the one he'd been dreading since he saw the three men approaching rather than the single guard who would tell him and his party where they would go. He was going to have to teach students, this was the worst thing that could happen as far as Bisha was concerned. He was here to work and learn, nowhere in that was he teaching anyone.
Bisha lost the sentences where the rest of his party was told where to go, his attention was only brought back to the here and now when Nahla covertly poked his arm just in time to see the Archanseller gesturing him to follow the three men. He was very happy that the Archanseller hadn't seen his distraction, that would have been too embarrassing for words. He was going to have to pay more attention, otherwise he might give everyone here a bad impression of both his intelligence and worse, his teachers. Mostly Bisha was grateful to Nahla for not making a point of his inattention.
Over the next few hours Bisha was given a very complete tour of the Adikha Yunavarasiti from the stables to the Archanseller's office. All of which was richly carved and painted in all sorts of floral and geometric designs. There were several statues of notable Archanseller's of the past and the campus had two ponds. Under every tree was an area cleared for people to congregate and study, they even had their own mill for grinding flour behind the cafeteria. Bisha was quite impressed that the Yunavarasiti had its own stellar observatory, he could care less about the boat house or the Krikata arena though. Krikata was a favorite pastime in Kishnagar, Bisha had never really warmed up to the game though.
All of it was very overwhelming to poor Bisha, the fact that they wanted him to teach while he was getting his higher education, as well as working on the Jadu Vadala program. The senior researchers in majic here at the Adikha Yunavarasiti had discovered that the Jada, long thought to be the fundamental particle of majic, might be able to be broken into even smaller ones. Bisha was really looking forward to working on this project. Teaching students however, not so much.
Once the tour was over Bisha had been shown to his room and left alone to settle in. It wasn't that large, but he didn't need that much space. He wished that Nahla and the rest of his party had been housed in the same part of the complex but they weren't. Nahla and the rest of the party, except Irene, were housed in guest housing. Irene was housed in the barracks with the rest of the warriors. All Bisha wanted to do was to talk to the others, particularly Nahla. Over the weeks of their journey Bisha and the party had grown much closer to each other. Bisha didn't really talk about himself all that much, he was ashamed of his past even though he knew there was no reason for him to be. During their journey Nahla had been the most helpful and supportive of Bisha and he felt that she truly was his friend, something that Bisha had always had problems making and keeping. Nahla however seemed to understand that he wasn't actually standoffish. He was just very shy and nervous about putting himself forward, fter all he was only a student of majic, not a great practitioner.
Nahla however saw through his nerves and actually listened to him. As a result of her encouragement, Bisha was actually starting to get to know the rest of the party. Now he thought of all of them as friends too, he was just closer to Nahla. Bisha also really liked Nahla's Ashfan hound Ryah. Ryah reminded Bisha of home. The fact that Nahla could actually talk to the hound as well as understand her was amazing to Bisha. He was even starting to try and figure out how others could use a spell that would copy Nahla's Shamanistic ability to speak with animals. That project however was going to have to wait until he had more time. His hours were completely full right now thanks to the Archanseller, Bisha knew that once he was more settled into his current schedule that would change and he'd be able to focus more on what he really enjoyed. Finding new ways to use the majic of Ardu.
Seeing the Unseen
The next morning the Archanseller had an amazing surprise for Bisha. The Archanseller approached Bisha during breakfast in the teacher's lounge at the cafeteria. After some polite morning conversation the Archanseller asked Bisha if he would like to see a Jadu. This of course made Bisha extremely curious, how was this even possible? By his calculations a Jadu particle was so small it would be impossible to see under any circumstances and almost impossible to detect without very specialized equipment. He knew the artificers back home in Ashfanabad had special Jadu detectors, they were very important in their line of work. To see one on the other hand was impossible as far as he knew. The Archanseller could apparently tell what Bisha was thinking by the expression on his face.
"Meet me at the Observatory after breakfast, there is something I would like you to see that I think you will find quite illuminating." the Archanseller said cryptically with a slight grin. The Archanseller then finished his last bite, stood up and left Bisha to ruminate on this. Bisha sat in thought, his food forgotten. What could it be, what would the Archanseller want to show him? Maybe a new type of detector? Curiosity ate at Bisha's mind.
After breakfast Bisha was able to find the observatory with a little help from one of the students, the Archanseller was waiting for him in the entryway.
"I trust you were able to find the Observatory without any difficulty?" the Archanseller inquired.
"I did have to get directions from one of the students at first." Bisha replied.
"That's quite alright, you'll know your way around here in no time. I recommend you take a couple days to explore the campus, there is plenty to see and besides it's going to take a few days to get you set up anyway." the Archanseller gestured to a nondescript door in the entryway. "After you."
The doorway opened to a long downward spiral stairwell that disappeared into darkness, next to the door was a small shelf with what Bisha immediately recognized as four Ashfani glasslights. Small hand sized pieces of majical obsidian covered in inlaid copper wire, Bisha knew they gave off enough light to find your way in a dark room but that was it. In his experience it was enough light to not fall down the stairs, but if there were any obstacles it wouldn't be of much use. Bisha grabbed one, held it in front of him and set off into the darkness. The Archanseller spoke up behind him.
"We had to build it underground to avoid any interference from light or solar activity. The device is extremely sensitive to light and we had to take every precaution. The walls are even lined with lead sheeting and a fine copper mesh to prevent any interference. We added the copper mesh after a student left the stairwell door open and caused a fire." the Archanseller said conversationally. "They survived, but did end up somewhat singed. I doubt they will make that mistake again. After all majic can be a very dangerous pursuit."
Bisha understood, as a student in theoretical majic he was well aware of the hazards of working with majic. Back home in Khunduz at the Samieat al Jihar novice artificers were blowing stuff up all the time. That was why the university was built outside the city, it wouldn't do to have a student destroy a residence or a storage warehouse in a populated area.
After what seemed to be an inordinate amount of time they finally reached the bottom of the stairs. There was only a very small room with a small shelf on the wall next to what seemed to be a very metal heavy door. The Archanseller opened the door with a little effort, gently took the glasslight from Bisha's hand and set it on the shelf.
"We won't need this." the Archanseller said as he set it down on the shelf.
"Follow me." the Archanseller said politely as he walked through the door. It was so dark in there that even with the glasslight's faint illumination he was almost completely blind. As Bisha carefully entered he found that there were four seats in a row set up in front of what looked like a very large obsidian mirror in front of a heavy curtain, he took one of the center ones. The Archanseller closed the door behind them and the room was swallowed up by complete darkness, Bisha could hear the Archanseller fumble to his chair and sit down. There was a faint squeaking noise that Bisha assumed was the curtain being moved.
At first very faintly there was what seemed to be a faint light coming from the center of the obsidian mirror. It quickly grew to the size of a watermelon and resolved itself into what seemed to be a strange yellowish green sphere, its edged seemed to be not very well defined, almost blurry. The Archanseller spoke in an awed whisper.
"Behold the Jadu."
Bisha sat entranced, how was this possible? He wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't seen it himself.
"How?" was the only thing Bisha could muster to say.
The Archanseller replied in a more conversational tone, "It has been known that it is possible to detect the presence of majic for just over a hundred years. Seven years ago one of our senior grad students had the brilliant idea that since Michocano majical obsidian is a form of glass it should be possible to craft lenses from it. Since the obsidian has majical properties it stood to reason that a lens made made from it would allow someone to see majic through it. Her initial experiment was a success and for the first time we were able to see a majic field."
The Archanseller continued, "She then had a moment of brilliance. If one lens would allow her to see a general majic field, then if she set up more lenses she should be able to make out finer detail. She set up a series of four lenses and was able to make out individual threads in a majical field, but there were signs of something even finer." At this point the Archanseller was in full lecture mode so Bisha made himself more comfortable in his seat.
"By adding more and more lenses she was able to make out even finer detail of the majical field and more importantly she was able to resolve that there was something emitting this field, a majic particle. By this time she had set up thirty lenses in sequence. Her results were groundbreaking, she had managed to see what was up until this time something that was completely unknown, but she wasn't satisfied. She had to see an individual particle and the Chodasaka was born."
Bisha understood this intimately, he himself had sometimes spent up to a week with out food or rest obsessed with finding the solution to a complex equation. It sometimes took a friend or fellow student physically dragging him away from his work to get him to eat something or get some rest. After something to eat and a nap it was back to the equation. In such instances Bisha had taken to setting up a cot next to his work area for when he dropped from exhaustion.
"Her experiments with the lenses of the Chodasaka had also proven to be very dangerous as well," the Archanseller continued, "The lens arrays as well as allowing her see the majic fields were focusing light. Anything that got in the way of the focused beam was instantly burned through, we moved her lens arrays underground for everyone's safety. What you see now is the result of one hundred majical obsidian lenses in sequence magnifying a single Jadu particle for observation." the Archanseller said proudly. To hear the pride in his voice you would think that he did it himself.
"What are those hazy indistinct objects around it?" Bisha asked curiously, leaning forward in his chair to get a better look.
The Archanseller replied matter of factly. "We have no idea. We think it might be the base gross matter that everything is made of, but we're more focused the Jadu particle. Would you like to meet her?"
"Who?" Bisha asked momentarily snapped out of his revery. He blinked a few times as he realized he had been staring at the image unblinking the entire time the Archanseller was talking.
"Our Grad student, Tasnahee Pamelpartavakhna, she should be mostly healed by now." the Archanseller relied.
Bisha's head snapped around to look at the Archanseller, "Healed? From what?"
"She was the one who left the door open, she was a little too preoccupied at the time and forgot safety procedures. As I said, I doubt she'll make that mistake again."
"I should hope not." replied Bisha, "Back home safety procedures are driven into use from day one. If I might make a suggestion, perhaps have safety procedures as part of a student's initial training."
The Archanseller replied in all seriousness, "We've already instituted such a policy, we don't want any repeats of Miss Pamelpartavakhna's injuries, or worse. Thank you for your concern, at least I know I wont have to worry about you."
After the Archanseller and Bisha closed up the observation room and headed back to the surface Bisha blinked at the sudden return of sunlight. Getting to meet the inventor of the Chodasaka was going to be a treat, here was someone as fascinated by the workings of majic as he was. Bisha was looking forward to meeting her, the Archanseller led him to her in the school infirmary.
Miss Pamelpartavakhna was sitting up in her infirmary bed with a notebook in her lap, she was studiously writing something down and didn't notice Bisha and the Archanseller at her door. The Archanseller politely coughed to announce their presence. Bisha saw that the left half of Miss Pamelpartavakhna's face was mostly healed from a severe burn and her hand sticking out from her sleeve of the same side was just as burned. The Archanseller walked into the small room.
"Miss Pamelpartavakhna, I would like to introduce our new faculty member, Bisha Massey. He will be working very closely with your department to incorporate your findings with the High Energy Majics lab in their experiments. Don't worry, Ive already had the safety speech with him." The Archanseller gestured towards Bisha as he entered the room.
"Hello Miss Pamelpartavakhna." Bisha said shyly.
"Please, call me Tasnahee." she replied with a grin. "It's mostly just the Archanseller that insists on such niceties, the rest of us are pretty informal around here." She held out her hand to Bisha in a traditional Kishnagari greeting. Bisha not a hundred percent sure what to do gently grasped her hand and then let go, he hadn't been in Kishnagar long enough to memorize most social customs. Bisha sat down at the foot of her bed and immediately started asking questions about her observations and how they related to current mathematical understandings. This immediately led to a very deep discussion between them both about the finer points of Jadu research and its implications.
The now ignored Archanseller grinned and muttered "I'll leave you two to it." turned around and left the room. Bisha was so engrossed in the conversation that it was a good ten minutes before he realized that Tasnahee was a Kishnagari Ashfan. This was going to be an amazing experience for Bisha.
The Jadu Vadala Experiment
It had taken over a week, but Bisha was in his new office with a cup tea finally getting started on reading the project notes on the Jadu Vadala project. He was absentmindedly petting his tiny friend, Khomal, the only friend he ever really had before meeting the others who came with him from Alkadharam. The steam from his tea drifted lazily, he really liked having someone who came by the offices regularly to make sure cups of tea were topped off. It was very quiet today as he took notes for questions he wanted to ask the project leader. Occasionally he would make a small grunting noise as he came to a particularly interesting passage.
The party had arrived during the set-up for some student celebration or other and everyone involved in the Jadu Vadala project was busy getting ready for it. Bisha could understand why no work was being done during the lead up to the celebration, after all most of the people working on the project were also instructors and needed to help with the celebrations set-up. Only those at the very highest level of the Yunavarasiti like the Archanseller weren't busy working on the celebration, and that was mainly because they were administrators not teachers.
At last Bisha had gotten his hands on everything about the project so far. To his immense surprise Bisha was able to follow along with ease. He'd been more than a little concerned that he would be lost in the technical terms, not understanding what had happened so far, but thankfully that wasn't the case. Bisha could even see what they should do next to split the Jadu into it's component parts. The notations about the strength of majical shielding somewhat concerned him, but they were the experts. He would have to ask Vicaravana about it later. Now if he could just get the hang of teaching, he might actually enjoy his stay here. Bisha already felt that he was learning a lot from the other team members and his instructors, often these were the same people.
In fact the only person he'd yet to meet was the head of the Jadu Vadala project and that would happen today. Which was a good thing since they were going back to work on it tomorrow. It was always better to meet everyone you were going to be working with beforehand, especially in majic. In fact he was supposed to go and meet the Senior Researcher of High Energy Jaduism for lunch very soon, in fact he'd be late if he didn't get a move on. Usually Bisha would leave Khomal, his pet zukar plunar here in his rooms but he really wanted at least one friend with him when he had lunch with the very imposing project head. The fact that he was also his chief instructor really didn't help Bisha's peace of mind.
After lunch Bisha was more than a little surprised at the Senior Researcher. He had been very nice and personable, if more than a little difficult to understand. Bisha was very glad that he had at least skimmed the project information that he had been given, if he hadn't Bisha was fairly certain that he would have been completely lost after the first sentence. The Senior Researcher even liked his zukar plunar, Khomal. Evidently Bisha's superior had become fond of them when he'd visited Ashfanabad when he as a youngster before he'd come to the Adikha Yunavarasiti as a student. Like many of the senior instructors his superior had started his education in majic here at the yunavarasiti. Bisha wondered if he was going to be considered backward because he had gotten his education at the Aljamieat Almalakia. Bisha was reassured about that after his lunch with the program head, he was quite impressed by Bisha's credentials and academic papers.
Waking up early the next morning Bisha got ready for his first day working on the Jadu Vadala project. As soon as he opened his bedroom window and looked out he realized that no one would be in the lab yet. The sun was only just cresting the horizon and breakfast wasn't even being served yet. Bisha decided that he was just a bit excited and more than a bit anxious if he was trying to start working this early in the day. So rather than rushing to the lab, forgetting to get dressed in his rush Bisha decided to try and calm down. His first step would be to get dressed, the second would be to feed both Khomal and himself some breakfast.
Fortunately Bisha wasn't the only one who had a pet here at the Yunavarasiti. Although his was the smallest and the only one that went just about everywhere with him. Pretty much the only place that Bisha wouldn't take him was to the lab where they were working on the Jadu Vadala. Zukar plunar fur in the equipment would not be appreciated, Bisha was fairly certain that doing so would make his the shortest tenure at the yunavarasiti in history. Besides, if he had read the brief correctly the school had taken great precautions to prevent anything from the outside from contaminating very sensitive equipment, even a single hair could cause problems that would set the schedule back by weeks and Bisha did not want to be the reason for any setbacks. Especially on his first day.
Once the two of them were fed, Bisha went back to his room to change into the special clothes that the ones who worked on the project wore. When he got to the lab he would be adding an over robe that never left the small entry-way into the lab they were working in. The over robe was to minimize anything coming from the outside into the lab. The senior researcher wanted as little coming into the room as possible, he had said that it was the only way to reduce any contamination from outside forces or items affecting the experiments. If they couldn't keep the outside from affecting their tests there would be no way of knowing that the tests were valid.
This being his first day working in the lab, Bisha had thought that at least one of his fellows would meet him at the door to the entry-way. But no one had, in fact he hadn't even heard any voices at all as he waited for a few minutes to see if anyone was coming out to get him. Bisha entered the entry-way and it was empty. The only thing that was there was two over robes. Bisha took the one that was completely unornamented, figuring that the other one was for the senior researcher.
That was when Bisha realized that he was mistaken. Just as he was about to enter the lab one of his fellow researchers came back into the entry-way looking for him. When he asked about the other robe he was informed that the Senior Researcher was already in the room wearing the exact same type of over robe as the rest of the researchers there, albeit a slightly fancier version. The fancy robe was for the the Archanseller when he came to check up on the researchers, apparently anything less ornamented was beneath the Archanseller's dignity. Bisha decided then and there that he liked this group of fellow researchers. Although all of them were older than Bisha was, they were still all fairly young. He began to feel that he might just have things in common with the group, just as Nahla had said to him last time he'd spoken with her.
When Bisha entered the lab he was almost overwhelmed with how crowded and busy the lab was, it was very noisy as well. Researchers were bustling around each other adjusting knobs and switches on all sorts of equipment. There were different colored indicator lights and a few things that made a strange buzzing noise. It wasn't at all what Bisha had expected. He wasn't sure what he did expect, but this was most definitely not it. All of this activity circled around a larger dome shaped device in the center of the room, it was surrounded by silver engraved and obsidian inlaid majic circles and wards on the floor.
Even with all the bustling activity, Bisha noticed that everyone rushing around was very careful to not touch or cross the symbols on the floor. Not even the hems of their robes were allowed to cross by even the tiniest bit. It was like a well rehearsed dance and Bisha wasn't sure where he should be in all of it. So Until he was told otherwise Bisha decided to stand off to one side near a large window that looked like it hadn't been opened in many years, considering all the grime on it Bisha was willing to bet that it hadn't been cleaned in just as long.
As the activity increased the strange buzzing got louder, but somehow it didn't drown out any of the noise of all the activity, it almost sounded like it was coming from inside Bisha's head. Above all the activity Bisha heard the senior researcher's voice shouting "Ready for super-symmetry inversion... ...and, go." There was a crackle in the air and a light pop sound that seemed to come from behind Bisha's eyes. "Someone write that down!" Just as suddenly the room was silent and everyone stopped their running around.
Ten Rabbit's Approach
Ten Rabbit was waiting, he had been waiting for the past week. He was very patient. Assassins had to wait a lot for the perfect circumstances to perform an assassination and Ten Rabbit was a very good assassin. He had long ago mastered every aspect of his profession. That was why Camatz had sent him to stop the terrible event that was about to happen. The high priest of Camatz temple had given him a time and place for the event that would destroy the world. Ten Rabbit had to end the very project that Bisha had traveled here to join. He had come to like Bisha, even started to consider him a friend. How he felt wasn't going to stop Ten Rabbit from stopping the project though. No matter what else happened, the Jadu Vadala project must be stopped or it would be the end of the world.
For the past week Ten Rabbit had been into just about every building on the Adikha Yunavarasiti campus. Thanks to his skills as a sacred assassin for Camatz, Ten Rabbit had even gotten into the restricted areas. The yunavarasiti had never thought to secure their buildings from someone who could climb like he could so getting into the offices was the easiest thing for him to do. They usually didn't bother to lock the office doors which Ten Rabbit found amusing. Not that it mattered to him, he climbed in via the windows anyhow. As a result, there were no areas that were secret to Ten Rabbit.
Today was different however, today was the day that he would end the Jadu Vadala and save the world. Camatz was with him and would guide his hand and if he was very, very good Bisha would never know it was him. Ten Rabbit was going to be disguised from head to toe by the sacred robes of Camatz's assassins performing their duty. Only someone from Michocan would recognize Ten Rabbit as a holy assassin while wearing it and even those who could would be unable to recognize who the assassin was.
Rather than the loose flowing clothes designed for a hot and humid climate which left much of the skin exposed to the air, the sacred robes covered the wearer from head to toe. Starting with soft knee high boots that separated the big toe from the others. The sole of the boot was made of an especially treated leather that had a rough surface to aid in climbing, but soft enough to not make noise on hard surfaces there were also three claws that helped grip almost any surface excluding only the smoothest stone. Next was a pair of leggings that were bound tight to the knee under the boots but were loose around the waist and thigh to facilitate full movement for fighting and climbing. A long tunic that fell to just above the knee that was loose enough for full motion and had a hood attached that covered the head but left the face free. Over that was a flowing cape that was attached to the tunic at the shoulders, elbows and wrists. As well as attached to the leggings at the knee and foot. Gloves that matched the boots including the climbing claws were also worn. Last of all was the mask of Camatz's face. This more than anything else was what marked one of the sacred assassins.
Armed with the sacred Tzanatli, the obsidian knife carried by the followers of Camatz, Ten Rabbit went out his window after making sure that there were no observers. The night was dark because, fortunately for Ten Rabbit, neither of the moons had risen yet. That was going to make it much easier to get from his quarters in guest housing to the tower at the top of the high energy majics building. Now, before they actually started working on the Jadu Vadala, was the time to stop the experiment altogether. Ten Rabbit wondered briefly if he was going to have to hurt or even kill Bisha to stop the Jadu Vadala. Not that doing either would stop him of course, but if it could be avoided it would be.
Slowly Ten Rabbit made his way down the side of his building. Carefully placing his hands and feet to avoid making even the slightest sound. Years of experience kept his progress silent in comparison to the sounds of the other residences sleeping or quietly visiting with each other in the rooms that he passed. His journey across the grounds to the high energy building was quick and quiet. Had he been seen Ten Rabbit would of had no issue with silencing who ever it was permanently, but no such action was needed. Once he reached the building he sought, it was childs play to get into it unseen.
It was a bit more difficult to reach the tower however. Ten Rabbit had to hide more than once to keep from being caught by other people still at work in the building. He was starting to wonder if these students ever stopped, there were so many of them working at various projects at all hours. Ten Rabbit was hiding for the umpteenth time above a door when a bell chimed. This bell had a strange but noticeable affect on the students that were annoying him so much. They all put away what ever it was that they were working on and left the building. 'Thank Camatz that no one ever looks up' Ten Rabbit thought as he perched above a door near the ceiling. Only his skill and the claws on his fingers and toes allowing him to stay hidden up there while people filed out of the building below him.
After the building cleared Ten Rabbit had no further difficulty getting from where he was to just outside the room where the Jadu Vadala was happening. Pausing outside the door, Ten Rabbit reached out with his mind. This was the ability that had got him his place with the sacred assassins of Camatz. He could send his mind from where he was, through a closed door and see what was happening on the other side. His sight only went for about fifteen or so feet in front of him and it took all of his concentration to do, but this ability allowed him to have a good idea who or what was on the other side of a door. The only problem for him this time was that the room in question was much bigger than fifteen feet, it did however let him know that he was in the right place at the right time.
Camatz Speaks
Ten Rabbit burst into the room startling everyone. He stopped just inside the room, marking the positions of everyone in his mind. Thanks to his training he had taken in the whole room with a glance as he spoke. The room had a very high ceiling and was octagonal in shape. It had two windows that Ten Rabbit suspected were aligned with the equinoxes at high noon. In the middle of the room was what he could only call a machine. It was odd to look at as it seemed to have too many sides. Many of which seemed to flow through each other while staying in the same place and there was a strange buzzing sound that seemed to come from inside his head. Overall it just made Ten Rabbit more than a little sick to look at, as a result he tried not to look and just hoped that it wouldn't do anything to his aim.
"What's going on here," the ornately dressed Senior Researcher of High Energy Jaduism shouted glancing over his shoulder at the noise. "Who are you," he continued, turning to face Ten Rabbit. The High Researchers face was swiftly going from shocked to angry.
"Death," was all that Ten Rabbit said.
The Senior Researcher looked confusedly as Ten Rabbit unsheathed his Tzanatli and shifted his grip from the handle to the blade. The set-up of the room and how far his target was told Ten Rabbit that throwing his Tzanatli was going to be the easiest way to fulfill his mission, the easiest way to kill the man standing about twenty feet in front of him. It wouldn't even be a difficult throw, the man was not making any attempt to protect or defend himself. Not that it would have made any difference to someone trained as well as Ten Rabbit was.
One would think that the ornately dressed wizard would at least realize that his life was in danger. But no, the idiot thought that all he had to do was yell at someone and they'd melt away in terror, like one of his students. Ten Rabbit knew the type, so sure of their own self importance that they expected everyone to be intimidated by it. Ten Rabbit however wasn't going to melt away or leave in any other way until his mission was completed. All around Ten Rabbit almost everyone else in the room started to scream and run around. Many of them started towards the door but shied away from it, no one wanted to try to get past Ten Rabbit and he had no intention of moving. Bisha was one of the few who didn't move or scream like the rest who stayed in place, he seemed to be frozen in fear, uncertain of what to do. The senior researcher however just continued to scream at Ten Rabbit, ordering him to go away before he interfered with his work.
Coldly Ten Rabbit took aim and threw his dagger. He watched it spin through the air, end over end in a beautiful spiral of death. Then it ended it's flight with a thunk between the fourth and fifth rib, the blade entering right up to the handle. Perfectly aimed, striking directly into the fancy dressed mans heart. That is when things started to go a bit out of order as far as Ten Rabbit was concerned, he had expected his target to crumple to the ground where he stood. Instead the High Researcher spun around to the left. Caused by the force of the blade not striking him square in the center of his chest, apparently the nauseating machine had upset his aim just a tad.
If the Senior Researcher's spin had been in one place everything would still have been fine, unfortunately that wasn't to be. The fop of a wizard staggered a few steps towards the machine in the center of the room stepping on the silver and obsidian markings on the floor. When he did the whole world seemed to do a little jump as if reality itself twitched. For a few heart beats Ten Rabbit watched the man waver bask and forth right next to the machine. To his horrified eyes Ten Rabbit watched as the dead man fell directly into the machine dagger first, and that was when everything changed.
At first, for just a moment, Ten Rabbit thought that nothing was going to happen. Then the world seemed to slow down, every second seemed to last forever and yet it still moved. There was a huge flash of light, yet he could still see. To his horror he watched the Senior Researcher seem to dissolve into nothingness while somehow still being there. Bolts of green electricity rapidly arced around the slowed down room and smaller objects around the room started to levitate up from where they were. Strange glowing symbols and circles flickered into and out of existence in the air around the machine, slowly rotating through space. Ten Rabbit's brain couldn't understand what his eyes saw, it was all too bizarre to take in, yet was somehow clear what was happening.
Everything around those in the room in that instant of timelessness also seemed to break apart. It was overlaid somehow by uncountable versions of itself while not changing at all. The whole world blurred and melted in the same nauseating way that the machine had done just heartbeats earlier. Ten Rabbit tried to shake his head to clear it but he was moving at the same slow speed as everything and everyone else in the room was. He was tasting sound, hearing color, feeling smells, this was not how he was supposed to interpret the world around him.
It was too much for Ten Rabbits brain to take in. How could he understand any of this. There was no frame of reference for him to use. It was like looking at the universe the way a newborn did. Every sight, sound, smell and sensation was new. How had this happened. Was this the end of the world that Camatz had warned the his superior of? Even his thoughts seemed slowed to Ten Rabbit, to him that was the oddest part of all.
Then in a timeless instant everything snapped back the way it had been with a bright flash and the sound of a sudden burst of deafening static. Only the Senior Researcher was gone and so was his Tzanatli with him. Then Ten Rabbit heard a voice. The deep resonating voice seemed to vibrate through his whole body. It came from everywhere but was only inside himself. The voice was the deepest Ten Rabbit had ever heard, it was a flat tone that sounded like it weighed as much as the world itself. It made his bones shake and filled him with terror and peace at the same time.
"WELL" the voice said. "THIS IS INTERESTING" It said as the world went dark for Ten Rabbit and he knew no more.
Bisha is Saved
When Bisha had first entered the workroom he had milled around with the rest of the students and researchers working on the machine that was the center of the program that he'd been told was called the Jadu Vadala. After a few minutes of general babble the Senior researcher called them all to order. Everyone except Bisha had hurried to their places. Bisha however hadn't been given one so he asked where he was supposed to stand. He was told that for now he was to observe what was going on. It was hoped that by watching he might be able to advance the project by seeing what everyone else was missing.
There were three sets of circles that surrounded the machine in the center of the large room. All of the circles were actually sets of two with mystical symbols also carved between each set of circles. Each set of carved circles were inlaid with different materials. The set that was just outside the perimeter of the Jadu Vadala itself was inlaid with what he guessed was gold and mother of pearl making up the symbols therein. The second set of circles was inlaid with silver and what Bisha assumed was majical obsidian but he couldn't tell for sure. The third and outermost circle was inlaid with what he thought was copper and ruby but again he couldn't be sure. The distortion fields around the Jadu Vadala made true identification impossible.
The Senior Researcher of High Energy Jaduism, Vicaravana Sevaka, was standing in the front of the machine between the first and the second inscribed circles while the rest of the research team, Bisha was not very clear on any of their names, were standing equidistant from each other between the second and third of the inscribed circles, only Bisha was completely outside of the circles. Later he would decide that his being outside of the circles was why he was the only member of the team to survive what was coming next.
The experiment had just started but everything was going along like it should. There were no unusual energy spikes and nothing was happening that shouldn't be. To the uninitiated the machine would have looked like it was made up of too many corners, a brain that hadn't been trained to see more than the normal number of dimensions would never be able to track or make sense of what it was seeing. Bisha and his fellows however all had brains that were trained to see more than most ever would. For them however, they could see that which was actually there.
So the loud bang that startled everyone came as a complete surprise, he next thing that Bisha knew there was a demon or a monster standing in front of him. It had to be from another dimension, which was a possibility considering how they were manipulating majic. All of that energy had to go somewhere and it was decided to shunt it off to a separate dimension to prevent a disaster in this one. No one was entirely certain what would happen when they tried to split a Jadu into its component particles. It looked vaguely like a man shaped bat to Bisha, he heard his superior ask the creature who he was and the only reply was one word, "Death". The monster threw an archaic dagger, killing the Senior researcher. That is when everything went crazy.
First, time seemed to go back and forth between too slow and too fast for what seemed to be an eternity, but was probably only the span of a couple of heartbeats. Reality seemed to flicker for a fraction of a second. During this time first Vicaravana Sevaka and then the rest of the team seemed to dissolve and turn to dust at the same time. All while disappearing into what could only be different realities that the Jadu Vadala reached. Then there was a huge flash of light, a huge burst of electricity, and a deafening burst of static, everyone except himself and the monster vanished into the light and was gone. The sudden return of reality was jarring and almost sickening. The monster wavered on its feet, likely either blinded or confused by the bright light that preceded the machine's total destruction.
Suddenly the monster focused all of its attention onto Bisha, this in no way made the young man feel better. In fact it made everything so much worse. Unfortunately for Bisha the worst was yet to come, at least as far as he was concerned. When the man shaped bat moved faster than the eye could see and was suddenly right next to him Bisha let out a little squeak of a whimper at the monsters sudden appearance at his side and almost fainted when the creature reached for him. The next thing that Bisha knew he was standing in front of the monster with his back touching the man beasts front. He felt something wrap around him quicker than the eye, then the monster leapt though the closest of the two windows, glass flying through the air.
For a moment Bisha was certain that he was going to fall to his death with the man shaped bat monster, then there was a jerk on his torso that almost knocked the breath out of him. That was when he realized that he was flying not falling. In some ways that was even more frightening. He was certain that the monster was taking him somewhere to eat him, not the monsters home of course because it was from a different dimension. Before Bisha knew it they were landing in front of the guest house stables where their mounts were housed. Right after that Bisha found himself sitting on the ground and the monster was gone, Bisha could only sit on the ground and blink at the world around him. His brain had taken a vacation without him, the next thing that he knew Ten Rabbit was standing above him tugging on his arm, trying to get him to stand.
Bisha finally registered that it was Ten Rabbit trying to get him to stand not the horrible monster, after that it didn't take long for him to get his act together and help Ten Rabbit get the whole party's mounts ready to travel again. Before he knew it they had all of the mounts as well as their baggage animals ready to go and out of the stable. The next thing he knew he was with everyone else in the party and they were galloping away from the yunavarasiti at top speed. Then it struck Bisha. Ten Rabbit, who could barely ride a horse at a walk, was galloping along like a pro. The next moment however that all changed, suddenly Ten Rabbit was back to being the terrible rider he'd always been. He was hanging on to the running horse like a limpet, rather than the master rider he'd been just a moment earlier.
