Albert proved to be a breath of fresh air. His curiosity was infectious, and we spoke frequently over the phone, when General Richardson let me escape his attention. It was nice to speak with someone who was actually interested in magic, for what seemed like honest reasons. While I didn’t have time to visit, I did occasionally make small tokens to send to him in the mail.
By “mail,” of course, in this case, was under military escort.
It took about two weeks for General Richardson to be satisfied with testing my personal limits. To my surprise, he wasn’t interested in training his soldiers in magic. He said he wanted to understand what Germany actually had before taking such a drastic move. Instead, he wanted me to teach him concepts of magic, particularly weaknesses and vulnerabilities, as well as crafting enchantments for them to use. While I wouldn’t make weapons, I was happy to make defensive and healing devices.
Things settled to a more sedate pace. Richardson wanted me to hone the long range viewing magic, and together we realized that Einstein might be able to help me with it. If nothing else, he was a sounding board - and an excellent one, at that.
For nearly a month, we enjoyed the pleasure of each other’s company, while his endless curiosity and ideas spurred me to greater heights of magic. He was especially interested in seeing if he could get me to perceive reality at the quantum level, as he had a few hypotheses he hadn’t been able to test before. I happily allowed myself to get sidetracked from Richardson’s desires, though Pash kept me more-or-less on track.
On August 26th, 1940, as I held a simple diamond, trying to suppress the electromagnetic field within it, Pash came in. His face was stone cold, and even Albert flinched at his expression. Pash was holding a piece of paper and I had a sinking feeling in my chest.
The war had continued on in terrible fashion, as had become the new normal. Two days prior, we’d heard that one of Germany’s bombs had dropped on a church in Cripplegate, which Churchill had decried as going too far. Yesterday, he’d retaliated by bombing Berlin.
Today…
“What happened?” I asked.
He didn’t make a sound. He just walked over to Albert’s radio, turned it on, and tuned it to the right station.
“-ees are gathered in Cardiff,” the anchor’s voice was saying. “The full extent of the damage is not yet known, but the reports from the refugees are that literally everything within a mile of the city center has been burned to the ground.”
“London was destroyed?” Albert asked in shock.
“London?” I repeated, as Pash began to nod. “That’s where Churchill is, isn’t it?”
“We have reason to believe that almost every Allied leader was in London at the time,” Pash said grimly.
“We lost the war?” I asked uneasily, and glanced back at the radio. The anchorman was still talking about the nature of the damage. “Was this one of those bombing runs I’d heard about?”
Pash gave me a strange look, while Albert took my hand sympathetically.
“We did not lose the war, Ms. Koryn, because we have not yet acted,” Pash said. “That is likely to change as of today.”
“Aera,” Albert said, his tone both kind and sad, “Don’t let them push you too far.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, confused.
“Mr. Einstein has grasped the situation,” Pash said. “From our reports, this could not have been done by mortal means. The time for waiting and learning has passed. General Richardson requires your presence at the base, to begin preparing countermeasures immediately.”
“Aera,” Albert said, his expression deeply uneasy. “I am concerned about the sort of pressure they may try to place on you.”
“Now is not the time,” Pash said. “Ms. Koryn, we need to return to base immediately.”
“I will come with you,” Albert said, and I smiled.
“I’m afraid that you are not authorized,” Pash said, smiling apologetically. “We can discuss such an action at another time.”
“I could insist on it…” I began.
Pash shook his head.
“Professor Einstein, Ms. Koryn, I am afraid that now is simply not the time,” Pash said. “This sort of approach would have been sensible to discuss in advance. Ms. Koryn, you and I can discuss it on our way back, for the future. We will not be driving. A plane is awaiting us.”
Albert sighed and looked at me. “Go, Aera. We will discuss this later, and I will make preparations to leave without causing disruptions. Be careful.”
“I will,” I promised, giving him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “I will see you soon.”
“Farewell, professor,” Pash said with a nod, and then quickly guided me out of the room.
“What do you expect to happen?” I asked Pash, as we quickly got into the jeep.
“I’m afraid I must admit that I don’t know,” he said with a sigh. “But I can tell you my guess, if you like.”
“Yes, please,” I said.
“London’s destruction will end the Allied forces, unless another powerful nation steps up, due to the loss of leadership,” Pash said. “Germany has effectively won Europe, between its unofficial alliance of sorts with Russia, and the blow against Allied unity. I expect that the United States will express outrage at Germany for going too far, and will put forth an incredible offensive as soon as it is ready.”
“An offensive…” I repeated, frowning. “Repaying wholesale destruction with more wholesale destruction?”
“Just so,” Pash said. “But Germany must be stopped. What other means does the United States have available?”
It was asked as though it were an honestly rhetorical question, but a shiver ran down my back. We were both silent for a long few minutes.
When we arrived at the small airport, Pash quickly guided us through. Security was obviously expecting us. Within just ten minutes, we found ourselves boarding a plane called a “Bobcat.”
It was my first time on an airplane. The engines were loud as it roared into life, spinning the propellers so fast that they blurred, and then proceeded to go even faster. It was awe inspiring to witness the process myself. It was a little humbling, too, that no one from my world would have any idea how to create something like this.
I watched in wonder for the entire flight. After only an hour or so, we landed at the Fort Devens air strip. Apparently the plane wasn’t military, as it took off again immediately.
Pash and I were escorted directly to General Richardson.
“Lieutenant, Ms. Koryn,” Richardson said quickly in greeting, then immediately continued. “We’ve gotten more information. We’ve put together a sketch of the event. Take a look. Does it look like magic?”
He pushed a map of the London area to me. It took me a second to understand the markings, but when I did, I had a sinking sensation in my chest.
It was an almost circular area, centering on downtown London, with about a mile’s radius. Had it been circular, then Earth technology, with their bombs, would have made the most sense.
But it wasn’t. The edges were clean lines, forming an imperfect ten sided shape. Decagon was the word that came to mind. According to the notes on the map, the edges of this shape were perfectly straight lines.
“It’s a common approach to mass destruction,” I said, my voice low. “The larger the area, the more focal points are needed. There are ten here.”
I pointed at each of the corners of the shape. The reason for the imperfect decagon became clear - each of the focal points was in an easy-to-access location, such as an alley, but not the middle of a street.
“The focal points connect by straight lines, and work together to destroy everything inside the area,” I said. “This is exactly the pattern I’d expect if this were done by a team of middling to weak spellcasters.”
“Not strong ones?” Richardson asked.
“I guess they could be,” I admitted. “But a really strong one could have taken out an area this size with a single, large blast. It would resemble your bombs.”
“So they have at least ten spellcasters,” Richardson said, his voice thick with distaste.
“Oh, no, not at all,” I said hastily. “This was done with ten enchantments. It could have been the work of a single spellcaster.”
“Could you do something like this?” he asked.
I nodded.
“It’d take some time and work,” I said. “For an area that large, I’d need perhaps a month’s storage of power. Also, I don’t know how to make that enchantment yet, but the principle is simple enough - I’d be surprised if it took more than a week.”
“This is definitely magic, then,” Richardson said, his voice tight as he stared at the map. “No other possible interpretations. No rogue agents. Hitler unquestionably has access to magic.”
His voice was strange, as he spoke. It was as though he was forcing himself to accept it as a conclusion, and like he was wanting Pash or I to correct him.
We were silent for a long moment.
“The enchantments you’ve been building,” Richardson said, his voice still tight. “They’re to protect us from regular sorts of attacks. Can you build protections against magic?”
“To a very, very limited degree,” I said. “Static defenses always lose against spellcasters… at most, they’d buy time. And I’m nowhere near skilled enough at combat enchantments to make dynamic ones.”
“Explain.”
“Static defenses don’t change,” I said. “They just do the same thing always. If an enemy spellcaster is present, all he has to do is change his method of attack. Layers of static defenses can be effective, but that takes enormous preparation. Dynamic defenses are pseudo-intelligent enchantments - they are able to adjust their type of defense according to the nature of the attack.”
“What would be needed to defend against spellcasters?” he asked.
I hesitated for a second.
“I can’t answer that,” I said after a moment, and sighed. “It’s too… it’s too complicated. There’s too many unknowns. How many spellcasters do they have? How many enchanters? How skilled are the spellcasters and enchanters? What elements do they use, with what level of skill, and what amount of raw power? How experienced are they with combat magic - which requires fast, precise reaction times - compared to general magic, which can be applied over extended periods of time?”
“Any more progress with the long range magic tracking since the last report?” Richardson asked.
“Yes,” I said. “Einstein was enormously helpful - I’m now able to track magic in bursts of up to twenty miles, as well as create enchantments to passively track magic use.”
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“Twenty miles,” he repeated. “It was ten miles last week - do you think another week would double your range again?”
“I really can’t predict that,” I said.
He sighed.
“In any case, we don’t have time,” he said, rubbing at the bridge of his nose. “Let me get directly to the point - with your knowledge and experience, what would you believe is the best preparation we can make in this situation?”
“How much time do we have to work with?” I asked.
“Very little,” he said. “I’d prefer to make a move before Germany decides to cross the Atlantic.”
“Then, I’d think that training a number of soldiers in how to resist magic - especially mind magic - would be the best thing,” I said. “They could carry the magic detecting enchantments I’ve made, and be deployed to hunt down spellcasters, without worry about Aeros users taking over their minds.”
“Doesn’t that training also give them magic?” he asked.
“Not directly,” I said. “But it’s a similar process - anyone we train to specifically resist magic could possibly awaken.”
“If they don’t awaken by the end of the training, is it possible for them to awaken afterwards?” he asked.
“I don’t know enough about that,” I said. “In my world - absolutely, they would. Here, though? I don’t know if they can awaken without an active connection to my magic.”
“Which means, since we don’t know for sure, we have to be careful in who we select,” he said.
“Very much so,” I agreed.
He looked a little ill as he stared at the London map. I wasn’t sure if it was just his face, or the tiny bit of information I was getting off my magesense. I was getting much better at keeping it open and under control. There was a sense of dread, regret, and guilt at his surface.
“I’ll select a number of men for training,” he said, his voice the same as always, despite the pain in his heart. “They’ll be briefed and ready for training within the hour.”
He glanced at the clock on the wall.
“You’ll have missed lunch - go, eat, and get ready. You’re dismissed,” he said.
We stepped outside, joined by the usual guards, on our way to the mess hall.
“He’s really uncomfortable with training soldiers in magic,” I said, frowning.
Pash gave me a curious look.
“Why wouldn’t he be?” he asked. “You made it quite clear how devastating a single, out of control spellcaster can be. You also made it clear how impossible it can be to control spellcasters. You yourself are gentle, and yet, problematic to control. He’s taking an enormous risk.”
“If he’d started this training a month ago…” I sighed. “We’d be so much further along. How much will the delay cost us?”
“He took a gamble,” Pash said, shrugging. “He balanced the danger of adding more potentially uncontrollable sources of world-wide destruction against the possibility of being able to deal with Germany with only what you can provide, in both knowledge and power.”
“When you put it that way, I guess it does make sense to take your time, and get more information first,” I said.
“It does,” he agreed.
We got lunch and remained quiet throughout the meal. Pash seemed contemplative.
Nicholas came by after half an hour and told us that the trainees were ready for me. He didn’t invite Pash, so I went alone.
He brought me to a large room, with about thirty soldiers in it. General Richardson stood off to the side.
“These are the soldiers I’ve selected for you,” he said. “You may begin when ready.”
I blinked at him in surprise. Surely he didn’t expect me to train thirty at once, did he? Or… no, this was a group for me to select from. That made sense.
Since the situation was dire, and the training would require me to have access to their souls anyway, I pushed my magesense to the limit. Some souls showed a measure of talent in magic. Some souls showed a strong heart that would resist corruption. There wasn’t much overlap.
“You, you, and you,” I said, pointing at the three candidates. “You will be my students.”
General Richardson raised an eyebrow.
“You misunderstand, Ms. Koryn,” he said firmly. “You are to train all of them.”
“That won’t do, General,” I said. “At most, I can be persuaded to train seven.”
I pointed out four others. One of them was Nicholas.
“They are less talented in magic, but are trustworthy. I will train no others,” I said.
“Seven soldiers is not enough,” Richardson said. “With the size of the threat we are facing…”
“I will not risk awakening soldiers I cannot trust,” I said.
“Each and every one of these men has an excellent record, and is loyal-” Richardson said.
“I don’t care,” I said, cutting him off. His eyes glinted dangerously. “I will not train them.”
“You are merely training them to resist magic,” he said. “You informed me that they are very unlikely to awaken from this. Even if some do, surely you can deal with a newly awakened spellcaster, if he turned traitor.”
“Well, yes-” I began.
“Then the risk is acceptable,” he said.
“I don’t know how to bind their magic,” I said. “I’d have to kill them!”
“You’re unwilling to kill an ‘untrustworthy’ soldier who’s threatening the entire world?” he asked coldly.
I flinched.
“You can’t just talk about killing them,” I spluttered. “They’re right here!”
“Each and every one of these men is willing to lay down his life in service to our country,” he said. “Each one also knows that we’d kill them if they turned traitor, if we had to. It’s hardly a secret.”
“But magic users cannot be contained,” I said. “If they went rogue, at any time in their lives, I would have to… have to…”
Now that the image of hunting them down had come to mind, saying it again was painful.
“And the military would help with that, if it came to it,” he said. “As of now, a magic-empowered Germany is a larger threat than forty three soldiers who probably won’t awaken, and only if they do, who might go rogue at some point in their lives. Especially considering that Germany has probably not been so cautious as you would prefer.”
There were things I didn’t want to say. Things I didn’t want to think about. A world unshielded from magic… I closed my eyes and shuddered. If they were careful, I wouldn’t learn about it in time. I might not be able to stop them. The only way to be sure was to kill them before they turned evil. I wasn’t willing to even think about doing something like that, and half hated myself for the fact it popped into my head in the first place.
“There are lines I won’t cross, no matter what you say,” I said. “Unless and until we have evidence that Germany is actually training soldiers in magic use, rather than simply using enchantments to good effect, I will not train anyone that gives me reason for unease.”
“Your ‘unease’ may cost us the world,” he said. “Are you really arrogant enough to think you’re ready to make that kind of decision?”
“Are you so arrogant as to believe mere words and history of good behaviour is evidence that a person can withstand the corrupting influence of reality-bending power?” I asked. “When your own people quote the line that ‘power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely?’”
“I am willing to handle the consequences,” he said, his voice ice cold. “I am willing to do whatever it takes to keep Hitler from ruling the world. You are so afraid of a few unlikely events that you hesitate to do what’s necessary against a very real threat.”
“Fine,” I said. “Label me a coward who won’t take risks when facing the prospect of Hitler ruling the world, if it makes you happy. I still won’t do it.”
We stared at each other for a long moment. His gaze was calculating.
“Train the seven you selected, for now,” he said. “We will discuss the addition of the others to your class privately. The rest of you are dismissed.”
The forty three soldiers I’d indirectly called out as “liable to be corrupted by power” filed out of the room. Some were angry, or annoyed. Some were abashed. Some were ashamed. Some were afraid.
The seven that remained were uneasy, but attentive.
“I don’t know what you’re expecting,” I told them, “But whatever it is, it’s almost certainly wrong. This is not a foreign force, an alien thing, that you can just cast off. This is the very spirit of mankind - the will to remake the world in our image. It will not be your bodies and minds under assault, even with mind magic. It will be your hearts, your souls, the very foundations of yourselves. And in this training… I will be attacking it. Is this something you are willing to accept?”
“Yes, ma’am,” they all said in unison, and I flinched at the creepiness of it.
“No, no,” I said. “I am Aera… please, call me that. The military formality does not suit myself, or magic, at all. Answer my question, not according to training, but in accordance with who you truly are. Let us begin with you.”
I gestured at Nicholas. He looked a little uneasy being put on the spot.
“Well, like the General said, ma’am… I mean, Aera... we’re willing to die, if that’s what it takes,” he said. “I’d rather be attacked by you in training, than Nazis for real.”
The others nodded along with that. I still required each of them to give me his answer, and watched his soul as he spoke.
General Richardson watched this process with a stone-faced expression.
I was nervous, but content enough with their answers. We spoke for a little while - they told me their names, and a little about themselves. I needed to have an understanding of who they were, to match against my image of their soul. It would help for this training.
Next, I described to them the nature of the elements. I briefly addressed most of them, but for Aeros, I went into greater detail.
“The biggest threat from Aeros that we must consider is its ability to influence minds,” I said, in closing. “I would like to demonstrate that now. May I have a volunteer for who will go first?”
All of them raised their hands immediately, as though they felt it was expected of them. I couldn’t help but notice that every one of them focused on the General for a second as they did so. I tried to ignore it, and selected the one who was most honest in his curiosity.
“Tommy,” I said, smiling at him. “Let’s go with you. Would you step up front?”
He nodded and eagerly went to the front.
“Brace yourself, and try to resist as best as you can,” I told him. “I will be making you sing a song.”
He laughed briefly, and then focused.
I touched his arm to strengthen the connection and reached into his mind. Exactly as I expected, he wasn’t braced against magic at all. He was ready to resist an alien force, an external pressure of some kind.
Magic gently tickled at him, entirely bypassing his defenses, as he found himself simply wanting to sing “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” for his fellows.
It wasn’t until I stopped putting pressure on his mind that he realized that something was going wrong.
“How I wonder what… what…” he paused, his eyes going wide. “I… wow. I didn’t even feel that.”
“You were braced against me doing something,” I told him, and the rest of the class. “That won’t work. You have to be braced against yourself doing something. The defense must be within your heart, not around it. Next, let’s get Chester to try.”
We went through the group. None of them managed to even make the process difficult for me. Mind, I was touching them, and none of them were emotional, but still. It wasn’t an encouraging start.
After the third round, Nicholas spoke up.
“I don’t really get what it is we’re even trying to resist,” he said. “In the moment, it doesn’t feel like anything’s happening, not until after it’s over. Then it’s obvious in the memory, but…”
I frowned.
“You’re right,” I said. “Um. I’ve never tried to train anyone in this. Let me try something else? At least, with this, I can get all of you at once. I’m going to look deeply at your souls. Try to focus on your desire for privacy - try to want it to be impossible to see who you really are.”
Soul magic was easier to resist than mind magic, after all. I pushed my awareness into them aggressively, without any trace of subtlety.
“Ahh!” one screamed, as another one writhed.
“Fucking shit, that’s creepy,” Tommy said, then flushed. “Er, sorry, for the language, ma’am. Er, Aera, um...”
“It’s fine,” I said, laughing as I fondly thought of Lou. “I don’t mind profanity.”
“That was the freakiest fucking thing I’ve ever felt in my goddamned life,” said the oldest of the soldiers.
“It actually feels nice, when it’s gentle and expected,” I said. “I tried to make it as forceful as possible this time.”
“It felt like you shoved your hand up my ass and grabbed my heart,” Nicholas said, shuddering. “Only, it was like it was from every direction at once.”
“So you don’t want me to do that again?” I asked.
“No,” Nicholas said. “But if you have to-”
I cut him off with a gesture.
“‘No’ is perfect,” I told them. “You can leave if you want. If you stay, that counts as consent for this training. Keep the answer ‘no.’ You do not want me to do that again. You never want to feel that again. Yes?”
They nodded uneasily.
“Good,” I said. “Hold onto that feeling of not wanting it to happen.”
Their souls tightened up into defensive barriers almost on par with Pash’s. Theirs were “stronger,” in the sense of being powered by conscious choice, but their desire for privacy wasn’t as deeply ingrained as Pash’s.
I shoved into their souls again. This time, there was a measure of resistance. All of them resisted, to various degrees. None were hard to bypass.
“Tommy - you were too curious about the sensation, keeping you from resisting too much,” I said. “Nicholas - you trusted me too much, you felt too safe, so your resistance was weak. Chester - you…”
I continued giving individual feedback on how to improve before trying again. We kept it up for under an hour before they became fatigued. They’d never improved their spiritual endurance, after all, so I called for a break.
After the last one left, Richardson turned to me.
“We need to talk about the level of threat you pose the world, Ms. Koryn,” he said.