Beyond?

by Andur

  We move on and don't stop walking while using the stepper disc to our house. From then on I follow Azir, searching the house for our youngsters. The bedroom and kitchen are empty, but there are voices coming from the living room. One of them seems to belong to a man.

  Upon taking a look into our living room Azir freezes. I hurry to take a look past his shoulder, but my reaction is a little different from his. “What's he doing in our house! Get him out!” I scream, stabbing my finger at the scene in front of me before I can stop myself from making a scene. Biting my lip I try to control my emotions to not scare the kids.

  Ivy is sitting with her legs crossed on a stool; pencil and notebook in her hands. Zadkiel and Zana are on the floor, playing cards. But what provokes my ire is Jeremiah who is using the couch with Sariel on his lap. There is a big collar around his neck and his face pales upon looking at us.

  Sariel raises her hand, waving at us and curling her tail into a cute question mark. “Mom, Dad! Look whom Ivy brought with her. Uncle Jeremiah knows so many stories about heroes and princesses! He even saved a few himself!”

  Jeremiah averts his eyes from us. “Somehow I feel very old right now.”

  Ivy nods. “That's the first important step towards enlightenment.” She turns around to face us. “My excuses if this scene shocked you, but everything is under control. I got interested in Jeremiah's peculiar state of mind and decided that my next project is his re-socialisation. Having a subject on which all hope is lost wouldn't leave a bad aftertaste if I fail. So I decided to postpone the 'having children' experiment to test my educational skills to their limit instead.”

  Gesturing at Jeremiah, Ivy smiles brightly. “He even has a magic-sealing collar which I made myself. The versions on his hands just weren't safe enough in my opinion. On the other hand I deem it very unlikely that he'll cut his head off to flee.”

  “You aren't my beloved Sivali.” Jeremiah presses a tear out of his left eye.

  “That's another important insight Jeremiah. You are getting better. Maybe we can go for a walk in the park tomorrow. If you behave I'll show you around the city.” She softly pats his head with her tail.

  “It's been so long since I saw the sun.” He wipes the tear away. “Thank you.”

  “He suffers from what I call the hero-syndrome. It makes you think that the world centres around you and that only your perception of good and evil counts. Jeremiah even went as far as seeing everything only as black and white. We'll work on that and return him to a proper world-view.”

  “But first Jeremiah has to tell another story!” Sariel raises her hand, gesturing for Ivy to stop. “He is so good at it and it feels like he could go on telling stories for years!”

  Azir turns around and leaves while grumbling. “Maybe that's because he isn't telling stories, but his own history! I don't care any more. I just want to sleep for now.” He enters the bedroom and slams the door shut. Is he jealous because Sariel bonded with Jeremiah?

  I walk over to the kids, my expression an emotionless mask. “It's okay, but just one more story. And tomorrow you kids will go and visit grandmother Valda for a few days. Your father and I will be very busy, so it's better for you to stay there.”

  “But we want to listen to Jeremiah's stories!” Zadkiel expresses his disapproval.

  “Aunty! We'll go and visit aunty!” Zana starts jumping happily.

  “There are many cats like Ghost at Valda's mansion.” I point out. “And nightmares!”

  “What are nightmares?” Zadkiel furrows his eyebrows.

  “You won't find out if you don't go.” I scratch my chin. “I think Azir mentioned that you may get young kittens from your grandfather if you behave.”

  My last suggestion does the trick and Zadkiel nods eagerly. “Can we go today?”

  “I thought you want to listen to another story from Jeremiah.” Staring at him I cross my arms in front of my chest.

  Jeremiah sighs, stroking Sariel's head. “A long, long time ago there was a prince who fell in love with his maid...”

  109. ~Mysteries.~

  “More! More! Give me more! It isn't enough!”

  -The deformed Sage.

  Free City States of Nict, Capital

  Azir

  The youngsters were brought to Tri and are plaguing my parents now. It's better this way, so their presence won't hinder us in the coming fight. I sullenly watch the horizon from the royal palace's battlement. Stella and her parents are also present.

  It's late and the air is starting to get chilly while the sun is setting on the horizon, dyeing the sky red. On another day it would be a beautiful sight to behold, but today it's foretelling the spilling of blood.

  The approaching fleet is clearly visible in the distance. The small black ships are being chased by four of our fully equipped fortresses. Thirteen more are hovering around the capital, waiting for the enemy. So far the invaders used their speed to avoid any contact with our forces.

  But that wasn't really a concern of ours, as it was very clear that their target is Nict's capital. Therefore we concentrated as much forces as possible and evacuated the civilians. “I wish I knew what they are hoping to achieve by invading us like this. Do they think that they can take the capital and hold it while ignoring the rest of the country?”

  “This is an outrage! For this to happen during my reign!” Helen calls out, shaking her fists at my side. “I've been governing Nict for seventy-nine years! We had eight major wars with the southerners during that time and they never got even close to seeing our capital!”

  Squinting my eyes, I turn towards Helen. Did I just hear correctly? She slipped a hint to her age? Normally a mage doesn't mention his or her age. It's some sort of taboo in our society.

  She doesn't look that old though, even if you take her slowed ageing process into account. So she is cheating a little with her appearance? And Lucas isn't a strong mage. So there is a huge age gap between them? I found out something interesting.

  “Don't stare!” Stella pulls at my cheek, just in time for me to avoid Helen's furious gaze.

  “Calm down dear.” Lucas takes Helen's hand and smiles at her. “It's only a matter of appearances. Wherever they strike, they always have to face Nict as a whole. It doesn't change anything. They don't stand a chance after having lost the major part of their invasion fleet and we have all big cities covered by an adequate force of flying fortresses.”

  “I am not concerned about that.” Helen shakes her head, pointing to her feet. “If they have no hope of conquering the capital, then they came here to either cause destruction, or to steal something of importance. And the only thing which justifies wasting such a force is the Emperor's Vault. It's also the only thing of which they can be sure of that we can't carry it away.”

  Lucas stiffens. “That may actually be a real possibility. We should prepare ourselves for this event.”

  “There isn't really anything more to do. I already declared the palace as the structure of uppermost importance.” Helen answers.

  It may be the right moment to get a little more information from Helen. “I think you mentioned that the vault is hidden deep in the palace's catacombs? And that there are traps? How hard is it to reach? Which traps?” Crossing my fingers behind my back, I pray for a little more useful information. I don't want to sound too interested in this place. It's after all some kind of dark, family secret and I wouldn't want anyone searching through my cellar either.

  Helen licks over her lips. “I was down there only once. It's actually very hard to reach and it was my late mother who took me there. We had to use our ability in order to create short cuts and avoid certain passages. The catacombs are essentially a sealed labyrinth, filled with traps like pitfalls and poison darts. There are also magical guardians and curses. Taking the direct route is a path with many thorns.”

  I stare at her for several moments. “If it's that heavily protected and that important, then why didn't your ancestors simply bury everything under tons of stone
? They had the ability to do so.”

  Helen presses her lips to thin lines and doesn't answer until Lukas takes my side. “The situation may deteriorate into something undesirable. Isn't it better if a few more people have the necessary clues to solve the riddle? Restricting information only to yourself and shouldering the entire responsibility isn't the right thing to do right now. Our opponent probably knows all the essential information anyway.”

  Helen takes a deep breath and curls a strand of her hair around her finger. “I really don't know why my ancestors acted like they did. The only thing my mother said to me was to never close off the catacombs completely, so that air doesn't stop circulating. Somehow that point was very important to her.” Her expression turns dark.

  Stella furrows her brow, looking at her mother. “Why would they want air circulation in a place which should have only dust and a few bones?”

  “Because the guardians are alive?” I offer, scratching my head. Actually I already have a pretty good idea of what's going on in the vault. There were plenty of hints on the Shield. The biggest of them all the ability to influence mana streams with its magnetic field. Then there's the strange connection between this world and my old one through the portals. Subconsciously I reach for the multi-tool on my belt.

  If I am right, then the old Emperor used my old world's sun for a really sick experiment in order to reshape the paths of the mana streams on this world. No wonder that we couldn't find a natural reason for the darkening of our sun. The reason wasn't natural at all.

  They most likely created a portal to our sun and drew power from it to alter this planet's core.

  They had the technology to bridge the distance and a space ship. Choosing a star which is far, far away is also logical. You don't want a star close to your homeworld going nova if something fails.

  The only thing which I don't understand is why someone would want to influence a planet's mana stream. A planet's mana streams are created by its magnetic core and the forces which act on it. It's like a gigantic dynamo and the mana streams normally stay close to it. They should have gotten far more energy from that sun than they can harvest from their planet.

  To project a core's mana streams that close to the surface you have to reshape the core permanently. Maybe the shape of the streams is important? I visited all our cities and there are streams under all of them.

  At first I thought that they are only used to power the City Gates, but what if there is more behind it? The Cities are forming a huge pentagram. Is it some kind of ritual? What would a ritual on such a scale be used for?

  Lucas interrupts my train of thought by grumbling frustrated. “Then why would you use living guardians instead of simply burying everything under tons of stone?”

  Stella gives us the most obvious answer. “Because the thing which you wanted to protect needs air... and something which needs air is most likely something that's alive?”

  Free City States of Nict, Capital, The Emperor's Flagship

  Elora

  “I don't like it.” I grab Serenzar at his clothes and pull him away from his priests and military advisers.

  “Elora! What are you doing here? How did you follow me?” He takes a look around and the people around us wisely feign ignorance. “I said that you should stay at home to manage our internal affairs!”

  I cross my arms in front of my chest and tilt my head. “Managing your affairs while taking care of the abomination which you are calling a palace isn't my idea of fun. I already took care of revealing the corrupt elements in our government. Besides... do you have any idea when you showed your face to me last?”

  Serenzar starts gesturing at his subordinates. “Who knows? Can't you see that we are currently conducting an important military operation?”

  “Four weeks ago!” I look down and play my secret card. Tears! “Do you really think that I like it to sit at home while my most important person is playing war?”

  He starts fidgeting. “Urgh... how about talking about this after I took a look at my heritage? It's a unique chance to find out and-”

  “You want to say that you don't even know? One more reason not to let you risk your life.” I scowl, shaking my head.

  “Yes. No! You don't understand. My brother knows what's inside the vault. I was driven away before I could find out. It has to be something important and I waited for ages to return!” He gestures at the impressive city in front of us.

  “Fine! Then I'll come with you!” Turning him around I push him towards his advisers. If I am with him I can keep him under control. And I'll use the first dangerous situation to teleport us back home.

  110. ~Preparations.~

  “My body started changing further and further while exploring the world's mysteries. I am sure that those changes have a meaning. Maybe I am slowly turning into what I am truly meant to be?”

  -The deformed Sage.

  Free City States of Nict, Capital, Palace

  Azir

  “Why are they rising so high? Do they intend to drop their ships onto the palace?” Looking up to the enemy fleet I am trying to make sense of their actions.

  Lucas nods, steadying himself with the balcony's handrail. “If our suspicions are true, then that's probably exactly what they intend to do. Take down the palace's barriers with any means possible, then teleport your troops directly into the target zone.”

  Pulling my eyebrows together, I nod with a grave expression. “Then it's probably time for me to arm up and assemble a few people to stop the enemy from entering the catacombs.”

  Stella gets a hold of my sleeve. “What do you-”

  I teleport directly into my laboratory without waiting for her to end her sentence. Having arrived there I reach for my liquid armour and put it on. I improved it into a lighter version this time.

  Having it in a full plate configuration is a little too restricting on my movement. The armour flows onto me and fuses perfectly with my robe. Next on my list is the little box with my special surprises and the fully automatic pistol which I intended to give to the military as a prototype.

  What else could come in handy? My eyes wander sorrowfully to the clock, which is still lying on my working desk, and I reach for my multi-tool. I hadn't managed to repair the clock yet after the magical micro-circuitry melted completely.

  It can't be helped, so I turn to face other projects of mine. I store a dagger in my belt and grab a cartridge which is holding twenty small marbles. The marbles are connected to the mana net and can provide me with information by hovering around to gather intelligence. In addition they can act as repeaters in case of a bad connection to the net.

  The next point on my list is paying a visit to Ivy. I find her in her quarters, talking to Jeremiah like she always does these days. “It's good to find you this quickly. You have to arm up, we are going to visit the Emperor's Vault.”

  Jeremiah jumps up from his sofa and starts screaming. “No! You can't-” Then he reaches for his neck where Ivy's cuff suddenly tightened, cutting off his air. “Hrgh...” Breathing stertorously he drops to the ground and starts writhing on the ground.

  Ivy reaches for her forehead and starts massaging it. “Jerry... we already had this discussion. You don't simply scream at people. That's the last thing you do after having tried to talk to them properly.”

  I point at Jeremiah. “His collar can tighten? And... Jerry?”

  Ivy nods enthusiastically, not caring for Jerry's face which changing colours from red to blue. “I've taken your armour as a blueprint for my new design. The collar automatically tightens the farther Jerry moves away from me, or in case I command it.”

  “Err... well! Make sure to arm up and show yourself at the palace with him. It looks like his brother is trying to breach the Vault.” Without waiting for an answer I teleport again, this time appearing in my research facility's armoury.

  “Now that's my world!” I take one of the big crates and place it in the middle of the room. Then I start throwing armour and weapon
prototypes into it.

  While doing so I make a few calls over the mana net to assemble a few trustworthy people. Hopefully they manage to make their way to the palace before everything goes to hell.

  “What are you doing?” Turning around I find Louise at the room's entrance.

  I offer her one of the smaller guns which are easy to carry. “Arm yourself, we are going to war! Didn't you read the chat?”

  Louise's eyes lose their focus, looking at a point beyond me. When she returns, she brushes the offered weapon aside. “I have my own stuff. We meet at the palace.”

  Shrugging my shoulders I drop the weapon into the crate and cast a strength enhancement spell. Otherwise I would have serious trouble picking up the whole thing.

  Casting another teleport I reappear on the palace's balcony where I left Stella and her parents, but nobody is there.

  Suddenly a deafening explosion makes me flinch. With tingling ears I look up, where one of the mobile dockyards bursts apart, impacting on the palace's barrier. “The fuck? Those guys are crazy, wasting perfectly fine ships to bring down our defence!”

  The sky above the capital is filled with explosions and discharging energies. Strangely enough the damage to the city seems minimal. There are many pillars of smoke rising here and there, but all of them seem to be caused by crashed ships. If the enemy would bombard the city seriously they would have caused much more destruction. Seems like they are really trying to make a run at the palace, ignoring everything else.

  I force myself to avert my gaze from our fortresses. They are standing as firm as rocks amidst the enemy fleet. Defending their positions while relying on their multi-layered barriers instead of mobility.

  This time I locate Stella via the mana net and teleport again. My small jump takes me directly into the throne room, where I find Stella, her parents, and Sola with Xander. A few of the friends whom I called upon also arrived faster than me. Well, I was packing up stuff after all.