Chapter 1.5

Karson

Erxandros had done us right, providing new chitons and a short cloak, or chlamys, as well as some rudimentary sandals. The leather thongs tying them up over my calves felt odd, but I was glad to have some form of shoes on my feet once again. I wasn’t into the whole “walk barefoot” thing.

What I really needed was time to think, and to study. This was a dangerous time and place, far more so than I think Ax even realized. I was amazed at the condition my body was in, and at the magic I seemed to have picked up in my trip through Chaos. But if we were to have our vengeance, and to have any sort of life in this time and place, we needed to be a lot smarter than we had been to date.

In hindsight, we’d acted rashly in chasing down Kabiri’s killers. We had dove in fists first, without a plan. We had essentially achieved a Pyrrhic victory, winning at the expense of everything we had. Our old lives had ended, and we were strangers in a land typically hostile to anything foreign. We had to adapt, and quickly.

Aketa disappeared into one of the houses, so I continued on my own to Erxandros’ home. I heard Ax call to me, so I stopped and turned, waiting for him to catch up.

In English, he said, “Hell of a ‘thank you”, yeah?”

“Not bad,” I said. “Been a while for me, so it was great.”

“What’s the deal here? We show up naked, and before you know it, we’re kicking ass and getting laid. Why didn’t they run us off or treat us like we were perverts?”

“We’re benefiting from the ideals of heroic nudity, I think.”

“Which is? I didn’t study any of this.”

“Ancient Greeks believed heroes and the divine had the peak human form, so were displayed in the nude in artwork. For the most part, there is little nudity in the society as a whole, but depending on circumstances or station, it was common and not looked down on. So us appearing out of thin air, ripped and naked, means culturally…”

“We are gods.”

“Or demigods,” I agreed. “But there is something else we need to talk about.”

“Go on,” he said.

“We’re not in the semi-civilized “classic Greek” period where all the Greek philosophers and such came from. I’m pretty sure, at least.”

“How can you tell?”

“Well, Erxandros referred to the landowner or local ruler, not sure quite which he is, as ‘basileus.’ In classic Greece, basileus meant ‘king’, and later, it became a title of the emperor in the Byzantine Empire. It wasn’t a casual ‘I own a village’ kind of title. Also, Lacedaemon is the name of the guy who founded Sparta.”

“You mean, like, ‘this is SPARTA’ Sparta? All 300 and shit?”

“Well, that was classic Greek period, but yeah, just like that. But that’s not good news for us.”

“Why?”

“If you mix that with Prometheus out wandering around and Kronos being a factor, then there are two conclusions. We are probably just entering or in the Hellenic Dark Ages, and the Titanomachy is probably going to kick off at any time.”

“So Dark Ages sounds bad, but what is the Titanomachy?”

“It is the war between Kronos and the Titans, and Zeus and the Olympians. Zeus eventually kicks Kronos’ ass and locks him up in Tartarus, but it’s a war that takes ten years.”

“Damn, that’s a long war. But that means Kronos is powerful right now, and we want to go after his priest guy, Asphalion?”

I nodded grimly. We’d sure picked a hell of a tough target.

“That reminds me. I don’t know how much my knowledge of the time period will help us. There are obviously big differences, seeing as gods and magic weren’t a thing on our Earth. But if it hews fairly close, then this is the collapse of the Mycenaean Empire and the end of the Bronze Age. Remember, first, that we’re in Hellas, and the people are the Hellenes. The Mycenaeans are from the city-state of Mycenae, who conquered all of Hellas. People identify with their city-state, not Hellas as a whole. Also, If we get to a big city, don’t be shocked to see rich women walking around with their tits hanging out. It was the style for their dresses to be cut around the boobs, at least for a little while. Don’t gawk, you might get your head cut off.”

“Well, that’s fun,” he said. “But all of the doom and gloom aside, I don’t see us being here as a bad thing.”

“How do you figure?” I asked. We were modern city kids in the ancient past. How could this be a good thing?

“We have magic, which give us a huge advantage, once we figure it all out. We have modern knowledge, which we should be able to apply. We know what side of the war to be on, and wars are a great time to get a lot of power on our side.”

“Power? You mean, like, be warlords or something?” The idea wasn’t unappealing.

“Well, I didn’t have that thought specifically in mind,” admitted Ax. “But why not? If this is the Dark Ages, than what better way to survive it than with a bunch of warriors at our back? I bet I can make us some armor and weapons, with a bit of experimenting. You have the knowledge to help keep us organized. We find the right people, and we go hunt down that Cult.”

If he can make armor, that’d help immensely. But what about magic items? All the stories and games and such referred to enchanting protections into gear. There were three hurdles to this line of thought. First, I hadn’t figured out anything defensive. Second, I didn’t know how to put that spell into equipment. Third, how would that enchantment be powered?

We went into Erxandros’ house, and he pointed us toward the courtyard where we had dined earlier. Now, however, a screen had been placed across the peristyle in front of the women’s room, and two mats had been laid out under the overhanging roof by the front room. I laid down on one of them, pleasantly surprised to find it was stuffed with wool and comfortable. I untied my sandals and used my own cloak as a blanket.

I had recovered a small bit of mana, and could see the glow of mana from Ax’s bedroll as well. I didn’t know seeing magic was normal; I’d have to ask Ax in the morning. I’d noticed it when I’d instinctively cast the acid curse at the cynocephali jackal warrior. I could see the interplay of the magic with the world around it, the shape of it. It was like the augmented reality sets back home that sold for crazy amounts of money, the ones that let colleagues work on a virtual project together from over the Internet. I could see the magic, overlaid on top of the world around me. When I healed, I could feel the person’s organs and blood vessels. Through the magic, I could sense and repair the damage.

But even seeing magic wasn’t the craziest part. I could see souls. More accurately, I could sense the shadow of a soul in something, and grab it. So far, all I could do was snag it for a moment before it would slip from my grasp. But if they were near death, I could rip the soul away and, for lack of a better word, consume it. I’d done it with one of the cyno’s in the first round of the fight, which heightened my hearing and sight and replenished my mana slightly. The second time was against one of the gigantes, making me feel stronger and rejuvenated. I didn’t get any boost of mana from that one, but I’d purposely sought out the essence of that soul. The first time had been nearly accidental.

Since I had wanted the boost I had assumed the soul could give me, my magic channeled it that way. So by that logic, magic must be, to some extent, intent based. That meant it had consistent logic to it, not unlike software programming or electronic circuit design. I had tinkered with both, through high school and college. Ax had gone a bit further in circuit design at community college, before he found the trade school that taught welding.

If I’d accidentally gotten mana along with the sensory boost from the cyno, then it stood to reason that I could convert a soul into mana. That was of limited use, because an enemy would need to be near death, or a lot of people were dying near me. I wondered if there was some way I could store souls, or store mana. I’d run out mid-fight, which left me scrambling. I also had the feeling there was a lot more to what I could do with souls, if I had a method of capturing them. I needed a soul trap of some sort. Could I hold onto a soul for a period of time? Was there a way to grab a soul from a creature, even if they weren’t dying? What else could I do with it once I had it?

I’d wanted to think more about the other aspect of my magic, the healing portion. Before I knew it, though, I’d fallen fast asleep. I slept long and hard, without even moving a muscle. When I woke in the early dawn hours, I was surprised at how refreshed I felt. The air was clean and fresh, cool in the morning hours. I left the house and wandered down to the creek, where I washed my face and made an attempt at washing my mouth. After finding a convenient location for morning ablutions, I returned to the house.

Ax was up, tinkering with the pile of loot, when I got there. Seated in the dirt along the side of the house in the shade, he looked up and motioned me to sit with him.

“Take a look at this,” said Ax. He was speaking Greek, so I knew it was a safe subject. He tossed me a silvery-gold lump of metal. I looked at it, and saw it was a very crude coin, with a square stamped into one side.

“A coin.”

“Yes, it’s a gigantes coin. They trade with the towns, according to Erxandros. Not worth much, since it’s an a mix of silver and gold.”

“Right, electrum. Can you do anything with it?”

“Stealing my thunder,” he muttered in English. “Watch.”

Ax took the coin back, and it began to hover and rotate between his hands. I could see the magic forming and constructing glowing gray lines and shapes around the coin. With a gesture, Ax pulled his two hands apart, and the magic malformed along with his movements, pulling the coin into two pieces. But then I looked closer, and realized it was in fact one silver piece, and one gold piece. Ax set aside the silver piece, and picked up a small fragment of gold that I hadn’t noticed from the dirt next to him. With a motion, he joined the two together and examined it closely. With a frown, he pulled off a tiny amount and set it aside. Then with a few motions, the spinning piece of metal became a round, coin-shaped disc with nothing stamped into it. Finally, it dropped into the palm of his hand, and the magic extinguished.

“One gold drachma, worth about ten silver drachma. That’s two day’s pay for an artisan, which I’m guessing is a high wage from the way Erxandros was talking.”

“Right, but it’ll look odd if it doesn’t have a mint stamp on it,” I said.

“Well, I could copy the one on the drachma that Erxandros let me borrow,” Ax said. “But I don’t like it. It looks weird.”

I smiled, and drew the letter K in the dirt, then a second one almost on top, so the two letters overlapped. “We’re the Kabiri brothers, might as well own it. Kappa is the greek letter that starts Kabiri, after all. Make our own stamp, just make sure the coin weighs correctly.”

Ax nodded. “No one is going to get mad that we have our own coin?”

“If it’s the right size, shouldn’t matter. If anyone questions, they can weigh the coin. The value is in the weight and purity, not the shape or symbols. Gold standard for the win,” I added the last in English.

I watched in fascination as he worked, studying the magic. By the time he’d separated almost all the silver from the gold, I’d gotten a handle on the rough spell that did that work. I was almost sure I could do it myself, except I couldn’t adjust on the fly the way Ax was doing naturally. When he was down to the last coin I gestured for it, so he handed me the coin.

Carefully, I tried to construct the spell the way I had seen it. The coin hovered in the air and crudely began to pull into two pieces, before my rough casting fell apart. Interesting. So I could learn other spells outside my speciality. I just needed a reference to learn from.

“What was that?” laughed Ax in English. “That was seriously half-assed. Give me that.”

“That was a test of magic, not splitting the coin,” I explained. “I was watching the spell you were using, and figured out the rough outline to do it myself. I’d have to practice, but I could probably learn how to do it.”

“Why bother? I can do it in about two seconds,” said Ax, and he demonstrated by deftly splitting the two metals. Then with a gesture, he pulled up the pile of silver balls from the grass, and pushed them into a single orb.

“Oh, I’m definitely not going to bother,” I replied. “The point was that I can learn other magics by seeing them. Can you see magic as it is cast? Like your own?”

“See it? No, I just do it. It’s like picking up a pencil, except I’m using magic instead of my fingers. I don’t know, it’s a part of me.”

“So it’s sorcery,” I said. “Unlearned but capable. Let me try something. Make the silver orb hover in your hands like you’re going to split it up, but don’t actually split it.”

Ax complied, and while he did, I reached over and touched his shoulder. Using my own body magic, I willed his eyes to see the way mine did. After a moment, he gasped. “That is SO COOL!”

For a few minutes, he manipulated the orb in different ways, before he dropped the misshapen blob of silver back into the dirt. I released him, and his eyesight went back to normal.

“I wish I could always see that.”

This would be a good test of enchanting, I realized. “Make yourself a silver ring for one of your fingers.”

Ax did, and handed it over. I reconstructed the change I had pushed into Ax, except now I focused that spell into the silver. Then I realized that the spell was incomplete, and needed a source. It was like a circuit that needed a power source. I constructed the spell so that it would draw mana from the wearer, if they had any. I didn’t know if mana was limited only to spellcasters, but intuitively I suspected that was the case. The silver accepted the spell readily, so I pushed it in. As it went, I realized that the spell would wear off unless I really pushed mana into the creation. That made a lot of sense. It was like engraving, really. If you only scratch the surface, eventually your marks would wear out. But if you really pushed hard, it would make the marks more permanent. I took my time, patiently pushing each piece of the spell into the silver. I suspected I could get it done quickly, with a really powerful push of mana, but I didn’t want to drain myself for just one thing. Not to mention if I went quickly it increased the likelihood that I’d make a mistake and have to start all over. Finally, I finished the last piece of the spell and sealed it. I looked up to see Ax finishing the last of the coins, both silver and gold.

“How long was I working on this?” I asked, noticing the shade had moved and the air warmed up.

“About an hour, I’d guess,” he replied. “Did it work?”

“I don’t know, give it a try.”

Ax slipped the ring on his middle finger and picked up a coin. A moment later the coin was hovering, and Ax was grinning like a fool. “That’s still really cool. You just see like this?”

“Yeah, don’t have to do anything at all. Is it draining on your mana? I made it so that it would store a little bit, so it shouldn’t be constantly pulling.”

“Yeah, no, it hasn’t drawn any yet. Maybe you charged it up when you made it?”

I looked closely at the ring, and it did still have a good amount of residual mana. I was pleasantly surprised. But that also meant maybe I could make him something for healing himself, too. It couldn’t draw mana all the time, since it would probably take all of it if he got injured in a fight. The day before could’ve been fatal to lose his mana at the wrong time.

“Make another ring, sized for another finger. I’m going to play with it later. Right now, let’s see about breakfast.”

“Sounds good,” said Ax. He handed me a small leather pouch. In it were a dozen silver and gold drachmas, with the double-Kappa symbol stamped into it. “I’ve got my own pouch, I just split the finished coins. I’ve got a bit of extra silver and gold, too, that isn’t minted.”

I nodded. We entered the house, but Erxandros was nowhere around. The young servant boy was waiting for us, however, and served us a nice breakfast of figs, fruit and bread. The bread was really heavy, far denser than the sliced wheat bread I’d eaten at home. But there was a small dish of honey, so I spread it on the bread and figured I’d better get used to it. I’d had a little trouble eating the olives last night, too, since I’d never been a fan of those. I had a feeling I’d really be craving some fast food in a few days.

After eating, we returned to our loot pile, and moved it into a different spot of shade as our original spot was now too sunny. I went ahead and unpinned my chiton, leaving it wrapped around my waist like a kilt. It was far too warm in the sun.

“Okay, let’s talk gear,” said Ax, “and our next steps. I want to get moving by tomorrow, if we can. We need a larger town to start making some money. Maybe there’s a town near that Dodona place we have to get to.”

“Okay,” I said. “Bronze armor was the name of the game all the way to Roman times. Iron was used mostly for weapons. Steel was extremely hard to make, and sheet steel was impossible for a long time. I don’t remember why. These guys with iron bands strapped to their chest armor, that’s unusual. Iron rusts, this gear won’t last more than four or five years. Maybe they have access to iron, but no knowledge beyond how to make basic tools?”

“Okay, well, I learned a lot about metals while in trade school. I had a teacher who had a real hard-on for history. So I think I can figure out steel, especially with magic to help it along. But we have the same limitations. I might be able to manipulate some steel gear eventually, but it’ll take time and research. So what else do we have for armor?”

“Well, linen armor was common. Glue a bunch of layers of linen together, you have a pretty solid armor against arrows, spears and cutting weapons. Bronze didn’t withstand puncture all that well, but it was better than nothing. Brass is better, but the other metal in it isn’t mined around here, I think.”

“Zinc.”

“Yeah, that. Boiled leather, I think, rounds out the list. Also, we need spears and swords.”

“Well, for now, I’m going to shape us some basic iron weapons. They’re not much better than bronze, honestly, but we don’t have any bronze to work with.”

“Too bad you can’t just conjure up some metal.”

Ax looked at me oddly. “You know, I actually haven’t even tried.”

He focused sat there, thinking furiously and ignoring me. That left me to think about our plans once we got out of here. We had a decent amount of money, enough to settle somewhere. But we were magic users, so we had to be valuable. My healing skills alone should be enough to earn us some money. I didn’t want to really spend a lot of time working for others. If I could make magic items, perhaps there was a market for that?

My attention returned to my brother as he began to weave a new spell. I watched, fascinated. This was different from his metal manipulation. This spell had a straightforward structure, with concise parameters and conditions. When the construction was complete, mana poured out of Ax, draining him of his reserve. But in his hand was a ball of copper.

“I’ll be damned,” he said. “Wiped out my mana, though.”

“Yeah,” I replied. “We need to solve this mana issue, and fast.”