Beyond?

by Andur

  “So he could be the demon in question. Though hasn't he a family and children? His wife is the second princess on top. No, he is certainly the real deal. So did he obtain the demon's knowledge? That could be the explanation. If so, we shouldn't underestimate him. His actions so far show that he isn't bound to common sense.” Serenzar starts mumbling.

  He drops the report about Azir to the ground and starts chuckling upon reading the next one. Then he breaks into a mad laughter, even worse than before. “HAHAHAHAHA!”

  I strain my neck to take a look at the first line of the report. What I find there shocks even me. “Jeremiah? Isn't that your brother?”

  “Yes. They threw him into prison for crimes against the royal family. I can't take it any longer. The irony! His own descendants who followed him, praising him as their great ancestor, locked him up in a dark, stinking cell!” Serenzar shakes his head. “I thought he had them under a blood oath. Well, apparently his offspring got smarter than him in the subsequent generations.”

  The priest nods. “It just shows how vastly superior you are to your kin. Not even someone who shares your potentials could rise to your heights.” His eyes turn towards me. “Though it would be probably better if you don't give your consort so much free leash.” His eyes wander to the smaller thrones to our left and right which were intended for Serenzar's mistresses. “The consort of a god should know her place as a-”

  That I can't forgive! Pointing my finger at the priest, the floor starts moving under his feet, enclosing them in stone. Before anyone can act I imagine those stone cuffs moving apart, pulling him into doing a perfect split.

  A high pitched scream escapes his lips. The tendons in his old legs rip and something important to him gets smashed hard on the stone floor at the same time. The priest says nothing, He simply reaches for his private place like having lost something of great value.

  Serenzar winces. “Wow. That was mean. Though isn't he right? You have your own throne directly at my side.”

  I ignore the man who is pulling himself towards the exit of the throne room, still not able to even scream. Two other priests come running his way to remove him from our sight.

  Those priests are getting bolder and more fanatical in exercising their cult. Since I am the only mistress by now they are under the impression that it might be the right time to influence Serenzar themselves. I won't allow that.

  So I raise both eyebrows and smile at the man in my arms. “Do you really care what those old men in their saggy robes are thinking? You really want your woman to sit on this cold chair at your side instead of comforting you from close up?”

  “We could put cushions on them? To be honest my feet are falling asleep.” His eyes wander to the chairs which are a little smaller than his and in lowered positions.

  That's another reason why I am not going to sit on one of those chairs. I want to be his equal, so putting myself into a position of lower status is out of the question.

  “Someone who commands an entire continent shouldn't let himself be bound to the thoughts of others. Besides... you are very comfortable and I couldn't do this if I were to sit on that cold, hard chair.” I bite into his earlobe and use my ultimate skill on him. Persuasion through proper stimulation.

  “Oooh... go on. That's a very good reason to have you here.”

  98. ~Parole.~

  “I managed it! Rerouteing a mana stream is possible! Now it is just a matter of time until I become the most powerful being on the planet! I'll be on par with a god! There is just a little problem with influencing a mana stream permanently. It takes tremendous power to do so. But where should I take it from?”

  -Experiment 666

  Free City States of Nict, Capital

  Azir

  I am sitting at my working desk while humming happily as I am doing the stuff which I like the most... fooling around with my artefacts and devices. It has been a year since I got a little spare time for myself and of course I used the rare chance to hide myself in my laboratory. Unfortunately one of my fears about having children turned into reality.

  “What are you making, Daddy?” Sariel asks from my lap and eyes the long, cylindrical tube in my hands with suspicion. The rod is about half a metre in length and has a diameter of about two centimetres. She is trying to imitate my work and asking me many, many questions while I am doing my work. Why are you doing this? Why does it look like that? How does it work? Seriously! I think I am spending more time answering questions than I am actually working.

  “That's my new multi-tool. It can be anything I want it to be!”

  Sariel points at my multi-tool. “Why aren't you creating tools by using your ability. Isn't condensing mana more convenient? This thing takes up so much space and it doesn't look pretty.”

  “That's... that... don't question the great mind of an inventor!” There are tons of reasons! “A creation isn't simply created because you need it. You make new things to test the borders of what's possible! And what would I do if there isn't enough mana to solidify it in the environment? The technique of creating a physical shape out of mana is highly mana consuming.” Why am I even defending myself?

  Sariel's hands wander over the necklace which she created under my guidance. “But it isn't as pretty as mine.”

  “Admittedly, your necklace has a very beautiful design, but functionality is always more important than looks. Didn't you notice that I tried very hard to keep it's natural state very simple?”

  “That worked out at least... it's just a stick.” Sariel determines.

  “That's because a wizard should always have a wand, or a staff! You can't call yourself a proper magician without having one.” Yes, in my old world everyone above master stage had a wand at the very least.

  “Mom doesn't use one.” Sariel starts counting on her fingers. “Neither do Lucas, Yoran, Ivy, Grandmother Helen or Valeria-”

  “You can't count Lucas and Yoran. They are just weak magicians.” I exclaim. “Should I explain my staff in detail?”

  “It doesn't change the fact that I haven't seen anybody using a wand so far.” Sariel stays on track and doesn't want to change the subject.

  The door to the room opens and Stella enters the room. “So here you are. Are you trying to skip the family meeting?”

  “Family meeting?” I ask in wonder. Did I forget about it? “I didn't hear anything about a family meeting. When was it announced?”

  “Helen invited everyone from both of our families to plan our future course of action.” Stella's eyes wander around the room. “She also wished for us to bring the Emperor's artefacts. Her plan is to confront Jeremiah with them in order to find out what's inside the vault. Didn't you store them on that wall?” Her eyes study the empty holders at the wall. Originally they held the helmet, dagger and sword, but now they are empty.

  My eyes wander to the table in front of the empty weapon holders. What lies on the table is recognisable as the pitiful remains of the Emperor's artefacts.

  Stella smacks her forehead. “You destroyed them?”

  I raise a finger to defend myself. “That's not destroyed! The proper term is 'disassembled for spare parts'. I reused some of the finer magical circuits.”

  “Spare parts? What did you build by destroying three of the emperor's most dangerous artefacts?” She focuses her attention on me and squints her eyes.

  Smiling proudly, I raise the multi-tool. “I built a multi-tool.” To demonstrate my point I change it rapidly from different screwdrivers to a small knife and then back to a short rod. “And with the rest of the parts we built an amulet for Sariel.”

  “Oh my, that's beautiful!” Blinking, Stella suddenly snaps at me. “Don't try to distract me! You seriously want to tell me that you made yourself a screwdriver?”

  “A high end screwdriver!” I change the rod to the Emperor's sword and then to the dagger. “Of course I kept the former functionality of the magical circuits, but now they are able to reconfigure themselves.”

  Stella
makes an audible sigh of relief and shoves the useless parts of the artefacts into a suitcase which she brought with her. “In any case, we are late! And I want to introduce our three youngsters to their cousin.”

  “Cousin?” Sariel asks.

  “The daughter of Stella's sister, Sola. You shouldn't have too high hopes for her. She isn't as talented as you and only a little older.” I explain, trying to dampen Sariel's expectations of the new playmate.

  “Come on, we have to go.” Stella rushes out of the room, so I pocket my newest creation and follow her with Sariel in my arms.

  Half an hour later we are in the palace's throne room where I get a forceful update on what's going on. Apparently Helen and Lucas decided to combine the forces of Nict, Dwem and Quinn. The rulers of the other nations already gave their approval.

  For that purpose we'll establish a fixed trade with Quinn through the usage of my stepper discs. We already got quite a few magicians from them and even if they are untrained, they are more than able to operate the discs after a few instructions. That frees our trained personnel from wasting their time with the transportation of goods.

  The second big point is that we'll build a fleet of flying fortresses to strike at our enemies. The plan is to use them in order to subdue our aggressive neighbours as the fortresses get finished. Once we have enough of them to hit the second continent, we'll organize an attack.

  In the meantime our big transport drones are used to smuggle highly trained operatives to the second continent. They'll learn about the culture there and try to obtain the information we need to plan our offensive.

  At this point even knowing where their major cities are located is of great value to us. Of course we expect to lose many of those spies, but that's the reason why we send only mind magicians. They'll have to grab an unimportant farmer to learn the language and customs. If we find their capital with the so called Master it would be worth the cost of lives.

  After everything is said and done Helen calls everyone of the family closer to the throne in order to move to the last point on our list.

  “Then it's time to take a look at Jeremiah.” Helen's voice echoes loudly through the throne room. “Let's see if he has learned something from his imprisonment.”

  The doors open and a pair of guards pulls Jeremiah into the room. He looks defeated and wears dirty rags. Though he had enough to eat and drink, he still got a little slimmer.

  When they drop him to the ground he immediately gets to his knees and glares at us. “How dare you to do this to me!?”

  “Because of your crimes against the royal family of course.” Helen explains while brushing her fingernails on her formal robe. Like always she isn't wearing anything too extravagant.

  “Have you finally come to your senses? We need information about your brother and the vault.” Lucas asks Jeremiah with a grave voice. Then he lifts the suitcase, which he got from Stella, and pours the remains of the Emperor's artefacts on the ground in front of Jeremiah. “We disassembled these artefacts to learn more about their assumed function as keys, but found nothing.”

  Jeremiah's jaw drops as he stares at the remains. “You destroyed my sword! That was a memento of my father! I'll punish you for this!” He jumps to his feet and twists his cuffed arms out of his shackles.

  The metallic handcuffs fall to the ground as the maniac spreads his arms wide.

  “I call upon the heavens!

  Come forth storms of old!

  I am the one whose will is done!

  Make the black cloud overhead and rain ice like glass!

  Not you, nor any other can fathom what is nigh!

  Tear this town asunder!”

  The echo of his chant dies away while we are watching him with expecting expressions, but nothing happens.

  “I was right.” Lucas reaches for Helen and hugs her from the side. “You know what that means.”

  “Tch! And I thought that a little over a year in prison would soften him up!” She shakes her head. “It's my fault for losing the bet against you. I shouldn't have underestimated someone as old as him. Probably he suffered through much worse than our special prison.”

  Sola nods and gestures at Jeremiah. “I didn't expect him to try to eradicate the city as soon as his handcuffs are off.”

  Valda snorts. “It's as I said, you should let a few magicians mind-wipe him. It would be far kinder and his life expectancy allows for a proper retraining. I've never heard of someone regaining his social skills after being locked away for years in a small room. The idea alone is preposterous! How should he? It would be a true miracle.”

  Jeremiah starts shrieking in shock. “Why!? I sanded them through! They are off... oh...” He takes a look at his wrists where my handcuffs sealed his abilities before.

  But the handcuffs were only a part of our safety precautions. You have to be very careful with a being like him. Hidden under his handcuffs are sealing tattoos like those used for children. Apparently he didn't see them in his dark cell.

  Of course there are a few more lines of defences in place.

  Helen sighs heavily and gestures for me to do my part. “A mind-wipe is too final and I am still hoping to return a great spirit like him to the right path. We'll try again another time.”

  I step closer towards Jeremiah, whose eyes are starting to turn wet, and put a new set of handcuffs on his hands. Is he seriously starting to cry? “Those are sturdier. I suggest cutting off your arms the next time.”

  99. ~Tea time.~

  “It's open! It's open!”

  -Experiment 667

  Free City States of Nict, Capital

  Stella

  “What are they doing?” Sola asks me while observing Sariel, Zadkiel and Zana while we are having tea in my mansion's living room. Recently Sola is regularly coming over to visit me and deepen our relationship as sisters. I can't say that it's uncomfortable, but it's still hard to overcome our past.

  “Playing.” I answer and look up from my tea for a moment. The three of them are sitting on the floor, facing each other and playing.

  “No matter how you look at it, that's not playing...” Sola expresses uncomfortably. “Isn't that an advanced training method for acceleration magic?”

  I blink and observe them closely. They are slapping their palms together, touching each other's noses and clapping hands with each other. The whole process repeats itself at a speed fast enough to show nothing but the blurry movement of their hands, which results in a rapid staccato of clapping. If someone is too slow he or she gets bitch slapped or poked with a finger. I had to heal blue eyes and broken fingers at regular intervals since Azir taught them this new game. “I see no problem, they are always playing like that.”

  “But not like this! Children are supposed to play games at this age. Real games! What they are doing could turn out to be dangerous! What if they get hurt?” Sola gasps. “And why are their powers unsealed!? Sariel and Zadkiel are too young! They aren't even two years old.”

  I shrug my shoulders. “Sorry, Sis. Don't get riled up over it. I didn't realize that they are so far ahead of their generation. Maybe having adopted Zana distorted my expectation of the twins. They are doing so well with each other.”

  Of course that's a lie, but I don't want Sola getting envious over my children. I am well aware of how outrageous their rate of growth is.

  “It's not just the twins! It's Zana too! Someone her age shouldn't be that skilled either!” Sola stabs her finger at the three children who keep playing their game.

  “I suppose it's Azir's fault. He is always saying that the teachers in school are incompetent, so he tutors the kids himself for one to two hours each day. I am so glad that I have him. In fact he is also volunteering to deal with the school when the director has an issue.” Okay, that's my last excuse. If she doesn't buy it I have to start spinning tales for her. “Though I don't know why he is so eager to do such an annoying job.”

  “Is that so? I'll have to hold Xander responsible then. He is
wasting all his time at his parents' hospital and with his studies. Obviously he isn't fulfilling his responsibilities as a father.” Sola nods vehemently. “I hope my little Anna isn't too far behind by now.”

  I smile and shake my head. “I don't believe that. They learn so incredibly fast at that age. She'll catch up in no time.” Just don't get the idea that it has something to do with genes! You've been a better sister since you got Xander and your child to mess with! Don't return your attention to my family. Our relationship also improved greatly! Don't destroy that now.

  “I understand. It seems like we missed out on Anna's education.” Sola pulls on her lower lip and surveys the living room of my house. “Shouldn't you increase the size of your mansion? It's fine for now, but don't you think that it'll get cramped once the youngsters grow up?”

  “I think that won't be a problem. There is still a lot of time and I like it how it is. More than ten square metres per person is much too much space. Don't you think that the palace's private quarters feel lonely because of that?” I pause for a moment. “We actually have to search for our family members once we don't find them at their usual place where they normally spend their time.”

  This time Sola tilts her head. “You are right, but I actually like it that way. Having our mother too close always ends with her creating a stupid plan to influence our future.”

  I smile and nod vehemently. “You are so right. Damn.”