Meridias

  Ashblade turned to General Titus who stared contemplatively into the room. “Very well. Have him sent to a cell. We’ll pick this up again in the morning,” he finally said. Newitz relayed the order to the guards outside the room and they opened the door and went to Elunduil’s side. Elunduil looked up at the men and sighed. He got up and followed the men out of the room. “If Joel fails to have potential and Elunduil refuses to cooperate then I will get rid of him,” he said. Ashblade nodded and left the room. He walked around and retrieved Joel. As they walked back to their quarters Joel turned to Ashblade. “So how did I do?” he asked. Ashblade chuckled.

  “You’re terrible at interrogation,” he remarked. Joel pouted.

  “Hey, it’s not my fault I don’t know what I’m doing,” he said. “Besides it’s not like The Mage is easy to get anything out of.” Ashblade nodded. Elunduil certainly had a way of not revealing his thoughts. Still there was one thing he wanted to know. “How do you know he’s telling the truth? He could just be stalling for time?” Ashblade asked. Joel shook his head.

  “Maybe, but The Mage doesn’t make things up. If he did something crazy like trying to burn down a warehouse then he did it.” Ashblade nodded understandingly. Joel knew Elunduil better than he did, so if he believed the kid’s story then he would too. “Anyway meet me at my quarters tomorrow at 0600. Don’t be late, Flowerman.” Joel looked annoyed.

  “Dang it Mage now Ash is making fun of me!” he complained. Ashblade hid a smirk as they went their separate ways. He was eager to see what would happen tomorrow.

  Chapter 24

  Joel’s Awakening

  Mr. Elden called Tanis and Tim the next morning. Actually he’d had Alicia call them over. He’d hesitated to have her call Felras because of how young he was. He hadn’t been involved with what had been going on like the others, so it was unlikely The General would bring him in. To Mr. Elden’s surprise Felras arrived with Tanis who had been dropped off by his grandfather. Tim showed up a few minutes later as well and Mr. Elden pulled him and Tanis aside. “I’d actually hoped not to get Elunduil’s brother involved in this mess,” he said to the two. Tim looked like he agreed and turned to Tanis for an explanation. “What? Isn’t this just a meeting to figure out what happened to Elunduil?” he replied. Mr. Elden pursed his lips. He would have to explain the current situation. Thankfully Tim already knew there was some kind of problem thanks to the communication device Mr. Elden had given him a long time ago.

  They went into the living room and found Cerra sitting up on the couch while Alicia helped her eat some porridge. They looked up as the guys entered. “Ah, hello!” Cerra said weakly. Tanis and Felras were taken aback but Tim simply nodded in return. He noticed that Cerra was wearing one of Alicia’s shirts which was a tad small for her and slightly distracting. “Are you alright?” he asked with concern. Cerra nodded. “Yes, thanks to Alicia I should make a full recovery soon.” Tim nodded and took a seat at the other sofa in the room. Felras and Tanis followed him and Mr. Elden looked to everyone in the room. He looked meaningfully to Cerra who smiled encouragingly.

  Mr. Elden launched into his story about what had happened the previous day. He told them of the warehouse that housed ready-to-assemble portal machines as well as trained men attacking them and wounding Cerra. Elunduil had held them off long enough for he and Cerra to escape and most likely attempted to burn the warehouse down before being captured. He told them about General Titus Leviticus and his long standing goal of finding a way to end all war in the world through force. He then told them about Scott and their plan to expose The General to the world in an attempt to remove him from power as well as revealing the other world to the public.

  Tanis was deep in thought by the end of the story. “Elunduil used a blue Firewall Flower?” he asked. Mr. Elden nodded. “Darn! If only he’d done that against the Behemoth!” Tim coughed. “As impressive as that is we have more important matters to discuss. I’m guessing Scott is currently trapped in the VR center with the data you guys have?” he said and Mr. Elden nodded. “Yes we need a plan. The General’s men are closely watching the center, but there’s bound to be some kind of gap between watches. At least long enough for us to get Scott and get out.” Tanis looked thoughtful.

  “What about using the Mt. Hood portal? We go through there to Ellicia then to Ragnarok and come in through the back door!” he said excitedly. Mr. Elden nodded.

  “Alicia had the same idea. I believe that is our ticket out of the situation. However I would like to survey the guards first. See if we can’t find a pattern in their shifts that we can exploit,” he said. Tanis raised a hand.

  “I’ll go! Everyone else should stay here just in case,” he said. Tim frowned.

  “Wait a minute why you? I have much more experience than you do!” he objected. Tanis nodded. “Duh, that’s why you should stay here. If things go south then you can take the others to the Mt. Hood portal and use it to escape!” he explained. Tim mulled it over. He couldn’t deny Tanis’ logic. He was the only other person beside Scott and Mr. Elden that knew how to activate the mountain portal. “All right fine! Just don’t do anything dumb!” he said. Tanis chuckled and stood up. “Alright let’s get going! The sooner we get this over with the sooner we can free Elunduil!”

  Mr. Elden nodded and started to walk out of the living room with Tanis. He turned back to Tim and asked, “Have you tried to materialize your staff on Earth yet?” Everyone’s eyes turned to Tim who shook his head. “Not yet. I didn’t want to bring it out only to not be able to put it back,” he explained. Mr. Elden nodded and then he and Tanis left the room. Alicia looked thoughtfully between Tim and Felras. “You two wouldn’t mind helping me heal Cerra would you?” she asked.

  “Of course not. It’s the least we can do right now,” Tim said. Felras nodded in agreement and Alicia smiled. While they helped Alicia, Tim wondered if he should try and materialize his staff. It would augment his abilities here on Earth and they may need all the help they could get.

  ***

  Elunduil was brought back to the interrogation room early in the morning. He wasn’t told what time it was and the cell he was in lacked windows. Actually this whole section of the facility lacked a view of the outside. Probably so that prisoners would lose their sense of time. When he did enter the interrogation room Joel was already there at one end of the small table waiting for him. “Good morning Mage!” he said with enthusiasm. Elunduil grunted in response and sat down. “So we’re going to see if I can use magic now, yes?” Joel asked. Elunduil nodded. “By the way how did you learn to use magic?” Elunduil looked to the side. He wasn’t sure how much he should say but… General Titus already knew about the elves so there was no harm in talking about them.

  “There are elves in Meridias that I learned from,” he said. Joel smacked a hand on the table. “That’s what I heard! Are drop dead gorgeous elves that make everyone swoon?” Elunduil nodded. Joel looked excited. “Lucky! I was stuck in the middle of the desert in the other world and everything seemed to want to kill us!” Elunduil was intrigued. He didn’t know that Joel had also been to Meridias. “Like what exactly?” he asked. Joel took a deep breath and went on a tirade about the Krel, which he referred to as land sharks, praying mantis looking creatures with a lion’s mane called Antlions, a bone dragon, and a flying worm creature that they couldn’t damage.

  Elunduil realized that Joel was talking about a World Eater and that Joel’s group were the reason behind it appearing in Ragnarok. “So that’s where it came from!” he said loudly. Joel frowned. “Huh, so you fought it too?!” Elunduil nodded.

  “Yeah, I mean I blew it to pieces with magic a couple of times but it kept reforming. Eventually I damaged the core but it decided it had enough and peace’d out into space,” he explained. Joel smacked a hand on the desk. “Wait a minute you actually broke it with magic?!” he said dramatically. Elunduil nodded.

  In the other room Ashblade looked to The General who was barely containing his glee. �
�Er, should we stop story time?” he asked. General Titus shook his head.

  “No, I’m actually quite intrigued to hear more of Elunduil’s exploits. It would seem he overcame many trials.” Ashblade nodded. More and more he felt like General Titus should not be allowed to learn the secrets of magic. Their world would be plunged into chaos and destruction.

  Elunduil and Joel continued to exchange stories. Joel prattled on about how he defeated the Antlion Queen by throwing a satchel of grenades down her throat and then that he caused a good chunk of the nest to collapse with all the c4 he’d placed on his way down to her chamber. Elundul was more impressed with how crazy Joel had been to slaughter his way through several Antlions while gleefully whistling to the tune of “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf.” He told Joel of his encounter with the Behemoth whose hide was tougher than that of the World Eater’s and how he had to use Destiny’s End to defeat it.

  Joel stared at Elunduil for a long moment. “I call hacks!” he said. “You just broke all the rules and wiped out the Behemoth from existence. Bloody rulebreaker,” he complained. Elunduil shrugged. “I could only use that ability because of Ark’s swords. I couldn’t use it now even if I tried.” Joel snorted.

  “Oh you’ll find some way to do it again! That’s what you do! You break all logic and physics and do whatever you want!” Joel said emphatically.

  “That’s only The Comic me,” Elunduil said half-heartedly, but he felt like his ability to use magic was strangely similar to his Comic self. He sighed and glanced over Joel’s shoulder. He specifically did not mentioned the others in his stories. If General Titus caught wind of other magic users he was bound to capture them too.

  He held up a hand as Joel rambled on about something related to Elunduil’s Comic self. Now was the time to see if Joel had potential. He gathered energy to his palm and fired a small glob of pure magical energy right at Joel’s chest. He reacted by jumping back in his seat and stopped talking. Joel wasn’t 100% sure what was going on but he felt something change inside of him. It was as if there was some power that had awakened. “Was that…?” Joel started to ask Elunduil who nodded. “Huh, I feel like something woke up. I thought I would feel powerful or something.” Elunduil chuckled in response.

  “Nah, you probably won’t be able to do anything. All I did was essentially jump start the factory, but you may as well try and use whatever magic comes to your mind,” he said.

  Joel nodded and concentrated on an image of fire in his mind. He focused on a spot on the table and furrowed his brows. After staring at the same spot for several moments he gave up. “Nothing’s happening Mage!” he complained. Elunduil sighed and put a palm to his forehead.

  “You have to actually gather your magical energy first! Like just imagine you’re moving a ball of heat up to the palm of your hand or something,” Elunduil said mildly annoyed. Joel nodded his head in understanding and held up his hand in the air. He concentrated on this new energy in his body and focused it to his palm.

  Elunduil nodded. “There you go. Now try something,” he encouraged. Joel brought up the image of a roaring inferno in his mind. Something that could burn away this entire facility!

  As soon as he’d had the thought a small tongue of flame licked up from the air above his palm. It vanished a moment later and Joel grinned. “Ha haa! I can do it too Mage!” He goaded. Elunduil raised a brow and opened his mouth to say something but decided against it. Joel suddenly reeled forward and onto the table. “That’s what I was waiting for. I figured that little fire was basically your current limit,” Elunduil said. Joel managed to raise himself back up after some effort. “What?! You mean this is all I can do?!” he asked and Elunduil nodded.

  “You probably would’ve lasted a bit longer on Meridias, but I wasn’t able to do much at first either,” he said.

  Joel huffed and looked at his hand. He was disappointed but at the same time he was also excited that he could use magic! He then recalled something Elunduil had said the other day. “Hold on didn’t you say you set a warehouse on fire? How come you can do that here when magic is supposed to be hard to use?” he asked.

  “Well I don’t know the extent of the damage I did but the fire I was using was hot enough to melt through steel…” Elunduil trailed off and thought back to that moment. He’d realized what passion had been in that moment. Something that he’d been lacking the first time the mysterious presence had told him about fire. “The thing with magic is that you have to understand it and how it works. When it comes to something like fire that means more than just knowing what fire is, but also what it symbolizes. Fire is wrath, comfort, passion. The best way for me to put it is to tell you this poem that someone else told me.” Elunduil cleared his throat and recited the poem from his dream.

  Since the dawn of man it has been feared and admired.

  It brought them from darkness and into light.

  It captivated with its ever changing form.

  Its alluring dance entices the heart of those that watch it.

  Never tangible, and biting those who try to capture it.

  It is the greatest comfort when the days grow cold,

  And most dangerous because it feeds without remorse.

  Its roar can be wrathful and pleasing to hear.

  Men use it to wage war and bring about destruction.

  Humanity possesses its passion and the will to strive for greatness

  Even where it razes the land it can pave the way for new life to spring up.

  It is one of the pillars that has existed since the universe began.

  It is the brightest star, the comforter of the night, and the loneliest spirit.

  It is Fire.

  That poem was the fundament to how he understood fire. Hopefully Joel would be able to understand something from it as well. Joel looked thoughtful. “Huh, so does understanding it make it easier to use?” he asked. Elunduil nodded. “Okay I kind of get it. I’ll have to think some more, but for now-!” he said excitedly and clicked his fingers. There was a small spark and Joel collapsed onto the desk.

  Elunduil sat in mild disbelief with a palm to his forehead. The idiot had knocked himself out trying to use magic again. He had a feeling Joel would probably try using magic once he came to and shook his head. “Well I guess we’re done until you recover a bit,” he murmured. The door to the room opened and Elunduil was escorted out by the guards and taken to his cell. Meanwhile Ashblade and General Titus stared on with frowns on their faces. “Well I guess he has a long way to go before he can use anything close to Elunduil’s magic,” General Titus said disappointedly. Ashblade grunted in agreement. “Say, we know how strong Elunduil is. What happens if he decides he’s had enough and tries to break free of the room?” he asked. General Titus grinned. “This room has special vents that will spray out a poison gas into the room. It’s almost instantly fatal.”

  Ashblade shuddered on the inside and left the room to wake Joel. He went around to the interrogation room and entered the room. He went to Joel and shook him several times but he wouldn’t rouse so Ashblade hefted him over his shoulder with a sigh and carried Joel back to his quarters. When he set Joel down on one of the beds Joel snorted and came to. “Huh? Oh hi Ash! Where’s Elunduil?” he asked.

  “Back in his cell. We’ll resume your training in a few hours.” Joel nodded and held up a hand. Ashblade grabbed Joel’s wrist. “No more magic until we’re back in the interrogation room!” he said sternly. Joel began to protest.

  “But it’s magic Ash! How can I not use it?” he whined. Ashblade glared at Joel.

  “Firstly, you’ll probably kill yourself. Enthusiasm only gets you so far. Second, I’m ordering you not to use any magic until you’re back in the interrogation room! Are we clear?!” Joel grumbled and hung his head. “I need a clear response, soldier!”

  “Yes, sir!” Joel said clearly but without enthusiasm. Ashblade nodded and left the room.

  Joel laid back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. He reall
y wanted to use magic again but Ash was probably right. He’d only made a spark the second time and if what Elunduil said was true then his magical energy should gradually recover. He thought about the poem Elunduil had told him. He didn’t remember all of it but things like the loneliest spirit and wrathful roar came to mind. As he mulled everything over his stomach growled. He wearily rose from the bed. He could think about all this stuff as he ate. Food was bound to help him recover his strength!

  ***

  Mr. Elden and Tanis surveyed the area around the VR center. The first thing that they did was stop by a nearby apartment that Mr. Elden and Scott had rented out. The apartment was a part of a three-story complex that had just been built within the last year. The space the complex occupied was quite large and had several rows of apartments that housed a couple hundred people. The apartment buildings were painted a lighter brown and had walkways in the middle that allowed people to access the nearby street and had a staircase for reaching the upper levels.

  Mr. Elden and Tanis took the stairs all the way to the top floor and went to the door on the left of the stairs. Mr. Elden juggled with some keys for a moment and then unlocked the door. They went into the threshold and Tanis closed the door behind them. While Mr. Elden went to grab a few items Tanis looked around. There was a small kitchen to his right which looked unused, and just past it the blinds were drawn over a sliding door that led to a small balcony outside. A little further in and there was a set of three doors to his left. The one in the middle was the bathroom and the other two doors were probably bedrooms. The living room area was by the blinds and its carpeted floor was devoid of furniture. Tanis had the impression that this was more or less just a place that Mr. Elden and Scott could use should the need arise.