Beyond?

by Andur

  “Kill the audience?” Finally she starts walking faster without me having to pull her.

  “The discussion was a little too loud and was overheard by everyone in the closed space of the church. Didn't you notice all of them looking at us?” Finally the church disappears out of sight and I walk slower from then on.

  “I am sorry. I didn't notice, but we still have to tell Lucas about this.” Stella's happy sightseeing atmosphere is gone and she pulls at my sleeve, taking a way which leads back to the palace. “I am not sure if I really want to help this country.”

  “Me neither.” Together we head back to where the conference is taking place.

  92. ~Interlude.~

  “And there was a bright light which came from the sky. The goddess rode on a metal carriage when she arrived in Quinn. The people saw her artefacts, but they couldn't understand them.

  So the goddess started teaching her children as much as they could understand with their limited minds.”

  -Ch.234-32-45

  Free City States of Nict, Tri

  Ivy

  Suddenly all of my alarms go off and my vision gets blocked by multiple warning windows. How can I work with so many distractions? My remotes detected that someone is moving through the mansion without permission.

  I access the camera on the central corridor to take a look at the intruder while I rush there from my private quarters. The alarm came from above my quarters where the children's rooms are.

  If the kids get hurt I have failed my duty as their protector. But what the camera shows me makes me stop in my tracks.

  Rewinding the images and playing them with heightened speed brings me up to date within seconds.

  “Higher!” Sariel balances on top of Zadkiel, who in turn is sitting on Zana's shoulders. They are performing an artistic feat which I didn't assume possible with their bodies.

  “Can't hold you. Heavy!” Zana gasps under the weight of the twins.

  “You have to. You are the oldest!” Zadkiel steadies himself by holding onto a broom.

  “Have it!” Sariel's tiny hands grab the handle of the door.

  The tower which was formed by three living bodies collapses and leaves Sariel hanging on the handle. “Now pry it open!”

  Zana and Zadkiel hurry to open the door while Sariel keeps holding onto the handle. The door to the children's room has a specially made locking mechanism to ensure that small children can't get out.

  The door doesn't move if you don't hold down the handle with force. A single small child isn't able to perform such a feat. I left them alone up there for half an hour and they are already trying to escape.

  “Zana! You are the bait.” Sariel points at Zana who is a little bigger than the twins.

  “I don't want to be bait!” The adopted child complains.

  “You are big and slow.” Zadkiel sums up the essential points.

  “And I am the brain.” Sariel pats her chest. “As soon as we step onto the corridor, the Ivy will know. That's why we need a distraction.”

  “Yes, while you distract her, we can steal the cookies.” Zadkiel nods eagerly.

  “But...” I can see Zana's brain working behind her forehead. “Then I don't get any cookies? And why do you always call her 'the Ivy'. She is a person, don't talk about people like they are things.”

  “So you didn't notice the thing in her chest?” Zadkiel asks with a trembling voice. “From time to time when she thinks she is alone it gets out and crawls around.”

  “Yes, creepy!” Sariel lets go of the handle and drops to the ground like a sack of potatoes, but still managing not to hurt herself. “We spied on her once! She is a monster!”

  “I still have nightmares that the Ivy could hide under our bed when it's dark!” Zadkiel takes a careful look down the hallway behind the door. “The doors to the kitchen are all open! We can continue as planned.”

  Sariel nods and gives further instructions to Zana. “Okay! You turn left and run directly towards the stairway to the servant's quarters.”

  Zana's eyes widen horrified. “But that's exactly where Ivy will come from! And I still don't get any cookies!”

  Zadkiel pats her shoulder. “We'll stow away a few. Then you can eat after our operation is a success.”

  “How am I supposed to stop a monster? I am five!” She starts fiddling with her fingers while being on the verge of tears. “I am afraid.”

  “Cookies?” Sariel asks and tilts her head in anticipation. “You just have to find a way to distract her long enough for us to get the cookies. We are counting on you as our elder!”

  Zana looks at Sariel and then at Zadkiel who nods reassuringly. Then she looks down the corridor in the direction of my quarters.

  Finally she gathers all her courage in a nonsensical scream and charges towards the staircase. “Uh... Uwaaaah!”

  I still can't figure out the reason why children do that from time to time. Screaming doesn't serve any meaningful purpose. Yes, she is supposed to distract me, but there are so many ways to attempt this without announcing your presence to the whole house.

  Having her eyes closed is also problematic. I calculate a possibility of ninety nine point nine percent that she'll trip if she attempts to run down the stairs with her eyes closed.

  A few moments later my assumption is proven right. Zana trips and falls down the staircase spectacularly, flipping over several times.

  At that point the video record catches up with real time and I can already hear Zana rumbling down the stairway. Coincidentally I stopped just in front of it, so I just have to wait until she arrives in front of me, which happens promptly.

  Zana comes to a halt by falling flat onto her belly. For a few seconds she is just lying there, not moving, until she gets up and takes a look around.

  Her eyes wander from my feet to my waist, then they keep sticking to my chest. There are several bumps and a nasty cut on her forehead. If my understanding of children is correct, then she'll start crying her eyes out any moment now.

  “Hic...” Tears start forming in the corners of her eyes. “HuuaaaaAAA!” Even her chin is jitters miserably. I must admit that she is really good at that.

  An organic being would probably fall for such a great display of pain and utter helplessness.

  Yep. Exactly as I predicted. I bend down and place my palm on her forehead to cast a healing spell. “Heal.” The spell is executed perfectly and the bruises disappear.

  The reason for the pain is gone, but she is still crying while looking up at me. “You... you won't hide under my bed?”

  Rolling my eyes I pick her up. “We'll see about that. I only haunt naughty children.”

  I walk with Zana up the staircase to collect the twins.

  “I won't get cookies now?” Zana asks with a depressed voice.

  “Cookies are for tea only and you'll get fat if you eat too many of them, so cookies are only allowed as a small snack.” I educate her properly. Those brats are eating too much of that sweet stuff.

  Inside the kitchen I find Sariel and Zadkiel. They didn't get very far in their attempt to steal the cookie pot.

  For obvious reasons I placed some protective charms and runes with Stella's help.

  Zadkiel triggered one of Stella's gravity runes and is pinned to the ground right at the entrance.

  Sariel got a little further into the room and actually reached the pot, avoiding several other magical traps. The cookie pot is standing in the centre of the kitchen table and she climbed onto a chair to get onto the table from there.

  I was right to ward the cookies with ice charms. Sariel has a cookie in her mouth, but that's everything she achieved.

  The ice charm triggers upon contact with spit and freezes the cookie to a temperature of minus twenty degrees. I doubt that Sariel will ever give in to her urges again. Having your mouth frozen by a lump of ice should be a very unpleasant feeling.

  But Sariel is still sitting there with the frozen cookie in her mouth and glaring at the pot with
yearning eyes.

  A few minutes later I have the children fixed up and in their room again. I am sitting on a chair with my legs crossed. The three of them are kneeling in front of me. It's been like that for a while.

  Zadkiel raises his hand. “Um, Ivy? What are you doing?”

  “I am thinking.” I answer while I am studying them with squinted eyes. There are several courses of action open to me and I can't decide which one I should take.

  “Ab... out... wh... at?” Sariel manages to say. Her tongue is still swollen since the damage by the ice spell wasn't small. In her greed she took a full bite which exposed a large area of her tongue to the spell.

  “A proper punishment?” I ask. “What else should I be thinking about.”

  “G... giving us cookies?” Zana asks hopefully.

  Their earlier conversation comes to my mind and I smile. Unbuttoning my blouse I smirk at them and start disconnecting the nerve joints to my organic body. “I think I know exactly the right thing for this situation...”

  “HIIII!” All three of them huddle together with wide eyes.

  Does my mechanical core really look that frightening to children?

  93. ~Payment.~

  “Fight for freedom! Fight for your homes. Stand up to the Empire and their cursed magic! Those who bend the will of others have no right to share the warmth of the goddess with us. Fight!”

  -Ancient pamphlet to motivate the masses.

  Quinn, Capital-Palace

  Stella

  Lucas is sitting at the big, round table with Azir and me to his left. His eyes are closed and he is obviously brooding over the proceeding negotiations. After returning from our sightseeing tour we reported our experiences to him. Though he listened carefully to what we had to say, he didn't give us his own opinion on the situation.

  It's bothering me that he didn't seem as irritated as us. We knew from the beginning that we could encounter a situation like this, but in the end I couldn't stay calm when I faced that priest in person.

  Lucas is very good at keeping his emotions in check when there is something at stake. That's why he is always the one who goes on diplomatic missions instead of my mother.

  The big round room we are sitting in is located at the upper levels of Quinn's colossal palace. Our own palace is much smaller, but the design and materials used are of a much higher quality.

  Quinn sacrificed design for being big. The Palace consists of several huge blocks of stone and glass. While impressive to look at, the building lacks style. On the other hand I must admit that the view from the twentieth floor is magnificent.

  A little farther to our left is the Great Shaman with two of his advisers. One of them is the old female whom we already know from our short visit to Dwem.

  Chuck chose yet another mask for this event. Every time I meet him I am amazed anew. He seems to have an endless supply of those masks. So far I haven't seen a model twice and the mask he chose this time is the face of a demon with a fierce expression. Probably he wanted to express his feelings by choosing this very emotional mask, which is accompanied by a matching totem and a suit made out of red feathers.

  Sometimes our black and white robes for official purposes seem a little bland to me. Even though we are the rulers of Nict, our clothes are much less attention grabbing. Though we could create the materials for nice dresses easily enough.

  Maybe I should try talking to my parents about changing this policy. The other rulers might think that we have no sense for beautiful things and lack in culture.

  The remaining space at the table is occupied by the rulers of Quinn. King Novak Zerces is an old man with grey hair, but he is still taller than most others and kept his body in a good shape despite his sixty seven years of age. His wife at his side is also showing signs of age, something unimaginable for magicians like us. Frey Zerces has a high and mighty expression and is sitting in her chair like a stick.

  The last three spots are filled by their children who are already adults. Giana and Leon are already known to us. The third person is Leon's brother who is first in line to the throne. Ajax is a little older than Leon and in his best years. The family resemblance to his brother is strong and if it wasn't for the different eye-colour which he got from his mother I would believe that he is a slightly older version of Leon. The beard on his cheeks also helps in creating a different image. His straight horns are adorned with golden rings, something which I've only seen on women so far.

  All of them are wearing their flashy, colourful dresses, though the clothes of the king and queen are a little more colourful than I've seen so far from other citizens of Quinn.

  Novak bows in a dignified manner to the people at the table and starts the negotiations. “I hope that all of you had a good rest, so that we can continue our conversation from yesterday.”

  In fact we already met with the royal family of Quinn, but the meeting yesterday consisted only of polite introductions and very carefully handled small talk. Talking about the weather would've been far more interesting.

  The queen continues from there. “As you probably already deduced, we invited you to ask for a... deeper relationship between our countries. The recent events have shown us that the seed of the old Empire isn't dead. It'll take more than a single country to stand up to that.”

  The Great Shaman taps with his index finger onto the table. “So you guys are in trouble. Are a few barbarians and southerners too much for you?”

  I fight hard in order to suppress my reflex to talk up to the Great Shaman. Dwem would be in a tight situation too if it wasn't for the assistance of my clan. Having an assured supply of exactly the right resources saved their asses.

  The old female advisor of the Great Shaman smiles and tries to mediate between the parties. “What our esteemed Great Shaman wants to say is that we aren't entirely sure if it's the right choice to help a country like yours. Our ideologies are very different and in conflict with each other.”

  Novak nods slowly. “I see where you are coming from, but the threat we are facing has to be dealt with above everything else. I don't want the old times to return where Quinn had to fight for its very survival day by day. We are an old nation and since Nict... hrm, my apologies.” His eyes flick in our direction. “The old Empire tried to subdue us with all their abilities. That forced great austerity onto our nation and the fear of magic and its users grew with every year.”

  He looks onto the table. “The radical elements of our belief were created in those times of endless war and the absence of magic in our holy books led to the belief that the means by which our enemy is working are evil. It's very hard to deviate from our path by now. The population is very firm in their belief and even someone like me can't stand up to overthrow what was practised for generations.”

  Ajax raises his head to assist his father. “And even if you are thinking that we are handling the matter the wrong way, should we simply bow down to people like you? Only because you have an unusual ability with which you can kill others with a thought. It's nothing else than giving in to being threatened with a weapon. People who wield such powers have to be subdued for the greater good of everyone.”

  I draw a deep breath, but Azir is faster than me. “But strangely enough the societies with those people in power aren't worse off than yours.”

  Ajax snorts and crosses his arms in front of his chest. “Luck. If you had suffered the concentrated attacks of the enemy forces you wouldn't be able to sit here smiling. Our people defended their cities with everything they had. I heard about Nict's policy. You are very skilled at hiding in your fortress cities.”

  Lucas smirks and places his hands on the table. “Which is a smart approach if you have the required defensive structures.”

  “In any case. We would be very grateful if you consider working together with us.” Giana smiles at the assembled people, trying to get eye-contact with everyone.

  “What would this 'working together' look like.” The Great Shaman asks warily.


  “We need assistance at our northern borders. It's hard to keep the barbarians in check. Troops and resources would be very welcome.” King Novak admits subdued.

  “No.” The Great Shaman answers immediately. “Dwem doesn't negotiate with people who are suppressing their own citizens. It's our way of life to give everyone the same chances. We can't accept those values being completely ignored.”

  Novak's eyes wander to Lucas who tilts his head and purses his lips. Of course my father will decline too. Even if Novak gave us a nice little explanation for their actions, they are still being committed as we speak.

  “Okay.”

  He will- “Dad!?” I call out, turning to my father who raises his left hand to stop me and everyone else at the table.

  “Nict will help you. You are binding the enemy's forces, it would be stupid to give up a distraction as large as Quinn.” He takes a deep breath. “But we want to be paid.”

  Novak raises his eyebrow while the Great Shaman looks angrily at us, we just stabbed him in his back even though we are supposed to be his allies.

  The queen of Quinn leans forward and asks with a dreadful voice. “Didn't you listen to us? We are the ones who need resources and troops. How should we pay you? Do you want to steal our technology?”

  “What a waste of time hrgh-” I cuff Azir before he can speak any further. They don't have to know that their toys are no mystery to him.

  Lucas smiles and shakes his head. “We can build fortresses and castles within days. We can turn dirt to metal, why should we need your resources? I admit that some pieces of your technology are very interesting, but what we want is something completely different.”

  He pauses dramatically. “Give us your cursed. All of them.”

  Leon gasps, slamming his fist onto the table. “You want slaves?”

  Lucas shrugs his shoulders and smiles dirtily. “You have assets which you aren't using properly. We would be very happy to welcome them to our society. Give us all your cursed ones who aren't too settled in their ways as priests of the goddess. Announce that everyone who is hiding his magic is welcome to relocate to Nict. They can also bring their relatives.”