Rise of the Champions - Chapter Sixteen

Author: Milady Dragon

Ianto didn't fight the tiny grin as he and Phil and Stephen entered the main room of the Archives, startling the Wizards who were working in the large study room.

He thought they must be an impressive sight, all three Grand Masters coming in together, with their dragons in attendance; they would be the only visitors allowed with their companions past the study room and within the Archives themselves, mainly because Myfanwy had been present from the very beginning and shared the love of history her companion had, and was the least likely to cause commotion. Agamotto had been there many times as well, but for Lola this was her first visit, and she moved at Phil's side with pride, her head held high, looking every part a daughter of the Queen and Air and Fire that she was.

Grand Master privilege, and all that. Ianto wasn't ashamed to exploit that sort of thing sometimes.

It was a bit of a mistake when people claimed that Ianto had been the one to excavate the main Archives from the bedrock of Gateway. It had actually been his time-displaced other self, the man who'd renamed himself Daffyd Jones and who had been the first Baron of Gateway and Headmaster of the Wizard's School, who'd done most of the actual work. Ianto had been busy, out with Jack and original his team, searching for magical children to send on to the school. In those early days, it had been their band of former mercenaries that had been responsible for the majority of the Testing; it had still been done in most larger cities, a holdover from times long past – Ianto himself had been Tested when he'd been a child – but in the rural areas it had all been on their team, until they could train others to take over. After that, they'd gone looking for any Artifacts that didn't need to be out there in the world, bringing them to the Archives for storage and study.

So, while Daffyd had been the one who'd built the Archives, Ianto had been the one to fill them. And, despite not spending much time there, Ianto had also been Head Archivist. That had been on Daffyd's insistence, and Ianto had never quite given up the title. He was still the one who trained any Archivists who wanted to work there, and was the one that his traveling band of Archivists, the ones who went out to investigate most of the newly-discovered Artifacts and brought them back to the Archives, reported to.

However, he had been responsible for a lot of the spell work involved. When Daffyd had lost his version of the Deathless to the Silver Devastation, he'd severed his link to the Deep Ways, losing much of his own magic in the process. Ianto, who still had his own connection, had had the power to put up the strongest of the wards, seeking help from various other Wizards when needed. So, he supposed he had done quite a lot of work himself, even if it hadn't been with the actual excavation.

The Master Archivist on duty, Cameron Klein, bustled over to them, his own dragon greeting the three others with welcoming chirps and nose bumps. "Grand Masters!" he exclaimed, nearly squeaking in his surprise. "How can I help you?"

"We're going into the lowest Secure Archive," Ianto answered. "We don't know how long we'll be, so please make the next Archivist on duty aware of our presence, please."

"I will." The Great Wizard was obviously curious, but he was also discreet; he wasn't about to ask what they wanted down there.

The Secure Archives held only the most dangerous of Artifacts. They weren't necessarily the most powerful; only those that could cause the most death and mayhem were kept locked away. Disturbingly, there were quite a few of them, and it had Ianto wondering just what it had been about those ancient Wizards that had had them deciding to enchant such weapons of mass destruction. If anyone unscrupulous somehow got into that section of the Archives…he shivered, recalling the time he'd escorted the former Grand Master of Voids, Alexander Pierce, down there when the man had requested to see one of the Artifacts. Luckily, the area was warded against any sort of infiltration magic, or spells against removing anything without authorization, else Hydra would have had a field day with the items stored there.

Ianto made a mental note to have an inventory done, just for his own peace of mind.

He led his fellows into the corridor off the main room, down into the depths of the world. The deeper they went, the stronger Ianto could feel the Deep Ways curling about him; there had been rumor that Gateway had been founded on a Cardinal Point, but that wasn't exactly true. The area had been flooded with magic when Lady Rose had stolen the lifeforce of the Nameless Demons, who had been set on destroying everything in their path. When she couldn't hold all of that inside, it had burst forth, saturating the land and creating the Deathless. Jack, who had been butchered by the rampaging demons, had been forcibly brought back to life, and had lived ever since, the lifeforce of those demons bringing him back from death every time.

They knew that, someday, Jack would run out of that lifeforce, and would stay dead for good. On that day, Ianto would sever his own connection to the Deep Ways, and join him.

However, that day was a long time off. For now, they were together, and the would be together for as close to eternity as they could get.

The farther down they got, the stronger the magic became. It was the major reason Ianto had decided to store the most dangerous things down so deep, because it was so much easier to harness the Deep Ways down there in order to protect them. He could see Phil, the pinched expression on his face, and he felt guilty about not warning him that the artificial Cardinal Point that was Gateway would only get more powerful.

"It's fine," his counterpart said when Ianto apologized for the lack of warning. "I was expecting it, actually, so I've cast a few protections that will help. Besides, I'm used to being pinged with the Deep Ways by now. While Daisy isn't on this level, it's still nothing I can't handle."

Stephen wasn't being affected at all, but then his magic wasn't the direct opposite of Ianto's. As a matter of fact, while the Great Wizard couldn't harness what was around them, he was technically the balance between Phil and Ianto himself. The natural magic of the universe wouldn't be disturbed by the heavy weight of the Deep Ways thrumming in the very air they were breathing.

The Secure Archives were hidden away from any other storage areas, for safety purposes. When Daffyd had had the Archives excavated, he'd made certain there was a place where such things could be stored. When Daffyd had retired, Ianto had come in behind him and shored up the spells already laid in, putting as much power behind each and every ward he could. The door that was at the very bottom of the Archives was carved with every single arcane rune he'd been able to locate. The wood of that door practically glowed in Ianto's magical sight; he could only imagine what it looked like to both Phil and Stephen.

The Void Wizard whistled. "Ianto, when you get a moment, I would like to get a copy of that Revulsion spell you've come up with."

Ianto smiled at the compliment. One of the best ways a Wizard showed respect was to ask for a spell that another Wizard was responsible for. "You'll have it," he promised. He, himself, had found the original spell in an ancient Void Wizard gramariya, and he had no doubt that Phil would make it work even better than Ianto himself had.

Maybe he should just gift that gramariya to his friend. It was in his personal library, and he wasn't really using it. He made a mental note to do just that, since Phil would get much more good out of it than Ianto ever would.

Stepping up to the door, he pressed his hand to the rune for the Recognition spell. "I'm the only person keyed to this particular ward," he explained as the magic tingled against his palm, identifying him by his personal aura. "I want to go ahead and key the pair of you to it, as well." He hadn't done that to any of the previous Grand Masters, but these two…he trusted them in ways he hadn't trusted anyone else. He wouldn't have been able to explain why that was, just that his instincts were telling him that both Phil and Stephen were important, that what the three of them did in the days to come would have lasting effects on the rest of the world for a very long time to come.

Perhaps it was the Deep Ways, whispering to him the way Phil had claimed the Void did to him. He honestly couldn't say, but he was willing to also trust that little prodding that was showing him that the two other Wizards were perfectly trustworthy.

"Are you sure about that?" Phil asked softly, uncertainly, and it had to have been that he was afraid of becoming tempted by what was behind that door. It would take a lifetime for him to truly heal from being the Dark One.

Ianto hated that uncertainty, even though he could understand it. Phil had spent the last eleven years trying to bury his past, and it had reared its ugly head once more when Hydra had approached him. It hadn't helped that he'd been outed in front of the Quorum, even though that had, in fact, turned out for the best. Phil had claimed that he was glad, that he was tired of hiding, but Ianto figured there would still be times when it would all come back to haunt him.

Like now, in the face of Ianto's trust in him.

"I'm positive." Ianto put his free hand on his friend's shoulder. "Phil, you are so much more than the Dark One, and I will spend as long as it takes in proving that to you. You having access to the Secure Archives will help in that."

"You're not about to go power-mad," Stephen added. "If becoming Grand Master didn't do it, then a bunch of pretty baubles isn't going to do it, either."

Phil took a deep breath. "Alright, fine. Let's do this. You're right, Stephen; even as the Dark One, it wasn't about power. It was about anger, and the need to make everyone else hurt as much as I did. That's behind me now, I've healed, and me having access to the Secure Archives isn't going to tip me back over into villainy."

Syncing the two with the ward was fairly simple; all it took was for them each to touch the rune that signified the Recognition spell, then tweak the threads of the magic just slightly. As Ianto watched with his magical sight, he saw twin strands of Void and Great magic join with his own strand of Deep Ways, until they were a single, entwined line that bisected the original ward.

"There," he said, once it was done, "you both can enter this room at any time without me. The ward will Recognize you, and you just need to use your own Archive keys to let yourselves in, which I'll get for you when we get done here." Suiting action to words, Ianto pulled his own key from his pocket, inserting the length of polished and bespelled brass into the lock, turning it with precision.

Then, Ianto stepped into the room, feeling the wards wrap around him like old friends: Protection, and Preservation, and a Warning glyph that would alarm whenever someone even attempted to get into the room without the proper clearance. On the first flooring paver just inside the door was a Disintegration spell he'd originally come across in a wrecked Wizard's Tower, on his first mission with Jack and his original team, before he'd come to the realization that he was a Wizard, and more powerful than he'd ever known. That spell was also the first one he'd ever unpicked, taking it apart like his father had once done with clothing seams, back when he'd still been alive and had been plying his trade as a tailor.

The Disintegration spell was also the first dark spell he'd ever attempted. He'd hated it at the time but, with what was in this room, it was for the best. These Artifacts were simply too dangerous to risk them getting out of the Archives, and beyond Ianto's ability to watch over them.

There was a part of him that hated the idea of destroying any Artifact; that was the Archivist in him. The Wizard part of him could see the need for it, if it was even possible to accomplish.

The room wasn't the largest in the Archives; but then, it didn't need to be. There were an even dozen Artifacts stored within, and Ianto was familiar with each and every one of them, almost intimately.

There was the Glove and the Dagger, his first dangerous Artifacts, the ones he'd gone with Jack originally to find…the ones that had corrupted Suzie for a time, until Ianto had been forced to stop her from murdering him while she'd been under their control. They'd been created in order to kill Jack for the final time, by a Wizard who'd believed the Deathless was an abomination, and Ianto hated them with everything he had.

The rest he'd either collected himself, or had found in the original Archive at Torchwood Castle and managed to secret away. Every single one of them deadly; together, Ianto didn't want to even consider what chaos they would wreak upon an unsuspecting world.

Locket of Insanity.

Pendant of Souls.

Disintegrator Wand.

Life Flask.

Resonation Flute.

Nightmare Stone.

Spirit Box.

The Eye of Dogon.

Pestilence Sphere.

And, last but certainly not the least, Loki's Spear.

It was shorter than a usual spear, cast from one single piece of silver metal, deadly curved blade taking almost a third of its length. The glowing blue stone had been set just at the beginning of the curve of the blade, the sight of it making the Cardinal Wizard shiver slightly as its magical aura touched his own personal shields.

"I remember seeing that for the first time," Phil murmured. "To me, it looked like some sort of hybrid of Deep Ways and Void, but now that I'm looking at it again…it doesn't belong here, on this world. It's alien, anathema."

Ianto turned to regard his friend. Phil's eyes were awash with Void, making his face seem even paler than it must have gone at seeing the very weapon that had once killed him and taken his lover away from him. The Wizard was rubbing his chest, and it had to be an unconscious movement; Ianto just knew it was above the place where it must have protruded from his body when Loki had shoved it through his back. Lola was perfectly still beside her companion, her own eyes gone black, and she suddenly hissed, her body shimmering slightly and increasing in size for about a heartbeat, then the dragon was back to her usual form. Myfanwy, seeing her friend's distress, was at Lola's side almost at once, leaning against the other dragon in support.

"He's right," Stephen said, his own eyes golden with magic. On his shoulders, Agamotto was also glowing softly, his scales appearing as it lit from within. "I have no idea where Loki got it from, but it's ancient, and not from this world at all."

Then he blinked, his eyes focusing on another of the Artifacts. "What is that?" he demanded.

"I call it the Pendant of Souls," Ianto answered. "It…has the ability to steal the very soul from a person, storing it within itself." It was a solid silver, round, a yellow stone glowing within the setting. Arcane runes encircled the stone, which was where Ianto had gotten the name of it from.

"It also doesn't belong here," the Great Wizard proclaimed, echoing Ianto's original assessment of the thing. "It's as old as the gemstone in the spear and, while I can't swear to it, I'm leaning toward believing that they were created by the same Wizard."

That…hadn't occurred to Ianto. He took another look at both objects, using his magical sight, and considered that Stephen might be correct in that assumption. While they had completely different auras, there was a thread of something between them, that same otherworldliness they both shared.

"And, Ianto," Stephen added, "just how did you work out what these Artifacts did?" His eyes narrowed, and the Cardinal Wizard knew he didn't really need to answer.

Before he'd discovered being a Wizard, Ianto had been Tested as a Catalyst, which meant all he needed to do was touch a magical Artifact to get it to work. That ability had gained him the position as the youngest Master Archivist ever for Torchwood Castle, and free reign of the Archives. His first duty had been to attempt to discover what various Artifacts actually did, and to adapt them for use by Barony Cardiff.

That was how he'd found the Locket.

Oh, he'd known there was something off about the locket, but he hadn't had enough experience to know what that was. Of course now, with everything he'd learned since, he could tell the Artifact was actual a very powerful curse, but back then…

Gods, he'd been so young and naïve, filled with the overconfidence that having some small magicks in a nearly magicless world inevitably brought.

It had cost an apprentice their life.

He'd wanted to resign, but Ianto had known at the time that it would have been impossible. That Baroness Gwen Williams wouldn't have let him out of the contract he'd signed when he'd taken on the job. Still, it had taught him caution, and not to touch things he didn't have any knowledge of, until he could do his best to discover what an Artifact actually was. He'd trained his Catalyst ability until he could look at something and get an idea of what sort of magic it had and, when he couldn't, it would automatically get locked up into the Archives at the Castle until he could find out more about it. It made him even better at this work than he'd been before.

It really hadn't been worth losing that poor apprentice to noisy madness.

Phil glanced at him sharply, putting it all together himself and obviously coming up with the correct answer, if the gentle hand on his shoulder was any indication. The Void that shifted just under his friend's skin was, in this instance, actually comforting, and Ianto nodded in gratitude.

These two knew what he could do, had guessed that something terrible had occurred, but weren't judging him for it. After all, they both knew the price of their power, Phil more than Stephen, and would never call him out on his mistakes.

They'd all made them. It was the nature of being human.

Even if a couple of those humans were immortal. Possibly, that made the chance of errors even greater, since they had so much more time to make them.

"Let's take care of this spear," he said, not vocally acknowledging any of what his friends had deduced. But then, he really didn't need to, did he?

"Agreed," Phil gave him a small, sympathetic, smile. "The sooner that thing is destroyed, the better I'll feel. And I'll get a bit of pleasure out of breaking the weapon that killed me."