The Arcane Guardians Chapter 27: Chapter 24: Broken Order

Read chapter 27 of The Arcane Guardians by Mercynarie on NovelPedia.

Gaius watched the golden cape billow behind the seemingly frail figure as the man walked excitedly across the courtyard. Worry was written all over the boy’s face as he looked around at the deserted sky library. The President had clearly used his authority to clear out its occupants, and Gaius was willing to bet it was not for a good reason. He steeled himself and continued following the Mage. A familiar sight greeted him. Candles lit by silver flames circled an open tome in the open field. Dried blood stained its pages as usual, but the book was glowing a purplish silver this time. Coupled with the cloudless night sky, the scene before him was positively ominous. Benedictus gestured for him to move closer with a huge smile. “I managed to reactivate the spellcraft. Turns out this sky library was constructed at a point in space rich enough in Arcani to fuel such a potent spell,” he said, grinning at the orange glow beginning to engulf the boy. “Look, Gaius. The magic within you is reacting as well!” “You’re still missing the last tome.” Gaius struggled to look at Benedictus past the glow. “You can’t complete the counterspell without it.” The Mage snapped his fingers, extinguishing all the candles immediately. The light faded from Gaius as well. “I have confirmed that Vulcan is in possession of the last tome.” Benedictus placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “We’re so close now. All I need you to do is convince Vulcan to—” “No!” Gaius flinched violently, backing away from the man. “I’m not listening to you anymore! You framed my parents, didn’t you? Did you plan all of this from the beginning?” Benedictus looked at him silently. “So you did find out after all.” He placed his hands behind his back and faced away. “Should’ve known that giving you access to my library was too high a price to buy your favour.” The Mage turned back suddenly. “Look. You’re a smart kid, Gaius. Don’t let the past blind you to the future. Look at us now, working together like old partners. Why let that stop everything I— we have achieved?” “What do you really want, Benedictus?” “How about peace in our future? That’s what you want, isn’t it? To create a better future for society? Trust me, Gaius. I can—” “Enough with this.” Gaius shook his head. “What do you really want from me ?” “You really shouldn’t speak over your President like that, Deusdedit.” The man’s expression hardened as a gust of cold wind appeared all of a sudden. “I’ll forgive you this time. Look, I didn’t want to let you know in case you couldn’t handle the truth, but I’ll tell you since you asked for it.” Apprehension pooled in Gaius’s gut. “I need you to die, boy.” Benedictus looked at him grimly. “Our world is built on a frozen time bomb. I’m sure you already know about our world’s true history. These tomes act as a seal for the demon, Abaddon. Only by completing the spell within them will we be able to seal Abaddon away permanently. Unfortunately, one of the tomes has been absorbed into you, and you will die in a major explosion when the spell within you releases all of its Arcani.” The boy’s eyes widened. “I cannot let Abaddon return to this world.” Benedictus shook his fist as though he were giving a passionate speech. “Our magic is a borrowed debt from him, and he will be back to claim everything, to destroy it all. That’s all that demon wants to do. We need to cut him off from our world. We must finish what General Faustus set out to do.” “What’s wrong with the way things are now?” Gaius said. “As long as the three tomes are still here, Abaddon cannot physically enter our realm. They have already survived for more than two thousand years. Isn’t that good enough?” “No, that won’t be enough!” Benedictus stepped forward in anger. “Are you really suggesting that we risk dooming our world to an apocalyptic hell? Besides, the seal draws on the power balance between Magi and Meta. With each advancement in technology, our reality is affected. Metas have always had more natural power than Ma