October 9, 493 U.C.

Like a lethargic slug, I slumped in my chair with a grim expression while the news played on Thursday evening. It’s getting worse.

“Summon me, Casey!” Ela shouted.

“Dad’s here. So, don’t be loud.” I summoned her.

Ela frowned and studied the video feed. Then she looked at me. “Are you okay?”

“Not really,” I mumbled. “Look at this mess.” I gestured to the screen.

~~~

Lord Peter waved his hand with a huff.

A woman in a fancy suit glared at him while pacing by her desk. “I know he did it. He stole from us. Then he started this war! This blatant act of aggression cannot stand!” she bellowed. “Hold him accountable!”

“Prove it,” Peter barked. He reached out and took a sip of wine, leaving a red smear on his lips.

“I know you did.” The woman turned toward the camera. “Viper! Come aid us!”

That one hurt. He kept using my name as a weapon. I felt a growing urge to vomit.

“Yield,” Peter said smugly. “Relinquish your spies, and we’ll ensure your people see another day.”

“I will not be extorted.” The woman spun to the rest. “Aid us!”

A man up front stood and frowned. “Peter, you are in violation of the accords,” Leonard said.

Peter swirled his glass and leaned back in his chair. “She started it by spying on my people, and do not think for one moment that I will allow the fae on my territory. I will gun them down. I will not stand idly by while they corrupt our genome.”

“They are not corrupting our genome. All guardians volunteered,” the woman barked.

“I’m certain that is what they wish us to believe.” Peter took another sip and lifted his feet. “If you yield your territory, we’ll help.”

“Over my dead body. We have troops,” the woman hissed.

Peter shrugged and swirled his wine. He took another sip. Then he reached forward. “I’ve spoken my peace. If you side with them, you are enemies. Do not think to stop us.” He vanished as his feed snipped out.

The woman spun and looked at the others. “I demand that you aid us! This war is unsanctioned!”

“We don’t have the resources for a Starb squabble. Earth has enough problems,” another Lord said. He reached forward, and his feed cut.

The woman spun in fury. “You have twenty-four hours before I rain hell on you, Peter!” she shouted. Her feed snuffed out.

~~~

I killed the feed and winced. What do I do about this giant mess?

“Doing alright?” Ela whispered, patting my hand.

“No. This is a mess.” I rubbed my brow. “What do I do?”

“You could release a statement saying you won’t help them. I got you access to the page, and I swear they won’t track your upload.”

“Why? Because they want me to say it?”

Ela just nodded like that was obvious, and it was. It took only moments for me to see that. They’d gladly wait another day to find me. And it wasn’t like it was going to be that difficult. I had a talking Fairy on my desk.

I swapped necklaces and put on my Viper outfit. This is the best option. At least he’ll stop acting like I’m some war criminal.

Sitting back down, I opened the guardian command page and was greeted with a headline.

Guardian Command and Current Politics

I opened it and started reading.

~~~

Hello everyone.

We here at Guardian Command would like to remind everyone of our treaties regarding Earth politics. We are not allowed to intervene in political matters.

We would also like to state that no guardian has been forced down this path. They were informed and agreed. While there are many voicing concerns regarding the human genome, know that we are doing what we can.

Regrettably, mana will alter it, enhancing and removing characteristics in a highly volatile state. As mana is unfamiliar with the human genome, we are providing what guidance we can provide. The best way is to push you down a compatible path. In time, humanity’s genome will be safe because of these actions.

~~~

I closed it and looked at Ela. “Is that true?”

Ela shrugged. “Probably? I could go dig it all up, but I don’t want to. Do you really think they wouldn’t get volunteers?”

I frowned. “How are they going to come clean without backlash?”

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

“Easy. They are telling the truth about that. Humans don’t live long enough to be strong guardians. That’s why they are…” Ela trailed off and blushed. “Whoops. Wasn’t supposed to say that.”

“Don’t you have a contract? Wait. Do you have one with them?”

Ela nodded. “It’s just really messy right now, which makes this way harder.”

That got my attention. It didn’t take a genius to connect the dots. “What did they alter in your contract?”

Ela sighed and stretched. “I’ll just tell you what you want to know. They wanted to make a deal with you, so they reduced stuff so we could talk more openly.”

“What deal?”

“They just want you to meet with them, trust them, and stop helping this horrible group. There are some fae that do want to meet you. You’re like one of their kids, after all.”

I froze a second and then pulled up the guardian list. Sorting by age, I pulled up images. The forty year old guardian still looked like he was eighteen or something. I toggled to the next. She did too. Then I sped up, rapidly speeding through the list.

“They will age far slower. Some of them, if they want it, get adopted into a fae family so they have a connection,” Ela said while watching the feed.

I shook my head at the unoffered hint. I didn’t really want to go live with some random strangers. I still had Dad… That thought smacked me back to reality.

Grimacing, I looked up. Maybe he’ll realize? Maybe if I take steps to protect us! A smile spread across my face. I could help both of us. I’d release the video and see if Ela could get a contract to protect us both.

I turned to the computer. “Pull up the thing to upload it.”

Ela toggled screens and logged in. Then she brought up an upload and moved out of the camera. Smiling, I hit record and waved.

“Hi, everyone! I’m Viper. Rest assured that I’m not getting involved in this war. Firstly, I don’t want to get shot. And secondly, there is a better path for all of this. We need to work together for the benefit of humanity…”

I trailed off while I thought. Then I blushed as I remembered the camera. “Oh, right. Sorry. I don’t have all the answers. But you all need to be honest and start talking!” I made a peace sign and stopped the recording.

Then I grimaced at the moral message that I’d failed to adhere to myself. “Ela, can I get a contract to protect myself and my dad if I turn myself in?” I asked.

Ela went quiet. Too quiet.

“Casey, help with dinner, please,” Dad yelled down the hall.

Using haste, I rapidly changed disguises and looked up as I dropped it.

Ela flew over. “If he promises to stop all of this and comes completely clean to you, then yes. And I will know if he leaves it out.”

“It?” I asked, quirking my brow.

“I’m not allowed to say that,” Ela said softly. “It’s the truth about your mom, and I don’t know if you’ll believe me if I say it.”

“Is she alive?” I probed without a thought.

“I can’t answer. You could ask him. Has he ever told you anything about her? Really?” Ela looked up at me. Then she fluttered back to the desk.

I walked out of my room while stewing on that fact. She had a point. He never told me anything about Mom.

I jumped up and headed to the kitchen. Grabbing things from the fridge, I decided to make a pot pie. I rapidly grabbed dough and started working on it while plotting out my next moves.

Dad took a seat at the table and let out a long breath. “What a mess,” he murmured.

“Is this going to work?” I asked. “Because I hate it!”

Dad huffed. “Casey, don’t start. You know they won’t go without a fight. We’re trying. The fae are making their own moves and plans. We were hoping that humanity would take the chance.”

I grabbed vegetables and began dicing. My knife thunked against the cutting board while worked. “Maybe if we stopped trying to take over like some tyrants,” I blurted out.

Dad’s face went red. He glowered at me. “Revolution is a bloody path, Casey. You need to wake up.”

I spun around. “It’s a bad strategy!” I shouted back. “We look like bad guys to everyone! Everyone!”

Dad glowered at me. “We need to take control so we can force the issue.”

“No, we don’t. We just need them to help us force it!” I snapped back.

“Grounded!” Dad barked and jerked up from his chair.

I shut my trap. I was always grounded, and I still needed to do the one thing that would make it way worse. So, I continued preparing the food.

Dad huffed and then went quiet, taking his seat. “Casey, you don’t see the big picture.”

“Explain it to me,” I said as I chopped. Then I grimaced. He’d be pissed again.

“You are a child,” Dad snapped back. “You do not get to audit this. We have simulations and AIs working tirelessly.”

I waved him off. “Fine. This must be done. Whatever,” I said and went quiet.

Seconds turned into eternity as I worked in silence. Then I risked it. “What was Mom’s favorite dinner?” I asked.

“Casey!” Dad exploded, shouting again. “I’m not reliving that anguish.”

I spun and stared at him. The little kitchen with the barren walls hardly looked like a home as I spun. And there he sat while I cooked. “Just one new thing, Dad, please.”

“She liked salad,” Dad replied with an eye roll. “Now, stop bringing it up.”

I spun back around with a dour look on my face. That’s it. Salad… Yeah, right. He couldn’t even tell me the type of dressing. I stewed on it while I cooked. After all, Ela knew something about her. It clearly was big if she was afraid to tell me—unless it was that they killed her.

That stopped my train of thought. Ela was right; that’d destroy my trust in them. But what do they want him to admit? Did he make her do something too?

The questions plagued me through all of dinner and all of that evening.

Current Level 11 Current XP 91.93% Current Max Mana 15715.13 Regen per minute 23.81 Reputation 19100

Tier Skill Cost Tier 11 User Time Dilation (Haste)

- User experiences 256 seconds for 1 earth second.

- Force transference limited to 25%. 1 mana per earth second. Tier 7 Pocket Dimension

- 128 cubic meters of pocket space.

- Rapid stash and rapid draw.

- You may tether objects to your pocket space.

- Your pocket space cleans, preserves, and organizes items inside based on your will. 32 mana Tier 7 Time Stop

- Caster leaves spacetime. They may remove and place things back in spacetime.

- You may control the flow of time in the demiplane.

- You may summon in willing living creatures.

- This automatically triggers if you take significant damage.

- Recast to gain vision. 200 mana to cast.

Variable cost to move items in and out. Tier 7 Teleport.

- Teleports the caster or a willing creature.

- You may cast this on a willing or unwilling creature if they are within fifty meters.

- You may teleport inside an object, causing the matter to push outward.

200 mana for the caster.

400 mana for a willing creature.

1000 mana for an unwilling creature with no resistance.

- Short range casts cost less mana.

Tier 3 Attire Swap

- Locked to a single outfit. Current outfit set to Magical Girl Uniform.

- Attire cleaned on swap.

- Attire repaired on swap. 20 mana. Tier 3 Enhanced Body

- Caster’s body is enhanced by a factor of eight. 2 mana per caster second. Tier 2 Enchanting.

- Enchantments last twice as long. Variable cost. Tier 2 Potions.

- Potions last twice as long. Variable cost. Tier 2 Familiar Manifestation. 20 mana to cast Tier 2 Free casting

- Cast any spell you can replicate.

- Slotted Spell. Use half the normal cost of the spell to store a single spell for future use. Cast the spell for the remaining cost. Variable cost. Penalty of 8x mana.