The Spell Realm (The Sorcery Code #2)(4)
“The Sorcerer Guard are dead?” Moriner’s face was utterly colorless, his voice shaking, and Augusta remembered that his son Kiam was among the Guard—that he had to be one of the casualties of the slaughter.
She nodded, feeling pity for his loss. She’d heard that father and son were not on the best of terms, but it didn’t matter. Kiam had still been Moriner’s own flesh and blood. “I’m sorry,” she said softly. “I saw it with my own eyes. The creature murdered them all.” And in the stunned silence that followed, she told them all about Blaise’s creation, Ganir’s spies’ reports, and the steps she and Ganir had taken to contain the situation. The only thing she omitted was her request to Barson to kill the creature instead of bringing it in—and that she had not destroyed the notes of Lenard the Great that she’d found in Blaise’s study.
The room erupted with questions. “Is that what happened to my overseer Davish?” Kelvin exclaimed. “I had to remove him from his post because he was changing things too much—”
“How is this possible?” Dania asked, interrupting Kelvin’s diatribe. “How could such a thing have come into being?”
Ganir, who had been silent until then, stepped forward. “I believe I have some idea,” he said quietly, and everyone immediately fell silent. “You know my theory that the mind is essentially the inner workings of the brain?”
“Are you talking about the pattern-recognizing units in the brain? The ones called neurons?” Dania asked, apparently intrigued.
“Yes, that’s what I’m talking about,” Ganir confirmed. “I believe that children develop a unique network of neurons based on their experiences in the world. And I think that Blaise re-created this process artificially. He created neurons—or something that functions just like them—in the Spell Realm, and then, rather than having this mind grow up as a child would, he simulated her experiences by using Life Capture recordings.” Much to Augusta’s disgust, Ganir’s eyes were bright with excitement. He really did find the creature fascinating. “Thus he cultivated a fully functioning intelligence in a span of slightly less than a year.”
“Yes,” Augusta interjected, “an inhuman creature of unimaginable potential for evil, as unlike us as this Interpreter Stone.” And she held up her own Stone for them to see.
“You’re forgetting one thing, Augusta,” Ganir said, his eyes flashing with anger. “This inhuman creature, as you call her, had her mind shaped by human experiences and is, for all intents and purposes, very much like a human girl—”
“But that’s the horror of it, don’t you see?” Augusta said, looking at the faces surrounding her. “Blaise himself didn’t know what his creation would look like. He had no idea it would look like us. And it’s very, very far from being like a human girl. What human girl could destroy an entire army in such a brutal manner?”
“How did she do it?” Moriner asked, his voice filled with fury. “How did she manage to kill them all?”
Augusta hesitated for a moment, then walked over to a Life Capture Sphere that was sitting on the marble table. It was best if they saw the truth with their own eyes. Pricking her finger, she pressed it against the Sphere and concentrated, visualizing the horrors she had seen in the mirror. When she was done reliving the battle in her mind, she touched her still-bloody finger to the Sphere and waited for the droplet to appear.
When it was formed, she picked up the droplet and handed it to Moriner. Then she explained how the droplet could be recycled, taking vindictive pleasure in revealing Ganir’s little secret. The Council Leader didn’t say a word, but Augusta knew that he was angry; she could see it in the hard glitter of his eyes.
Taking the droplet, Moriner created one of his own by repeating Augusta’s actions with the Sphere. When he was done, his face was even paler, and his hands trembled as he handed the new droplet to the next Council member.
By the time everyone had a chance to view Augusta’s memories, the mood in the Gathering Hall was grim and somber. Blaise’s creation was no ordinary sorceress. That much was clear to all.
Capitalizing on their state of shock, Augusta stepped forward. “Blaise created that being whose destructive power you just witnessed,” she said, looking around the room. She needed to get the majority of the Council on her side now, to make sure they supported her in what she wanted to do. “Blaise created it,” she repeated, “and Ganir and I allowed our feelings for Blaise to cloud our judgment. We gave Blaise a chance to come to his senses, to undo the damage, but he seems to be under this monster’s spell. He is infatuated with his own creation, and he has lost all sense of right and wrong. We should’ve never tried to bring her in alive—”
“Well, I can see why Ganir would want to examine this creature, despite the obvious dangers,” Dania jumped in again, and Augusta frowned at her. She despised blind loyalty, and the old woman’s unflagging allegiance to Ganir was deeply irritating.
Jandison raised his hand, silencing Dania. “What’s done is done. Now the matter is in our hands, and we must come up with a solution.”
“There is only one outcome I see,” Kelvin said, his thin-lipped mouth tight with anger. Augusta imagined he wasn’t too pleased with the creature’s exploits in his territory. “We join forces and kill the thing and its creator.”