“Really?” Monty said. “I’m surprised he could ingest anything other than meat. It must have been quite difficult for him to reach the top shelf of the cupboard, what with having no opposable thumbs and all.”
“Hellhounds…crazy resourceful,” I said with a shrug. “What can I say?”
“I understand you may be pressed for time, Professor. Will the tea suffice?”
“The tea is fine, thank you. Time is such a fluid concept, Tristan,” Ziller answered after a pause. “The digestives can wait for another visit—but did you inquire about time?”
That pause—which I figured was the moment Professor Z took to process all the permutations of where he was in the time-space continuum, in relation to all the other Zillers on all the other parallel realities—was the start of my brain-melting headache.
“Here we go,” I muttered under my breath. “Once he gets going…”
“Are you referring to the indefinite, continued progress of events that occur in what is apparently an irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and to the future?”
“Do you see what you started?” I asked, glaring at Monty. “You know where this is headed.”
“Or were you referring to time on the quantum level, where it is posited that past, present, and future occur simultaneously?”
Monty gave Ziller a quick glance before answering.
“Yes,” Monty said, pouring hot water and doing what I thought impossible. He made Professor Ziller pause long enough in his train of thought, to create an opening. Monty swept in deftly, like a master of Quantum Ziller wordfu, and asked a question.“What do you know about the Earth’s Breath?”
“The Red Mountain sect artifact?” Ziller answered, getting completely sidetracked. “The war weapon?”
“The same,” Monty answered, bringing over a cup of tea. “Properties, abilities, and weaknesses.”
“Tristan, that is a dangerous artifact. One you do not want to manipulate.”
“We may not have a choice,” I said. “It’s been stolen from the Red Mountain.”
“Stolen?” Ziller said, before taking a sip of tea. “I hadn’t heard of this, but it may be possible I’m on a different timeline. Moving the Library gets complex at times.”
“I can only imagine,” I said, not understanding it all. “I have no idea how you keep it all straight.”
“Practice, mostly.”
“Professor, we’re under a bit of time pressure ourselves,” Monty said. “The Earth’s Breath?”
“Right, right,” Ziller said, placing the cup down on the table and reaching for his orb. “I should have it right here…one second. You do understand that time is an illusory construct?”
“I remember the lessons,” Monty said. “Time is an artificial construct and as such only exists in very limited contexts.”
“You always were a good student—ah, here it goes.”
Ziller pressed the surface of the orb and an image of a turquoise cube gently rotated above the table. The polished cube hung from a golden chain. Each surface of the cube was inscribed with a golden rune I couldn’t understand.
“Is that it?” I asked, looking at the simple cube. “It looks so…unassuming.”
Ziller lifted the monocle to his eye as the runes on it’s surface glowed softly. He peered at the image closely and nodded.
“That’s the Earth’s Breath in its dormant state,” Ziller said, pointing. “One of several artifacts classified as vampiric essences.”
“Vampiric essences?”
“The Earth’s Breath, like all artifacts of this classification, requires life-force to execute its functions. In the case of this artifact, the vampiric quality is transferred to the object of its creation—the golem.”
“Which are?” Monty asked. “What are the main functions?”
“This is a war weapon, created at the height of the Supernatural War. Its main function is to create an army of indestructible soldiers—golems. These golems can be controlled by one mage, specifically an elemental mage.”
“Weaknesses?” I asked. “How do you stop it?”
“Several ways,” Ziller answered. “Kill the mage wielding it, very difficult; deny the artifact the life-force it needs to function, also near impossible since it’s always in a state of siphoning once activated; or destroy the golem or golems created by it. The last act will send the artifact into a state of short dormancy.”
“How long?” Monty asked. “How long will the artifact be dormant?”
“Three to five days, depending on how many golems were created. The more golems created, the longer the dormancy period. It is never shorter than three days, however.”
“What happens after three days?” I asked. “Does it reboot?”
“Something similar,” Ziller answered, before standing and making his way back to the closet. “If there is a power source nearby, the artifact can be reactivated. Without a golem it will draw energy from the nearest source—a mage.”
“Wonderful,” I said. “Anything else we should know?”
“A few. An artifact this powerful needs an enormous amount of energy to activate. This city with its hubs would be ideal for that.”
“Hubs?” I asked. “What hubs?”
“Several of the nexus points in this city act as hubs, amazing reservoirs of power. If an elemental mage attained the Earth’s Breath and wanted to use it alone, these hubs would be ideal without sacrificing their own life-force.”
“The attacks,” I said, remembering Ramirez’s words. “The golem is attacking hubs. That’s why Toson came here first.”
“If I were this mage, I would have come here first,” Ziller agreed. “The hubs in this city are incredibly powerful. It must be the concentration of energy. I’ll have to write a paper on that one day.”
“Professor,” Monty said, getting his attention again. “Anything else?”
“This is a war weapon. If he has created a golem he will have to be close to it,” Ziller said. “This is not a fire-and-forget weapon. The risk of out-of-control golems was too great. Limiters were introduced into its creation.”
“Such as?” Monty asked. “What are the constraints?”
“Proximity and line-of-sight control. The wielder must be no more than three hundred yards away and maintain sight with the golem.”
“And the siphon?” Monty asked. “Where does it originate?”
“The siphoning aspect switches from the artifact to the golem once the golem is created, making it impossible for a mage to approach an active golem.”
“What
