“Everyone had some level of injury, but nothing serious,” Nallia reported as Lailra tended to Orlan’s wounds with some magic. A hovering cutter bathed the entire battlefield in bright light allowing the knights and cutter crews to gather up the remains of the beast, “a few knights were hit with lightning, which resulted in moderate burns and muscle damage. Almost everyone who engaged in close combat with the beast got hit, suffering widespread bruising and several fractures, yourself included.”
“Anything bad enough for them to suffer healing backlash?” Orlan asked as Lailra’s healing magic soaked into his bones.
“No, my lord,” Nallia shook his head, “the worst most of them will suffer is a few days of lethargy.”
“Good, what about locals being injured?”
“Several, uh, police officers were struck by a stray lightning spell from the beast. They were in a car attempting to observe the battle, two of them died instantly, the other two are in critical condition suffering from major burns. Considering they were struck with a spell already our healers are currently treating them with magic.”
Orlan nodded, agreeing with the logic. If they had a mana allergy they’d die anyways, so their best option was to receive healing magic. He tried to turn towards where the body of the beast rested only for Lailra to grab his shoulder causing him to hiss in pain.
“Hold still,” She said, fixing him with a glare, “you somehow got a fracture in your shoulder joint, and I need to ensure it’s properly aligned.”
Orlan quickly stilled, giving Nallia a pleading look, silently asking for help.
“Most of the beast’s organs were destroyed by your attack, along with a good deal of the flesh of its bodies, but most of the limbs are fully intact,” Nallia continued, ignoring his silent plea, “the carapace is all high-third tier, even after the damage suffered in battle. And some of the mages think its blood can be used to treat glass up to third tier.”
“Ensure none of the blood reaches the local water table,” Orlan said in a resigned voice, realizing no help was coming to save him from Lailra’s ministrations, “even if it isn’t toxic the mana could still hurt people.”
“I already have most of the second lance burning out any blood splatter,” Nallia told him, “Given the low mana levels of this side it’s not hard to locate bits.”
“Any movement from the locals?”
“No, my lord, and no response from the US government either. Vellin returned to the protectorate after ensuring the missile was launched so we don’t know what’s going on there either.”
“Well, proceed with the clean up, I’ll lift the main body to the protectorate,” Orlan said, slowly looking at Lailra, “as soon as I escape this-.”
“What?” Lailra interrupted him with a dangerously sweet smile and a stiff poke at one of his injuries, “you were saying my lord?”
“As soon as my lovely, loyal lady knight is done tending to my injuries,” Orlan finished.
“That’s what I thought,” she smiled again before returning to healing him.
“Help me,” Orlan whispered to Nallia.
“I’m sorry my lord,” Nallia replied flatly as Lailra rolled her eyes.
\-\-\-\-\-
“The… Sons of Kayan?” One of Theo’s orderlies asked the next morning, “I’ve never heard of them. Is it some kind of cult?”
“I don’t know,” Theo shrugged, holding up the card, “can you look into it?”
“Sure,” the orderly nodded before leaving his office. Surprisingly the government had yet to release a statement about the events of the night before. They were keeping quiet about it as well, which made some amount of sense. One of their own attack subs had launched a missile at Bermuda, a British territory. It had hit the giant monster, but apparently the British were trying to decide if they were angry or grateful at what had happened. Given the weakness of the current administration, having both houses of congress filled with members of the opposition party, they had to carefully consider their stance.
Theo had tried to get some messages to the White House through various channels to urge them not to further antagonize Orlan. But he imagined everyone in congress was doing the same thing, several of the ‘birds’ from congress, who were somehow popular on various social media platforms, had already begun releasing their own statements. Or, to be more accurate, rants. One side claimed that Orlan was a dangerous wild card with too much power while the other called him every name in the books from racist to sexist to whatever other trending form of bigotry they felt like accusing him of.
The ’moles’ of congress, like Theo, who didn’t have a social media presence but quietly did their jobs without drawing attention were typically more reasonable. It was harder to gauge their views on the issue, but they also had their own agendas. Only a few congressmen could be relied upon for good, reasonable policy.
Then there was this weird card he’d been given, despite thinking it was some obscure PAC, Theo had been unable to find anything on it online. All he’d found was that the Kayan were a cultural minority in Myanmar, but they had no connection to the moon symbol or to any political action committees in the US. Looking at the card one more time he sighed and grabbed his phone, holding it to his ear and dialing the number.
“Theodor?” a voice greeted him on the other end.
“This the ‘Sons of Kayan?’” Theo asked.
“It’s pronounced Kah-yeen, but yes, I’m glad you decided to call,” the other man replied, “are you available for lunch? We can meet anywhere in DC you wish.”
“Can you tell me who the hell you people are first?” Theo demanded, “all I got was some guy handing me a card and walking off.”
“I can explain more at lunch, but for now I’ll say that we’re a group that is quite interested in the arrival of Protector Lord Orlan.”
Theo scowled, few people referred to Orlan by his title in the US government, using only his name if they were being respectful, or his old full name if they were trying to annoy him. But more than that, the way he said Protector Lord felt like the man knew something about it.
“Fine, lunch it is.”
\-\-\-\-\-
Orlan stood at the edge of his protectorate, looking down on this small island of Bermuda. As soon as the sun had come up he’d ordered the island to float in closer, practically hovering over the other. With a deep breath he held out his hands, a four ring spell circle appearing in front of him and, moments later, a far larger one appeared in the air over the carcass of the crab beast. The body was too large to load into a sky cutter, even two of them working together was risky. To keep his remaining cutter safe he chose to instead lift the beast himself.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
The achorheart was designed to keep things floating in the air, that was its primary purpose. By channeling his own power through the heart of his protectorate he could lift things nearby into the air, much like he had with the submarine before. He could even add to his island like this, assuming he was strong enough to expand the spells of the anchorheart to more territory. The rough math was the protectorate could be one mile across per sphere of the Protector Lord, at only fifth sphere his island was at the limit of what he could manage right now.
Slowly the massive carcass of the crab-beast rose into the air, mana flowing like water through Orlan and into the spell. Thousands of people on the island watched in awe as the spell lifted the crab beast hundreds of feet into the air. With complete focus Orlan guided the beast over his island and carefully set it down in a clear space near the edge of the island. The body landed with a loud thump, sending up a cloud of dust as the lift spell dissipated. As soon as it settled Orlan was ordering the island back out away from Bermuda to settle atop the mana geyser again.
Dozens of workers and mages were already descending on the body as he made his way back towards the castle, eager to cut it up and harvest anything useable from it.
“Got another call from the director Kery,” Nallia reported, referring to the bland woman who had somehow been put in charge of the non-profit that would enable him to teach people magic, “She wants to send the first aircraft out this week. Have you decided where you want to put the landing strip?”
“On the southern end of the island,” Orlan said immediately, “same place we welcomed that reporter. Any reason why she wants to move that quickly?”
“Apparently the paperwork went through faster than expected,” Nallia shrugged.
“Theo?”
“I assume,” she shrugged again, “regardless the first few aircraft will bring supplies and equipment along with people to set it up. So long as we provide the facilities they claim that, by next week, we’ll be able to accept students.”
“Can you find out how long it’ll take us to build a useable dormitory and classrooms?” Orlan asked.
“If you set the foundation we should be ready just in time,” she replied immediately, apparently having already asked around about it, “the mage’s spire has offered to oversee the construction so long as they can take part in teaching the students. They also want to accept apprentices if any are found among the students, keeping them on the Protectorate long term.”
“That’s fine,” Orlan nodded, “have them select a spot and I’ll level the ground later today.”
“Of course, my lord.”
“Any word from Theo?”
“No, I tried calling him earlier but the call… I believe it’s called ‘going to voicemail’ or something,” she shrugged.
“He’s probably busy, anything else of note?”
“Our newest recruit, Lady Amy, awoke last night, becoming first sphere.”
“Oh?” Orlan asked, perking up slightly.
“Her mana is related to the Night, and her core inherent seems to be the ability to see at night,” Nallia reported, “I planned to do a more in-depth scan, with your permission, once my mana recovers.”
“Think there’s something wrong?”
“No, my lord, but simple night-sight is too simple for a core inherent. Not to mention that, if she should reach sixth sphere, it’ll be almost completely useless.”
“It could evolve.”
“Perhaps,” she acknowledged, “but I’m also interested in the soul-runes, and if they are different for those on this side.”
“Mine aren’t.”
“But you were forcefully awoken when you were taken to our side, your body remade with mana. She’ll be the first, known, mage who is properly of this side.”
“So long as she agrees,” Orlan said after a moment.
“Of course, my lord.”
\-\-\-\-\-
“You wanted to see me, Lady Nallia?” Amy asked, nervously approaching the older woman. Ever since she had ‘awoken’ her senses had been odd, before Nallia had been an oddly beautiful woman with a monotone voice and expressionless face. But now, it was like she could sense the power behind her, a scorching light that burned away the shadows to leave all bare to be seen.
“It’ll be fine, little sister!” Ruby said cheerfully, patting Amy on the back and ignoring a glare from Topaz, “she just wants to see the words of your soul.”
“My what?”
“Whenever you form a sphere, the mana crystalizes within you,” Nallia answered calmly, “patterns form in the crystal, these are called the ‘soul-runes’ ‘words of your soul’ or ‘the divine language’ depending on who you ask. They are the basis for all magic.”
“It’ll make more sense when we begin your training properly,” Topaz assured her, “basically she wants to check on your first sphere and see the patterns formed on it. She should be able to determine the full ability of your inherent.”
“Is this necessary?” Amy asked after a moment, looking nervously between Nallia and the sisters.
“Oh, your mana is opposed to hers, isn’t it?” Topaz said suddenly, “you feel scared and exposed looking at her right? That’s because she uses light mana while you use night mana, which are opposed.”
“Ruby uses sun mana, and I don’t feel anything like that from her,” Amy pointed out.
“She's barely third sphere and you're friends, so you know she's not a threat instinctively. But Lady Nallia is sixth sphere, and you don’t know her as well,” Topaz said.
“It could also be that I have a fully formed Aura,” Nallia added, “you could be reacting to that.”
“Regardles, I promise she isn’t going to hurt you,” Topaz added. With a last glance between the two sisters Amy sighed and stepped forward and nodded to Nallia. The expressionless woman lifted her hands and a massive series of spell circles appeared before her.
“You said these were the ‘runes of the soul’ or something right?” Amy asked, distracting herself with questions, “does that mean the soul is real?”
“Yup!” Ruby answered instantly.
“If you are referring to the immortal soul that goes to the afterlife, we don’t know,” Nallia said more helpfully, “from my studies of the culture of the United States, when we refer to the soul or spirit, we’re talking about your consciousness. The undefinable spark that makes you who you are. But if some part of you persists after death, going to an afterlife, is impossible to tell.”
“So you mean my mind?” Amy asked.
“Not precisely. It’s possible to copy your mind and memories to an artificial construct, but no matter how perfectly the transfer is done the result always lacks something critical,” Nallia explained as runes filled her spell, “research into the subject of souls is highly taboo, but what studying has been done indicates there being something impossible to define or measure that is required to make a person. Whether that’s a soul, or your consciousness or something else doesn’t really matter.”
“Most people on the other side believe in a soul,” Topaz added, seeing her sister’s confusion, “but Lady Nallia knows more about the scientific side of things. We just call it a soul.”
Amy simply nodded, uncertain how to feel about the information. Her family had been religious, but hearing about your soul in an old book was one thing, to have evidence of something that resembled a soul is another. Eventually she simply filed it away along with the ‘magic is real’ as something odd that had turned her view of the world upside down. Despite all the evidence part of her still didn’t want to believe in anything in that part of her mind, from magic to now the possibility of souls due to how in conflict it was with her world view.
Nallia’s spell suddenly completed and a shimmering sphere of light appeared before Amy’s chest, starting at the size of her heart before growing to several feet across. The surface of the sphere was largely translucent but wasn’t even, with crystalline lines crossing over it. These lines formed complex patterns that, oddly, felt very familiar to Amy.
“This is a visual representation of your first sphere,” Nallia explained, slowly walking around the glowing sphere, “the lines are the soul-runes that grant you an inherent ability and other magical powers.”
“They make sense to you?” Amy asked, looking at the sphere in wonder.
“Only in a broad sense, the runes we use when casting are a crude imitation of the real thing. For example, this section,” she pointed to a series of crisscrossing lines that almost resembled stars in a bright sky, “likely increases your agility and speed. But that is only one of its functions most likely. Unlike with our spells, the soul-runes interact with each other in a system so complex no mind can understand it and no spell can simulate it. So while I can recognize some runes, I can only give you broad impressions as to what they actually do.”
“Ok,” Amy said slowly, “so… what do they do?”
“This one is the core rune, and generally refers to night or starlight,” Nallia pointed to a section, “this one here seems to be aura… or possibly cloud. You said you could see clearly after you awoke, even at night? I don’t see any rune corresponding to vision or sight. If anything I’d guess your inherent was an aura of night.”
“I knew it!” Ruby declared, bouncing up and down and holding up a fist, “my younger sister couldn’t have anything so simple as night vision for her inherent!”
“It did seem odd,” Topaz agreed even as she flicked Ruby in the forehead, “any idea what it does?”
“My guess would be that, under the light of the stars, she is able to draw on ambient mana as if it were her own,” Nallia said, “she instinctively used it for sight, but I imagine it can be used for more than that.”
“That’s quite the powerful inherent if true,” Topaz said, smiling at Amy.
“But difficult to use, in accordance with the law of balance.”
“I don’t quite understand,” Amy said slowly as Nallia continued to inspect the glowing sphere, “but I am hungry, are they serving breakfast yet?”
“Oh! Of course! You just tiered up, you need food!” Ruby said, what had previously been an upset glower while rubbing at her forehead instantly became an excited smile, “come on! We can get you some proper magical food now!”