《Briox the Magus》4. Sanctuary

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Briox walked through the halls of his sanctuary. Sanctuaries were very important to magi. Every magus required a place to study and practice in peace. Those with accompanying occupations also required labratories and craftshops. Briox walked through the polished stone halls, lit with enchanted lights the entire place echoed with his foot steps. In truth this was not his sanctuary, he hadn't graduated from Everseal let alone gathered the money or power to create a sealed pocket dimension with everything a magus could want to dabble in various fields. That had been the choice of Professor Vandolheim.

The Professor was a retired Creature Master. Specialized in creating various beings to serve the people of Islandyer. He had fought for years as a Creature Master for the armies of Islandyer before retiring to Everseal to be a tactics professor. His final act had been to send the last of the students he had led in defence of Everseal to his sanctuary. Briox hadn't even been able to activate the teleport network when he first arrived, dimensional magic was far from his speciality after all. However he had the full library of a High Magus at his fingertips and nothing but time. So he had learned, he wasn't really skilled with dimensional magic, but it was one of Professors Vandolheims specialties and an area with deep foundations among the magi of Islandyer. It wasn't hard to figure out a few teleportaion spells that were simple enough as long as he had a marker, and these were the basis for the teleportaion network that the Professor had set up in a few key points around Islandyer. Most of the points however were too dangerous for a rogue magus on the run from the authorities to appear, and that wasn't counting the ones that had been destroyed by Hyser magi and Inquisitors when they were unable to get through the seals.

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Briox stepped into the study and looked around, a few comfy chairs, a fire lit, shelves with a number of the more basic and interesting books from the library. "Cassoxs!" Briox called out to the room before walking over to one of the chairs and sinking into it. Shortly another door opened and from it emerged Cassox, the caretaker for the sanctuary and one of the many Creatures left behind by Vandolheim after his passing. "Master Briox, we were not expecting you for another day" Cassox spoke, his voice vibrating out from the featureless bronze mask that was his face. He was tall and thin, dressed in a plain but well made black robe, his skin bone white wherever it was exposed. Briox nodded at him "there has been a change of plans, an inquisitor has come into conflict with my supplier". Cassox moved in a fluid almost boneless way as he walked over to a the fire and retrieved a teapot from elsewhere. Briox watched quietly as Cassox began to prepare tea, his hands cassually reaching out and pulling everything from tea leaves to cups of water from somewhere else in the dimension. Mana was a strange energy, and the sanctuary of a magus would be flooded with it. Cassox as the caretaker of Vandolheim's sanctuary had managed to grasp much of his creators talent in the arts of dimensional magic.

When Cassox finished preparing the tea and leaving it to steep he turned to Briox "Then what shall we do next". Briox looked at Cassox closely, peering at him as if the mask of his face would tell him something about how the creature was feeling. In truth Briox could only use the sanctuary because of Cassox's consent and the last instructions of Vandolheim. Even without his role as caretaker of the sanctuary he was a far more dangerous magus then Briox. Briox had never quite been comfortable with directing Cassox in most matters. It felt wrong, like an apprentice ordering a master to obey. Briox's mouth twisted in displeasure, that was basically exactly what it was. Finally he replied to his teachers right hand "I intend to kill the Inquisitor". Cassox stood absolutely still, before he turned back to the tea kettle and checked its temperature with his hand. Deciding it was appropriately hot he removed it and began to pour tea for both of them as he spoke "Do you think you can handle an inquisitor?". Briox grimaced "Not alone, i need...." Briox's words trailed off. Cassox sipped its tea, the mask remaining unchanged but the level in the teacup definitely lower than before "You need help?". Briox stared into his tea cup "No". Cassox looked up from his teacup tilting his head inquisitevly "No?". Briox set his tea aside "I need access to the creature labs, are they stocked?".

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Cassox seemed to ripple for second, his mask, robes and body looking as if a stone had been tossed into a still lake. Briox looked at him eyes wide in surprise, just how had Professor Vandolheim made him? Cassox spoke once his body settled down "I see, i'm glad you are finally continuing the art. After what happened i was afraid...that you would never do so again". Briox grimaced and looked away, in Everseal he had been studying to be a creature master, with a minor in alchemy. Since he had arrived in the sanctuary however he had tried every craft that Vandolheim had dabbled in over his life, except the art of creature crafting. He still remembered the bridge, the blood of his creatures, his friends, his allies splashed upon the stone. The screams of agony as magic unmade his creations cell by cell. The prefered way of the Hyser to handle the "abominations" and those who made them. Though they could rarely do so unless they were vastly superior to those they fought.

Briox took a deep breath and shook away the memories, the screams. "Cassox i'm not a battle mage, if i hope to do battle with a Inquisitor i only have one choice. The materials here for alchemy and enchanting can't make anything suitable for such a battle". Cassox nodded and rose bonelessly to his feet, he clapped twice and two goblinoids stepped into the room "Quickly, go prepare the vats, Master Briox is about to begin crafting!". Briox looked askance at Cassox "And what if i needed time to refresh my memory and restudy the spells? it has been a while". Cassox turned to him and his voiced contained the mirth his face could not show "Master Briox, please don't joke with me, you mumble crafting theory in your sleep". Briox stared at the caretaker of the sanctuary and pocket dimension in which he lived, before taking a slow drink of tea and then calmly stating "I didn't hear a word you just said Cassox" before he set his tea aside and left. The sound of Cassox's laughter seemed to follow him the entire way to the labratory.

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