Kindles of War

by Nicol Terra

  “I think the world would be a better place if Maplesworn lost its Monarch and we transitioned to a democracy.” She said.

  Rose coughed in rapid succession. Her eyes opened to a crimson, watery red. Tina looked away.

  “I uh, am still drunk. I didn’t me-” Tina started, only for Rose to interrupt her.

  “No, it's fine.” Rose smiled and winked at her. Tina blinked and winked at her too. "I agree, don't worry. Our democracy is flawed if Nisandra can just override anything they try to pass."

  "Like the war," Tina added. Rose nodded.

  "Like the war," Rose said. Tina took a puff

  “So, we have our final test in a few days,” Rose asked.

  “Yeah.” Tina said.

  “I don’t want to be split up. I want to keep my friends.” Rose protested. Tina looked at her roll for a moment and the bright flame of it burning down to the end of the wrap. She smiled.

  “Yeah, I do too.” Tina said. Although she would place her own desires above the teams, she was happy being friends with them.

  “Can you keep tutoring me? About the classes.” Rose asked.

  Tina smiled and scoffed a little. “What, why?”

  Rose smacked her joint away, cuddling her legs.

  “You guys are the closest to my family I have ever had. I lost mine when I was young, and I was shuffled into by an adopted family. When I was sixteen, they died. I came here.” She wiped a tear. “I was lonely, scared. I failed twice. Everyone called me stupid and a failure. The third time, I knew I was out if I failed. Then, you guys helped me. I have friends. I care about you, and I don’t believe in some country or loyalty. I believe in my friends.”

  Tina blinked. She had no family other than her mother, and for a brief instant, she felt a small surge of sympathy.

  “We are going to the library after practice then. Studying five to twelve. I will drill you.” She said. Rose eyes lit up as she hugged Tina.

  “Aww, thank you!” She said. “You are the best.”

  Tina smiled and laughed, hugging her for a few seconds. She felt a closeness with her new squadron, at the least, she had them to trust.

  Rose nodded. “I will go to the bookstore and get a book on magic theory, any recommendations?”

  Tina smiled. “Magic Theory by Alura.” She said. Rose nodded.

  “I will be getting that book and studying with you tomorrow.” Tina said.

  Rose and Tina hugged one last time with Rose flying away. Tina too flicked her roll away as she flew back in, Evelyn sound asleep on her bed face up. Tina flew over to her bed and flew her blanket over her body. The warm silk and rubbing against her as she closed her eyes.

  She smiled, Eve and Rose were friends. So was Erudite, Robin and Evelyn. She had them to worry about now. She can try to help them too. She wanted to do anything for their well being now.

  Anything.

  Duran saw the sunrise slowly up through the window. He slowly opened his eyes, smacking his dry lips. Duran limped out of bed as Duran scratched the side of his head. He then felt a cold chill down his spine and then reached for his Holosphere, as he saw it was 11:00, late for him. Then he blinked, oh right, he was underground; there was no sun down here. Duran always preferred to wake up to the sunrise, but that wasn't an option here. He closed his eyes as he felt time slow around him. Duran flashed Yellow Aura one last time, as he saw the future around him wrap around as he experienced the new reality. He then crossed his legs together and focused on his meditation.

  He then felt the room around him shatter like glass. He saw himself surrounded by tens of volcanos. The hot spewing of magma rock and hot air crackled around him. Each of these volcanos was spewing lava. He saw a faint, red shadow in front of him. He attempted to reach forward only for the shadow disappeared.

  In a second, he took a step back, grabbed the shadow and slammed into the ground. He then blasted the field and the surrounding volcanos into thousands of large pieces. The large chunks of rocks shot around in all directions, covering thousands of kilometers in a second. Some of the rubble landed in the ocean, other parts of the wreckage fell elsewhere on the continent. He looked back at the man, crushing his head with his right arm. The shadow laughed, twisted his head around and cackled.

  Duran woke up in a cold sweat. He felt his hands shaking; he saw a glimpse of a yellow flash and then retreat into his body.

  He then heard a loud knocking at the door. He blinked once, getting up and rushed to the door.

  It was Ariel.

  “H-Hey.” She said, holding her hands together, blushing and looking away. “I heard a sudden noise, so I came to check on you.”

  Duran blinked once, looking from left to right.

  “From me?” He said, pointing to himself.

  Ariel nodded.

  He rolled his eyes. He always found the ability to see the future pleasant until you saw so far into the future you see things you wish you didn’t notice. Flashing Yellow Aura to use light to stop time or read minds was easy. Duran however, saw tens of thousands of futures, often millions more when he slept or when he meditated. Every time he ‘screamed,’ it was a future he did not want to happen.

  He gulped once and held Ariel close to him.

  “It is okay. I am just tired is all.” He said, pulling away.

  Ariel looked at him once, her eyes suspicious and raised. She said nothing and walked away. Duran cursed to himself. He hated lying to Ariel. In the back of his head, that was probably why she broke up with him. He sighed once, closing the door to slip on his clothes. He wore a white, silk shirt and black silk pants. His shirt had a crest on it, the crest had a lion on the shield with a sword in its mouth, holding the handle with his teeth. The minister gave it to him yesterday, the day he was meditating. He grabbed the Holosphere on his right-hand desk and slipped it inside his pocket. He then walked outside and stretched at his newfound clothes. Duran smiled, smelling the stagnant air freely with a big grin. The smell of his dream was not pleasant, to begin with.

  He walked down the hotel hallway. The lights on the top ceiling, floating freely in a bubble was awe-inspiring to him. The more he was in this city, the more he loved it. He then thought about the city. He should be proud he ‘found’ the ancient city of Argatha. That was his mission on paper, to find the city and claim it for Kulso. He rolled his eyes. He will probably tell Eraz that he saw nothing.

  He walked down the winding stairs to the right end of the hallway. He was greeted by an empty front lobby, with only D.J and two elves in a table together. D.J smirked, smacking a set of five cards on the table and freely scooping chips towards him. The two male elves grumbled to themselves, shaking their heads in disappointment. Duran waltzed over to him, looming over his chest.

  “I hope you plan to buy drinks tonight.” Duran soothed.

  D.J jumped up and quickly snapped his head to look at Duran. His face looked down at the floor, frowning with his eyes droopy.

  “Come on Sir! I won just now fifty silver coins! I can use that for five good bottles!” He grumbled to himself.

  Duran shook his head. “I guess those five good bottles will be our five good bottles.” He smirked.

  D.J grumbled to himself, shaking his head. He looked to see the Elves gone, walking away from the two.

  Duran blinked once. “Oh wow, even they got tired of losing to you constantly.”

  “Will you cut me some slack?” D.J said. “What are you doing so early, anyway? Ariel and I have been enjoying the city…while you have been?”

  “Meditating.” Duran said.

  “Meditating, for what? To make your Aura stronger?” D.J scoffed. “Take a look around. This city is peaceful!”

  “Perhaps you are right,” Duran said, rubbing his chin.

  Duran nodded to himself, perhaps he was right. What dangerous thing can happen in this city?

  “Oh sir, did you hear the news?” D.J said.

  Duran shook his head as D.J pulled out his Holosphere, it was a news article h
e scanned a picture of.

  Terror in the Streets!

  Argatha is plagued by a mysterious man in black. He wears only a black shroud.

  Unidentified and highly dangerous, this man is suspected in one count of Arson, Murder, and Thievery in the city

  If you possess any information, contact your local Minister.

  Duran rubbed his chin, shaking his head. “I wonder if I can talk to the minister about that..”

  D.J raised a brow. “What do you mean?”

  “He said we l can talk to him today about the portal to Nieth. I think I will go over to him and bargain.”

  D.J shook his head. “Good luck, just let me know if you plan to do anything else.”

  “As a matter of fact,” Duran said, smacking his hand on D.J’s shoulder. “I was going to the bar today, but now I seem to run into a guy with fifty silver coins who would gladly pay for drinks tonight.” He said.

  D.J slowly turned his head, horrified. “You are not going to forget, are you?”

  Duran smiled. “Nope.”

  The trip down the Minister’s steeple was long. The city only had dirt roads, everyone walked from place to place, with train stations on the sides of the building, zipping and zagging from place to place. He walked, more time to gather his thoughts. He found Argatha, which according to legend, had a portal to Nieth. He then pondered for a moment, that legend hasn’t been updated since the time of Riha, over two thousand years ago. Did they have it? The Minister seems to avoid the question when he directly asked him.

  The dirt roads contrasted with the metal buildings. The buildings were constructed with black metal. The metal felt harder than steel or nanofiber, almost alien to him. He quickly continued down the path to the central chapel. The chapel was the largest building in the city. It was nearly a mile tall, almost close enough the ceiling of the cave. The chapel had a black pillar on the top, with a dark blue-domed building under it. The domed building was wider at the base than at the pillar. He waltzed inside to see men with white robes greet him. Each of these men’s robes had a gold scarf wrapped around their neck and having a blue string wrapped around their chest. He raised a brow, quite a peculiar sense in fashion.

  Duran walked over to the front desk, smiling and bowing to one of the robed men.

  “Excuse me. I am here to talk to the Chief Minister.” He said.

  “What be your business?” The man spat the sentence.

  Duran shook his head. “Oh not much, just checking up on a portal.” He said.

  The man’s face turned ghost white as he took a step back. Duran couldn’t help smile. The ministry knew something about this portal. He knew when the ministers turning white at a simple question mean they had it.

  The minister bowed shakily. “R-Right, I will get him down here soon.”

  Duran sat in the chair, swiping through the new’s headlines in the Holosphere in the ‘Politics’ section.

  Battle of Agall claims over one hundred thousand lives on the first day of the campaign, majority civilian casualties.

  Kragg announces more trade sanctions on Zynthia and Kulso.

  Maplesworn votes for the nation-wide draft.

  Duran raised a brow. These events all seem foreign to him. He was thousands of miles from the war; he understood none of this. He, however, felt the pain from this far away. He grabbed onto his Holosphere; he looked at the last headline with a great fire.

  Kulso mobilizes Mudath and half the entire army to Siphor. Eraz states he is ‘confident’ that he can conquer the territory.

  Duran pocketed his Holosphere, turning it off as he waited patiently for the Minister to walk over to him. The minister waltzed over. He was the only one with a green robe. Duran got up from the chair and shook his head.

  “I hope you remember who I am.” He said.

  The man nodded, letting out a sigh. “I unfortunately do, and I hope that you don't need to go through that portal right now.” He said.

  Duran shook his head. “Why is that?”

  “Because the portal has been broken for over two thousand years.” He said.

  Duran leaned on the back of the Elevator, his eyes glued to the floor and his mind rushing thousands of words per second. He got the gist. The portal was broken during the ‘Great Storm.’ Argatha used to be on the top of the continent, on the surface world where it farmed Geothermal Energy. During the Great Storm, however, many retreated to the ground below to start a new life. The portal to Nieth wasn’t moved in time. Space rending winds shattered it. The portal is intact, but the power source is split in half, and even then, the room inside the grand entrance was said to be leaking of Nether, those who got close simply disappeared from existence. The room was filled with Deathforce, the energy of death after over four thousand years after the Great Storm, Riha's hate still ebbed on.

  “Are you sure about this?” Duran asked.

  The man nodded. “We have sent dozens of repair and search teams to this portal. Every time, they disappear. The last search team had a single survivor who was luckily trained with Nether Magic.”

  Duran nodded. “I see.”

  “Since then.” The man continued, leaning on the back of the elevator. “The Ministers have trained to use Nether Magic or to find a crystal powerful enough to resist the effects.”

  Duran nodded as he paused for a moment. He then felt his mind spin and turn. “That is why you have crystal shops.” He said he held onto his crystal intimately. “You sell the ones useless to the cause.”

  The man said nothing and instead nodded.

  “Crystals are no longer are rare thankfully in the Old World,” Duran said. “Crystals, along with Magic and Aura are used for industry. Crystal Farms now output tens of thousands every day, some for military use, others for technology.”

  The man continued to say nothing.

  “I would guess if you ditched some of these crystals to the populace, and the sheer size of some of these shops, I will take it that this search is a citywide investigation.” Duran walked over to the man, towering over him as he shot a glare at him. “Am I wrong?”

  “Yes.” He snarled. “That is correct.”

  The elevator stopped at the top floor of the building, a single portal greeting them to the outside. The sun scorched and rain drenched outside was seen through the reflection of the portal. He sighed, this Portal was an older model. Most Portalscapes nowadays are shrouded with darkness for privacy, but then again even then they still were uncommon in the old world. Duran once tried to make them illegal, mostly because one time we went through one drunk he came out the other side naseous.

  The two walked through the portal to the outside. The two suns danced around each other with the two men. They walked to a shattered building in the near distance. The structure was made of rock, with many runic inscriptions written on them. These runic inscriptions were old, clawed on harshly with sharp lines, perhaps Dwarven? The building was coated with a thick shroud of light gray energy. Duran touched it, only for it to drip off his hands. He smiled to himself. Duran released energy from his crystal, a violet shroud of energy to coat his arm. He then ‘punched’ the gray power. The energy was swallowed inside a black spot on his arm, only for it to disappear entirely...

  “How did you do that?” The man said.

  Duran blinked. “Well, I could have just absorbed the energy with Nether energy, but I can’t use Nether Energy with this crystal, and my Aura will probably backfire and kill me since it is Magic. So I cut space with darkness and sent it elsewhere, probably erased empty space.” He said.

  Duran turned to the old man, his face dumbfounded and confused. His eyes were vacant. Duran sighed, explaining the Warp or Bending Effects on people always tired him. Experienced Soldiers were rare in comparison to the population of almost five billion in Kulso, and explaining Reality Warping to people was always a chore.

  “You came to the conclusion that only an element can counter an element. While that is true, sometimes you need not absorb, r
edirect or nullify an element with the same element or opposing element." Duran said.

  "I don't get it." The minister said.

  "I just created a spatial hole and flushed the Nether elsewhere. I am not strong enough to nullify it with Ether nor am I skilled enough to control Nether of this level." He said. Riha as powerful, he had doubts anyone could survive her Nether or Wind Magic. His source of evidence? The Great Storm last two thousand years.

  "In this case, I used darkness, coated by hand with darkness and cut through space with it and sent it elsewhere. It is an advanced property of Darkness.” He said. Duran giggled to himself mischievously though. He always wondered where things went when people sent them elsewhere in space. He shrugged though, not his problem anymore.

  He coated his arm with red energy and smacked through the rubble, vaporizing it in one shot. When the smoke and vapor parted, a marvelous site greeted him. The inside the building was entirely green, glowing like a beacon of light. The green light was almost suffocating, blinding and yet serene. In the room's center was a portal.

  The portal was on a black pedestal with a small flight of stairs leading up to it. Duran shook his head, rolling his eyes. The top of the portal where usually the power source lay was split in half. The portal blinked and fuzzed through space. He walked over to inspect the device. The base was intact, the back of the portal hid a partly slid out a piece of metal. He slowly slipped out the piece of metal to reveal a number pad with a green screen in the back. Each portal had a green screen, labeling the coordinates of the location in the back. This portal number pad was intact, but the screen was broken. The crystal still worked, but it was cracked down the middle, with not much energy left. He backed away and inspected it once more. Finally, the two metal pieces that formed around to make an oval were cracked. This portal, for all intensive purposes, was broken.

  Usually, Portals used crystals to power and transport people short distances. Fusionbubbles can power them, but the energy to warp space on a regular scale is proving to be difficult. Even then, he needed special supplies for a Fusion Bubble, no one in the city has Fusion Technology, they still used Stardust Sylo's. Spatial Elevators, like warp bubbles, provided little energy compared to Portals. He then looked at the sky, then to a faint shadow of Nieth. He giggled to himself, five hundred thousand kilometers is not a short distance. The crystals would need to be immensely powerful. He walked back outside, the man ghost white as he leaned on the piece of rubble. Duran couldn’t tell if he was scared to find out about the outcome of the portal or his power.