Bronze Gold, Black Iron, Silver Steel

The last year of the Demon King's War, evening.

"Here Meinz. You need to eat." Elric was thankful for this world's item bags. Thanks to them, he and Meinz had plenty of food left between them. Even if it was somewhat stale bread, dried vegetables, and jerky.

"Thanks." Meinz took the cup, then blinked. "Soup?"

"Just boiled jerky and vegetables. The well still has water, so why not." He settled besides Meinz. "So, what did that spell do?"

Meinz lowered the cup and stared into it.

"In Greek myth back on Earth, Cronus was a god, a Titan who controlled Time. The son of earth and sky. I'm guessing the other god is something similar."

"Kiren." Meinz took a sip. "They are of Light and manage Time. Their counterpart is Rokvian of Dark, who rules over Fate." He chewed on a bit of softened jerky. "Rokvian has a bitter sense of jest at times."

"I'm not going to tell anyone about the curse."

Meinz's head came up quizzically, his eyes narrowed in suspicion. Elric shrugged.

"You're twenty-five, right? By my math, you should have at least a decade to make a plan for your next steps. It's your business, not mine. Handle it as you want."

The priest nodded and took a deep breath. When he opened his eyes again, they were full of gratitude.

"The spell -it suspends the target in time." Meinz paused for another drink and chewed on a chunk of vegetable. "They are, frozen, I guess? Time won't affect them, and they'll have no knowledge of time passing. Things from outside can't affect them either, since those are still subject to time." He accepted the second cup Elric handed him. "Wait, Earth tea? I thought you were almost out."

"Yeah, but I think we need it tonight." Elric sipped at his own serving. "Besides, Keiko's finally had some success with her tea seeds. Tea might be publicly available in a few years, if not all that affordable." 

Meinz smiled into his cup. "Unless the mages figure out how to grow the plants outside the magic greenhouses."

"That's not a good idea." Elric's face was serious. "Remember when we talked about 'invasive species'? When we were talking about seeds that we could've been carrying when we were Summoned."

Meinz recalled the rather lively discussion among the Summoned. "They're -introducing living things into a land that isn't used to them can cause the native living things to suffer. The native things don't know how to protect themselves against the introduced things. And usually the native things don't have the same effect on the introduced things."

"Yup. And that's when we're talking about life from the same world. Different worlds, I don't even want to think about the mess."

Silence fell. Meinz was thinking magic must be very scarce on Earth for the inhabitants to not have figured out how to harness it. They'd dug into what seemed an endless list of things and processes and systems, always curious, always seeking. Although it was clear from the Summoneds' stories some of the discoveries were very dangerous.

Dangerous. He put his empty cup down. "The spell is fucked up."

Elric raised an eyebrow, at both the language and the declaration.

"We couldn't practice the spell -some time spells, yes, but not that spell. Chester threw a fit at the idea of using anything other than his plan, and that spell is rather obvious even if it didn't go out of control. And while it requires comparatively little mana to cast for its type, it requires a lot of mana to control it."

"Hence the rampage." Elric looked grim at the thought of the living left behind, and the dead who could not be buried -or burned, the way it was done on Tas.

"The spell was also based on the theoretical constructions of one the most brilliant mages for the last thousand years. Even she couldn't actually cast it. I don't think anyone without a Summoned's Blessing power could."

"But what it all comes down to is that's the first time that spell has ever actually been cast. It's messed up, in a lot of ways, from how it was supposed to be. Made worse by the caster being caught up in it." Meinz rubbed his face. "I don't think he had enough magic to control it completely."

"Do you have any blankets?" Meinz looked at Elric. "What's the rest of the bad news?"

"Ah. ." Meinz dropped enough camp bedding for both of them out of his box. Elric picked them up and carried them over to a grassy bit to lay them out.

"The rest… the spell was written to be permanent until removed. 'Coded' is the word I think you'd use. But as it is now, it'll expire eventually."

"How long?" Elric's voice was surprisingly calm as he ignored the bottom dropping out of his stomach.

"A few centuries. Definitely three, maybe four. But definitely not many more years than four."

"Who can dispel it?"

"Well, Theo, obviously." Meinz looked up at the black moon. "Merridan, but she won't without an army at her back -she overprepares for everything. Chris might, if he worked at it for a few years.

"For groups, some priests or mages working together in groups of two or three might be able to -definitely two if it's some of the Summoned mages. They probably won't, though, if it means releasing the Demon King, regardless of who he is. 

"There are a couple more Summoned who are powerful enough on their own, but they're also the ones that threw a fit about riding a horse between two cities -only a day's distance!- and then went on to complain about the carriages acquired for them. Carriages built on the same lines as the royal carriages, for Searis' sake!"

Elric winced. "For Searis' sake" contained the same sentiments as 'take a long walk off a short pier' but with the addition of pissed-off hungry sharks in the water. Definitely harsh for the usually gentle priest.

But then, Meinz had become less and less gentle during the training and journey here.

"And-" Meinz interrupted Elric's thoughts "-there's the Bolat energy."

Bolat energy was mysterious to the Summoned. What they did understand was it was a very dangerous energy. The Tasnians regard for it seemed akin to Terrans' for the nastier radiation types.

"A small thing to be thankful for is it's impossible to get more Bolat energy crystals in to recharge that damned sword's crystal. But according to Zadelis -that's the mage who created the spell- Bolat energy itself will penetrate the spell without being changed. And that is exactly what will happen when Bolat visits in a bit less than a hundred years."

Sitting back down by the fire, Elric thought that one of these days he was going to ask what the Tasnians meant by "Bolat's visit". He kept forgetting -something more important always got in the way.

"So we have a spell that is holding back someone who wants to rule the world, said spell will deteriorate in three-hundred-plus years, and the man who would be Demon King will have his magic rock probably fully powered up. He'll have a solid chunk of Earth knowledge, will be able to heal himself back up from the damage he took, just like the original did, and will be able to go out and recruit followers and start kicking ass just like with the first one." Elric stood back up and started banking the fire with the accumulated ashes. "And Theo and Tiera will be right in his path, along with the high-powered weapons our party was carrying."

"Nice summary." Meinz grimaced.

"Well, it's clear what we have to do." Elric gestured to Meinz, then paused. He'd forgotten to light a lamp before banking the fire.

Meinz shook his head, stood, and took Elric's arm. Terrans had horrible night vision -the source of much teasing and several pranks- unless a Skill was involved. "What's so clear?"

"We have to get back to friendly territory, round up that Merra-person-"

"Merridan." Meinz guided him to where Elric had laid out the blankets.

"Merridan -round up another team, drop the spell, and kick that traitor's ass into the Underworld before he powers up."

Meinz still found the idea of a place the dead continued on after death peculiar. If a soul was so gone it could not ascend or be reincarnated, then the gods would simply destroy it. 

His mana had recharged sufficiently for him to construct a ward. He paused a moment in his casting. "Are you sure?"

"It's pretty much the only thing we can do."

Meinz had to agree.

*******

People in this chapter:

Meinz

Elric

Items, Magic:

Magic greenhouse: A normal structure of glass in a frame making a house, but engraved with magic circles and symbols to help with regulating temperature, humidity, and other factors. The magical expertise and power required is very expensive.