It took a few minutes for a few aides to retrieve the billets of iron, the final heaviest one causing the most difficulty as it was no larger than a playing card. The small size making the aide think it was light, but the smooth surface and surprising weight caused him to fail to pick it up a few times. Eventually he managed to get it off the table with a grunt of effort, struggling to carry it from the room. Moments after he left a loud crash could be heard as he put the billet down somewhere, Orlan and his two knights smirking in amusement.
Finally the chairman called the meeting back to order, signaling for Orlan to continue but before he could the lady from New Jersey spoke up.
“I must continue to object to the claims of magic,” she said, “a heavy bit of metal is hardly proof of mystical powers.”
“Oh? Then what would you like for me to do?” Orlan snapped, standing up suddenly. With a slight turn to his right and a step he was suddenly on the rightmost side of the committee room.
“How about teleporting? Is that magical enough for you?” he asked, taking a step to the side to appear next to the left-hand wall, “or am I somehow managing this with smoke and mirrors?
Another step took him to the middle of the hall.
“Perhaps you want more? How about this?” Orlan then took a step forward, a rune appearing in the air just beneath his foot as he did, allowing him to step onto air like he was climbing a set of stairs, he took three more steps stopping when his head was level with the committee, “go on, call this a trick.”
The meeting quickly devolved into shouting from there, forcing the chairman to break for the day earlier than planned.
\-\-\-\-\-
“It feels like there’s something wrong with the moon,” Lailra said later that night, they were back aboard his protectorate after the first day of the meeting, looking up at the night sky.
“You just aren’t used to it yet,” Orlan replied with a smirk, “I remember thinking the same thing when first seeing the moon on the other side.”
“Really?” she asked, “I remember you running outside that first day after the anchorheart summoned you and falling to your knees when you saw the moon. Don’t think you ever told me what was going through your head.”
“I was terrified,” he admitted, “I was kind of like those idiots in that meeting, everything you showed me was somehow a trick. Something that could be explained by hidden mechanisms or slight of hand. But the sight of a purple hued hurricane moving across the face of the moon? The longer I watched the more convinced I was that it couldn’t be faked.”
“Right, there was a purple storm on its surface that night,” Lailra nodded, “I wonder if it was caused by the anchorheart summoning you.”
“Who knows,” he shrugged in reply, the moon was subject to all kinds of magical storms on that side. Many thought it was a reflection of the movements in the aether on the Earth, or that it was portents of the future, displayed upon the lunar surface. In theory a tier ten mage of the right attunement could go there and check it out, but if one had done so in the past they hadn’t told anyone.
“Oh, Nallia said some other nations were putting out statements welcoming you,” Lailra said after a few minutes of silence, “mostly in eastern Eura and South India… or Eastern Europe and South America, as I guess they’re called on this side. Some places near Juda, er, the Middle East, are calling you a Jin. That’s a stupid name by the way, ‘Middle East’ makes no sense.”
“I didn’t name them,” Orlan chuckled, “Not that your side of the world is much better, I mean, Atlantis really exists, except it’s called Atlia and it’s just the British Isles.”
“I was excited when you told me the Atlians were real on this side, you know,” Lailra replied, “one of my ancestors is from there supposedly, her whole family died when the island sunk. Thought I might be able to learn more about them.”
Orlan smiled and nodded, pausing as a message came in from Nallia.
“Another rift,” he reported, “in Australia this time. About as far from here as you can get and still be on this world.”
“One every two days,” Lailra replied, “if only it was so peaceful on the other side.”
“If only we had more protectorates on this side,” Orlan countered.
Despite the humor neither of them could find it in them to laugh knowing on the other side of the planet a rift was currently spewing out monsters.
\-\-\-\-\-
“Now, Mr. Orlan, I’d ask you to refrain from engaging in wild behavior today,” the committee chairman said seriously as the meeting began again the next day, “you are here under subpoena to answer the questions of-.”
“Excuse me,” Nallia interrupted, “but point of order, we received no subpoena.”
“Really?” the chairman asked, looking surprised, his gaze turning to the first senator who spoke the day before, “the lady from New Jersey was responsible for sending the subpoena I believe.”
“We found it… impossible to deliver a written subpoena to Mr. Eckhart,” the senator explained after a minute, “the best we could manage was to call him on the phone number acquired from KNF news.”
“I see, then, technically, Mr. Orlan is here under his own volition, not congressional mandate,” the chairman said, “given the already unorthodox nature of this meeting, I believe we’ll have to shift to a more open format.”
That alone caused several minutes of argument as senators who’d been in the first few spots to question him argued that their time should be granted regardless. But, eventually the committee calmed down with the chairman promising to allow questions in the order they would have been allowed to speak.
“So, Mr. Orlan, lets move forward assuming your magic is the real thing,” the chairman said, if he was exasperated by dealing with the others, he was good at hiding it, “I assume you know that, while the constitution protects the right to bear arms, there are limitations. Based on reports at Jefferson you, or one of your knights, managed to reduce an entire hole of a golf course to little more than ash. Is that level of destruction common with your magic?”
“Her spell was on the upper end of pure destructiveness for her level,” Orlan replied, “but, after tier four or five, spells become far more destructive far faster.”
“You’ve mentioned these tiers before, could you explain them?”
“Sure, as you cram mana into something, be it a person, object, whatever, it will become more and more difficult to put more mana in. Until you cross a threshold where it suddenly becomes much easier again. Each threshold you surpass is a ‘tier’ though, it should be noted, for mages we call them spheres as you can’t simply cram mana into a living creature without some structure to it. At best it would cause unexpected mutations, but more likely they’ll become crazed and monstrous. That’s the difference between a mage and a monster, a mage has control over the power within them, a monster is controlled by that power.”
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
“Objection, chairman,” the senator from Michigan spoke up, “this talk of monsters is unbecoming of this committee, I move to strike Mr. Eckhart’s comments from the record.”
“Overruled, senator,” the chairman said, barely holding in a groan, “terminology can be debated later, for now we’re here to assess the risks of these events.”
“To be honest, you’ve barely seen anything yet,” Orlan spoke up, “the rift in Jefferson was a third tier rift, Botson was second tier at most.”
“How high do these tiers go?”
“There is no known upper limit,” admitted Orlan, “but to give you a taste, I am currently fifth sphere and, without hyperbole, could likely take on every single guard you have in the building at once. Against most firearms my skin is effectively immune, I can bench press a car and run three-minute miles for over an hour. And that’s just my physical abilities, not getting into my inherent abilities, magical spells and the like.”
“Are all of your knights capable of these… feats?” the Chairman asked skeptically.
“Those who focus on physical ability could likely match me, depending on their sphere,” Orlan nodded, “mages can vary much more in specific capabilities than monsters though, we tend to be more focused on certain aspects based on how we attune our spheres.
“But to the point, the most powerful mage on the other side was ninth sphere, he’s the one, ultimately, who allowed us to bring my protectorate through to this side. Though he perish in the act,” Orlan paused, “a man at the tenth sphere, named Noach, built the protectorates a millennia ago. The most powerful rift I ever witnessed was seventh tier, and it nearly wiped out a nation even with four protector lords like me helping.”
“And you expect these rifts to become more powerful?” the chairman asked.
“I do, and more frequent. Seems like rifts are appearing every two to five days apart now, somewhere around the world. The other side averages two rifts a day, I don’t know why rifts started appearing on this side, but I would consider it likely to approach that frequency eventually.”
“And what would you suggest?”
“In the long term raising up local mages is the only real way to counter the monsters,” Orlan said, “it can take years to train a single class of mages, and that’s without the difficulty of locating people who can safely use mana on this side. One of the biggest advantages of the protectorates is the mobility it give us, with modern technology that isn’t as big a concern on this side, so a few thousand skilled mages can likely protect a nation with proper support.”
“And in the short term?”
“Honestly? Individual strength and preparedness. A gun can’t kill most monsters, but it can keep a family safe long enough to reach a shelter. I’d recommend every family have a plan ready if a rift appears near them, somewhere to shelter, a weapon to ensure you’re safe long enough to make it. Monsters can appear anywhere up to several miles away from the main rift, but they are unlikely to appear below ground level for whatever reason so a basement with a solid door should keep you safe for at least a while.”
“That’s your suggestion?” the senator from New Jersy scoffed, “a gun and a bunker?”
“To put it simply,” Orlan nodded.
“It’s clear that individuals are unable to handle these events, the people should wait at home for government instruction,” the senator continued, “no need to encourage people to arm themselves.”
“Do you have similar complaints about his long term plan?” the chairman asked.
“Not as such, a solid military utilizing these new powers could be of great benefit to the United States. In fact, I suggest we move to create a bill to form a special commission to work with Mr. Eckhart in pursuit of such a thing.”
“I hope you realize, Ms. Senator,” Orlan said, leaning forward, “I plan to share this knowledge with countries all over the world, my goal is to protect human life, not a single nation’s interest.”
“You’re a US citizen, you’d give advantages to our enemies?” she asked in surprise.
“I don’t plan to only share with governments, but with people,” Orlan explained, “magic isn’t a power you can monopolize, nor would I allow you if it you could.”
“You are a US citizen, sharing arms with national enemies is treason,” she pressed, “you could be brought up on charges, and even put to death.”
“You’re welcome to try,” Orlan snorted a laugh.
“Excuse me?” the woman asked, seemingly aghast.
“It seems you have a false notion of the power balance of this discussion,” Orlan growled allowing power to seep from his body, dark lightning snaking across his skin as the room seemed to darken in some imperceptible way, “I am not some powerless citizen you can push around, I am the leader of the most powerful group of mages on this planet right now. Your power comes from mutual agreement, mine come from my strength.”
“You dare threaten this committee?” the senator from Michigan stood, “I demand you apologize to us on this committee and to the nation at large.”
“Or what? You’ll use the submarine hiding beneath my protectorate to threaten my people?” Orlan asked, nodding to Nallia who placed one hand on his shoulder, with her other she projected a spell that showed a view from the edge of the protectorate island, “you want to see power, this is power.”
Orlan reached out through his bond with his anchorheart, and through that into the space surrounding the island. With a scowl he focused, the ocean shown by Nallia seemed to dance as he expressed his power, a massive circle of purple energies appearing in the air, facing the water. Slowly the circle rose, and with it the ocean water formed a great column, like it was being sucked up a straw hundreds of meters across. Within the pillar of water a submarine could clearly be seen, resting silently, seemingly unaware of what was happening to it.
After a moment, to ensure the news helicopters that constantly circled the island got a good view of it, Orlan slowly lowered the column back into the ocean. Moments after the spell vanished the submarine breached the water, seemingly having undergone an emergency surface, a perplexed looking navy man poking his head from the hatch for an instant.
“I’ll have you held in contempt for this threat!” one of the senator’s shouted as the display ended, but before he could continue Orlan waved a hand and his voice fell silent despite his mouth still moving.
“I understand these open session are largely for grandstanding, but I’m done with the show,” Orlan said, nodding to his three companions to join him, “if you’re willing to listen to me more openly, without the showboating, feel free to call me.”
With that he turned and swept out of the committee room. Almost as soon as he was out of sight he sagged slightly, his show of power had been costly. Remote casting of a spell on such a large scale took nearly a third of the reserves of his anchorheart. He hated having to resort to such measures but he refused to be belittled, and judging from the aura Lailra was giving off, his action was the less radical.
“Orlan!” a voice shouted as he made his way from the building, causing Orlan to turn and see the senator from Texas who’d been largely silent today.
“What?” Orlan asked, hiding his weakness in an instant.
“I’m sorry about those two, they’re part of what we call the Bird Party,” he explained, “they got elected through social media, so they like to make scenes constantly in attempts to get trending and boost their profile.”
“So I played into their hands?” Orlan asked.
“I wouldn’t worry about it, they talk big but when it comes time to vote they’ll go party lines,” the man assured him, “honestly I’m surprised your missus didn’t kill them.”
“I’m still considering it,” Lailra said in a too sweet voice.
“Don’t,” Orlan replied dryly.
“In any case,” the Texas senator chuckled as if it was a joke, “if you want a more friendly place to talk I know a few talk shows or pod casts you might consider.”
“Pod cast?” Orlan asked.
“Basically a multi-hour interview on the internet, they’re quite popular nowadays,” he shrugged, “point is, it might be good for you to be seen in a less confrontational setting.”
“I’m not opposed to it,” replied Orlan after a moment, “feel free to send them my phone number, I can’t commit to anything now but…”
“Of course, I’ll have my people give you a call after seeing who might be interested,” the senator nodded, speaking up as Orlan once more turned to leave, “by the way, were you serious about your physical abilities? Bench pressing a car?”
“If anything, I was understating it,” Orlan said with a smirk.
\-\-\-\-\-
“Well that was… shit,” the new grandmaster of the mage’s spire commented as they boarded the sky-cutter once more, “why did I have to come again?”
“I thought they might have actual questions about magic,” Orlan admitted, “as the grandmaster you-.”
“I’m no grandmaster,” the man snapped, “I’m only in charge because I passed out upon dropping to seventh sphere, making me the strongest mage. At best I’m keeping the seat warm until a more qualified mage rises back up.”
“You’re still the strongest mage in the world,” Orlan pointed out.
“My specialty is long range magic and weather manipulation,” he snorted, “if you need a light rain shower in the next kingdom over, I’m your man. But in raw power? I’ve spent most of my career working to end droughts, weakening hurricanes and the like. In combat the best I could do is make it slightly uncomfortable.”
“You still made it to eighth sphere like that,” Lailra pointed out.
“Because smart nobles are willing to pay a good sum to ensure their lands won’t suffer a failed harvest.”
“Regardless, you’re better positions to answer questions on magical theory than I am,” Orlan said.
“Fine, but don’t call me grandmaster like it’s true,” he retorted, “though if you want me to ensure the estates of those counsellors suffer some hard weather, I’d be happy to help.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Orlan sighed.