The Blurred Lands by Ian W. Sainsbury

Author:Ian W. Sainsbury [Sainsbury, Ian W.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B07LGC7Y82
Goodreads: 43267385
Published: 2018-12-22T00:00:00+00:00

Twenty-Nine

"Protective charms," said Gai the following day, sipping from the bottle of mead. John had noticed that, no matter how much they drank, the bottle never emptied. He had once invented a trick that appeared to produce the same effect, but it was an illusion. This was not.

"Protective charms," repeated John, as if saying the words out loud would make the concept less ridiculous. It didn't work. He felt the rear of his head, which should have had a lump the size of an egg on it after the impact with the doorframe. It was unmarked. It didn't even hurt when he rapped his knuckles against it.

"Yes. Ever break a bone? Or have any serious physical injury?"

John thought about it. "No,"

"Protective charms. I have them too. Physical damage hurts, but permanent injury is prevented."

"Protective charms," said John, again. Nope, it still sounded crazy.

"Not your own work, so someone else." Gai was mumbling to himself. "Who? A noone? Unlikely." he turned his attention to John. "Someone protected you, and they did it well. Any strong women in your family?"

"Maybe. Why?"

Gai seemed not to have heard. "Interesting. But if Ashtoreth wants something from you, you will need more than protective charms to stop her. Tell me again about last night."

John told him while the noone listened intently.

"She revealed herself to you," said Gai when he had finished.

"She definitely did that," said John, remembering the many versions of Ash that had come and gone in that terrifying second as he'd stumbled backwards in the bedroom.

John accepted the mead from Gai and took a long swallow. He trusted this creature, and he wasn't sure why. There was something reassuringly familiar about him. He had only his instinct and the evidence of his senses to go on, but they all agreed. Gai was on his side. If he existed, if any of this was real. John was now behaving as if it was. But even if Gai, Ash, Sally Cottage and all of Leigh Woods turned out to be a hallucination, it wouldn't matter if he could get away.

"I'm a human," John said. "You're a,"—Gai's face darkened—"a noone. You tell me Ash—Ashtoreth—is a god. What chance do we have against a god?"

Gai snorted. "Gods are just beings from the older realms," he said. "When Earth first became accessible through the Blurred Lands, it attracted visitors from as far as Nysa. Most did just that—visit—but some were seduced by the flow of magic in your realm, by its purity and availability. They stayed."

"Don't these other... realms have magic too?"

"Yes. Old magic, evolved magic, richer, but far less plentiful. All intelligent species can use magic in the other realms. There, they are nothing special. But when, thousands of years ago, they came to your realm, beings like Ashtoreth wielded Earth's raw magic much more effectively than humans. Their abilities were so far beyond yours, it was as if they were... well, gods."

"You said 'they' stayed. There were more of them?"

"Your planets still bear the names of some of them.

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