Ted accepted the training offer; it seemed like the only option, and he had nothing but time. Cam said that he could stay on the wagon past Brookfields; Cam’s route wound through the country slowly making its way towards the Front, where it would trade supplies and luxuries with the troops, before returning back. Ted could either get off there, or stop at another city and request a Portal.
The first thing that Cam did was let Ted ask all the questions that he’d gathered over the last few weeks that had never been answered properly, or at all. There were a lot of them, but at the forefront of his mind was the fact that you could actually die here.
‘So what happens then?’ Ted asked. ‘After you die? For the second time?’
‘Eternal life in heaven is the general consensus.’ Cam said. ‘Having fought in the final battle for the Lord.’
‘Wasn’t that supposed to be the reward for being good in the first life?’ Ted said, aiming for sincerity over cynicism, and failing.
‘Being granted a chance to fight in the Great War is an honour, even if it wasn’t entirely expected. But the Bible predicted a war; we just didn’t know the manner of the fighting. The reward still awaits.’
To Ted this felt like the same stories as he’d heard his whole life. The only difference was that he’d been brought back from the dead, which did lend them some credence. But only some.
In reality, it probably wasn’t worth getting into further. You could die here. You could get PTSD and powers that let you see an unchangeable future. He could start asking the bigger questions when he felt like he could survive.
‘Okay, got it. So, on the topic of fighting. And Skills. How does the CPS work exactly? How exactly am I being given Skills and Techniques? And the quests? How am I getting them? And how are they giving me rewards? What are Centrals?’ Ted said, all the questions coming out in a torrent. Cam waited for him to finish.
‘All right my friend, I’m going to assume absolutely no prior knowledge, so let me know if I’m giving you information that you already know.’
‘I probably won’t.’ Ted said, equanimously. Cam smiled.
‘So. Nearly every aspect of this world is run by the CPS. It was made this way when the Authority and the Enemy first chose the world as their battleground, as a way for troops to be trained and given orders. The more zealous of our order will call it Holy Power, but considering the Enemy’s side can use it too, it’s best to just think of it as magic. Magic powers the CPS, lets us gain mana-based abilities, manage our skills, and receive orders from our seniors. It’s why you can move faster than you ever could on earth, using a mana powered dash, and why you can just use the magic directly to create light.’
‘That all makes sense so far.’ Ted said, nodding. ‘I mean, once you’ve bought into the whole ‘magic’ idea.’
‘I’m afraid you’ll have to buy into the idea of magic for any of this to make sense.’ Cam replied. ‘And from the fact that I’ve seen you throwing balls of light and sliding around on the floor like there’s an invisible oil spill, I think you may already have.’
‘...Maybe’ Ted admitted. ‘There’s still the option of the coma.’
Cam looked at Ted pityingly, at Ted’s reference to the idea that he might be unconscious, that he’d already briefly raised, half in jest.’
‘I’m afraid this is not a hallucination, Ted. This is your true next life.’ Cam said.
‘Ah, but that’s exactly what a hallucination would say!’ Tim said, grinning to show it was a joke. But even as he said it, he felt like he was skating over a bit of a larger void there. It had been a while since he’d thought more deeply about being in this place; whether he was just going to accept it and move on. Or if there were other options.
‘We can discuss that later, if you like. I can tell you more about my home country of Vietnam; if you know nothing of it, then new information would support this all being real, no?’ Cam said. He waved his hand as if to dismiss the suggestion for now, as Ted shrugged, a little uncomfortably.
‘For now, let’s go back to what we were talking about. So the Authority imbues the world with magic, and creates the CPS. This also causes some of the fauna and plants to become magic; hence the Burner stag and deer. There’s many, many types of these magical animals around, and half of the job of those not at the Front is to manage them and ensure they don’t cause problems.’
‘There are jobs as monster hunters?’ Ted asked, surprised, and interested. ‘We didn’t have any in our intake.’
‘They tend to get picked from the soldiers being sent out to the Front, though occasionally some with the right Class will get sent straight out to towns in need of defence. So it’s more defensive monster hunting than active; the roads, for example, are generally unmaintained, so if you’re going to travel by road, you need to be able to defend yourself, or run fast. Some of the major travel routes have defensive wards to repel the animals, or are simply safer by dint of being busier.’ Cam explained.
‘That doesn’t sound well thought out.’ Ted said. ‘So there are untamed wildernesses full of magical monsters that are just waiting to go out and eat people who are travelling undefended?’
‘It’s not quite that bad!’ Cam said, reassuringly. ‘But this is a huge, largely untamed country, and with a war going on, suppressing the native population of magically enhanced animals hasn’t been a priority.’
Ted was unconvinced. They’d been travelling for less than a day and had already walked into an aggressive poisonous stag the size of a horse; Cam was implying that this was not just common, but to be expected.
‘So is that why people travel with Portals?’ Ted asked. ‘To dodge the marauding monsters?’
‘Well, it’s also faster.’ Cam said. ‘But it does use a lot of mana and energy, and not many have long ranging, high capacity Portal powers.’
‘Yeah, that confused me as well. Surely if Portals are used to transport people and goods around the country there must be loads around? Like a Portal bus service? Especially if the roads are dangerous to travel?’ Ted asked, loading up more questions into the barrel. The more he learnt, the more he found that just didn’t make sense. How did people travel around? Surely most didn’t brave near death and days of travel when they wanted to go to the next city?
If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
‘There are a few thousand people who can use Portal magic I believe.’ Cam said. ‘But those who can use it to travel hundreds of miles? Much less. And most of those will be using their powers for urgent transport to the Front, rather than for travel between towns. So most people will travel by foot or by transport; the artificers are pretty inventive with magic supported vehicles.’
‘There are magic cars?’ Ted asked, surprised, excited that there might be something familiar in this world.
‘Well, not quite. But something similar. You’ll see, my friend.’ Cam said, smiling at Ted’s enthusiasm.
‘You weren’t tempted to get one?’ Ted asked.
‘This wagon has plenty of built in magics, don’t you worry. You may have noticed the occasional blur of the countryside; thanks to some of those Jenny has been able to pull us about two hundred kilometres in the past two hours. Not bad for a thirty year old donkey!’ Cam told him. Ted had no idea how long horses lived, or how fast even a strong one should be able to pull, but he suspected it wasn’t one hundred kilometres an hour, which he knew was about 60 miles per hour. That was very fast.
‘How have we not seen anyone yet then? Or any turnings? Or towns?’ Ted said.
‘We’re constantly travelling, but Jenny and the wagon can shift at regular intervals to cover more ground. We’ve passed a few crossroads and maybe a small village in the distance, but you really were in a backwater. We’re still far from any major towns.’ Cam explained.
‘Mental.’ Ted said, looking around him to see if he could see the shifting that Cam had described. To him it just looked like they were gently rumbling along a path surrounded by wet fields and marshes.
‘It’s some clever magic.’ Cam agreed. ‘But we’ve gone a little off topic, and it’s something we can discuss later. Or you can speak to some of the artificers in Brookfields. We’ll be there tomorrow afternoon.
‘So, where were we? Still at the beginning, I think!’ Cam started over again, jokingly. ‘So, the CPS is created, the world is filled with magic, which affects the plants and animals and the whole world. People start filling the world as the Authority and the Enemy start recruiting. Back in those days the Lord and the Adversary were much more involved in the day to day running of the world; the battles were intense, the warriors and mages that were trained were legendary, imbued directly with the Lord’s power.
‘As the war continued on, the fight between Heaven and Hell spread to other planets and other battlegrounds, and so the Lord became less directly involved in training the new recruits; at the same time the scale of recruitment increased. Boot camps, like the one you’ve just come from, were formed.
‘Originally the Lord gave Orders to his troops and they would be registered in the Mission logs; this eventually became delegated and diluted as time went on. Now you will find that all of your orders from your chain of command do register as Missions, but requirements and intentions do too. I expect that you have a mission to go to the Front, despite not having received an explicit order to do so, correct?’
Ted nodded. ‘Yeah, I do. I was wondering whether the woman at the Outpost as Blackmoor gave it to me.’
‘She did, in a way.’ Cam said. ‘As it is the general intention and requirement of the Authority that you make your way to the front. But Missions and orders now are less straightforward than they used to be. Did you receive a Mission regarding the Burner stag?’
‘Yeah.’ Ted said again. ‘The Mission was to defeat the stag and continue on my way. I got a new Technique for completing it.’
‘That’s good to hear. But where did the Mission come from? Clearly defeating the Stag has helped you continue onto the Front, as needed. But could you not have just run away? Was your Mission to defeat the Stag a Mission from the Authority?’ Cam asked
Ted looked at Cam, waiting for the answer. Cam looked at him, as if expecting him to know.
‘I’m assuming it was? Or no? Was it a Mission from you?’ Ted asked, with the air of a pupil taking an absolute stab in the dark at a yes/no answer.
‘I shouldn’t be able to give Missions, I’m not in your chain of command. So the answer is, I don’t know.’ Cam admitted. ‘There are some suggestions that the CPS has gained some level of autonomy and an ability to interpret events for individuals.
‘Which is effectively to say, you will receive Missions from the Authority via your commanding officer, and you may also receive Missions from others or through events that you encounter. Rewards will vary between Techniques, Skills, Level Increases, additional Missions, or Centrals, which is a currency that can be used in most cities.’
‘I thought we had these Authority note things for money?’ Ted said, reaching in his bag to pull out a few of the notes from his bag. ‘Requisition notes?’
Cam nodded. ‘Yes, those are useful in the big towns and at official smithies and outposts, and officially are the currency that the Authority uses. But in reality, most use Centrals.’
‘Why then?’ Ted asked, throwing up his hands at another lapse in logic. ‘One country, two currencies?’
‘Well, with the concern over the Missions, there were some worries that there was a lack of control over the currency, as Centrals could be issued by the CPS outside of the leadership’s choice to do so. So some bright spark came up with the idea of creating the Authority Requisition Points a few years ago.’
‘Hasn’t taken off?’ Ted asked.
‘No, not really.’ Cam said. ‘It was an interesting idea, but at best it’s just created a dual currency. And since Centrals are managed by the CPS, and don’t require you to carry stacks of notes, most people prefer it.’
‘That makes sense.’ Ted said. ‘So I should try and trade these in straight away?’ He held up the notes.
‘I would, my friend.’ Cam said, with a shrug. ‘You can see if there’s anything you like the look of at Brookfields. In any case. Let’s move on.’ He gently lifted the reins, though if Jenny felt anything Ted didn’t notice her responding.
‘So, we come to Classes, Skills, and Techniques. Now, when the world was new and the Authority worked directly with recruits he would bestow Skills and Techniques to all His soldiers, making them strong and skilled beyond recognition in a heartbeat. His greatest warriors could turn invisible, teleport, knock over buildings with a push, and call down lightning with a thought.
‘Again, as the battlegrounds expanded and the recruitment increased, these powers could not be given to everyone. The Class system, which originally had consisted of three types of warrior, was broadened; it started including artificers, logisticians, farmers; the support network and supply chain that is required for an extended war, rather than a skirmish. The Classes allowed the Skills to be learnt, rather than directly bestowed, but also gave some affinities and closer links to certain types of Skill. Ideally the Class that a person would gain upon arrival here would be linked to their life before, but as with you, this was not always the case.
‘The Levels of Skills and Techniques are more a quirk of how the CPS registers these abilities; though, saying that, there is a clear impact to a Technique or Skill increasing in level. You increase Skill levels by utilising that Skill, and any Techniques that sit underneath it; likewise, you increase Techniques by using them effectively or in novel ways. You’ll learn new Techniques by improving your Skills, or by attempting manoeuvres that the CPS decides can be improved via magic. That means that you can learn new Techniques that haven’t even been seen before, if you’re creative and skilled enough.’
‘Or unlucky enough.’ Ted pointed out. ‘Considering how you got your Sight.’
Cam looked away, and Ted felt bad for having brought it up again. ‘Or through bad luck, you’re right.’ he murmured. ‘Unfortunately getting beaten and broken can teach you a lesson too.’