Read Online Night Watch 05 - The New Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko - Free Book Online
Authors: Sergei Lukyanenko
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now – there’s nothing.’
‘Are you forecasting the end of the world, then?’ Jermenson asked him. ‘Is there really nothing afterwards?’
‘No, not necessarily,’ Glyba said, with a frown. ‘With your experience, Emmanuilovich, you ought to be familiar with the basics of divination. A diviner’s “blindness” results from a situation in which the immediate future is being affected by forces that surpass the diviner’s powers by at least one order of magnitude. That is, for the second rank it would have to be a First-Level Magician, for the first level – a Higher Magician . . .’
‘And that leaves us with a quite remarkable conclusion: a force has appeared in Moscow that surpasses the powers of a Higher Magician by an entire order of magnitude,’ Gesar summed up. ‘I don’t know about you, but to me that seems pretty close to the apocalypse . . .’
‘Uncle Gesar.’ Nadya raised her hand down at the far end of the table, where she was sitting with Svetlana. ‘The powers of Higher Ones can’t differ by an order of magnitude, they taught us that in school . . .’
Gesar frowned. ‘Nadya, let’s do without the “Uncle”. You’re . . . er . . .’
‘A big girl now,’ Nadya said amenably. ‘Well, they taught us that the Power possessed by Higher Magicians is practically identical: minor fluctuations measured in the course of direct confrontations of strength like the “press” are of no significance and are not stable. One day one Higher Other has more pure Power, the next day another one does. The most significant factors in confrontations between Higher Ones are experience and the tactics applied in combat.’
‘The exception to the rule?’ Gesar asked curiously.
‘So-called “Zero-Order Magicians” like me,’ Nadya replied without any superfluous modesty. ‘We infinitely surpass the Power of any other magicians, including Higher Magicians, because theoretically we can create a spell with any degree of Power.’
‘With any degree of Power, within the limits of the magical energy that exists on Earth,’ Gesar added. ‘Be more precise in your formulation!’
‘Yes, I just didn’t have time to finish,’ said Nadya.
She wormed her way out of that neatly!
‘All right. A-minus,’ said Gesar. ‘So what did you want to say?’
‘How can there be a magician who surpasses a Higher Clairvoyant by an order of magnitude? He’s either a Zero-Order Magician, or a . . .’
‘Well, well?’ Gesar encouraged her.
‘Or not a magician at all.’ Nadya suddenly felt embarrassed and snuggled up against her mother. Svetlana put her arm round her shoulders. I caught my daughter’s eye and nodded approvingly.
‘We cannot entirely exclude the existence of another Zero-Order Magician,’ said Gesar. ‘But none of the prerequisites exist.’
‘And that includes any prophecies concerning it,’ remarked Glyba. ‘But Nadya was foretold.’
‘Let’s examine the other possibilities,’ said Gesar. ‘A magician, even a Zero-Order one, is only a magician.’
‘A Mirror?’ Svetlana asked quietly.
There was a tense silence.
A Mirror is bad news. He’s very bad news, because it’s practically impossible to fight against him. A mirror is generated by the Twilight – that is, no one really knows why any particular, ordinary, uninitiated Other with an indeterminate aura, who is inclined equally towards the Light and the Darkness, becomes transformed into a Mirror Magician, and how it happens. But we do know in general why the Mirror appears and what happens after that. The Mirror shows up at a place where the balance between the Light and the Darkness has been seriously disrupted, and then joins the losing side. He eliminates the gap. And in the most direct fashion possible – either by killing magicians or by taking away their power. Eleven years earlier Svetlana had lost most of her power – and we were very lucky that she had been able to restore herself so quickly.
‘It
‘Are you forecasting the end of the world, then?’ Jermenson asked him. ‘Is there really nothing afterwards?’
‘No, not necessarily,’ Glyba said, with a frown. ‘With your experience, Emmanuilovich, you ought to be familiar with the basics of divination. A diviner’s “blindness” results from a situation in which the immediate future is being affected by forces that surpass the diviner’s powers by at least one order of magnitude. That is, for the second rank it would have to be a First-Level Magician, for the first level – a Higher Magician . . .’
‘And that leaves us with a quite remarkable conclusion: a force has appeared in Moscow that surpasses the powers of a Higher Magician by an entire order of magnitude,’ Gesar summed up. ‘I don’t know about you, but to me that seems pretty close to the apocalypse . . .’
‘Uncle Gesar.’ Nadya raised her hand down at the far end of the table, where she was sitting with Svetlana. ‘The powers of Higher Ones can’t differ by an order of magnitude, they taught us that in school . . .’
Gesar frowned. ‘Nadya, let’s do without the “Uncle”. You’re . . . er . . .’
‘A big girl now,’ Nadya said amenably. ‘Well, they taught us that the Power possessed by Higher Magicians is practically identical: minor fluctuations measured in the course of direct confrontations of strength like the “press” are of no significance and are not stable. One day one Higher Other has more pure Power, the next day another one does. The most significant factors in confrontations between Higher Ones are experience and the tactics applied in combat.’
‘The exception to the rule?’ Gesar asked curiously.
‘So-called “Zero-Order Magicians” like me,’ Nadya replied without any superfluous modesty. ‘We infinitely surpass the Power of any other magicians, including Higher Magicians, because theoretically we can create a spell with any degree of Power.’
‘With any degree of Power, within the limits of the magical energy that exists on Earth,’ Gesar added. ‘Be more precise in your formulation!’
‘Yes, I just didn’t have time to finish,’ said Nadya.
She wormed her way out of that neatly!
‘All right. A-minus,’ said Gesar. ‘So what did you want to say?’
‘How can there be a magician who surpasses a Higher Clairvoyant by an order of magnitude? He’s either a Zero-Order Magician, or a . . .’
‘Well, well?’ Gesar encouraged her.
‘Or not a magician at all.’ Nadya suddenly felt embarrassed and snuggled up against her mother. Svetlana put her arm round her shoulders. I caught my daughter’s eye and nodded approvingly.
‘We cannot entirely exclude the existence of another Zero-Order Magician,’ said Gesar. ‘But none of the prerequisites exist.’
‘And that includes any prophecies concerning it,’ remarked Glyba. ‘But Nadya was foretold.’
‘Let’s examine the other possibilities,’ said Gesar. ‘A magician, even a Zero-Order one, is only a magician.’
‘A Mirror?’ Svetlana asked quietly.
There was a tense silence.
A Mirror is bad news. He’s very bad news, because it’s practically impossible to fight against him. A mirror is generated by the Twilight – that is, no one really knows why any particular, ordinary, uninitiated Other with an indeterminate aura, who is inclined equally towards the Light and the Darkness, becomes transformed into a Mirror Magician, and how it happens. But we do know in general why the Mirror appears and what happens after that. The Mirror shows up at a place where the balance between the Light and the Darkness has been seriously disrupted, and then joins the losing side. He eliminates the gap. And in the most direct fashion possible – either by killing magicians or by taking away their power. Eleven years earlier Svetlana had lost most of her power – and we were very lucky that she had been able to restore herself so quickly.
‘It
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