by Andur
“That's really coool!” Stephen comments. “Can you drop it on their heads? It would be funny if one of them suddenly gets squashed by big chunk of metal out of nowhere.” -Stephen
“Maybe we will do that later.” -Celes
At this moment Snowden enters the dome, dragging Tanja and Margerie at their necks behind him.
Tanja has her arms crossed and is obviously pissed at being caught by a guard. Margerie has a communication screen in her hands. It was obviously broken out of some wall and now it looks like a dissected animal.
“Haaah. Haahah. That's so cool. I never thought about using electricity to change the pigmentation of some elements in order to show a picture of something.”
She doesn't even realize her surroundings any more. “I guess I should be happy that she found the communication screen first and didn't rip out something like a plasma cord for my power plant.” I analyse the situation.
“Angrod! How does this work exactly? I need to know!” Margerie runs up to me.
“Is there anything else?” Snowden asks.
“Nope, thank you.” -Me
The guard turns around and leaves again. He surely is not a guy of many words......
“He got me too easily.” Tanja grumbles.
“Don't ignore me Angrod!” Margerie shoves the dissected communication screen into my face.
“If you don't pester me any more, you can have a magical powered screen, which shows you all the information of my less dangerous projects.” -Me
The dead animal is instantly removed from my vision and I walk over to a table with one of my portable computers. I turn it on and give it to Margerie.
“You sure did much in the last few months. I can't believe you achieved all that by yourself.” -Celes
“I had a little help in form of my automated factory. It was the first thing on my list and it was a pain to realize. Until a month ago my whole workforce was busy with it. But now it is working and creating stuff for me.” -Me
“I must see that!” -Stephen
“Maybe I will give you a tour later. But first I want to evaluate the data my drone has collected.” I press a few buttons. And a cartographic view of the north shows up.
“That's wrong.” Margerie comments the map. “What's wrong?” -Celes
“There isn't enough industry! Here, here, here. Those are big population centres. There should be heavy traffic but there is nothing. Can you enlarge that?” Margerie asks me and I do as she wishes.
When I zoom the city up we can see that it is a ghost town. No cars, no transports, no people.
“Okaay! That's disturbing.” I comment the obvious.
“I see no technology. No cars, no city lights, no traffic regulators, nothing that would require rare minerals.” -Stephen.
“I think we should call our parents. They need to know.” -Celes
30 - An angry ex-god?
We are back inside the royal palace and watching a big screen with the information, my drones are gathering.
I took the screen with me and set it up in the living room. Too bad that there is no television in this world …. yet. It's way more convenient than to have more people inside my lab.
Margerie has taken the small computer with her. I am sure she will start to spread a new wave of technology pretty soon.
“This looks bad. What happened to all the people?” Arthur is talking to himself for quite a while now. I can't hold it against him.
“They haven't relocated to other cities. We should be able to spot a change then.” Ireth comments and sits down on the couch.
“What do you need so many materials and people for? And how many are missing?” -Katrine
“I think there should have been a few hundred thousand at least? After all we are talking about four big cities.”
“The material can be used for magic circuits, rune magic, magic circles. The people ….. regarding the fact that a few cities are completely emptied of people regardless of age and occupation. I can only come to the conclusion. They are fuel.” -Me
Everyone looks at me horrified. What? I am not the one who has done it! Don't look at me like I am the monster.
“F.... Fuel?” Katrine asks.
“Well, living body's are the best containers for mana after all. If you want to cast a really big spell, you need much mana. And if it has to be fast, you can just get it from a random bunch of people.” I explain my thoughts.
“What would they want to achieve on that scale?” Celes asks me.
“I don't know. It's a stupid idea anyway, I gave up on that long ago. Destroying the world or summoning a god maybe?” I scratch my head.
“They want to summon Seria!?” Arthur bursts out.
“He said they want to summon -a- god. I assume it doesn't have to be Seria. You two know anything about it? Which god could they want to let loose on the world.” -Ireth
Oh there it is. The awkward debate about us and the gods.
“Hahaha. How should we know?” Celes tries to avoid the subject but Katrine pats her head.
“It's okay little miss. We know that you two are much older in your mind than you look. It's not really hard to imagine who you really are by your titles. It doesn't change anything though. You are still our children. And children, who are having secrets from their parents are naughty.” Katrine smiles at us.
“There are millions of gods out there. So we really can't tell who or what will be summoned. If it is a summoning. But gods are like every random guy, you pick from the street, so I assume the Meltheims won't be happy with the result.” I burst out. I would do everything to avoid punishment!
They want to look down the bottle neck of the universe and go insane? So be it!
“Which means?” - Arthur
“Well. How would you feel if someone summons you to another world out of nowhere?” -Celes
“I wouldn't like it.” -Arthur
“And even a minor god can change the landscape, if he gets fired up. So there are all sorts of possible outcomes. From the summoned god being bored anyway and deciding to help the Meltheims, to being indifferent and just going home again, to loosing it and crushing a few impudent flies. Hopefully just the Meltheim guys alone and not us too in the process.” -Me
“Hmmmm” -Arthur
That's when suddenly a few fortresses on our side of the border light up and vanish, forming all too familiar mushroom clouds.
I know that this world knows some serious long range magic. So those clouds aren't all that unfamiliar to it's people.
Though the ones which just took out those fortresses are on another scale.
Mother shrieks and holds her hands before her mouth, then she starts to cry and goes to her knees. I don't get what's going on, so I pat her head. Arthur and Katrine look at the screen with pale faces.
“What's wrong?” I ask Katrine and look up to her. She doesn't look happy either.
“Nicol and Nicosar were in one of those.” -Katrine
Ah....
“We have to retaliate. Their forces are starting to move.” Arthur does his job as a king and keeps a cool head.
“The roads are all secured by mines, they won't be able to invade that fast.” Katrine bends down and tries to calm down Ireth.
Celes doesn't look happy either.
Celes
This is it! They have done it now! Did they really kill Nicol and the old perverted geezer? Ireth is down on the floor, crying and Katrine tries to calm her down.
Arthur is using communication magic to get the army to move. It seems like he deems the situation as sufficient to crush the north.
It sucks! I am not powerful enough to change anything with this body. I am mad at myself and this world. Why are there always idiots, who have to fight stupid wars.
But I guess, I am the last one allowed to complain. Angrod is on the floor besides Katrine and playing with his computer.
“Do you really think it is the right time to play with your toys Angrod?” I snap a
t him. He should be trying to comfort Ireth. And he just lost his father and grandfather! Those are people, he should care about!
“Kukukuku! I was too nice. I am always too nice. That's my flaw. Every time I start being nice, someone close to me gets hurt. I should have massacred the whole bunch, the same moment they disrespected me.....”
“Angrod?” Don't tell me he has lost it?
“....but I can correct that. Yes, I should have killed those children and thrown their beating hearts into that bastards face without a single warning. No more Mr. Nice Guy!”
A red evil looking button pops up on his screen and he presses it. I try to stop him, but I am too late. The big screen changes into a red colour and gives off a shrieking warning sound.
“Angrod! What have you done?” I look shocked at the screen, as a cloud of red dots appears above the mountain where Angrod's lab is located.
“I just corrected my mistake and did a little house cleaning!” Angrod says in a pissed voice.
The cloud spreads and moves north at a moderate speed and Angrod pulls a chair close and sits on it to watch the screen.
“Angrod, you better explain, if you did something of military relevance. I have to coordinate the army alone here and in a few minutes I have a meeting with the highest generals to discuss the situation!” - Arthur
Angrod explains in a moody voice. “If you can wait fifteen minutes, the last rocket should have hit its target. I just launched all the long range weaponry my lab produced in the last month. The targets are enemy command centres, the mansions of northern nobles, the enemy army, strong energy signatures ..... in twenty minutes most of the northern leaders should be mangled pieces.”
“Angrod, that's not the right path, you know it! What if some of them are innocent?” I don't recognize this Angrod any more. Or should I say I recognize him again? That's the guy I fought for a long time. Someone who would kill everyone, who opposes him or his ideas.
“They aren't innocent. They all have guilt. Those without guilt died in the first night of the rebellion, when they showed the courage to refuse such actions!” He watches the screen with a angry expression.
I watch the screen, as the first red dots become flashes of light, but smaller than the earlier ones. Though if something can be seen on a continental scale, they shouldn't be small at all. I don't know what to do.
Then I just sit down and hug the stupid hermit. I guess, I have to accept that evil side of him. I guess we would have used strategic strikes in the end anyway. We silently watch the red dots spreading out over the north.
And over a few minutes many small lights start to bloom over the whole north. At least Angrod's weaponry seems to allow precise strikes and in most cases just a few selected buildings get crushed.
“Those exploded too early.” Angrod notices us a few minutes later. “The missiles, I shot at the City of Seria at Mount Seria didn't reach their destination.”
“That's disturbing. Do they have some kind of defence? Try to drop one of your drones into the city. During the war, we experimented with shield spells to protect our cities. I have a bad feeling about this.” -Arthur
Angrod works on his computer and two drones change course, to dive down onto the City. One is following the other to observe the first ones fate.
A few hundred meters above the city the first just gets crushed, like it flew against a solid wall. Seconds later the second drone is lost too.
“They really managed to cast a shield spell of that size? That would need huge amounts of mana!?” Arthur is shocked.
“I guess that's where the missing people come into play.” I say in a very unhappy tone.
“They wouldn't need so many people just for a stupid shield spell. They ransacked at least three cities, that's much more than they need even if they used thousands just for the shield.” Angrod explains in a moody voice.
“Can you zoom that area out!” Katrine points out something like a field close to the city and Angrod enlarges it.
“Ugh! Are those mass graves?” I ask shocked. I want to throw up. How can those guys go to those extremes.
Angrod changes the view to the city again, but everything looks normal. Except for a big building, shaped like a hemisphere. Then he switches through some instruments in the drone until something like an infra-red vision shows up. Just that it seems to filter for mana.
“I guess, they really are trying to summon a god.” Angrod concludes in a grim voice.
31 - A light at the end?
“Those monsters killed all those civilians, just to summon a god? How did they even get the idea?” Katrine is shocked.
Angrod is still staring at the screen with a grim expression, his drone is flying a circle around the city, to get a view from all angles.
Now that I look at the circle, it looks familiar. “Somewhere, I have seen that circle before. If I could remember where?”
Angrod leans back on his chair. “It's the same circle, the council used to summon us, when we became gods.”
“It's a summoning circle? I thought they gave us our divinity through it?” I don't get it?
Angrod smiles. “They never -gave- us our divinity. We became gods on our own. Everyone becomes a god, on the condition that his soul reaches the required strength. They were lying to hold their control over us.”
“How do you know that?” I ask.
Angrod snorts and starts at the beginning. “When they summoned me and -made- me a god, I already had done quite a bit of research on souls and gods. That circle is nothing more, than a summoning formation. I admit, it is a powerful device, but except for a change in location and a beautiful light show, combined with a dizzy feeling, you get nothing from it.
The Council just does this to convince the new born gods, that they have some kind of control over them. I guess it keeps the trouble away, if such a belief exists.
But they didn't fool me with this. Most of the runes on this circle are just for show and to make it look like a really complicated thing.”
“Why didn't you tell anyone!?” I get even less now. The Council doesn't have any power over our divinity? They just let people assume that they gave it to them? To get control over them?
“Mwahaha! I was lucky to think three steps ahead, before blurting out my knowledge to the world. Don't you think this secret is quite a powerful tool of control? What would they do if someone ran around and told everyone of the biggest lie in the whole multiverse.
Wouldn't quite a few gods decide that it is not necessary to follow the Councils words like dogs? Wouldn't someone, who knew that secret, be silenced at any cost?
So I kept my mouth shut. I played the scientific idiot, who is much more interested in their city than in the circle under his feet. And then I said “yes and amen” to everything they asked of me.”
I think about it for a few seconds. “I guess you could be right. There are some who are very unhappy with the Council. That still doesn't explain where the Meltheim's got the knowledge of that circle?”
“Don't know.” Angrod shrugs his shoulders.