POV: Jacob

I am the king of a failing nation, we can barely keep ourselves afloat. On top of that, the world itself is spiraling into destruction. We can’t replenish the energy that we use up, and soon it’ll catch up to us.

I had thought I found a solution when Dr. Sammuel came forth with having found something that could easily solve this world’s problems, and place our nation firmly at the go of the world. I believed that this was what would save us, however, I am now beginning to doubt this idea.

Even after almost ten years he has not yet found a way to control this thing he calls mana, the most he has accomplished is the ability to see it. I even set a deadline for him so that he might work faster and finish it sooner.

Dr. Sammuel is working on his mana project in a facility not far from where I spend most of my time, this way I can consistently check on his progress. I can be at his door within minutes of leaving.

I’m checking up on his work every day and every day he gives me the same response “I’m almost done with it” he’ll say over and over, however that clearly isn’t true, it’s the same answer he’s been giving for the past two years after all.

If this keep up this country might fall before he finishes his work. He doesn’t seem to understand the true severity of the situation, he refuses help from other researchers out of his own pride, and he won’t share his research notes.

That man might be a genius, but he is far too prideful for his own good. If only he would accept others help we could get this done much faster. But alas, there’s nothing I can do about that, no one else has been able to even detect mana, and he refuses to show them how.

It’s about time I go check up on his progress again. I get up and head toward his facility

It takes only a few minutes to reach his lab, but something is strange, there is no noise. Typically there’s some kind of noise, be it the humming of some machine of the Hillary’s of frustration from Sammuel himself. But now, there’s nothing.

While I am disturbed by this, I decide to head in anyway. When I got inside, the strangest sight befell my eyes. There was something in the center of the room, it looked like a doorframe, but there was no door, and it wasn’t attached to anything.

The strangest part though, was the other side of this doorframe. When I looked through I did not see the other side of the room, I saw Sammuel, sitting on a dirt ground, as if he were outside. What was even stranger than that was that past Sammuel, there were oddities, impossible sights.

The architecture was extremely primitive, and the people wore strange clothing. But more than that, there were creatures that defied the laws that bind this world. Lizards the size of horses, dogs cloaked in fire, and creatures that don’t resemble any known animal.

it looks as if this doorframe contains a whole new world, but that isn’t possible is it?

Before I can even process fully what I’m seeing, the doorframe closes and disappears, taking everything inside, including Sammuel, with it.

“WAIT! DON’T GO! I NEED TO KNOW WHAT THAT WAS!”

I scream out in vain, as if my cries alone would bring the door back.

I don’t know what that was but two things are clear: that was not this world, and Sammuel is now trapped wherever it is.

Mana is a very mysterious thing, with very little known about it, it is very possible that something, or someone, has taken Sammuel with the use of mana. It is also possible that Sammuel left of his own accord, but he doesn’t seem like the type to lose out on the fame he would get for his discovery in this world.

If Sammuel truly has been taken somewhere with the use of mana, then we can just as easily follow him through the same means. We must simply take his research, and set the world’s brightest minds to work on completing it.

It will be slow, and painful, but if we can accomplish this, we will not only have mana to save our country, but a whole new world to conquer for this nation.

Stolen novel; please report.

The first step is to achieve whatever was accomplished in this lab, fortunately, Sammuel has left us with all the blueprints he painstakingly created over ten long years. All we must do now is put them together.

I immediately head off to the Pursuit Of The Future, science lab to fetch some of the greatest academics in the world, second only to Sammuel himself. They would have helped Sammuel with his research if it weren’t for his arrogance. Regardless, with them working on this, and Sammuel’s work left behind, we can get it done, even if it takes far longer than it did for Sammuel to do it.

Once we achieve control over mana, we will create a new army corps to conquer this other world. Even if they have greater magical powers, the brief look I got into that world gave the impression that their technology is far behind our own. If we have both our advanced machines, and control over mana, we will destroy them.

The only wild factor in this is Sammuel, but he will likely side with us as he has much more to gain from our country than any country in that world.

Sammuel is a selfish man, he wouldn’t side with that world unless they have something truly valuable to give him. However even if they do, we would simply take it once we destroy them, and knowing that, he would have no incentive.

Even knowing this… I can’t help but feel like there’s something I’m not taking into account. But I’ve thought of everything, Sammuel always has been, and always will be, self-serving. He has never cared for anyone but himself, and he has nothing to gain from them that he can’t get from us.

After assuring myself of this, I quicken my pace to the facility where my selected team of specialists stay. Before long I arrive at the door to their dorms.

When I enter I’m greeted by the awful stench of whatever these people get covered in during their various attempts to replicate Sammuel’s discovery of mana.

“What’s up”

Samantha greets me with a far too casual tone. I’m the king of this nation after all.

“Samantha, watch your tone while talking to me”

“Right… I apologize your magesty”

Samantha replies with a heavy tone of sarcasm. These people seriously ought to show me respect. She is just like Sammuel, she only looks after herself and looks down on anyone she views as lesser.

The only people she somewhat respects is the others in her group, which sets her apart from Sammuel who respects no one and only listens to offers or threats.

There is something strange here though.

“Where is everyone else?”

“I dunno, probably screwing something up in one way or another”

“Well I’m going to need specifics, I have a job for you”

“A job? But what about our current objective?”

“This is more important, and it ties in with what you’re doing now”

“And how exactly does it relate to our current job?”

“I’ll tell you that when you get the others”

“Alright fine, I’ll go find them”

Samantha heads off to fetch the others. Hopefully it doesn’t take too long, we need to start in this as soon as possible. We can’t waste any more time, the longer we wait, the more time Sammuel has to affect that world before we can get to it.

It doesn’t take long for Samantha to come back with Quinn and Wald in tow. Quinn and Wald are brothers and as such, are quite close. They look after each other and are generally a lot less arrogant than Sammuel or Samantha. That said, they’re still quite proud of their position at the top of the scientific world.

With all three of them here I can finally get to the point.

“Sammuel has disappeared”

They all look surprised, I guess I caught them off guard saying something so important as soon as they got here.

“Well I say disappeared, but I know where he is, or somewhat where at least”

“What, did that moron run off because he couldn’t do it?”

“Wald, we haven’t done anything near what he has though…”

“Shut it Quinn! We don’t need to worry about that! We’re almost there, I can feel it!”

“Sure…”

“He hasn’t run off, no has he given up on his work, he completed it, and somehow got himself taken”

“Taken? Taken how? If he really completed it how could anyone have taken him?”

Quinn is quite taken aback by this, though I suppose that’s to be expected.

“He wasn’t taken by someone, he was taken by some other force, and he is no longer in this world”

“He died?!”

“Wrong again Quinn, he was taken to a separate world, quite different from our own”

“Well what the hell do you want us to do about it? If he really finished it who cares if he disappeared? Just let him screw off in whatever world he got himself lost in and leave us out of that”

“That’s where the problems start, he took the machine with him, and I need you to reconstruct it with his blueprints”

“We don’t need his notes! We’ll do it on our own! Right Quinn?”

“You don’t have time for that, I need you to replicate his work and get contact with that world as soon as possible”

“Fine…”

As bitter as he sounds, I can tell Wald is excited to see what they’ve been missing this whole time

“We’re leaving now, come”

We set off for Sammuel’s lab, it takes only a few minutes to make it there, at which point the three of them immediately look at the research notes they were denied for so long.

“What the hell?”

“This is insane”

“Who would even try something like that?”

”If this had failed he could have easily destroyed the whole planet”

“I suppose that’s why we always failed, we just weren’t batshit crazy enough to even think of doing something like this”

“Well? Can you replicate it?”

“““Yes”””

They respond in unison, giving me confidence that it’ll work out.

”Then get to it”

With that I leave them to their work, if all three of them are confident they can do it, then I’m sure it’ll get done, it’s only a matter of time.

Soon, I will conquer another world, and become the greatest ruler this realm has ever seen.