Chapter 4132: Lost in Time (Part 1)

"The most powerful artifact of its time, to which its maker gave sentience and independence." Baba Yaga said.

"In the most ancient and fragmented stories, however, the Black Throne is described not as a mage tower, but as a powerful cursed object shaped like a tower born from a mage’s obsession with immortality.

"In this version of the myth, the Black Throne was Forgemastered by a powerful Awakened at the end of his lifespan who had tried and failed to achieve the white core. His idea was to become one with his creation.

"To fuse his body with the stone and his mana core with the artifact’s pseudo cores, forcing his way into the white core by sharing the burden that such power entailed with the tower."

"It’s a terrible idea!" Silverwing said. "A white core is more than a power source. Sure, if his project succeeded, the self-repair enchantments of his tower would have stopped his aging process, and he could have preserved his remaining life span by burning the world energy via the artifact, but there are countless ways it could go wrong.

"For example, his body might have exploded because incapable of withstanding so much raw power, but thanks to the bond with the tower, he wouldn’t be allowed to die. He might have ended up trapped in an eternal cycle of death and rebirth.

"Given time, the agony would be enough to drive even the best of us insane."

"A terrible idea indeed, but when death is a certainty, it doesn’t look so bad." Baba Yaga said. "Especially when you use Forbidden Magic to cut corners and make others pay the price for your foolishness."

"Ethics and prudence aside, why do you think we met the Black Throne?" Lith asked.

"I was getting there." The Mother raised her hands. "As I was saying, the old Awakened wanted to achieve eternal life and the power of a white core. Alas, Forbidden Magic rarely gives you what you want the way you want it.

"The ancient stories tell that instead of reaching the white core, the mage accidentally obtained a mage tower. Moreover, something went terribly wrong with the spell, and the mage then tried to enslave the Awakened Council to find a cure for his condition.

"The Council later defeated the Black Throne with the help of Arghon For, the mage credited with building the first real mage tower. Yet they failed to kill the Black Throne due to his nature as a cursed object, and he managed to escape."

"This is nice and all, but it doesn’t explain how such a relic could be more than a dignified paperweight today." Menadion said. "That thing was good. Its cloaking system fooled my Eyes.

"I don’t think it was more powerful than my tower, but it sure pulled a few tricks not even Starforge can perform. Like draining a mana geyser from a distance."

"That’s because it’s not a thing, Ripha. It’s a person." Baba Yaga replied. "Body and core fusion, remember? The members of the Awakened Council who survived the enslavement and the conflict wrote that the Black Throne can replace its enchantments.

"You can consider each floor as a huge spell-holding ring that can permanently store any form of magic until the Black Throne finds something better. The ancient Awakened witnessed the mind behind the Black Throne stealing their bloodline legacies and making them his own.

"Unlike the other cursed objects you’ve met, the Black Thone is capable of altering itself without Creation Magic. It would explain how it possesses modern spells and arrays and how it survived until this day."

"What about the propulsion system?" Dawn asked. "If he can upgrade himself, why not change that to a more efficient enchantment as well?"

"As I said, it can’t." The Mother shook her head. "Enchantments are just runes and energy. Just like you can conjure many different spells with your mind, the Black Thone can alter its enchantments.

"The structure of the floors, however, is linked to the body. Assuming the Black Throne knows how to Tower Warp like Starforge or to run on legs like Bloodhaven, he would need to rearrange its entire structure to implement them.

"Both enchantments require a synergy between multiple floors of our towers. Starforge marks a geyser that it can later track and use as a dimensional beacon, or it couldn’t cross such long distances.

"It also needs the ability to read and ride the flow of world energy. As for Bloodhaven, those ’simple’ chicken legs require the ability to move faster than Dragonspeed without breaking under the mass of my tower or killing those inside.

"Then, there is the ability to perceive and avoid obstacles while moving at that speed, or Bloodhaven would trip on every hill and trample across every city I meet. There is, of course, more, but you get the gist of it.

"The Black Throne can’t do anything like that. His floors can’t synergize with each other because he didn’t think about it in the planning phase. Even worse, the Black Throne can’t even rearrange the order of his floors more than you can swap your lungs with your kidneys.

"The bond between artifact and body limits the alterations the Black Thone can apply to his physical structure. The slightest change would require the equivalent of Body Sculpting, and you all know how dangerous that is."

"How did they defeat him?" Solus asked.

"The details are unclear." Baba Yaga shrugged. "A great, majestic battle of good against evil and all that nonsense. I doubt half the people mentioned in the victory record did half of what they claim.

"The only thing I believe about the records of the battle is that they overpowered and outnumbered him. I doubt For’s mage tower was much better than the Black Throne, but he didn’t fight alone."

"What about him?" Lith asked. "Why isn’t his name sung and celebrated in the Awakened records? I mean, he Forgemastered the first tower and played a key role in defeating the Black Throne. Why credit the bad guy?"

"Because as soon as the battle was over, For was killed by his allies." Baba Yaga said. "Or rather, the Awakened of the time claim he ’succumbed to a mysterious poison during the victory banquet’, but we all know that’s bullshit.

"The Awakened spent more ink whining about For’s tower self-destructing upon his demise than about the circumstances of his death. They even blame him for adding such an enchantment to his tower and for ’not entrusting his legacy to the future generations’."

"So, they killed him and blamed him for not playing ball and leaving them nothing to plunder?" Lith raised an eyebrow.

"Exactly." Baba Yaga nodded. "And since his tower was gone and the Black Throne was still up for the grabs..."

"There was no reason to leave records of their betrayal and leave a permanent mark of infamy on their bloodlines." Menadion completed the phrase for her. "For’s tower was already lost, so they preserved only the memory of the Black Throne."

"If you ask me, they did a pretty poor job." Dawn said. "Why did the story change so much? Why did so many crucial details get lost in time?"

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