Chapter seventy seven

          I have read a lot of things in the library concerning the past seven centuries, although I mentioned a very concise history, that is by no means the only important development I have learned about the human race. Although the majority of the human race has stayed constant , magic and the progress of time has changed certain parts of the human population into being slightly different in some way.

               The most notable example of this variation are the beastmen of south america . At first they used magic that made them able to channel the 'essence' of a certain animal. Overtime this part time channeling became a full time merging. Now , all the beast tribes have distinguishing features like tails or claws that never go away. What you have to remember is that these variations are not different species, interbreeding is possible. The closest thing to an equivalent it had back in the days before magic would be different ethnicities. They might look different but they are still quite human.

                 The reason I mentioned this phenomenon is that Germany is the home of one of these variations.

               When the EMP and the following anti-technology rhetoric happened, Germany as one of the centers of industry and manufacturing was severely affected. The entire country nearly broke down, but the German people didn't give up. Hard work and industriousness run deep in their blood, they simply changed the way they did things. The German people always had a special connection with metal working, so it was only natural that in the new world they embraced blacksmithing and mining. The city of Berlin that had become one of the causalities of the churches rampage slowly rose up from its ashes, made up of hard metal and stronger than ever. The iron city rose up higher and more magnificent than ever before. The Germans developed special alloys that had magical properties. They also developed technology that just skirted the line from being called heresy.

                In the midst of the deeply matriarchal and anti-technology Europe, Germany rose up as a bastion of industry and development. As the years passed by the people started to form a bond with the metals that they were putting all their heart and passion into. The magic in the very metals they were pounding and shaping started to seep into them generation after generation. Their bodies became more compact and dense, their heights shrunk slightly from the norm and most importantly they developed magic unique to them in shaping metals. The variation was named after one of the fantasy creatures that were short and good at blacksmithing, it became known as the dwarf variation and the people became known as the dwarves.

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                Now that I knew that Walter had taken the kids to Germany with him, I was planning how I was going to get there. The quickest route would be to teleport to Oslo Norway , the only European country I've ever been to ,then make my way to Germany from there. I probably won't have to worry about the church because the last place they would probably expect me is at their door step.

               I was just walking down the street planning my trip when I heard a shriek of fright coming from in front of me. When I got my heads out of the clouds and focused on what I was seeing, I saw a familiar woman with a comical look of fright plastered on her face. 

               She was the woman ,other than Lidia ,who was in the party that found me in my pod, I believe her name was Elise. Even with my brown contacts , it appears that Elise could recognize me and she was making a scene that was attracting a lot of attention so I had to act quickly to salvage the situation.

               I made an illusion of Elise and transposed it over the original, I made sure her mouth was covered so she couldn't speak but her noses were open so she could breath. That means now Elise was trapped in a 'skin' that looked like her on the outside. I made the expression on her face ( which isn't actually her face but the illusion that's covering her face) morph into delight and made her run towards me and give me a hug.

              Now the previous shriek could be interpreted as a shriek of delight at seeing someone she was really excited to see. I hugged her under my arm and pretended to have a conversation with her. Slowly the bystanders who were observing us all lost interest and walked away.

              I then led Elise to a dark ally and teleported to my hideout in the other world.

               Once there I released her from the 'artificial Elise' I had layered over her. Immediately she started to scream and shout for help.

               I tried to repeatedly make her stop screaming by repeatedly reassuring her that I wasn't going to hurt her and that she was safe but she just wouldn't stop.

               One of the only people on earth that could recognize my true identity and I met her randomly going down the street.

              Am I imagining it or do I have truly rotten luck?