Manathus and His Illusions
The Never Ending Quest - Episode 38696
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"And another thing. If your human body that we can see is just an
illusion, as you claimed, then how are you able to hold that vial?" Fred
was more and more confused by this mage, who apparently acted without
purpose and in general was just getting to be very irritating." "Your highness, do you really underestimate my powers so much? This vial is nothing more than an illusion as well. I had intended to show you through my magic of illusions the vial of antidote that I am looking for, but you really think I'm full of continuity errors and the like. Well, I'm not, I've just been very flustered by several hundred years of searching in vain for the vial. So if I come off a little...what's the word...random? just remember that I've resorted to several hundred years of random actions trying anything to locate that darned vial." Fred was still puzzled. "You said that 'It is said that somewhere in this castle, an Allarian court mage discovered the antidote to the transformation spell,' (37982) yet it took you several hundred years to locate it?" "Well, yes, naturally. Perhaps you, being a simple knight, wouldn't know, but each mage creates a distinct code to protect his spells so that others would not use them to their advantage. The mage who discovered the antidote wrote in a book-cipher, in which different words in a book known only to him made up the message. So far, I have deciphered two of the three messages, those saying what the object is and where it is located. However, the position-giving message, as I deciphered it, ended with the words, 'Where the knight moves to capture the castle, there shall the potion be found.' Seeing that this castle has never fallen to a single knight, I am at a loss." Astra asked, "You said there were three messages. What of the third?" Manathus stayed calm despite Astra's apparently hostile tone. "I have a suspicion that the book with which to understand the third message is the Allarian Book of Knowledge, which can only be opened by an Allarian court mage. Thus, I cannot even guess what the third message implies." Fred leaned over and whispered to Astra, "I'm still not so sure about that whole illusion thing. I've never seen magic like that anywhere, and I'm pretty sure he's lying about something, though I don't know what." He obviously did not speak softly enough, because Manathus immediately said, "Doubt my illusion powers, do you? Well, try this!" The room turned into a dense jungle. "Or this!" The room went pitch black, and only the sound of bats could be heard. "Or this!" The room looked suspiciously like the chamber in which Fred and Velus had found Astra chained to the wall. To Astra, it even felt that way, as she struggled to move. "Or this!" Finally, the room returned to normal. "Doubt my power now, do you? Well, I guess you're not used to such things. And now that you know what I have done, and what I can do, I hope you will see things my way from now on." He disappeared with an audible POP. Fred and Astra looked at each other, speechless. Astra finally took charge. "I guess we better get out of here and help Manathus find that knight." But the room was not as it was before.
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2/11/2004 5:36:38 PM
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