4 Terramezic Energy

by John O'Riley

  “I’ll be okay.”

  Hermina vanished in the blink of an eye. Mark found one of the large rooms filled with cots and he flopped down on one. His mind raced over possibilities but he had no idea what kind of white magic could possibly help to rescue Josephine, Maggie, and Alice while at the same time banishing Ludovic and his hostile AI military. As far as he’d observed, light energy healed and defended but it never attacked. In spite of the excitement Hermina stirred in him with her news, he succumbed to exhaustion and fell into a deep slumber. Mark awakened to a complete darkness. He issued a brief pulse of source energy to the six wall sconces in the room and they lit up with ample illumination. He checked his watch and realized he’d been asleep for about twelve hours. He grabbed some rations from the supplies and performed a perimeter scan. Now that Josephine and Alice were adding light energy to the magical network, he was building up white magic to use although it still wasn’t much.

  Mark didn’t detect any hidden passageways so he pushed his awareness out deeper. After several moments, he found the stone door protected by subtle magic which was extremely advanced and few wizards learned it. Josephine had tried when she’d met Brad from the Phoenix Community and seen what he could do but she hadn’t had the time once she’d become an enforcer and began experimenting with Mark on creating hybrid enchantments that combined mainstream and white magic. This facility was huge so it took awhile for Mark to venture to the far corner where the stone door waited. The stone wall showed no signs of containing a door but when Mark scanned with light energy, he could easily detect it. A mainstream wizard would have a harder time locating the hidden passageway. The door contained a locking mechanism that could only be triggered with magic. It required a specifically tuned sequence of energy pulses. Josephine would have eventually figured it out but Mark couldn’t do it.

  He raised the palm of his hand to the small portion of the invisible door and directed light energy into it, willing the lock to disengage. After a moment, there was an audible click as the door slid to the side with a quiet grinding noise. Mark activated the lighting which revealed another long corridor. He heaved a grievous sigh as he realized there would be a lot more walking involved. He still wasn’t completely recovered and his legs ached with soreness and fatigue. He trudged down the passageway and heard the grinding sound behind him, indicating the door had closed again. The corridor twisted and turned for quite awhile before offering any rooms to search. They all contained stone doors that opened with magic. At first, he was disappointed to find more small rooms cramped with cots but then he discovered a larger one lined with stone shelves containing source energy enchantments. The spells came in the forms of a variety of different colored wands, polished stone pendants on black silk cords and crystal clusters. Soothing currents of light energy flowed through the room. Mark noticed a work table containing a few more enchantments positioned against the far wall and suspected White Knights had worked here on a regular basis.

  Mark stood just inside the room and enjoyed the ambiance for a short time before he moved on to search the rest of the facility. He found more rooms for sleeping, eating, and others containing storage for white energy enchantments and yet more storage for mainstream enchantments. Mark hoped to find a power center where he could recharge but suspected Hermina would have let him know about it if a resource like that existed here. On the other hand, she’d admitted she’d ran out of time and had more to discuss. He reached an empty room which puzzled him. He stepped inside the very center and performed a scan. His head throbbed as he burned through his meager light energy supply. Subtle magic hid seven eight-foot tall containers embedded in the wall with a glass door facing out into the room. They became visible and through the glass, Mark could see four people dressed in sky-blue uniforms that matched his own. Suspended animation fields kept them in a deep sleep where they stood.

  He blinked with surprise because he hadn’t expected to find anyone down here. The containers carried one short man with blond hair that looked to be in his early twenties, another blond of average height and build in his late twenties, a dark-haired male in his thirties and a tall, woman who looked painfully thin with long black hair that flowed slightly past her shoulders. Mark pressed his right hand against the glass of the container where the youngest man stood and read the psychometric energy. A trickle of impressions flowed through his hand chakra. Right now, he didn’t possess enough strength to perform this type of scan without touch. Hermina and another category six wizard had cast the suspended animation spells on these units to keep White Knights safe. All four of these individuals had been rescued by Hermina and the resistance movement. Ludovic killed any white magic practitioner that showed up in the population. Each of the White Knights who rested in suspended animation had began to experience burnout and accepted the fact that they must stay in hiding from Ludovic for the rest of their lives or until Adams was free again. Instead of allowing their white magic to die out, they chose to halt their aging. Each of them had worked on creating new enchantments to include a magical network spell so that when Hermina managed to save seven of them, they could awaken and link together.

  They weren’t certain this would prevent burnout but they were in the earliest stages of degeneration so they could go back into stasis again if the plan failed. There were twenty more empty suspended animation containers in other rooms. Mark hadn’t yet reached that part of the facility to discover them. Because the hidden base lay underground with no possibility of plant life, no power center could be created down here unless a white knight with the ability to use stones as an anchor happened to come here. Someone like Helen. Mark certainly couldn’t achieve what she had. His gifts lay elsewhere with his teleportation, photographic memory spells, and manipulation of mainstream magic. Mark realized the time had come for these White Knights to awaken so they could form a magical network and reach their full potential. Because he already carried an active link with two others on this world, they would have seven. Mark knew it would be enough to prevent burnout because he was already safe from such a fate. He wished he could release them now but he must first locate the enchantment they had created for establishing a magical network.

  Chapter 31

  The immense meeting room located inside the Regulatory and Legislative Center offered dozens of rows of seating for over a thousand occupants. Representatives from every country on Adamas watched the proceedings with tense silence. Ludovic, Hermina, and half a dozen guards including Dorionus sat at a dark blue table constructed of wizard glass at the front of the room and off to the side. Hermina’s clasped hands rested in front of her as she empathized with the speaker who offered a lengthy presentation at the podium. Holographic, gold colored graphs, numbers and diagrams floated in the air near Kornel as he pointed at one of them to emphasize a certain set of stats from his country. Like everyone else in the room, except for the guards, he wore a dark purple uniform which identified him as a member of the leader caste. When he finished his speech, the holographic projects winked out of existence and he returned to his seat with the rest of the group, occasionally flitting nervous looks at the guards posted at the back of the room and at the sides.

  Ludovic rose from his seat with a stoic expression on his face as he strode to the podium. Hermina forced herself to relax and regulated her autonomous nervous system to remain stable. She knew Ludovic performed continuous scans of the room during these deliberations and she definitely wished to hide her state of agitation. She kept her mastery of subtle magic a closely guarded secret from Ludovic. One day it would help her to rid this world of his despicable presence. She grew tired of waiting and feared that she couldn’t take much more of this.

  Ludovic’s chilling gaze swept over the room then settled on Kornel. “That was a good presentation and your sector has performed admirably. Unfortunately, your case wasn’t good enough for me to pardon your country’s failure to meet its productivity goals. The standard penalty will apply. Ten of your citizens from the labor c
aste, two from the science caste, and one from the leader caste will be randomly selected and executed by lethal injection in four days.” Shocked gasps erupted through the room while others stared at Ludovic with horror. “We still have twelve more countries to review and deliberate on. I’m calling a one-hour recess for lunch.”

  A series of chimes indicated they were temporarily adjourned. Hermina rose on shaky legs and her mind churned with the horror of another round of executions. The government officials in the room made their way towards the exits with obvious haste and eagerness. As Ludovic approached her, Hermina forced a polite smile on her face and strengthened her control over her body’s nervous system, decreasing stress hormone levels, adrenaline, heart rate and blood pressure.

  “I have a new assignment for you,” he said. “Mark continues to evade my search parties. I need as many omnipotens on the hunt as possible to assist my guards in finding him. You will be joining team nineteen. I suspect you still harbor sympathy towards these cattle but they need a firm hand and decisive leadership in order to flourish.”

  “I will do my best.” Hermina kept her expression neutral and sensed his attentive scan on her physiological response to his words.

  “When I announced the executions a moment ago, it seemed there may have been an emotional response from you.”

  “It must have been a random fluctuation. I feel no pity for the humans. As you have pointed out, they are flawed and small-minded creatures who would self-destruct without our guidance,” Hermina said.

  Ludovic’s cerulean eyes reflected a chilly disdain. “I don’t believe you. I know how powerful you are as an omnipoten and I expect you to get results. If you fail to find Mark over the next twenty-four hours, I will be very disappointed.”

  “You can count on me to perform my duties.”

  “Let me remind you of what happened the last time you failed me,” Ludovic said.

  Sharp, burning spears of agony stabbed into Hermina’s body. She cried out and her knees buckled. She collapsed to the floor as the unbearable pain tore through her. Ludovic kept her crystal skull inside his home with three of his avatars. One of them was firing a dissonant sonic wave directly into her crystal skull which caused severe pain. The last time Ludovic had tortured her in this manner for failing to succeed in her mission, the punishment had lasted for several days. The white-hot agony abruptly ceased and Hermina took several deep, shaky breaths before pushing herself up off the floor.

  “You may leave. Be sure to find Mark. I want him dead.” Ludovic’s chilling gaze bore into hers for several seconds before he turned and strode away.

  Hermina exited the room with a sense of relief mingled with horror over her predicament. She would not allow Mark to die yet she couldn’t stand the thought of several more days of torture. There were too many cameras in this building to teleport out without detection. She knew a few blind spots but Ludovic was monitoring her and he was bound to notice her disappearance from one camera to the next. She waited until she left the massive, gold pyramid before she activated her enchantment and transported directly to one of the White Knight storage rooms in the underground base. She had time before she would be missed even if Ludovic was keeping an eye on her progress because it was necessary to walk about twenty minutes from that building to the nearest city transit. Once there, the portal would open to another city transit close to search team nineteen which was outside the city and would be about an hour walk to catch up with them. That gave her about two hours before she was missed.

  Hermina reached out with her mind past the walls of this room and farther into the compound until she found Mark who was nearby working in another room. She reached him in just a few moments. His right hand rested on a large brass scepter with a large clear quartz crystal point secured to the end.

  Mark swiveled in the chair to face her. “I’ve been gathering information about this place and the White Knights. Most of these enchantments were made before their disappearance. There is some very advanced magic here.”

  “I’m glad you’re taking inventory.” Hermina’s thoughts whirled with chaos and panic. “I have a favor to ask you.”

  “You want me to use white magic to kill you.” Mark’s brown eyes reflected his compassion for her. “I’ve seen the pain and misery you’ve suffered at the hands of Ludovic. I understand your predicament.”

  Hermina reeled with shock. “None of the White Knights I saved ever realized how trapped I am here.”

  “Ludovic has obscured the surroundings of the skull so that you can’t tell where you are in his home. That way there is no risk that you can teleport inside and take your skull back,” Mark said.

  “You’ve always been full of surprises since the moment you arrived on this world,” Hermina observed.

  “I’m afraid white magic can’t kill a person.” Mark’s lips formed a wry smile. “That sounds odd, doesn’t it? But I do have a possible way to help you.”

  A sliver of hope awakened in Hermina. “What do you have in mind?”

  “This is an enchantment made before the invasion.” Mark picked up a wooden wand and showed her the etching in gold letters on the handle.

  “Praesentia libero.” Hermina’s eyes welled with tears. “My dear friend, Cassius, was working on a way to completely remove my consciousness from the crystal skull and into this body. He was a White Knight before they all vanished.”

  “The enchantment is complete and ready to use. He was just waiting for it to charge up. He was going to tell you as a surprise but he never got the chance,” Mark said.

  “Thank you for finding this. Even if it doesn’t work, I’m grateful I have a fighting chance against Ludovic now.” Hermina’s lips curved in a smile of gratitude. “But this still doesn’t change the fact that I need to somehow rescue my crystal skull so that you can perform the spell.”

  “We don’t need to access that at all. The only thing I need is this wand and the body you’re currently occupying. It will be like a consciousness transfer. You’ve already established a connection.” Mark took the wand back and his eyes twinkled with anticipation. “Are you ready?”

  Hermina braced herself as she had no idea what to expect. “Yes, I am.”

  When Mark activated the spell, the tip of the wand lit up for several seconds before a stream of mist-like gold energy gushed out from it and entered Hermina’s body through her forehead. White magic permeated every cell of her body. An instant later, dizziness slammed into her like a heavy weight and her knees crashed to the floor accompanied by a sense of fast movement and being in many places at the same time. Her eyes squeezed shut and after several seconds, all of those mysterious sensations were gone. She opened her eyes and carefully rose to her feet. The enchantment had completed and the wand no longer glowed in Mark’s loose grip.

  He scrutinized her with hopeful expectation. “How do you feel?”

  “I feel…” Hermina hesitated as she felt a curious sensation. “It’s as though something is missing.” Her brows furrowed with concentration as she activated her psychic receptors and performed a scan on herself as best she could. Reading your own body was extremely limited. Relief poured through her mind and she beamed at Mark with excitement. “You did it! I’m no longer residing in my skull at all! I’m completely submerged in this body! I’m free!”

  She reached out and gave him an effusive hug and kiss on the cheek.

  “I never imagined this could ever be possible! Thank you so much!” Hermina beamed at him.

  Mark grinned back. “I’m glad I could help.”

  “I think it’s time we considered awakening our sleeping White Knights from their timeless slumber,” Hermina said.

  “I was thinking the same thing,” Mark advised. “This staff has the spell that will allow us to form a magical network. Because I’m already linked with Josephine and Alice, they will automatically be a part of it. Of course, I’m assuming that the enchantment works.” He picked up the staff he’d been holding earlier. “This is pro
grammed to carry out the function and it was made by one of the original White Knights. Unfortunately, it will still take great concentration for everyone using it. The best chance of it working is to have everyone who will become part of the network perform the spell at the same time instead of doing it one member at a time.”

  “In that case, we should awaken all four of the White Knights and cast the spell right away. I assume I am unable to be part of this network since I’m a mainstream practitioner?” Hermina asked.

  “That’s correct.” Mark cocked a bemused brow at her. “Unless you developed a very close and powerful friendship with one of them or you’re in love with one of them?”

  “Jarlath is a childhood friend. He’s like family to me.”

  Mark regarded her with puzzlement. “How is that possible when you’re centuries old and he’s in his thirties? Is he a category six?”

  “No, he’s not an omnipoten. I was friends with his mother as he was growing up. At first, he viewed me like a favorite aunt but we developed a very close friendship over the years. I had no idea he was a potential White Knight. When his white magic became active, I was terrified Ludovic would find and kill him. I explained to him what happened to White Knights and hid him in this base. We tried to find a way to keep him from burning out but when the process started, he asked me to put him in stasis,” Hermina said.