Bisha looked at the walls surrounding the Adikha Yunavarasiti. They were easily as tall as those around any city. The Ravi river completed the walls. 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 but dangers from animals in any area. 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, for one of the two guards that had stopped them to tell the group where they were to go. Since the guard had taken off at a run, at least he was expected. On his return the guard was accompanied by three robed Humans each wearing an ornate conical hat with a different colors and height to the tip. 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 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. In most of both Kishnagar and Ashfanabad people usually only wore turbans if they wore anything at all. Apparently, here you wore conical hats to show you were a mage of any type. 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 students to teach. This was the worst thing that could happen as far as Bisha was concerned. He was here to work and learn. No where in that was him 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 to 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. But 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 it was very overwhelming to poor Bisha. He had never been given so much attention in his life. 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 his room and left alone to settle in. 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. During their journey Nahla had been the most helpful and supportive of Bisha and he felt that she was truly 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. After all he was only a student of majic, not a great practitioner.
Nahla however saw thru 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.
Jadu Vadala
It had taken over a week but Bisha was finally getting started on reading the project notes on the Jadu Vadala project. He was absently petting his tiny friend, Khomal. The only friend he ever really had before meeting the others who came with him from Alkadharam. 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.
But 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, 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. Now if he could just get the hang of teaching the 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 on 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 gotten fond of them when he'd visited Ashfanabad when he'd visited 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 Alkadharam Yunavarasiti. Bisha was reassured about that after his lunch with the program head.
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 barely up 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. The first step would be to get dressed. The second would be to feed both himself and Khomal 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 a bonus. Bisha was fairly certain that doing so would make his the shortest tenure at the yunavarasiti in history.
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.
When he entered the lab Bisha realized that he was wrong. 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 fancier version. It was clear just by the robes that the Senior Researcher was of a much higher rank than the rest of them. When he asked about the other robe Bisha was informed that that robe was for the Archanseller when he came to check up on the researchers. Apparently anything less ornamented was beneath the Archanseller's and Senior Researcher's dignity. Bisha decided then and there that he liked this group of people. 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.
Ten Rabbit's Time
Ten Rabbit was waiting, he had been waiting for the past week. He was very good at waiting. Assassins had to wait a lot for the perfect circumstances to do 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 when 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 happen, the Jadu Vadala project must be stopped or the world would end.
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 closed areas. The yunavarasiti had never thought to secure their buildings from someone who could climb like he could. So getting into the offices was even easy 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 clothing 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 could would be unable to know just who the assassin was. The sacred clothing was totally different to what a Michocano would wear.
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 clothes covered the wearers from head to toe. Starting with soft knee high boots that separated the big toe from the rest of the toes. The sole of the boot was made of a specially treated leather that had a rough surface to aid in climbing. As well as three claws that helped grip almost any surface including stone. Next was a pair of leggings that were bound tight to the knee under the boots but were loose above 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 cap 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 that 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. 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 an 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 gotten 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 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 and 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. The room had a very high ceiling and 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. 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 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. Thanks to his training he had taken in the whole room with a glance as he spoke.
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 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. Ten Rabbit however wasn't going to melt away or leave in any other way until his mission was completed.
All around Ten Rabbit the 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, uncertain of what to do. The senior researcher how ever 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. 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 intended for 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. For a few heart beats Ten Rabbit watched the man waver bask and forth right next to the machine. The 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 nothing while somehow still being there. Ten Rabbit's brain couldn't understand what his eyes saw. It was all to 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 its self while not changing at all. The whole world blurred and melted in the same nauseating way that the machine alone had 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. And to him that was the oddest part of all.
Then in a timeless instant everything snapped back the way it had been. 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 cane from everywhere but was only inside himself. The voice was the deepest Ten Rabbit had ever heard. 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.
Saving Bisha
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 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 spikes and nothing was happening that shouldn't be. To the uninitiated the machine would have looked like it was made up of to 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 even that which was actually there.
So the loud bang that startled everyone came as a complete surprise. The next thing that Bisha knew there was a demon or a monster standing in front of him. It had to be from one of the other dimensions that the Jadu Vadala was supposed to allow the researchers to see and maybe even contact. 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 the monster threw an archaic dagger, killing the Senior researcher. That is when everything went crazy.
First time seemed to back and forth between to slow and too fast for what seemed to be an eternity but was probably only a couple of heartbeats. 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 and everyone except himself and the monster vanished into the light and was gone. The monster wavered on its feet. Likely either blinded or confused by the bright light the preceded the machines 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 closest of the two windows.
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 way that was even more frightening. He was certain that the monster was taking him somewhere to eat. Not the monsters home of course because it was from a different dimension. Before Bisha knew it they were landing in front of 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 Bisha 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 limpid. Rather than the master rider he'd been just a moment earlier.
