by Daniel Ruth
“She’s not really technophobic,” I responded slowly. “We had a little incident where a taxi blew up and almost rammed the front door. Hey, that was the same night the demons ate you...” I trailed off as everyone turned to glare at me.
“Derek,” Jeremy hissed at me while gesturing with his index figure across his throat. What was that? Did he want me to kill Matt?
“I remember that,” Beth chipped in. “You smashed through the army of demons surrounding me! Boy, was I scared. First I thought the demons would get me and then I thought a freak floater accident would.” Jeremy’s glare turned up a notch. I was almost sure I had told him about this.
“Yes, indeed,” I fumbled a bit. “But then I killed all the demons and resurrected Matt.” Go me! Now stop glaring at me. “I’m still a little confused over why she’s so nervous about flying. She had a protection spell and I think her super elfyness makes her about as tough as a shifter. Even before the ley line rush, she should have been strong enough to walk it off.”
“Not everyone is as blasé about physical danger,” sighed Mei.
“The floaters crash restraints even triggered,” I defended. “We were a bit slimed but perfectly safe.”
“Why did it crash anyway,” Beth asked. “Did Vatapi have his henchmen hack the navigation system?”
“Well,” I started. “Supernatural entities, including the elite super elves known as álfar, have a significant aura...”
“Oh, I know this,” Beth interrupted eagerly. “Between the two of you, the quantum chip in the main system blew! How did you even make it that far?”
“It kind of blow up after the course had been locked in. The smoke panicked Sella and that just make her aura worse. By the end of it, we were pretty much on a ballistic trajectory to my front door. It was actually pretty fun, except for the damage to my lawn.”
“Wait a minute,” Matt yelled out. Apparently, he was over his flashback. “Is this floater going to blow up too?”
I looked out over the city, as we flew over it. Frankly, it looked pretty bad from the air. Smoke still trailed up in various places, even weeks after the primary portal opened. A lot of the rubble had been cleared but entire streets were still cordoned off. Cracks and crevasses threaded through the city thoroughfares making it look reminiscent of an oil painting. Buildings were missing windows, ledges and had black scars where unbridled ley line energy had scorched them.
“Nah,” I reassured him. “I have pretty good control over my aura. If something hasn’t already blown up from the ley line surges, nothing I do by accident will do it. Besides this is a military vehicle. They don’t use quantum processors and they shield most of their equipment.”
“I still don’t see why we had to bring Beth,” Jeremy muttered.
“We didn’t have time to get a babysitter, besides Mei said the shifter packs are all out hunting the creatures wandering through the portals.”
“You had a shifter babysit Beth,” Jeremy asked incredulously. Good grief he was being picky today.
“Jeremy, your sister is safer than you are,” I replied slightly annoyed. “She has had her force field on ever since we got in,” I turned to her and fist bumped her. “Good job! Hold that until we get back, it will help increase your endurance. If you can keep it up until then, I’ll teach you something new.”
“Yay!”
“I’m not sure I’m happy about...” Jeremy began.
“Jeremy, you need to think about yourself more than your sister,” I gently urged him. “If this car blew up right now Mei, your sister and I would be fine. You’re the one that would be dead. I can’t fix dead yet.”
“What about me,” asked Matt confused.
“You’re not quite alive and not quite dead.”
“No, I mean you didn’t mention what would happen to me if we all blew up.”
“Oh. Your body would be dead. Er, deader. But since you’re just possessing it, I could just grow another one for you to inhabit. It would make you have to start the whole ‘merging with your body’ thing over, though,” I assured him.
“Thanks,” he grunted ambivalently.
“No problem,” I responded.
“Is that a flying human,” Mei asked while pointing out the window. Looking over her shoulder I saw a man in a special forces uniform flying towards the headquarters below us. “I don’t see a grav harness on him.”
“Me either,” stated Jeremy. “I don’t think they work anymore. Too small to be shielded. He looks familiar.”
“I think he’s riding a wind funnel. Has Conrad dug up any mages? I thought they were still in hiding.”
“Oh, my god! It's Ryder!” Jeremy seemed upset, his face was becoming red and fists were clenched.
I looked at the wind rider and Jeremy. “Hey, weren’t you kidnapped by a wind controller?”
“And now he’s wearing a special forces uniform. There better be a good story behind this,” he growled.
Once we landed and were exiting the vehicle, Ryder met us at the entrance to the building. “How’s it hanging, my man,” he asked jovially, smiling at Jeremy. He was a handsome teenager, black hair, and a wide mouth. He wore an obviously new and freshly pressed uniform and an out of place looking helmet that looked a bit too big on him.
“Not too bad except there seems to be a criminal loose,” Jeremy spat out.
“So how exactly did you end up an officer,” I asked. “Last I remember, you were impaled through your lung. We barely kept you from exploding.”
Ryder grimaced, but responded gamely, “Yeah sorry about that. Jin recruited us promising us power and territory. You know how it is.”
“Not really,” I looked at Mei in askance.
“Young shifters do stupid stuff. Especially wolves,” her lips curled in disdain. “If we imprisoned all of them, then most of the teen generation would be locked away. As long as no one dies and they show a willingness to reform they are given probation and the equivalent of military service.”
“Yep! So sorry, sign me up!” He laughed heartily. Mei and I looked at him flatly, while Jeremy and his sister continued to glare at him. “Good thing I was still in lockup when the big fight came in. I hear half the force got nailed by not so friendly fire.”
“Why didn’t you mention this,” he asked Matt. Our zombie friend simply looked confused.
“I think I was um, incapacitated, while you were kidnapped. I had no idea officer Ryder was involved in that.”
“So how did Jin give you superpowers,” I interjected. They could whine about stuff later, I needed to find out a few things as fast as I could. “Did he perhaps have you give an oath or sign something?”
“Ha, I wish!” He laughed as he rolled up his sleeve. “He engraved these things on my arm. Most pain I’ve ever been through; even that big ass sword didn’t compare.” On his arm were artfully designed black wavy lines evocative of wind and air. The lines even seemed to ripple and move independently of his own movement. I knew this type of magic if not the specific sigils. “I passed out during most of it, but the guys said I screamed for three days.”
“I thought all the minions of Vitapi blew up,” Beth asked, still giving Ryder an angry look.
“Aren’t you a little cutie. Why did they drag a little girl here,” he asked.
“She’s the little sister of the man you kidnapped,” I replied. I was a bit annoyed, but he didn’t seem intent on harm. “You remember the fellow I had to regrow a few teeth for.”
“Fenris was a little bit of a bastard. On the other hand, I hear you cut him to pieces, so we should be good.” Fenris must have been the werewolf that grew to the size of a bus. Sebastian had done terrible things to him, on my orders. We had run out of time and his sheer size made subduing him unlikely. I actually felt a bit better, now I knew he deserved it.
“Fine, getting back to Beth’s question. How did Conrad keep you from exploding? He never asked me to follow up on it.”
“Well...” Ryder hemmed and hawed unco
mfortably.
Beth moved over to me, eying Ryder’s head gear. “I think he is wearing a bowl under his helmet.” I looked closer. Sure enough, the edge of the bowl I had engraved with an anti-magic ward could be seen. I frowned, so why did he have access to the magic in his sigil?
“Well I can’t say much for the look, but I suppose if it keeps you from going up like a roman candle, it will be okay for the moment,” I assured the werewolf officer.
“What’s okay,” he asked in a puzzled, though cheerful tone.
“You wearing my bowl on your head. I’ll eventually want it back,” I answered back equally cheerfully. His smile immediately went away.
Jeremy was still wearing a satisfied grin as we were settled into a conference room. The projector was a far more modern version of my own entertainment system. It must have been somewhat shielded to work in the new world we lived in, however as soon as we sat down it started to develop a steadily worsening flicker in the placeholder image in the center of the table showing the special forces logo. I noted absently that they had named the organization AEGIS. It must have been new because it was the first I had heard of it and it certainly wasn’t on the uniforms yet.
Despite being slightly distracted by the flickering logo, I was still dwelling on the ramifications of what Rhyder had revealed. Our short interaction had been a goldmine of information. First the method of gaining powers and second, the very fact he could use them with a ward glued to his head.
When we first started to track down Jin I had believed he could have been a member of my own race. We excel at alchemy and can make various potions that can bestow abilities on those that imbibe them. It has some nasty side effects but for those that are not so scrupulous, it wouldn’t really matter. We also can inscribe sigils that likewise bestow powers.
The alchemy is a racial specialty, or at least I never heard of anyone ever using them that wasn’t one of us. The sigils were actually fairly commonly used across the dimensions. They don’t really have any dreaded side effects but they do, in practice, take three days of what is effectively torture to apply them. It wasn’t unheard of for people to come out of the process insane.
So one mystery solved and one outstanding. Three if you count whether these enhanced shifters were actually soul bound to the demon lord and why the damn sigils even worked on their race. Yeah, the technique pretty much only worked on humans and my race. Even near humans like mutants, various parallel evolutions like ogres and neanderthals were more likely to explode than get anything out of the process. Last I had heard, shifters were not genetically compatible with humans.
While I could absolutely believe that a Rakshasa demon lord would have the knowledge and ability to whip up a circle that, I was frankly in awe of, I didn’t really believe he had also reinvented my ancestor’s art for use on other races. There was more going on than I thought. Considering that I had previously considered a demon lord chaining together ten dimensions to create his personal fiefdom, I wasn’t really sure where my thoughts were leading.
“...do you agree, Professor,” Conrad turned and asked me. The projection on the table was showing a view through some portal I had never seen before. I turned to him and blinked in surprise.
“Conrad. When did you get here?”
The shifter had completely regrown his lower body and was in his old armor. He was also across from me and giving some sort of presentation. I was a little bit embarrassed. Usually, I am not quite that distracted.
He rubbed his forehead through his helmet tiredly and sighed. “I have been here for ten minutes. Did you pay any attention to any of the videos?”
“Come on,” I replied in exasperation. “Didn’t you even check to see if I was looking at it? A hello would have been nice too.”
“Derek, he did,” Jeremy inserted, shaking his head. “He knocked, shook your hand and started his show.”
“You even nodded and grunted at the right spots,” Mei said. “Are you feeling okay?”
“Yes, of course, I do,” I replied with some indignation. With the level of ambient energy, I felt great! It had been a few weeks since I had done more than catnap for an hour or two but there was so much to do and I should be able to go on for a few more weeks before I had to sleep for a few weeks. However, I suppose I wasn’t at my absolute best concentration wise. “I was just thinking on some issues.”
“Such as?” Conrad asked with some trepidation.
I decided not to share my worries of a greater issue and stick to the more immediate problems. “Well for one, who decided to place the demon lord’s minions on probation?”
“It's standard procedure in the shifter world,” Mei started before I interrupted.
“Minion. Of. A. Demon. Lord.” I enunciated each word as if teaching a child. A somewhat slow child.
“At the time they were put on probation we thought Jin was merely a wizard,” Conrad defended himself. Then he shivered as he realized how outside the bounds of ‘normal’ we had entered where that statement made sense.
“Even a mage can place a geas on his minions.”
“What’s a geas,” Conrad asked flatly.
“I didn’t think of that, especially when he turned out to be a demon,” Mei muttered to herself. Raising her voice, she continued. “A geas is a compulsion. You can think of it as mental conditioning. Similar to what the mages did to the world leaders after the Moscow event. It had crossed my mind that Jin’s minions had something like that applied to them since they were all insanely loyal but then he turned out to be a demon.”
“So you thought that a minion of a demon lord was less dangerous than a wizard’s,” Jeremy asked. If he hadn’t, I would have.
“Well...” protested Conrad.
“Fine. What can we expect from a demon minion,” Mei asked, somewhat dejectedly.
“It’s not a sure thing, but if they were minions for any real length of time they might have sold their soul.”
“Wait a damn minute,” Conrad growled. “Last time I brought up whether souls existed you got all prickly and ranted about how they didn’t exist. Now they suddenly exist and you can buy and trade them?”
I paused for a moment. I had said something of the sort. “Actually, I just didn’t want to get into a religious debate on what souls are. I still don’t really...”
“Well, you brought it up this time. How about you explain what you mean,” the officer barked.
I tapped my fingers on the table and gathered my thoughts. Matt looked especially interested in the subject. Great, I jumped straight into a quagmire on this one. “The question you asked me before is whether vampires had souls. I still don’t know the answer to that. I do know that people have an essence that leaves an imprint on the firmament...”
“The what?”
“It’s the fundamental level of reality,” Beth interjected. “Think of it as the lowest level dimension and all the other dimensions kind of sit on top of it. It's where magic and the supernatural comes from.”
“Okay, that makes sense,” Conrad said, then paused and seemed to notice Beth for the first time. “What the heck are you doing here?”
“We couldn’t find a babysitter,” I shrugged. “Besides she knows more about magic than you do. What she said is pretty simplified but... frankly, that’s all that you really need to know for the moment. So your essence leaves an impression on the firmament. Spells leave an impression on it too. When you resurrect somewhat you are using a ‘programmed’ spell to bind the stored essence into a material body.”
“So that...” started Matt. I talked over him. I didn’t want to get into his particular situation, which was actually pretty different.
“Demons can bind these essences to them. They can really only manipulate them if the person gives permission. Call this ‘selling their soul’ or ‘entering a contract’. It’s almost impossible to force this, but if you don’t believe in souls it not that hard to trick a person into giving up something they don’t believe they have.�
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“So you think Ryder and Austin are bound to this thing?” Conrad looked grim at the concept.
“It’s possible and... who is Austin?” I asked confused.
“Another officer on probation,” Matt offered. “Turns into metal.”
“Ah, him,” I nodded in recognition. Another of Jeremy’s surviving kidnappers. I think the rest had all died in various grisly manners. “No way to tell for sure.”
“So what happens if they are?”
“As long as Vatapi is dead or reforming, nothing,” I admitted. “However, as soon as he is back, they would be compelled to do whatever he wants them to.”
“Like mind control?”
“I am not absolutely sure, but I think more like tortured into submission or possessed,” I corrected him. “Demons are better known for their brutality. The exploding minions really should have clued me in. Totally different methodology than a mage.” I shook my head. I should have seen the demon angle as soon as people started blowing up.
“Great, so we will have to find some way to track them, in case they go rogue again,” Conrad said tiredly. “Maybe we can use them to feed false information to the enemy.”
“It would be the smart thing to do assuming you can keep them from exploding,” I agreed.
“I thought you had that neutralized.”
“If the ward on the bowls were working properly they wouldn’t have access to their sigil’s powers,” I reluctantly admitted. “They must be losing effectiveness or the sigils aren’t the sources of their powers.”
“Does this mean they are going to explode?” Beth asked wide eyed.
“I am pretty sure Vatapi was actively triggering it. With him sort of dead, they shouldn’t just explode. When he reforms he could trigger it when he invades. He would be an idiot to blow them up when he can use them as spies within your organization but... well, demons are a fun mix of cunning and psychopathic. It’s not clear what he’ll choose.”
“He can’t trigger them from off dimension?”
“He shouldn’t be able to,” I said, rubbing my chin thoughtfully. “Of course there are permanent portals, but I don’t think he can trigger the spells through that. If he has made a contract with the two of them he will be able to communicate and influence them wherever they are. Unless...”