Ethan woke with a start.
A migraine assaulted him as two sets of memories fought, and merged.
A young college student collapses at his desk, a half empty energy drink rolls off and falls into a pile of recently emptied cans.
A young general collapses at his desk, wine spilling from his cup. An empty keg sits nearby.
The migraine subsided, and Ethan reviewed what he knew of his situation.
A world of glass, steel and captured lightning. The worlds oceans warming as the delicate chemistry collapses slowly.
A world of wood, stone and Mana. A mad Archmage sends his endless dead to end it all.
A young man buried under a pile of academic expectations.
A young man drowning in endless responsibilities.
An train of refugees snake through mountains and flee from burning villages and shattered cities, the smoke and ash filled clouds sullenly behind them.
Mountains of ash and bone pile up. But the dead do not stop. They are crushed, burned, and frozen.
Ethan sighed, and grimaced.
"Guard! Attend me!"
A large man entered the command tent. He slapped his spear to his chest-plate. "Sir!"
"I need an [Alchemist], Three kilograms of eronite ore, an [Enchanter], a [Stone Mage] and our fastest [Courier]"
"Sir!" The man exclaimed, and left.
Ethan wiped his face, and started cleaning.
*** Some Time Later ***
A thin wiry man, a bookish lady, a gruff burly man, and a lean teenage boy stood to attention outside his tent. A sack of rocks sat nearby.
Ethan pulled a cigar out of his pocket, stuck it in his mouth, and snapped his fingers.
The cigar lit, and it took all of Ethan's will power not to cough.
A moment later, some part of him responded, and it became a much nicer experience.
He picked up the sack of rocks and placed it into the empty barrel he pulled from his tent.
"You are here to build a weapon. I wont explain myself further"
"You" He pointed at the obvious [Stone Mage] "Break those stones into the finest dust you can manage"
The [Stone Mage] complied, walked to the barrel, and a look of intense concentration crossed his face.
Grinding noises spilled out of the barrel.
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The [Alchemist] and the [Enchanter] looked interested, but the courier looked bored and fidgety.
"Somethings wrong, I cant grab some of the dust..." The mage spoke in a gravelly voice.
"Thats fine, do as much as possible, then remove whatever you can from the barrel"
A few more minutes passed, the grinding giving way to smooth whistling sounds.
A stream of dust exited the barrel.
"Thats as much as I can do"
"[Alchemist], separate the remaining dust by weight"
Ethen spoke as he placed a few empty mugs in front of himself.
The [Alchemist] stepped forward and raised his hands.
A black dust streamed out of the barrel in front of him"
"[Separate]" He spoke. The dust split into four parts, each entering a different mug.
"Is this the heaviest?" Ethan asked.
He nodded, and Ethan passed the cup back to him.
"Split it again"
"What?"
"Split it again. There are two different things in here, Split it"
The man frowned, and entered a trance of deep concentration.
A few minutes passed, when suddenly a stream of dust exited the mug and entered another.
A look of elation and inspiration appeared on the mans face.
He started to open his mouth, but Ethan shook his head.
The [Alchemist] wisely shut up, an stepped back. A grin on his face.
"Make me a spherical stone container" He spoke to the [Stone Mage]
A moment later, Ethan had a stone ball with an opening on top.
He poured the dust into the container until it was full.
"Cover Please"
The hole sealed itself shut.
"You, do you know the inscription for [Stasis], [Compression] and [Reflection]"
The bookish woman nodded at him.
"Invert [Stasis] into [Haste], cover this ball in inscriptions for [Compression], and [Reflection], and layer [Haste] over the top of it."
"Place [Charge] and [Accumulator] meta inscriptions on the activator"
The woman took the stone ball from him, and brought out a stack of small tools.
Thirty minutes later, the ball was glowing with enchantments.
The woman looked dazed, as she read something in the air in front of her.
"[Courier], here's the parcel, you know where it needs to go"
The [Courier] nodded.
"Once delivered, Run, and don't stop"
He handed the ball to the courier, and he disappeared in a crack of displaced air.
He was starting to feel quite weak. He looked at the [Enchanter], who seemed to suddenly need to lose her lunch.
He sighed.
"Guard! get me the healers!"
His vision faded as in the far distance, he saw a flash of light.
"Cover your ears" He managed to whimper.