Coeus?

by Andur

  As I think about the boy I wince. In my family tree are a lot of magicians with the particular trait of techno-magic, which is a higher form of the elemental electro-magic branch. The problem with this power is that your mind gets accelerated. Affected children have to be treated with extraordinary care and require special guidance.

  Arend sighs upon realizing that I am not entirely with him. “Was it that bad? Being in his mind?”

  “I didn't fully realize his state that time, but he shut himself in a single empty room with a few screens to interact with the outside world. Apparently he was using the internet quite excessively. There was nothing else there.” Taking a look at the file, which we gathered on him, I can't help it but to feel sad for the child. “Gideon Oberon, six years old. Mother died when he was one. The supposed father had to face a trial for child abuse when the kid was four. The child was brought to the asylum around that time because he entered a comatose state.”

  I add the dates up and wince. “That means he was a little over a year in that state. And there was nobody who could help him to understand his circumstances.”

  “Depending on his ability he probably spent years in his own little world.” My husband shakes his head and corrects his short, dark hair with one hand.

  I smile at his rough looks. He isn't taking it very seriously with his outside appearance, which often results in him carrying a beard of several days age.

  Our conversation is interrupted by a doctor exiting the examination room. He is slim and wearing much too big clothes for him. His hair is grey and his face has more wrinkles than I want to count. I notice that his use of magic caused his ears to turn long and pointy. He doesn't bother with hiding his deformation and carries it with dignity. Upon noticing us, he looks up from a sheet of paper in his hand. “Ah, it's good that the two of you were waiting for me. We have some things to discuss.”

  I blink and hand the report to the doctor. “Of course were waiting for you. Can you give this to the faceless who are going to show up for the kid?”

  The faceless are the magical police, but they don't deserve to be called that way. They are tough guys and a word from them is enough to cause someone serious problems. Cause problems to one of them and you can be sure that your place is crawling with dozens of them within minutes.

  I don't want to meet them since they have the tendency to ask unpleasant questions. “They'll bring the kid to the ones who are responsible for him.”

  The doctor shakes his head. “I called them off since they aren't needed.” He smiles weakly and seems to be happy that there aren't going to be any inquisitive people with far too many rights in his office.

  “What do you mean by that?” My husband asks.

  “I mean that the people who are responsible for this child are you two.” He points a haggard finger at us. “We analysed his DNA and compared it to the mage population in our database. Surprisingly we couldn't find a match for the father, which is surprising since he is a pure mage.

  But there is match for the mother, there are two in fact: Rhiannon Alvar and Sadina Alvar. Since we have a complete record for you, the only one who can be the boy's mother is your sister Sadina Alvar. But she went missing twelve years ago.” The old man hands me a sheet of paper, which is snatched away by my husband.

  “Are you absolutely sure of this!?” He snaps at the old man, who is so surprised that he takes a step back.

  “Please don't doubt my professionalism. I am absolutely sure that our results are correct. I am sorry if this information causes trouble for you.” The doctor places his hands behind his back and struggles to keep a friendly expression.

  I sit down on one of the chairs which are lining the corridor's walls and start chewing on my nail. “My sister had a child? And left it with the normals?” I would have never thought that someone from my family could fall so deep, but apparently my sister caused us more trouble than I expected until now. The world starts spinning as I try to make sense of everything.

  Years ago my sister hurt a lot of people and fled from the authorities for unknown reasons. She went into hiding and we searched for her ever since. After some years I thought that I would never see her again and got over it, accepting her disappearance.

  A day ago we found an unexpected hint on her whereabouts. It led us to a small town in Nordas, where we stumbled across weak magical activity and found the boy instead of her. “We have to check if she is really dead.”

  Arend grabs my hand to reassure me. “I think that matter won't run away from us.” He turns to the doctor. “What about the boy.”

  The doctor shrugs his shoulders. “He'll survive, though he has to undergo heavy treatment. His muscles are atrophied. Some organs were about to fail, but it was nothing which we can't cure. The child was about to die when you found him.”

  The doctor pauses for a moment to collect his thoughts. “He is stable for now. I am much more concerned about his mental state. He woke up during our examination and tried to cut my assistant with a scalpel. You know someone who is specialized on 'cases' like him?”

  I nod. “We have several techno mages in our family tree. They tend to show... strange behaviour.”

  “That's good. Coincidentally I know a little about this affinity and he is a very problematic case. I put the boy to sleep and sealed his magic. You know how to remove a basic rune seal?” He waits until my husband nods in confirmation and goes on. “Then all that's left for you to do is to take him with you. Here are my recommendations regarding his treatment and I want to see the child once a week.” He hands my husband a sheet of paper and leaves, walking down the corridor and turning around a corner.

  Arend looks down on me. “Are you alright?”

  I sigh and get to my feet. “Yes, it just got to me.” Upon entering the examination room I find the boy lying on the only bed in the room. The child looks like a zombie with his eyes deep in their sockets and all signs of undernourishment. The only thing that hints at him being my sister's son is the black hair which is similar to hers. At least as I remember her.

  Sighing, I lift the boy from the bed and carry him out of the room, heading for one of the teleportation devices all around the hospital.

  “Shouldn't I carry him?” My husband offers, but I just smile at him. The child is very light and I can carry him even without enhancing myself with magic. “Just dial the destination for home.” I walk towards a circular indention in the corridor's wall. Complicated runes are filling the golden plate on the ground and silver runes are attached to the walls. It's necessary to stabilize a blind teleportation with a magical device. Devices like this are placed all around the city for public use.

  I step into the device and my husband joins me, manipulating the runes of the teleportation device. A moment later the scene around us shifts seamlessly to a walkway through a garden. Our family's estate is located in the outer areas of Aether and while we aren't belonging to the most powerful magical bloodlines, we still own a lot of property. Having access to a lot of techno mages makes you rich, but doesn't give much influence in the upper societies.

  It's evening and the dark towers of our mansion are rising high above us. Forcing myself to stop staring, I enter the mansion and ask my husband to inform the rest of the family.

  Minutes later we are all together in our mansion's living room. My father Hedeon and mother Melan are sitting together on the sofa.

  My daughters are at the table, eyeing the unconscious boy who is lying on one of the couches. Saden is the younger of the two with nine years and Galia is with fourteen about to join the university.

  Arend's parents weren't invited to this meeting since he is from a branch family and essentially only married into our household. It also would have been a little troublesome for them since they are living on Jupiter. A direct teleport from Jupiter to Earth is costly, even for a family with a lot of resources.

  “So you are telling us that this boy is Sadina's son? Did you find her?” Mother asks concernedly. She i
s old, even for a mage. Though her body still belongs to a woman in her twenties. The only sign which is showing her age are her eyes and hair, which turned completely silver. But she can still see perfectly through them.

  “If the information which we got from the normals is correct, then she is dead. We'll confirm them tomorrow.” I close my eyes tiredly.

  “The information about the father at least can't be true.” Hedeon, my father, gestures at the boy. “If it's true that he created his own virtuality, then he is very talented. That's impossible if one of his parents was a normal.”

  A lifetime of using magic caused two horns to grow on my father's forehead, which makes him look like a demon. But unlike my mother he still looks like a man in his thirties.

  “We will learn the truth tomorrow.” Arend tilts his head in a questioning manner. “The question is what to do with the boy.”

  “Can he be saved?” Melan asks.

  “That's what I wanted you to find out, Mother.” I look at her pleadingly. “I don't think that I can distance myself from the situation. It's better if you have a look at him.”

  “As if my situation is any different.” Melan sighs, looking down at the floor. “The problem lies in how long he isolated himself and if he can be taught to deal with other humans. Judging from your description I don't have much hope. What did his avatar look like?”

  “A normal child, five years old and healthy.” I answer.

  “Hm.” Grandmother nods solemnly. “Then it means that he still sees himself as a child in his subconsciousness. It may take a lot of work, but it could be possible to save him. If he had regarded himself as an adult or something completely inhuman I would have said that it's best to put him silently to rest.”

  My mother's words may be harsh, but that's unfortunately the fate of many young techno-mages. Losing yourself in your own ability leads to the comatose state in which we found the boy. It's possible to force someone out of that state, but most victims become so addicted to their own reality that they can't deal with the real world any more.

  Their fate is to slowly wither away until they die, forever caught in their own desires.

  3. ~New Family.~

  “The Central African Union, for short C.A.U, formed out of various African states and is one of the new rising powers on earth. They control almost the complete African continent and the former Arabia, but have bad relationships towards their direct neighbours, Nordas and India.

  The reason for that is their aggressive policy in regard to secure needed farmland. That's because great parts of the African continents turned into desert due to the climate changes.

  The rumoured midnight war was the C.A.U.'s attempt to take control of the fertile regions which were controlled by Nordas and India. This short war was planned as a lightning war operation to present the nations in question with a fait accompli.

  The reason why this operation failed was because Nordas secretly invested in massive defensive infrastructure. The leadership of Nordas did this in anticipation of future friction with the C.A.U.. The result was the complete defeat of the attacking forces.

  The attack on India succeeded and took control of their governing body, but the C.A.U. underestimated the determination of the Russian and Chinese coalition, as well as the Indonesian Kingdom. All three of these nations were using India's space-port as their main launching port for satellites.

  India had profited from the technology transfer from Europe and had given its neighbours free access to their extensive space program and expertise. Not without calculating thoughts as it turned out.

  In fear of losing their free access to the earth's orbit, all of the mentioned nations struck out at the C.A.U. and forced their military to retreat and pay reparations for caused damage and lost lives.”

  History Lesson II

  Aether, The floating City, above the Atlantic Ocean

  Gideon

  I stir in my sleep and open my eyes. Blinking, I try to remember what happened. Why is the ceiling white? The room in my personal reality is painted blue.

  That's right! There was this woman and she did something to me. I sit up, but nausea attacks me and I feel incredible weak. This is my real body.

  By instinct I try to retreat into my own world, but it doesn't work. Did they do something to me? Disoriented I survey the room. It's held completely in white and empty. There is a strange globe floating at the ceiling, spreading a warm light.

  Probably I could have accepted the disturbing globe, but there is a door to my left. A door!

  My old room had no doors. Doors lead somewhere. I don't want to be anywhere else. Probably an annoying human will emerge from that door and question me. What can I do about that? Fight? No, probably I have no chance with this body and my ability doesn't work.

  Something rolls down my cheeks and I wipe the fluid away. Tears? The real world is annoying.

  Taking another look around I concentrate on the bed. It's really big with fluffy blankets and four huge cushions. There is no point in staying idle and the door is irritating me.

  I roll myself out of the bed, but my muscles give way. Realizing that I can't even stand without supporting myself on the bed I abolish the thought of trying to open the door.

  I reach for the cushions and push them to the ground. Then I slide to the floor, pulling the blanket with me. Some exhausting minutes later I am in the corner of the room with the cushions and the blanket around me. I chose the corner which is as far away from the door as possible.

  Closing my eyes I fall asleep again. Hopefully this is just a bad dream. I'll surely wake up and then I am back in my world.

  The clicking of the door's handle wakes me up and I pull one of the cushion's closer, placing it between me and whichever danger is approaching from the door.

  A young woman with silver hair enters the room and freezes, startled upon finding the bed empty.

  Then her eyes wander to me and her expression changes again. She walks over to me and I dig my fingers into the cushion, realizing that I can't even flee into my own world if she starts beating me. She is three times my size, there is no way that I can do anything to stop her.

  She bares her teeth at me. “Hello, Gideon.” Kneeling down in front of me she reaches out and touches my hand. “Are you able to speak?”

  “Please don't bite me!” I manage to answer.

  She exposes her teeth even more. “Why should I bite you?”

  “Because you are bearing your teeth at me? That's the same as dogs do before they bite!” I answer, drawing from my previous experiences.

  Finally she closes her mouth. “I see that we have a lot of work to do. What I just did is called smiling and it means that the person in question is happy and means no harm.”

  “Why should you be happy.” There is no reason for her to be happy.

  “Because I met you, Gideon. You are my grandson. Isn't that a reason to be happy?” The woman replies. At least she isn't exposing her teeth any more.

  I may be unable to understand some things about humans, but at least I can judge someone's age and looks! “You aren't my grandmother! You aren't even old enough to be a grandmother.”

  She sits down cross-legged and I realize for the first time that not only her hair is silver, but also her eyes. They look like they are pure silver. How can she even see through those things? It feels like she is looking right through me.

  “Gideon, this may be surprising, but the people whom you thought to be your father and grandmother aren't related to you by blood. They are... normals, as we call them.” She points at herself. “And I am a magician, as well as your mother and you. My name is Melan Alvar and yours is Gideon Alvar. You belong to a family of magicians.”

  Great. This woman isn't just a freak of nature, she is also crazy! “There is no such thing as magic and magicians.”

  “Then how did you do what you did? Like creating your own virtual space in your mind and connecting to the normal's internet without a computer?” She sna
ps with her fingers and a plushy toy cat appears out of nothing in her hand. Then she pushes it into my hands.

  “H... how? Why?” I blink, not believing it. There are tricks to fool someone, but there is no way that she hid this thing in her sleeve! So I wasn't human after all? Are they aliens!?

  “I am very good at teleportation. Like that.” She snaps her fingers again and this time it's a plush bunny. “I am sorry that we didn't come earlier, but we didn't know of your existence. Your mother did some bad things and fled from the authorities. We magicians are hiding ourselves from the normals. We don't think that it's good to have dealings with them. And I am actually two hundred and forty-eight years old.”

  “Is that why your eyes and hair are so strange?” I ask, looking down on the plush toys. “I don't feel young enough for toys like that.”

  “That's because I used magic for a very long time. The more you use mana, the more your body changes. Do you want to see something cool?” Without waiting for my answer she forms her hands into two cups and rocks her head forward, catching her eyeballs which were ejected from their sockets.

  My eyes bulge as she holds them out for me to see, but my attention isn't on the two silver eyeballs. There are just two empty eye-sockets in her head now. That's... disturbing. “P- please put them back!”

  I believe it! There are clearly no connectors to her brain and the eyeballs are perfect spheres without interfaces. I know of no technology which can replace your eyes like that.

  “Sorry, do you believe me now?” She pushes her eyeballs back into her head.

  “Yes! Just don't do that again.” I offer the toys to her. “I don't know how long I was in my own reality. I didn't count the time in there.”

  She doesn't take them. “Keep them. I think you should use your status as a child as long as you can. Having an appropriate toy helps to fool the people around you.”