Fun Fact: The Meta Tier System was developed by the early magis as a means of categorising their threat level by measuring the amount of arcani in their body.
Tier One metas are the least dangerous, while Tier Five metas were constantly being watched and culled at the slightest provocation. Although such barbaric practices have long been outlawed, there are still many people who consider Tier Five metas freaks of nature.
Average global population distribution of metas sorted by Tiers:
Tier 2 ~ 50%
Tier 3 ~ 30%
Tier 1 ~ 15%
Tier 4 ~ 4.99%
Tier 5 ~ 0.01%
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Turns out, the best room the Meta Liberty Fighters could offer was nothing more than a slightly luxurious gaol cell. Felix sat in the corner of the room in silence, while Aglaia explored their quarters restlessly.
“Get some rest, Aglaia,” Felix groaned, clearly tired of listening to her incessant pacing. “We won’t be getting out of here anytime soon.”
The footsteps stopped, and the girl plopped onto the floor.
“I don’t get it,” she asked. “None of these metas are Tier Five; even I can sense it. So why don’t you just overpower them with brute force?”
Felix sat up. “I suppose now’s as good a time as any to teach you about the rules of engagement.”
“Listen, this is the most important rule when dealing with threats as a Guardian,” he said. “Do not use more force than necessary to subdue your target. As Tier Fives, we have to exercise even more caution to not accidentally kill our…”
The boy’s voice drifted for a while, his eyes glazing over as he recalled the criminal he telepathically murdered in a fit of rage.
“...Our opponents,” he finished with a firm nod, pushing the unpleasant memories away.
“But… but what if we did?” Aglaia asked softly. “Even if we didn’t mean to. What if we accidentally took the life of someone?”
“There will be consequences,” Felix warned sharply. “Don’t even think about doing anything like that, Aglaia. Don’t make that mistake. The world considers us dangerous beings. Monsters, even. Do not give them the chance to prove themselves right. It may feel good for that moment, but you will never come back from that.”
The girl fell silent for a brief moment, looking at the empty hallway through the open door.
“Have you done that before?” She turned to him again.
“I thought you promised not to read my mind.”
“I didn’t. But the way you said it… I can tell,” Aglaia said. “Because…”
She took a deep breath.
“Because so have I.”
Felix furrowed his eyebrows, waiting for her to continue.
“There was this boy… A bully, rather. He enjoyed taking my lunch, and beating me after school with his friends,” Aglaia spoke, her voice trembling. “He was a talented magi, and I was still powerless. My parents weren’t well to do, while his parents were influential business people. So my school didn’t do anything about it.”
The boy closed his eyes painfully. He knew where this was going.
“I remember it was the first day of the week, and my parents weren’t paid for the month. My lunch… It wasn’t much this time, but he still threw it away and kicked me away before I could scrape it off the ground.”
Aglaia’s voice was rapidly hardening.
“I didn’t know why he enjoyed doing that so much, and all I wanted to do at that time was to figure out why he hated me so.” She was gritting her teeth now. “My ability manifested right then, and so I found out.”
“Was he the only victim?” Felix asked.
“By the time I was finished, his friends were permanently disabled mentally. And he…” The girl looked away. “The doctors said that there was nothing left in his skull. All because he simply despised poor metas.”
“It’s not fair. We didn’t ask to be born this way,” she said. “I just want to live peacefully, but they hate us so. My parents gave me up for adoption so that I wouldn’t have to face the consequences, and they died in a traffic accident shortly after. They were lucky; that boy’s parents would’ve made our lives a lot worse anyway.”
“Condemnation is still coming for me, isn’t it?” Aglaia asked Felix. “Because I’m a monster, an abomination.”
“We are not monsters, and we don’t deserve condemnation.” Felix hugged the girl, patting her head gently. “It is the world that has rotten from its core. We are, but mere spectators to this decaying spectacle.”
Aglaia’s body was trembling, and Felix’s shoulder was already damp.
“I guess we really do have that much in common, huh?” He chuckled softly. The boy’s eyes glowed, and the door shut itself gently.
“I won’t let anyone- anything condemn you, Aglaia. I promise.”
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“Got it. Well done,” Vulcan whispered into the miniature orb. “Continue observing them, but keep a safe distance.”
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He tucked the device back into his robes that swept elegantly across the sleek metallic floors. The President squeezed his way through the narrow spaces between the long hallway of technomagick computers.
He pulled out his pocket watch again, and increased his pace to the balding researcher standing at the front. There was still some time to gather information before his meeting with the United World Alliance.
“Druid Pluto, what do you have for me?” he asked, motioning to the largest computer in the room.
“We have a promising lead, Mister President,” the man replied, clacking away at the keyboard. “The B’javiar tear. Every abomination drops crystallised Arcani in this shape when they are vanquished.”
“So?” Vulcan furrowed his eyebrows, trying to make sense of the colourful graph on the computer screen.
“Well, we believe that this shape has an origin point.” Pluto scrolled the crystal ball, displaying a convoluted looking map this time. It was buzzing with activity, and the locations seemed to be changing constantly.
“Hang on, I thought you said that this crisis was supernatural.”
“That’s what we initially thought, aye.” Pluto pursed his lips. “But that was another thing we just happened to discover. The boundaries between our world and other dimensions have somehow been weakened considerably, although that has nothing to do with this crisis.”
Vulcan looked at the man in shock. “So you mean to tell me that we have two crises happening at the same time now?”
“No, sir. Although the boundary separating our mortal realm from Hell is virtually no more, no demons have sought to cross over yet.”
“Yet.” Vulcan let out an audible growl of frustration. Why do bad things have to happen all at the same time?
“Is there a way to track the origin point of our arcani corruption then?” He changed the subject. “If demons choose to invade our world while we’re still crippled without magic, we’d be sitting ducks for slaughter.”
“We are trying our best to narrow down the source of this poisoning, sir.” Pluto’s lips were pale, and he was trembling slightly. “We need more time. This origin point… I don’t know how to put it, but I don’t think it exists at the moment.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m sure our equipment is functioning perfectly, but they seem to be indicating that this origin point exists in… the future.”
The Warlock tilted his head in confusion. “The… future? How can something in the future affect the present? That doesn’t make sense at all-”.
A soft beeping emitted from Vulcan’s breast pocket. He reached into his robes to stop the sound, exhaling deeply to steel himself. Time was up. The world leaders were waiting for his response now.
“Thank you for your hard work.” He took care to keep his voice from betraying the immense stress he was feeling. “Keep working on it, Pluto.”
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“With all due respect, President Vulcan, this is unacceptable.”
Vulcan closed his eyes. Not like he did not expect a reaction like this though. Political leaders tended to be the jumpy sort, and Benedictus’ poisonous international policies had not exactly put Surone under a good light to the rest of the world. Still, the words stung.
“I understand your concern, Mister Secretary General,” he replied to the hologram of New Pegasus’ President, who looked like he was dressed in medals instead of robes. “My best men are working hard to find a cure to this calamity. In fact, we are already in the midst of pinpointing the source. I assure you, Surone will be cleared of this plague soon.”
“And if it isn’t?”
Vulcan looked around for the source of the voice. He was still new to this committee, and the uniform fashion sense of the world’s politicians was not helping.
“Leaders of the world, I-”
“We cannot afford your illness to spread to our countries, Warlock Vulcan,” the Prime Minister of the Draco States said bluntly. “Surone is one of the largest contributors to the economy; we cannot keep your country under quarantine forever. We need you to be cleared of this sickness so that we can open up your borders.”
Vulcan held his tongue. That the world leaders were unsympathetic to his country’s plight was of no surprise, but to kick him while he was down was of poor taste, to say the least. He composed himself, his brain working furiously to come up with a better response.
“One more week.” The Secretary General’s voice interrupted his train of thought, and Vulcan widened his eyes in shock.
“You have one more week to get this sorted out,” the man repeated himself. “The rest of us will prepare for economic changes without Surone in the meantime.”
“What? What do you mean?” Vulcan’s voice wavered.
“A world without magic is too great a risk for us to take. Should your country fail to solve this issue by then, we will have no choice but to employ Hydrus City’s ultimatum. After all, it is the only weapon powerful enough for a country of Surone’s size.”
“You mean to bomb us out of existence?!” the Suronian President screamed. “You… you can’t do that!”
“Actually, we can. Those in favour of the ultimatum, raise your hands.”
Vulcan watched in horror as the hologram panels around him turned green one by one, until only a few retained its neutral purple colour.
“This is inconceivable!” the Draco States’ Prime Minister yelled. “How do you expect us to come with a nation-wide economical overhaul within a week?”
“Did you forget that Ex-President Benedictus was threatening to pull Surone out of the UWA during our previous assembly?” Pollux Isle’s Commanding Officer replied lazily, adjusting the tight bun on her head. “We already made policies in case of such an event. You didn’t?”
“Perhaps we are being too hasty,” Hydrus City’s King spoke in a thick accent, the purple glow around his figure flickering. “My people came up with the prototype of this tool. I believe I know, more than any of you, how much devastation our bomb will cause.”
Some of the panel members looked away with obvious discomfort.
“Hellfire will scorch the Earth. All life within ten million square kilometres will be eradicated in one fell swoop.” The King closed his eyes, shaking his head. “This tool was created for the purpose of clearing unwanted celestial bodies. To use it on a land full of people… That is pure evil. We believe that such a powerful weapon should only be used for the good of humanity.”
“It is for the good of the rest of humanity that we use it to eradicate the potential source of our downfall,” the Secretary General replied firmly. “We are eternally thankful to your kingdom for this gift, but we will choose what to do with it ourselves.”
Vulcan slumped back, murky despair darkening his face as the King fell silent in response.
“The committee has spoken, Warlock Alcaeus Vulcan. Surone has one more week to eradicate the cause of your plague,” the holographic man announced. “If you shall fail, then may your people find solace in their ancestors.”
“I will not stand for this,” Vulcan muttered quietly.
“What did you say?”
A loud thud resounded across the empty room as the President slammed his hands on the long table.
“If you send even a single airship our way, Surone will take it as an official declaration of war,” he said. “We will not hesitate to shoot it down.”
“Who do you think you are?” the Secretary General growled. “This is an official warning from the United World Alliance. Retract your statement or be forced to face the consequences.”
“And this is an official warning from Surone.” Vulcan glared at the holographic leaders. “We will do everything within our capacity to ensure our survival. Surone will not go down without a fight.”
“You will not want this fight, President Vulcan. But we accept.”
Darkness flooded the room once more as the projections disappeared, leaving the President alone in his seat.