Time Irrelevant

The Astral Horizon

Lucia had to admit, Michael’s idea of a trip was like nothing she had imagined.

She certainly hadn’t expected to find herself under several tonnes of silent, black waters, in a tight Voidcraft, one that Michael claimed was one of their older models, with an antimatter engine humming silently with caged potential at her back.

“Do you feel it?” Michael asked her, “That pressure in the back of your skull?”

“Almost like I’m the one that’s submerged,” Lucia replied, “Without a Voidcraft to separate us.”

“I have to pilot this one manually. Can’t really risk bringing one of the AIs in here, or we could have a repeat of that one unfortunate incident.”

“I can’t believe it hasn’t crushed our mental blocks to pieces. It has the pressure of an ocean behind it…”

“Not an ocean. A universe. No Astral Realm we have ever discovered has had discernable boundaries.”

Michael looked out into the dark waters, glowing bioluminescent creatures dancing along their field of view, a frown creasing his brow, before he spoke again.

“I don’t believe it’s exerting any effort to bypass our shields because it hasn’t any effort to exert. Even when a percentage of the creature infiltrated Anisha’s psyche, it laid low for longer than it had to. I believe it was adapting to a state of existence it does not normally belong to. It had to learn before it finally acted.”

“But your people are at war with this species of creature anyway. Which means not all of them are quite this docile.”

“I would even hesitate to call them a species. None of them have any obvious resemblance to each other besides their location in the layers of reality.”

Lucia observed a herd of bioluminescent horses dart across her field of view, treading through the water with fins obviously adorning their limbs.

Tendrils reached out from her mind to ascertain the existence of a distinct existence for these creatures; a calculated risk, as any crack in her defences would leave her vulnerable.

Rudimentary thoughts brushed against her own, easily startled by the alien presence within their midst, and they darted away.

Michael frowned as he watched the herd turn and leave.

“Thoughts?” He asked her.

“I don’t see a way to move forward with this war, given what I’ve currently seen of Apotheosis. And your organisation is the most impressive thing I’ve ever seen. I admit I may have seen only an insignificant fraction of what your people really have in store, but-”

“But this isn’t a gap that can be filled with raw numbers,” Michael finished her statement.

They sat there with the antimatter heart humming placidly behind them as they pondered what lay beyond the limits of their senses.

2006, 5th February

Plovdiv, Bulgaria

The new man working behind the table of the coffee house seemed to speak very little English, if at all, so when Magnus calmly asked him for Ivan, the man retreated to the backrooms, and another man, probably the manager, since he was not in uniform, walked out to greet them.

“Hello,” He spoke English with a thick accent, “How may I help you?”

“I was just wondering where Ivan was. The old man who used to own this place?”

The other man’s brow crinkled.

“Ivan was my father. He died a week ago.”

“What? What happened?”

“Nothing… He died in his sleep. Did you have some business with him?”

“No, no… Well, thanks for the coffee, anyway. It was quite good.”

“Of course.”

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Magnus and Anders walked out onto the streets.

Anders had been nursing a frown the whole day, and Magnus had finally had about enough.

“If you have a problem, we could just talk about it, you know?”

“Oh no, it’s only the place I nearly died in. Why would I have a problem being here again at all?” Anders retorted acidly.

“Anders, that isn’t what this is about, and we both know it.”

“Fine! Why do you need to ask me, if you’ve figured it all out?”

“You’re angry that Victor got away, I know, but-”

“I know these things happen, Magnus! What gets me is that you’ve done nothing but sit on your hands since then. You suddenly reunite with your friends and you forget all about your people, your duty to see justice done!”

“That’s enough!”

Anders backed away, then lifted his chin.

“Even if you don’t care about your own anymore, I still do. I’m going to Denmark to gather help. And you…. Well, you can do whatever you want.”

And Anders was gone through the Bleed.

Magnus roamed aimlessly through the streets of Plovdiv, drinking in the sights, before he set off through the Spirit plane himself, himself heading to Dubai, then through the portal network, back to the space station.

He found Michael absorbed in his studies in his office, poring over text scrolling by on a pad of glass, as he had been for some time since Hans’ death now.

Lucia lounged, sprawling over the sofa, and as she noticed Magnus come in, she asked, “How did the date go?”

Before Magnus could properly answer, she must have read it on his face, and said, “Damn! That bad, huh?”

Michael seemed even more intensely focused on the text before him, if that was somehow possible.

“I suppose you saw this coming, somehow?” Magnus addressed him.

Michael looked up from his studies, affecting an expression of genuine surprise.

“Oh, Magnus! When did you get here?”

Lucia simply snorted.

“Very funny,” Magnus said, “Might as well have told me if the whole thing was going to go to shit, o mighty fortune teller.”

“I did tell you. Repeatedly. I told you you could do better, and I told you you two were unsuited for each other.”

Magnus picked a chair, and near enough fell onto it, the furniture squeaking in protest.

“I don’t understand him at all.”

“What’s not to understand? He expects you to be this rage-driven machine of war, fuelled by vengeance, and lay waste to everything that makes an enemy of him and his people.”

“Our people, you mean.”

“Your people are right here in this room. And we don’t expect you to be something you’re not,” Lucia objected.

“She’s right. As I keep telling you, violence doesn’t suit you at all, but you do what you must for the people who can’t. But what Anders expects from you is several steps beyond that.”

“He is right about Victor, though.. Have either of you heard anything about that yet? I know Hans is dead, but him and Victor shared the same goal.”

“I doubt he’s capable of doing much about it on his own,” Lucia said, dismissively, “He’ll probably lie low for a while, till he can find a new sponsor for his cause. It’s not an immediate concern.”

“I hope you’re right, but I doubt he’s as helpless as that,” Magnus remained unconvinced.

“Well, Michael, what are we planning to do now?” Lucia asked him.

“What do you mean, we? Unlike you two, I have an actual job to get back to.”

“I mean about America. And the little Ancient Horror problem we set loose there.”

“Well, if that creature is anything like Lionel, a straight up fight would be inadvisable. And that means I have to do my job and dig us up some contacts on the ground level.”

“Can’t just ask your friend Adana for a favour?”

“Not how this works. Talons aren’t deployed so casually.”

“I feel like I’m missing part of the story here,” Magnus said, “What exactly happened at the end there with Lionel?”

“Caution must have taken over,” Lucia replied, “I struck out with a psychic attack at the last minute to bait one from him. He flipped through my memories, including the circumstances of how the three of us knew each other and then how we reunited.”

“One hard to swallow coincidence after another.”

“Not sure if I believe it myself yet. His instinctive response was to back off and get a sense of the bigger picture.”

“Good instincts,” Michael remarked dryly, rising from his seat, “Now I really have to get going. Apotheosis may offer generous work hours, but no one is that generous. I’ll take you to Mars with me in a few hours, Lucia.”

Magnus quirked an eyebrow.

“What do you need to go to Mars for?”

“A somewhat better understanding of Death Magic is in order before I get down to America and start stirring shit up," Lucia said.

“Didn’t that mage, Abas, already tell us Lucia was on par with a Master Death Mage? What more is there to learn?”

“On par is not what he said,” Michael interrupted, “Lucia can pull off the same trick a Master of Death Magic can, in the same sense that a lighter and nuclear fusion can both create a fireball. That’s because she’s not been trained in the framework the same way a conventional mage would be.”

Turning to Lucia, he continued, “You can tear a rift to the Horizon itself like a true Master, but you cannot command ghosts like a basic apprentice can, because you haven’t been trained classically.”

“I won’t slow myself down to fit an arbitrary framework, Mike,” Lucia replied.

“And I’m not asking you to. Your instincts will lead you better than any training. But you should come along anyway. It’s never a bad idea to add to what you already know.”

And saying so, Michael made his way to Mars.