2006, 3rd February

Space Station, Apotheosis

Michael woke to a woolly sensation in his head, a telltale sign of having recently been sedated, and the distinctive scent of sterilising agents the medical wing always possessed.

Ciara straightened in alert by his side.

“Do you need anything? I can call the doctor.”

“I’m fine, thank you. How did it go?”

“I had to step in. We managed to drive Hans’ ally away. And the thing with Lionel went about as well as it could, just like you said.”

“Hmm. Where are the others?”

“They recovered before you did. They’re waiting for you outside.”

“And how are you doing?”

“Me? I’m fine. You guys were the ones that did all the heavy lifting.”

“You’ve taken the first step to fully realising yourself. Eventually, you’ll rid yourself of this tendency to beat yourself down too. Every mage needs pride to work their craft.”

Ciara snorted.

“You should ask Aaron about my pride.”

“Not the shield you use to hide. Pride born of true conviction.”

Michael rolled his shoulders in their sockets.

“I should get out of here.”

“I got you something. That medical gown doesn’t really suit you.”

She handed Michael a garment storage bag as he left to slip out of the medical robes.

Outside, Lucia frowned at the central force cannon through the windows of the central chamber.

The massive weapon apparently fired a projectile of raw kinetic energy, which technically had no mass of its own, and could thus reach the speed of light.

It packed more than enough force to shatter the planet several times over.

And it was pointed right at earth.

Magnus chuckled beside her.

“You know they’re not actually going to blow up the planet, right?”

“I know. It would be utterly irrational. But I don’t trust these people anyway.”

“And you shouldn’t,” Michael said, coming up behind them, and wrapping a hand around both their shoulders “But there is no concept of these people around here. The mages of Apotheosis are so individualist that we have had sweeping policy changes sixteen times over based on whoever proved powerful enough to earn seats on the high council. The only policy that doesn’t change is the No Interference rule.”

“Good to see you’re feeling fine enough to jabber on. Nice pink suit there.” Lucia remarked dryly.

“Yes, I rather like the fit. Ciara got it for me.”

Magnus snorted.

“You sure that girl isn’t trying to take revenge for something?”

“What are you talking about? I look amazing.”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

They subsided to silence soon, gazing out to space beyond.

“I still don’t understand a lot of Abas’... process, should I say. I don’t understand how he found that Fae in the first place, the one with the tonal weapon to wreak havoc on Mars. I don’t understand his connection to Indra or his apprentice Nikita.” Michael confessed.

“I don’t understand why Lionel didn’t simply kill us. Our working theory is nice, but there has to be more to it than just needing a pretty face for the alliance.” Lucia replied.

“I wouldn’t go as far as pretty…” Michael muttered, and was met with an elbow in the ribs for his trouble.

Magnus sighed.

“I should probably go check on Anders. He’s been brooding for a while now. Probably pissed at me because I failed to avenge our company.”

Michael took on a sombre tone.

“Magnus. It may sound like I’m repeating myself, and no one knows you better than yourself, but I like to think I do know you well enough to say that this isn’t the life for you. And I think you’ll agree. Anders is..”

He cut off before he could say something uncharitable.

Magnus smiled, and cuffed Michael on the shoulder.

“Thank you for caring, at least. But sometimes, the needs of others are greater than my own. You understand that too, don’t you? I don’t want you here either, facing off against threats to our reality. But we do what we must.”

Michael sighed heavily, then nodded.

“You should both get some rest. The days ahead will be… eventful.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Mike, Lucia.”

Michael leaned back, still slightly dissatisfied.

Lucia brushed against him with her shoulder.

“He might not be as loud and obnoxious as you, but Magnus can be just as hard headed. In his own way.”

Michael smiled at that.

“What, and you’re not?”

“Me? I’m entirely reasonable.”

“Sure. And I’m not obnoxiously loud, either.”

“Now that’s just a lie.”

They stood placidly together, watching their planet from so far away.

“We won’t get another chance like the one we had yesterday. The next time we see Lionel, it’ll be him or us. And I still cannot fully comprehend his plans for the future.”

“And I don’t understand what direction Abas wants to take us in either. I suppose if we were able to understand these beings, we would be standing on equal footing with them, at least. And yesterday wouldn’t have gone down like it did.”

“We need to get stronger. To stand on even terms with these monsters.”

“I suppose you have some ideas to that point?”

“North America.”

Comprehension flashed in Michael’s eyes.

“You want to follow the footsteps of that other monster. This mythical Grandfather Winter I keep hearing about.”

“Yes. North America is apparently the only region of the globe besides Australia without a ruling Pureblood. The Half Bloods flock there.”

“It’s the ideal hunting ground. And Apotheosis doesn’t even have a prominent presence there like it does in Dubai. So why hasn’t your father, or this other pureblood, tried to stake a claim in that area.”

“I have no idea. But it’s finally happened. A pureblood has finally set foot there. And I’m going to beat that old relic to the punch. Also, there’s something else.”

“What?”

“Vampires aren’t dead.”

Michael frowned, but said nothing; he knew she would expand.

“That came out weird, didn’t it? But I always knew my limbs didn’t elongate to help me reach the higher shelves. When a creature uses a lot of energy, they tend to give off a lot of heat. Longer limbs, more surface area-”

“I appreciate the impromptu biology lecture but I get it. Vampires shouldn’t be as cold as corpses, they should practically be boiling all the time.”

“But since we developed a strong affinity for the Horizon of Death-”

“You developed a strong affinity for the Horizon of Death because you generated too much heat. Otherwise you would have just burned up and died out.”

“And the reason Lionel was able to ignore all our firepower yesterday was because his master of Death was overwhelmingly deep.”

“That also means Hans’ theory was sound… er, in theory. Physical alterations forced a species to forge a better connection with Horizon. Of course, none of this changes anything we need to do moving forward, but it’s nice to know all the details.”

They walked back to Michael’s room together.

“That’s not all you intend to do, is it?” Michael said, “You plan to hunt this ancient as well, and add his power to your own.”

“It’s the only way I can think of to surpass Lionel with the head start he already has.”

Michael fell bonelessly onto the bed, and Lucia looked at him quizzically.

“Seriously? You just had a nap.”

“I’m taking the day off. Tomorrow, I’m taking you out for a little excursion.”

“Oh?”

“It’s time you finally get a sense of the bigger picture, and see what you’re really fighting for. Tomorrow I’ll take you to your first Astral Realm.”