Beyond?

by Andur

  Even the agents who came from enemy countries didn't know anything of value. They were just instructed with tasks that wouldn't have been taken even by corrupted citizens. Afterwards they were ordered to return to predefined extraction points with portals, of course far away from the enemy base.

  The enemies hindered themselves by not letting any information flow back towards them, but at the same time it secured their secrecy. It worked well enough to divert our attention and that's what bugs me.

  Again, if Azir hadn't made them stumble, we would still be hunting black magicians.

  The good point about their procedures is that it'll be very hard for them to rebuild this network. Azir went through their organization like a storm and cut their connections with each other. Even if there are surviving elements, they are just tools without commands now. And it seems like most of the network grew on its own, set in motion by the illegal elements of Nict itself.

  I shudder at the thought that such a network was working and in place for centuries. But the evidence is undeniable. If we hadn't a mind magician with previously unknown powers on our side, they would still be operating.

  Throwing the pouch with the gold back onto Helen's office table, I turn around and face her. “We have to prepare for war. I'll order the army to the highest alert level. And we have to reopen the ports and rebuild our fleet. The enemy seems to be farther away than our immediate neighbours. I don't believe that they are responsible and even if so, then they are only pawns in a far bigger game. In any case, we have to gather intelligence. I want to know what we are dealing with now and not when an army that's able to crush Nict stands at our borders. Our self-imposed isolation has to end.”

  Helen murmurs something and pulls out the last report on a shelf at ground level. Then she places it on the neat stack of reports, dusting it off with her magic. “I am sorry, you can do as you wish. I'll support your decisions as if they were mine.”

  I raise an eyebrow. “Dear, are you okay? You've been acting strange for quite some time now. First you are avoiding Stella and instruct Sola to look after her, then you keep sorting these old documents from years ago.”

  Helen's expression turns conflicted. “I may have done something bad to my daughter. And then there is this old secret which keeps bugging me. I would have never thought about it, if Azir's report hadn't made me remember..”

  I stand up and kneel down beside her. “What did you do?”

  She touches the freed section of the wall, which was previously covered by the reports. The wall flows apart and reveals a secret locker with a metal case inside. “I am a meddlesome woman. I had a hand in her early pregnancy because I hoped for a fast joining of our clans. If their children become even more powerful than them, we might have a chance in what's coming. But now it looks like there isn't any time left.”

  She pulls out the metal case from its hiding place and lets out a sigh while looking at it. It has no visible way to open it.

  “You did what!?” I grumble and place one hand on her shoulder, forcing myself to smile. “Y...” I stop and try to think over her reasons and the implications. “It's not your fault that she lost the child. Though you should prepare for problems if she ever finds out.”

  She nods, but isn't really relieved. I didn't intend to give her absolution, her games caused Stella great pain. Then she places her hands on the metal case and the upper part of the box floats apart. So it wasn't intended to be opened by anyone else.

  Inside are a few old books, she takes one and opens it. Turning the brittle pages, she skims over the content.

  “What are those?” I ask her, raising an eyebrow.

  She answers with a careful voice. “Records of the war and the immediate time afterwards... when the empire fell and the emperor was overthrown by his own kin.”

  “Oh...” I think she informed me of that time once and I hoped that it would remain an unnecessary gesture. There is a secret history to the events of that time.

  She stops at a certain passage close to the end of the book. “There it is...” She starts reading the text for me. “... And I followed my brother to the throne room, where we fought the last battle against each other. Neither of us begged for mercy, nor do I think that it would've been granted. At the end I managed to wound the 'Master of All' gravely. I left his dying body there, because the palace was damaged beyond help due to our fight. There was no choice, I had to save my life and escape the crumbling building. Maybe it was a fitting end to be buried inside the remains of the symbol of his reign. Unfortunately it robbed me of the chance to investigate the glowing red portal of energy. Probably it is based on a similar principle to the Gates and allows someone to travel over great distances. In any case, the secret seems to be lost and buried under the remains of the palace.”

  Helen closes the book. “A glowing red portal of energy. It sounds familiar and Azir even mentioned that the one who escaped him called his leader the Master. I didn't remember reading about it until the word Master fell.”

  I start chuckling. “You want to tell me that the Emperor survived? He would have to be over a thousand years old by now. Nobody gets that old. And why didn't he return earlier?”

  Helen places the book back in the case. “I don't know. Maybe he had to recover from his wounds? I just remembered about it and informed you. It may be just a coincidence after all. After his brother freed us of him, he unified the seven cities again and rebuilt the palace and instructed us to close Nict against the outside world. He gave us strict orders to guard the palace and especially what lies under it. Maybe he feared that his brother or one of his servants survived after all?”

  She shakes her head. “We have to turn our attention outwards once more. After such a long time it seems that our strategy of isolation has started to fail. We can't let Nict fall into the wrong hands.”

  I frown. “And such words from my dear wife, who was always against my attempts to negotiate a peace treaty with our neighbours?”

  She reseals the case and shoves it back into its hiding place. “My family was fulfilling our saviour's commands to the letter for generations. Even if we didn't reign from the palace at all times, we still protected what lies beneath it. That oath was sworn beyond time and generations. But even if the saviour was as powerful as his brother, he couldn't see the future and right now it seems like a bad choice to wait until the enemy comes to our doorstep.”

  48. ~Misfit.~

  “And six servants did the Emperor's bidding.

  The first general of the Emperor was a strategist beyond all others, with a mind as clear as the purest diamonds.

  The second general commanded the legions of fire, leaving only ash in his wake.

  The third general was the strongest of all, as he needed no army to serve the Master's will. He walked alone, clad in an armour of light.

  The fourth general governed the castles, fortifying them with his will. And their walls and troops suffered not a single scratch if blessed by his hand.

  The fifth general's hand raised the fallen from the ground and no wound, nor sickness could make him fall.

  The last servant of the Emperor didn't fight, but crawled the shadows and killed with a thought alone on his Master's behest.”

  -The forbidden Chronicle.

  Free City States of Nict, Capital

  Azir

  I am sitting alone on the university's main plaza. The bench I am sitting on is made out of stone and cold, but I don't care. Stella is even worse affected by the situation than me and I don't really know how to help her. At least I stayed with her for three days and ignored my tasks at the university. But I've been gone for over a week by now and staying away from our classes for too long isn't good.

  So I took Stella out to her classes and persuaded her to start working again. Maybe she can distract herself with her studies. I am not good with stuff like that, but I guess that staying at home and drowning yourself in self pity doesn't help to feel better.

  Tapping with my
foot onto the ground I try to remember my attack on the warehouse. This guy's ability to completely negate my spell is bugging me. Was he able to negate the improvised nuke too? Nah, nobody can take a ten megaton blast to the face.

  But their skills alone imply that our enemies have access to a few disturbing abilities. First the shroud spell from those assassins, which is as much mind magic as it is influencing light and mana. I was able to replicate it with Helen's hints and it's a neat trick which helped me greatly. Then this guy... and not to forget the portals, they don't match the technology of Nict either.

  Then I sense someone behind me and turn around. I find Ivy standing there, looking off into the distance with glazed over eyes. Probably she is spying on someone through her remotes. “Didn't I instruct you to stay at Stella's side?”

  Ivy's eyes focus again and she looks at me. “Her lessons right now include laboratory work. I was told that I haven't the clearance to enter the university's lab. Since she is working together with other people who keep her occupied, I thought it unproblematic to abide to the rules and leave her alone for the time being. Have you already set your plan in motion?”

  I wrinkle my forehead and look at the bag between my legs. There are several books inside, books which I wrote since I got access to the library. They bridge the gap to the lost knowledge of the ancient Empire of Nict and make other interesting inventions possible. Especially the mana net. “I am not sure if I should dump all this knowledge onto this society.”

  Ivy looks surprised. “But you conferred with Helen and Lucas about it, revealing that your understanding of magic transcends your age by far more than being just a genius. They weren't against it. I was just listening in from my remote, but it seemed to me like they were delighted.”

  I scratch my chin. “I don't think that they fully understood the implications of what I am intending to do. Though it felt like boosting Nict's capabilities was of their utmost concern. There is something going on which they didn't want to share.”

  “But you already gave the blueprints for the teleportation platform to them. The military is in the process of deploying the new technology to set up a network of outposts on the border. That alone has a huge impact. Not to speak of the other technologies, which can be deduced from the platforms. Once the people start to think, a whole set of new devices will be created.” Ivy turns and looks down the plaza. “I believe we'll get company soon.”

  “I know, but the platform was just a smart application of existing knowledge. This will be totally new. Until now the people thought that I am just a genius who is playing around. I have to add that I don't like attention, being seen as a genius was disturbing. Now they'll realize that my knowledge can't be explained away with being an unusually smart guy.” I end my rant as I notice some of my friends turning around the edge of the faculty.

  It's Karsen and Louise, behind them are two of the Dwemer. They are Adala and Eliot. Karsen raises his hand and waves to me. “Azir! We didn't know that you returned! Since when are you back?”

  Louise crosses her arms and stands in front of me. “You are lucky that I wasn't there to hit you when you left Stella on her own. Where is she and who is that?” She nods towards Ivy with flushing cheeks.

  I roll my eyes, knowing Louise's preferences. “She is our new maid and her name is Ivy. Her speciality is techno magic. Helen forced her onto us to keep the house in order while Stella doesn't feel well.”

  Ivy smiles and bows to them. “It is nice to meet you.”

  Eliot's expression turns lecherous. “Woah, she is a bomber. And a maid at that!”

  Adala elbows him and whispers. “Use your head for once!”

  Karsen shakes his head at Louise. “Don't be like that towards him. He didn't go nuts on that assassin without reason.” Then he faces me and places a hand on my shoulder. “How are you doing?”

  “Better.” I try to smile and notice that all of them are avoiding to mention my usage of strange magic.

  Adala asks innocently. “So, where have you been recently?”

  I remove the smile from my face, which is relatively easy. “Killing people.” I fix Adala's eyes. “It was a lot of trouble to follow their network back to their headquarters.”

  Adala nods with a cramped up expression. “I see, please accept the sympathy of my nation and us. Stella is my friend and I was shocked when she got attacked in front of me.”

  Don't think that I didn't find out about your attempts to contact the black magicians. Just be glad that I didn't find anything beyond that. “Thank you.”

  My attention returns to the others and I realize that all of them have troubled expressions. I pick up the bag between my legs and hold it up. “Don't be troubled about it. I think I got the ones who carried immediate responsibility. This is a day to celebrate, after all I'll publicise my first works.”

  “Hoooh...?” Louise raises an eyebrow. “May I see?”

  I shrug my shoulders. “There is no harm in having a look.” I pull the book about the mana net from the bag and hand it to her. Louise takes the book and skims through the first pages, then her face turns absent minded and her eyes start flicking into random directions.

  Since it looks really creepy, Karsen pokes her cheek, but gets no reaction. When he is about to poke somewhere improper, I slap his hand away. “Hey!”

  “Aw, come on. It was just for fun. Siordas are creepy when they do that. She should have a little respect towards us normal folk and do that in private.” Karsen rubs his hand.

  Eliot looks worriedly at Louise. “What's happening to her?”

  I make a dismissive gesture. “She is just accessing her memory to understand what she is reading. Siordas may have a perfect memory, but it's also as much a hindrance as it helps. Imagine you would perfectly remember every minute since the earliest day of your childhood. At some point you would simply go insane because of the burden on your mind. You would have problems to tell the present from memory. For that reason a young Siorda learns from the earliest days of her or his life to purposefully forget unimportant knowledge.” I gesture at Louise. “As for the important knowledge, they train to suppress it in something like a library inside their mind. When they access their library it looks to outsiders like they have some kind of epileptic attack.”

  Adala asks worriedly. “What happens if someone doesn't learn to control his ability?”

  Karsen shrugs his shoulders with a sad expression. “They go mad and die. Some retreat into their memories and don't return. That's why Siordas pay regular visits to specially trained mind magicians in order to sort out their psyche. I wouldn't want to have myself scanned at regular intervals.”

  Louise finally stops her strange behaviour and shakes the book at me. “Do you know what this is!?” She gasps. “Instant communication and information storage for everyone!? All you need is basic mind magic?”

  I tilt my head. “You are overestimating it. Basic mind magic gives you only access to the most basic functions of the mana net. But you are right when you think that it is a huge invention.”

  “This will make us Siordas obsolete! Nobody will need us if a technology like this is in place.” Louise's hands start shaking.

  I chuckle. “You see this from the wrong perspective. The mana net will be huge and supply everyone who needs it with knowledge. But there'll be too much knowledge for the average person to sort through. People with superior skills in terms of archiving and applying knowledge will be needed. If someone needs information, they'll come to you in order to find it. If anything, then it'll make the Siorda stronger. And aren't most of the best mind magicians Siorda?”

  Louise blinks. “You... are... right. I didn't have time to think about that. Though how did you come up with this? It's revolutionary! To use the latent mana in the vicinity to create an information and communication network throughout the whole country is brilliant!”

  I shrug my shoulders and gesture at our surroundings. “You forget that I am a Zait. I can sense and see mana. E
ach day I walk around and feel all this unused power all around me. Why not use a small part of it for something that's beneficial to all of us.”

  Not to mention that a system like that helps spreading my other inventions. Like the idea of using electricity for lights. Communication devices for everyone, of course with everything a little manipulated so that I... hrm... the rulers have it easy to find dangerous elements.

  Then knowledge about science and machines like Ivy... well better not like Ivy. I think I made a mistake with that one. Let's start with those which don't develop their own will and start talking back.

  Everything should develop on its own once I've kicked them into the right direction. They just need to be shown how to apply the stuff in their books. There rest much bigger inventions than the knowledge I am giving them in that old library of theirs.

  I return from my daydreaming and realize that Ivy is gone. Louise is still studying my book and Karsen is talking with Adala. “Did anyone of you see where Ivy ran off to?”

  “I didn't think that she is into the exotic type.” Karsen points behind me and I turn around, seeing Ivy turn around a corner. Eliot is right beside her, having one hand on her ass.

  “Eeehh...” I don't know what to say. Should I be disgusted?

  Adala asks worriedly. “Is there a problem? I hope she is strong enough to turn him down if he gets too pushy.”

  “Naaah... pff... hahahaha... I just think that he might be the one who is in for a surprise.” I wave my hand take my book from Louise. “Goodbye, I've to turn these in before noon!” Without waiting for an answer I walk away. I don't want to be here when the shit hits the fan.

  Free City States of Nict, Capital

  Adala

  “Come on, get up Eliot! I warned you several times not to seek intimate contact with the girls here. I hope for your sake that she isn't pregnant or got any vital information from you!” I call out to Eliot, who is lying in a corner of the room. He is in a foetal position and groaning since we started our meeting.