Magic Arc
Dedicated to Rachel Indeed, whose comment inspired this chapter.
Sherlock Holmes was in shock. Throughout the cab ride and his admittance into the club premises, his usually quick witted brain had temporarily frozen. A great many things had occurred after his crossing that were wholly unexpected. He had not expected to find Watson so soon, for instance or the strange innovations and technologies that existed here. However, all these things could not compare to his reaction garnered from receiving a single, terse invitation that morning because for all the unexpected things that this world brought, a letter from his brother was not something he was not expecting at all.
He passed by a sitting room filled with dark clad gentleman, the silence among them almost a presence of its own. Shock or not, his memory was as sharp as ever and he instantly recognized three of the gentlemen present. Two of them were acquaintances of his father and the other was an ex-dean at the sister Academy to the west. They were Magus, all of them, confirming what he suspected when he crossed the threshold. There was magic here and it was old.
He was led to a visitor's room where his brother stood with his back to him, facing the window out into the London streets. Holmes halted in the middle of the room. Though he had already ascertained all of the necessary data to determine that the man before him was irrefutably his brother, he was wary of his intentions for being here and thus allowed for Mycroft to make the first move.
"This was a reckless and rather foolish use of the Ascension ceremony, brother mine," Mycroft said, still staring out the window. "And here I thought your attention to your studies was driven by ambition. Not even I had been offered reception into the ranks of Magus until I was nearly upon my thirtieth year. A waste, to be sure."
"I do not agree," Holmes replied.
Mycroft finally turned to face him. "You have been exiled. Have you even considered, just for a moment, the serious consequences of your actions?"
"I have. I lose very little from being barred return through the Veil. Since the death of our mother, Father has been putting more and more of his efforts into the war in the Heavenly Realms. Now that I have discovered the location of your secret research, I suppose relations with you shall not be as strained as I would have anticipated. I in fact gain the most from remaining here. I had never aspired to teach or act as a caretaker while in the ranks of Magus. At least here, I may be with Watson and I am in no danger of squandering my intellect even if I must restrain my other gifts."
"You have met with the Keepers, then?"
"Yes, they found me shortly after the crossing and outlined the punishments of which could be inflicted upon me if I were to break the provisions of my welcome. So yes, dear brother, I do think I grasp the consequences of my actions. Some of the tortures they described were not at all pleasant."
Mycroft sighed at the biting tone his younger brother employed. "This is not a nice place, Sherlock."
Holmes frowned at his brother's sudden change in mood. "It is as good as any other, I would expect. It is not so very different."
"You have not been here long enough. You do not yet realize. You have seen of course, passing in the streets and such, the age of some of the people here?"
"Yes," Holmes answered, reluctantly as he tried to understand what point his brother was trying to emphasize.
"They are old. They age and eventually time will wear away their bodies and minds. It happens to everyone born in this world. You have not yet felt its effects, but you will start to. In a few years, you will notice the change. The flow of magic here is stunted. You still have a connection to it because you were born with it and you have trained enough to reach for it, but here, its presence in your blood is not enough to supersede the effects of time like it did in our world. Those without magical ability in our world perish prematurely because of the inability of their magic to sustain a renewable life force. That is why we send them here."
The blood in Holmes' veins turned to ice. "But the Magus I saw in the drawing room, why are they here? What is this place?"
"This, Sherlock, is where immortals come to die."
A/N: Dear readers, the easiest way for me to come up with ideas for the Magic Arc is when you guys drop in a review with a helpful little, "I wonder…" think-out-loud speculations which allow me to bounce around ideas. I still have a small bucketful of half-baked ideas whirling around me head, but I always appreciate more fuel for the fire. Thanks all!
