Chapter 8 #3
“Something’s going wrong with the time in there,” Bodach told her. “It’s never done this since I created it nine hundred years ago.”
“Well, melia enchantments aren’t clocks. They don’t stop working because of age.” The giantess bent over and peered at the enchanted parchment before she tapped several spots. “Ah-ha. See where you have voids in the forest illusion here, here, and here? Really not a good sign.”
“Why is that?” he prompted.
“It’s complicated magic, and it’s not only misbehaving, it appears to be eating itself.
” She nodded at the scroll. “That last round of attackers probably came from those void spots. The governing spell borrowed illusions and shifted them into this laird and his thugs. I’m guessing the attack didn’t go as it has every other time the cycle repeats, right? ”
“No, they hardly killed anyone, and then abruptly vanished,” he admitted. He’d never heard of such bizarre corruption of a spell, especially one as old as the one imprisoning the McKeran. “What causes this kind of thing?”
“Beats me. Could be something other than Fae magic. You know, some think that the original melia were older than us,” Mirry said. “My theory is that they’re an offshoot of an unfortunate mating like you and me. Anyway, the older the magic, the more powerful it is. You know that, right?”
“Of course. It’s why I stole the spell in the first place.” He looked at the scroll as the bodies and the voids vanished. “Is the enchantment itself attacking the clan now?”
“No, if I’m right, it’s worse than that.” She rubbed the back of her broad neck. “From the way it looks, the spell might be collapsing.”
His jaw sagged. “What would cause that?”
“Could be one of those perfect storm situations.” She shrugged.
“Whatever it was, it’s disrupted the time loop, and the enchantment is going crazy trying to correct the problem because it’s restorative by nature, right?
It’s like missing a homework assignment, and then turning in a bunch of work that wasn’t due ahead of time.
Only the teacher doesn’t want it so you try the same thing again, hoping for different results, because that’s the definition of crazy.
Lather, rinse, repeat. Does that make sense? ”
“Of course.” Bodach had barely followed her logic. “But why is it eating itself?”
“You’ve got a very small universe in there, for one thing.
Seems like substituting bits of itself to fight in place of the MacBren and his men is its solution.
” Mirry sat back and stroked her beard. “Only it’s not following the event cycle properly, so it’s creating more damage with this correction.
Probably does the same thing every time it tries to fix the loop. ”
Bodach grew uneasy. “What happens next?”
“More of the same for a while,” the giantess predicted.
“Since the repeating events are the timeline of existence in this universe, the enchantment will keep trying to repair the loop and by doing so create more damage. The only plus is the magic is too busy to kick you out anymore, so you can go in and get your body snatching druidess’s spirit while the world remains intact.
Once enough destruction is done, however, then the poop really hits the impeller. ”
“How bad will it be?” he had to ask.
She made the sound of a bomb detonating, puffing out her cheeks and shaping a billowing cloud in the air. “Good-bye, spell trap and everything inside it.”
Such obliteration of the castle and its occupants would cause the spell trap to collapse along with the universe. That would create the backlash Aosda had warned him of, Bodach thought.
He rolled up the viewing scroll. “How much time is left before the end comes?”
“Not my enchantment, but everything created by melia magic follows seasonal time, so it’s likely chronological.
” When Mirry saw his expression, she added, “If these changes started at the beginning of the time loop, then it’s a safe bet that the world will fall apart at the loop’s end. No more resets, just ka-boom.”
The door suddenly opened, and the mortal Bodach had given Mirry hurried inside and threw himself at his feet.
“Please, get me out of here,” the reporter begged.
“Jakey is having some adjustment issues,” the giantess said, and snatched the mortal up with one big hand and tucked him under her arm.
“I forgot—my cousin is visiting the realm for her honeymoon, and I promised to take her and her new hubs on a tour up north. You know, see Mount St. Helens, visit the old stomping grounds at Ape Canyon, that sort of thing. Only my cos hates mortals, so, do you want him back?”
The mortal began to weep noisily.
“Wipe his brain and release him in the woods,” he suggested. “If anyone finds him, he won’t be able to tattle.”
“Good idea.” The giantess carried the writhing, sobbing reporter out of the room.
Bodach tucked the viewing scroll into his jacket before he left the mansion to drive back to the castle.
No backlash could reach him if he returned to Elphyne, but the dark and light courts would never allow him to remain.
Even if he discovered how, he couldn’t go in and repair the damage, as the enchantment still wouldn’t allow him to use his power inside the spell trap.
If he stayed in the mortal realm, he could try and protect himself against the coming backlash with red crystals, but they could only absorb life, not the power of a broken enchantment.
I have to come up with a solution, and quickly.