The next morning, I was one of the first to rise, so I headed out into the field I arrived in for some bodyweight exercises. I started out with a quick five mile run, taking advantage of the still cool air to maintain my endurance. Once the light of the early sun began cresting the city’s walls, I moved to the shade to focus on my back and arms, settling on doing a few sets of push-ups and pull-ups. By the time I finished, the dew had started to evaporate, blanketing the property with a thick layer of fog. For a moment, I wished I still had my phone to capture the picturesque scene, but quickly let the thought pass so as not to dwell on my losses.
As I made my way back to the barracks to take a shower, I was stopped by the instructor who joined me in my memories. He motioned for me to follow him, and I quietly fell in line behind him as we walked to the administrative building. This time, I was led into what appeared to be a meeting room, sporting a long conference table and seating for twenty people. Waiting inside were five other instructors, if the inclusion of the attuned woman from before was any indication. I took my seat opposite the instructors and waited patiently to hear what was to be said, taking deep breaths to keep my nerves under control.
“There’s no need to worry,” assured the man sitting directly across from me. “My advisors and I have been quite busy reviewing the memories you provided. To say there were some… interesting devices would be an understatement, and now I find myself torn. While your magical abilities would have me happily leave you to serve in my army, I feel as though your knowledge of your world could prove to be more of an asset.” With the last sentence, it finally clicked that it was the king in front of me. I reflexively rolled my eyes, already having an idea of where the conversation was headed.
“Let me stop you there, your highness,” I replied bitterly. “If I had to guess, you want the weapons you saw?” I leaned forward on the table, placing my chin in my palm as I stared at the king. “I’m not here to uplift Astema. Hell, it would be foolish of me, even if I wanted to. I don’t even know anything about you, this kingdom, or really any of the rest of the world. Blindly charging into things has been nothing but a disaster for me so far.”
“We will be taking care of your education, as your test scores demonstrated it to be necessary,” one of the others chimed in. I redirected my glare to the one who spoke up, already prepared to fire back.
“Of course, I expected nothing less. But, tell me… does the word ‘propaganda’ translate,” I asked. Immediately, everyone at the table slightly stiffened their posture, and I nodded with a grin. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. That tells me everything I need to know, right there. You see, I don’t actually speak your language, everything is just being automatically translated for me by magic. Of course, that has its limits, and concepts or words that aren’t shared between our worlds don’t translate. Yet, you clearly understood that word, based on your reactions.” I leaned back in my chair, interlacing my fingers as I waited for a reply.
“And what if I were to offer you a way home, should you provide us with these weapons,” asked the king. “Just imagine what could be achieved against the brimspawn if it doesn’t matter what a soldier’s magical affinities were! Healers could work amongst the soldiers on the battlefield and still be safe, fighting from great distances. Artificers could take a more active role in maintaining equipment. Priests could-”
“You don’t realize how terrible of an idea any of that is,” I said, cutting him off before he could imagine any more possibilities. Anger flared in his eyes from my interruption, but I pressed on. “We already have those things where I’m from, and they end up being the primary targets for enemy forces. But don’t just take my word for it. I’m sure I can show you, if you’ll allow it.” Several sets of furrowed brows and looks of intrigue were all I needed, and I attempted to conjure up an illusion with light magic.
It took some tweaking, but eventually I managed to project the insignia of the Red Cross onto the table. Despite the looks of enchantment I received due to the illusion, I quickly decided that silence wouldn’t do my plans any justice. I messed around with trying to produce some sound, and once I figured it out, suggested that we move outside. They hesitantly agreed, and I led them out to where I had initially appeared for the orientation speech. I got many curious looks from other recruits as they knelt for the king while we walked by, but I paid them no mind. Once we were sufficiently far from any prying eyes and ears, I turned to address the group.
“Alright, I’ll explain before we begin, so that I can keep my focus on casting,” I started. “That image I showed you is the symbol used by medical personnel across my world. Healers, as you’d call them. Combat medics were initially required to wear that to indicate their role, but that was quickly phased out. What I’m about to show you is the result of the path you want me to help you take, and whatever you’re imagining, you’re wrong. First will be a battle known as the D-Day Landings, one of the most infamous battles from our second world war. Then, I’ll show you the weapons my nation developed to put an end to the war.”
I got straight to work recreating the scenes I had seen in documentaries and movies, choosing to present it as a first person perspective of a random American soldier among the initial wave of landing craft. The sounds of waves crashing against the boat drowned out the sounds of yelling and vomiting of the other soldiers, as it threatened to capsize. As the boat neared the shore, the sounds of bullets slamming into the hull began to cut through the sounds of the ocean, alongside explosions from landing craft that had the misfortune of running into the mined defensive countermeasures.
Without warning, the boat came to an abrupt stop and the front ramp dropped. In an instant, the soldiers charged forth, with many being mowed down by machine gun fire from enemy fortifications. I spared a glance at my audience to see their reactions, and I was not left disappointed. While the king was attempting to maintain a stoic facade, I could see that they were already about to lose their lunch. I snapped my attention back to the display, as my lapse in focus caused it to falter.
My chosen soldier made a mad dash for cover as the menacing crack of bullets flying too close filled the air, and he dove into a defilade. He looked back as other soldiers desperately tried to drag their friends to safety, only to be killed for their efforts. A nearby explosion rocked the projection, punching me in the chest and breaking my concentration as the king and his entourage visibly flinched. When the pressure from the spell released, I breathed a heavy sigh, not having realized the strain I had been putting on myself.
“Sorry. For some reason, I didn’t expect the sound to actually have an effect there,” I explained. “But I think that’s a good point to stop that particular scene. That’s what guns are capable of, but you should still see where that path leads. I won’t add the sound because that may run the risk of actually hurting us. I’m sure your imagination can fill in the gaps.”
I started my next projection with an aerial view of Nagasaki, using the bare minimum of energy to avoid burning myself out. Despite the lack of sound, I could still tell they were on the edge of their metaphorical seats as the B-52 flew through the air. The group watched intently as the bomb was released from the plane and the parachute quickly deployed. After an agonizing minute full of doubtful questioning, the bomb detonated, causing them to jump back as the shockwave blew a hole in the clouds. I stopped the spell as the mushroom cloud reached its peak, and looked at the king and instructors. They were all staring at the sky in awed silence, likely trying to imagine seeing something like that in person. I gave a minute for everything to sink in before continuing my impromptu lecture.
“That’s called a nuclear bomb.” As I spoke, their eyes snapped back to me. “And that's the second one we dropped on that nation in the span of a week. Everything I showed you happened roughly eighty years ago, and the death toll of those bombs is still debated to this day, but estimates reach nearly two hundred fifty thousand. Just a drop in the bucket compared to the seventy five million that died during the war. Now, tell me, do you really want that to be Astema’s future?”
“No,” the king responded firmly. “I am confused as to how those weapons are in any way similar, though. I will grant you that they both have incredible destructive power, but I don’t understand how one leads to the other.” I nodded, satisfied that I had crushed his desire for Earth weaponry.
“It’s a matter of scale,” I replied. “Guns essentially work by using very small bombs to throw chunks of metal at high speeds. Even our vehicles operated using the same principles. I don’t even know if Astema has the materials needed to make such things, but in the case that it does, I don’t want to be the one responsible for their creation. I may not be a good person, but I do still like to think I’m not evil.”
“Your actions say otherwise,” he jabbed, unable to fully hide his disgust. I reflexively balled my hands into fists, ready to end his reign, but took a few deep breaths to calm myself down instead.
“While that may be true, what good would it do anyone if I doubled down,” I questioned through gritted teeth. “I don’t expect you to even partially understand. Hell, in comparison to Earth, this is a utopia, so I’m sure that you see me as the embodiment of evil. However, that doesn’t mean I didn’t have my reasons. To be fair, though, I’ve received much harsher treatment for much less back home, so I appreciate you allowing me the chance to plead my case instead of executing me on the spot.”
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“Don’t mistake that for a statement of your character,” he replied. “Applying existing law to unprecedented circumstances would have been ignorant.”
“Believe me, I know. I’m far from delusional. I doubt I’ll ever meet Astema’s standards for what makes someone good, but that doesn’t mean I can’t or won’t try,” I stated.”Now, I’m not sure how it’s not having an effect on you, but I reek. If there’s nothing else you need from me, I’d like to take a shower.” One instructor’s curiosity got the better of him and he sniffed the air, recoiling from the putrid results of my workout.
“That will be all, you are dismissed,” the king stated before promptly turning and heading back toward his castle. The instructors, in turn, headed back to the admin building, and I made my way to the barracks to clean off. Everyone was already awake by the time I was done with that little meeting, leading the showers to be relatively crowded. Regardless, I stripped down, leaving my robe in the changing room and bringing in my normal clothes to wash with the rest of me.
After a short search, I located a vacant shower head and made my way over, kicking the water on as I got into position. The shock of the cold water staved off the last bit of grogginess left over after my workout, and I fought to not jump out of the stream as it gradually began to warm up. As it reached a good temperature, I stood letting the water pour over my sore muscles for a while, basking in the feeling of relaxation that the shower provided. I began scrubbing away, not wanting to waste too much time standing around, while I contemplated the meeting.
He says he doesn’t want that kind of technology, but how much can I trust that, I asked myself. He’s clearly hungry for some form of extra power, but it’s definitely too early to be making any assumptions as to what exactly he wants it for. It’s one thing to say he wants guns to fight whatever these brimspawn are, but what happens after that? He seems reasonable enough, but he’s still a politician at the end of the day, and their reaction to my concerns about propaganda definitely gives me my doubts. Time will tell, I guess, but I should keep my guard up for the time being.
While I had successfully scared them away from the idea of developing Earth’s weapons, assuming they even had the capabilities, there was no guarantee that the hesitation would be permanent. If people had shown me one thing throughout my life, it was that nothing lasts. Anything could happen to make the king more desperate, and the choice could easily be taken away from me with a few spells. With the supposed changes in how dungeons work, that desperation could come sooner than later, I thought. The king was merely one out of a potentially endless supply of people who could have an interest in making use of my knowledge. Of course, none of that changed my ultimate goal of returning home in one piece, but it did mean I’d likely be walking on eggshells to not make the mistake of giving away too much to the wrong person.
I was pulled from my thoughts by the sudden feeling of eyes drilling into the back of my skull. A quick turn of my head revealed several people staring at me with skeptical expressions, but they quickly shot their gazes to the floor. No longer feeling as though the showers were a good place to do some thinking, I shut off the water, wrung out my clothes, and made my way into the changing room to grab a towel and dry off. Once I was satisfied, I wrapped the towel around my waist and hung my stuff up to dry in one of the cubbies.
I received a few more furtive glances as I walked back to the sleeping quarters, but ignored them as I threw my robe on. Lira, Remir, Cyrol, and Arellon were gathered by the dwarven woman’s bed, chatting away as they finished getting dressed. They saw me walking by, and Arellon waved me over. I happily complied, glad to see some non-prying eyes.
“Hey guys, what’s up,” I asked. The four of them glanced at each other before Lira leaned in with a serious expression painting her usually jovial face.
“Are you a noble in your world?” Caught off guard, I confusedly asked what exactly she meant by that, unsure what would give anyone that impression. “Well, others were saying that they saw you speaking with King Caran as if you’re equals, and he’s only ever given that courtesy to members of noble families.” Remir, Cyrol, and Arellon nodded their agreement, and I couldn’t help but burst out laughing.
“Fuck no,” I responded once I got myself under control. “We don’t even have royalty or nobility where I’m from, at least in most places. There are exceptions, of course, but that’s widely considered to be an incredibly outdated way of doing things. I do, however, have plenty of experience in dealing with people in positions of power, so I guess I’ve become pretty jaded when it comes to those types of interactions.”
“What did he want from you, then,” asked Remir.
“He was shown some of my memories from my psych eval and wanted to know some more about where I’m from,” I replied. Thankfully, my answers seemed to satisfy them, and they visibly relaxed. However, my last comment seemed to spark Lira’s curiosity.
“Speaking of which, you have yet to tell me about your world. What’s it like there,” she asked. I paused for a while, wondering exactly how I would sum up an entire other planet. As many similarities as there were, there were far more things that were entirely alien between the two.
“Well, let me see,” I began. “Like I said when we met, there are only humans there.” That response elicited shocked looks from the others, which I was starting to find funny. “There’s also the fact that magic doesn’t exist there, and there’s zero proof of gods being real.”
“What,” Lira shouted. “How does anyone there function without magic?! What do you do if you get attacked by monsters?” I laughed again at the bewildered response, yet again needing a moment to calm down.
“For one, we don’t have monsters, at least not in the same way Astema does. We mostly just use that word to describe people who commit horrible acts. Stuff like murder, rape, abuse… It pretty much just means someone is evil,” I explained. “As for how we function without magic, it’s pretty easy. We’ve never had magic, so we rely on technology. Of course, it leads to things being much more complicated, like with healing, for example. If I broke my arm here, I could just cast a spell and I’d be good to go again within the same day. Back home, I’d be unable to do much of anything for weeks on end while my arm healed on its own.” All four of their mouths hung open in shocked horror, to which I let out a small chuckle.
“That sounds awful,” exclaimed Cyrol. “I couldn’t imagine having to wait for my burns to be healed on their own.” He inspected his hands, likely contemplating what that experience would be like, and shuddered slightly as he processed the idea.
“I mean, it’s not all that bad when that’s your expectation for your entire life. People just have to be more careful than they are here,” I replied. “And there are plenty of good things to come from having no magic. It really forced us to get creative with problem solving, which led to a lot of really cool innovations, like with how we transport things. Instead of using animals to draw carts and carriages, they are self-propelled, with some kinds of vehicles that are even capable of flying.”
“And that’s not magic,” Lira asked skeptically.
“No, but I can understand why it would seem like it. A lot of stuff there seems like magic if you don’t know how it works. We just have really intelligent people who come along and completely change how we live our lives, from time to time,” I said. “I couldn’t tell you the first thing about how a car actually works, though. Just that they make things a hell of a lot easier, and I miss driving.” Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a small crowd starting to inch closer, curious about what I had to say. One woman in particular seemed to be working up the courage to speak, so I turned to her and raised my eyebrows, waiting to hear what she had on her mind.
“Would you be able to show us,” she asked sheepishly. “I saw you showing King Caran, but I was too afraid to get a closer look.”
“Sure,” I said with a shrug. I thumbed through my mental catalog of the different cars I had owned, settling on my jet black Hellcat. I brought the memory to life in a less crowded section of the barracks, causing several people to jump back in surprise. I smiled as I made the engine roar to life, scaring even more people than when it appeared. “This was one of my favorites. It wasn’t very practical, but boy, was it fast. I had a great time every time I got behind the wheel.”
Many of the room’s occupants poked and prodded at the illusion, inspecting it with varying levels of awe. I sat back and enjoyed everyone’s fascination as they checked the car out, until I felt the strange tightness and cold from spell casting increase in intensity. The disappearance of the car resulted in most of everyone’s disappointment, but I could tell I was getting into dangerous territory with how much energy I had used up so far that day.
“What all could that thing do,” asked another one of the recruits.
“Just move,” I responded. “But like I said, it was really fast. With a clear, straight path, it could probably cross the entirety of Nakstal in under a minute.”
“Incredible,” he muttered. “That’s even faster than a dragon!” The image of a massive winged lizard standing at the starting line of a drag racing course popped into my head, causing me to sputter and cough in an attempt to hold in my laughter. I wonder how much horsepower a dragon would have, I thought.
“You’re the second person to mention dragons since I got here,” I stated. “I’ve been meaning to ask, where-” At that moment, the door to the barracks swung open, catching everyone off guard as one of the instructors came into view.
“Alright, listen up! It’s your turn for psychological assessments. You,” he said, pointing straight at me. “You’re exempt, as yours has already been done, so you’ll be getting some lessons due to your awful test scores. We can’t have anyone so uneducated in Aziah’s army.” While extremely irritating, the callout was accurate, so I bit my tongue, opting instead to give a quick nod acknowledging the plan. The instructor motioned for me and five of the other recruits to follow him, and we hastily fell in behind him as he walked to the now familiar admin building.