by Andy Boot
"This cannot continue. What has happened to me proves, I feel, that we cannot tolerate this situation
"We have two choices. First, we can separate ourselves from the executive body of the nation state to which we belong. Together, acting independently of all government, we can form a body which will oversee the running of Inan. We can use the knowledge and wisdom which we, allegedly, possess, to maintain this world of ours as we see fit. If we choose to exercise our power, then there is little alternative to this."
He paused. Simeon could almost feel a physical wave of confusion sweep across Inan. What the Mage was suggesting was nothing less than the handing over of all power to a cabal of ancients, rendering all governments and military redundant overnight. But, as he looked at the old man, he felt that there was something else.
"Of course, that is not the only way. Who can decide that they have the right to rule over another man? Surely, if the pursuit of knowledge and enlightenment teaches us nothing else, then it teaches us that the more that we know, the more we have to know. The simpler the decision, the harder it can truly be to arrive at a true and just conclusion. The hardest thing of all in this life that we have - this life that we, as students of the great truths, have prolonged in order to study those very truths - is to decide what is right for us as individuals. How, then, can we decide what is right for others?
"Our alternative path is to have nothing to do with nation states or governments. To treat our Institutes as independent and autonomous. We must withdraw from the world in a political sense, and not allow ourselves to be used, or to be drawn into the schemes of those base enough to seek to control others. Each must learn to be the ruler of his own life.
"I would urge my fellow Mages to follow this path. It is my preference. There may be those who would point out that a Mage without alliance has the capability to destroy at will. To this, I would point out two things. First, the very nature of our studies should negate this fear. Secondly... well, as at least one of us knows, there are always checks and balances. There are no islands: every action sparks a reaction, and in this way we are able to track the progress of our fellows... whether they wish this or not."
Simeon watched the holomonitors. Vixel shifted uncomfortably, a movement that would not have gone unnoticed by his peers. Simeon allowed himself a smile: all systems of government had mechanisms for accountability. This was how Vixel was made answerable to his Chief Minister. Similarly, Ramus-Bey was tacitly proposing that this be followed through magically.
The Varn Mage was not the only one to be so affected. Within the crowd, Simeon could feel a wave of mixed emotion spread. Fear for the future, hope that it would be a better world, anticipation for a time to come.
It would be like that across the planet. Inan was changing. Change was always feared, a step into the dark and the unknown.
As abruptly as he had started, Ramus-Bey finished. He stood up and walked away from the newscast. As he approached Simeon and Jenna, he looked back over his shoulder at the crowd behind him. They were subdued, but unsettled. The Chief Minister was looking over his shoulder, unsure of what to do. An attitude echoed by the members of the executive and the warriors - both foot-soldiers and high ranking officials - who were gathered for the broadcast.
The Mage turned to Simeon and Jenna. "Time, I think, for us to be gone."
"That's it?" Jenna queried.
Bey grinned and nodded. "There isn't anything else to say to them. It isn't really my problem any more. Not unless I'm asked for help. I rather think that it may be some time before I'm bothered in that way."
The Mage walked past them and into the Ministry building. With a last, lingering look at the crowd, their mood echoed by the images on the holomonitors from around the planet, Simeon and Jenna followed him.
Inside the old building, now empty, their footsteps resounded around the corridors. Bey led them towards a rear entrance.
"And we're going where, exactly?" Simeon asked.
"Back way, avoid the crowds, the sort of thing you'd be doing for me," Bey murmured. "Before I leave, I wanted to talk privately with you."
"Where are you going?" asked Jenna.
The Mage smiled. "Not far. Just back to the Institute. I have friends I wish to see. Friends I have not treated perhaps as I should in the past. But there's time to make amends for that. There is much to rebuild, and not just the physical damage caused by those who abducted me. There is a trust, a calm, a way of living and learning that we need to re-establish, perhaps make better than before."
"That's good to hear," Simeon said before falling into an awkward silence.
"That's all you have to say about it?" Bey quizzed with a sardonic tone, his eyebrow raised.
"What else is there? You no longer have any need of my services."
"You think not?"
Simeon shrugged. "There's no-one to attack you now, at least, no-one obvious. Besides which, you don't need me. Back when this started, you were unaware that you had physical failings that others would seek to exploit; that you could be attacked in that way. I think you know now how wrong that was. The same is true of your magic: you thought your body strong and your magic weak. Now that you know that the reverse is true, that awareness allows you to be prepared"
Bey shook his head. "And that's the only reason I'd want you to join me? You don't think you'd have something to offer, something that I think would be good for us at the Institute? I've taken note of the way in which you've handled those small pieces of magic you know. You've got a certain talent, you know... but apart from that, does it not occur to you that I would be pleased to have you around just to call you friend?"
Simeon said nothing for a moment. Then, with a glance to the woman at his side, he said: "I would be honoured, and I would be glad to call you friend, too... but there are other things..."
Ramus-Bey grinned. There was a twinkle in his eye that betrayed him. He may be old, but he was not that out of touch.
"And who's to say that the lovely Ensign Jenna would not be welcomed? True, we have been male academies up to now, but times are changing everywhere else."
"I think perhaps they should have changed a lot sooner," Jenna countered with a chuckle, "though perhaps you wouldn't have been as devoted to your studies."
"Perhaps, but will you not consider it?"
Simeon shook his head, after some consideration. "I would be glad to call on you, but it can't be my home. And not just because of Jenna, although that is a consideration. I... I have spent my life being a warrior, and because of the lack of opportunity I believed that I was a poor warrior. I now know that this is not the case. These are going to be uncertain times, and there will be need of men and women who know how to fight."
"You think I have precipitated another war?" Bey seemed genuinely saddened. "Is that really what you think of my decision?"
Simeon put his hand on the old man's shoulder. "No. There won't be a war, but there will be fighting. There has to be, as people learn how to make choices. There will be injustice, and there will be people needed to balance this. The peace that we thought was peace was nothing but a fraud. This time we can have a true peace, but it will be a painful birth. It's going to be an - ah - interesting time for people like Jenna and me. I just hope that we can make the right choices along the way."
The Mage embraced them both. "I have faith in your sense of justice, of truth." He stepped back. "I'd also put money on you in a fight. Any time."
Without another word, but with a smile that told them all, Ramus-Bey turned and walked away from them, his footsteps echoing through the stone corridors of the empty building. They could hear him even after he had turned around a corner at the end of the corridor, and had passed from view as well as from their lives.
At least for the moment.
Simeon sighed, and embraced Jenna. "Well, are you ready for this?"
"No," she said into his shoulder. "Are you?"
He laughed. "No. I don't think so. Don't think I ever r
eally was, ever really will be. But it hasn't stopped either of us so far, right? So we might as well see what the Gods have in store for us."
They turned and walked back towards the front of the building, where the people of Belthan - and the whole of Bethel, and of Inan - awaited the future.
Whatever that may be.
THE END
Andy Boot has written twelve novels in the post-apocalypse series Deathlands, and two in the longest-running crime series currently in print, The Executioner. Previous to this he wrote four non-fiction books covering true crime, the paranormal, and horror films. Before that he was a journalist. After this, he'd like to be rich.