Beyond?

by Andur

  His eyes wander to the Great Shaman. “Chuck, if you would be so kind? Obviously they don't believe that I can handle the situation properly.”

  The Great Shaman coughs. “Hoh, of course. Since you are the one who is asking I might as well take part in this. Dwem was mostly watching the negotiations after all. We have to demonstrate that we aren't just for show.”

  He turns around and stretches both his hands out to the sides. His advisers are immediately at his side and lift him onto the railing of the balcony.

  Chuck shakes his totem and wriggles his butt while balancing on the railing's board. “Ahem... Mimimimi... yes, that should work.” He performs an objectionable dance in front of the rampaging crowd. Luckily nobody seems to pay attention to the dwarf who is dancing on the palace's balcony.

  Finally he raises both hands to his mouth and I am forced to cover both ears with my hands. Chuck's voice booms over the plaza like and explosion.

  “SHUT UP YOU FUCKING IMBECILES!”

  I realize that he performed some kind of voice amplification. The sound was focused in front of us, many windows were simply shattered and everything is suddenly deadly silent. The people closest to our position were knocked down by the force and are trying to get to their feet again.

  Chuck continues with a more moderate sound volume.

  “I am the Great Shaman of Dwem and I am not happy right now! In Dwem we give everyone the same chances and you people are the accumulation of everything which we despise! I'll give you ten seconds to disperse this crowd before I use my cursed powers against you.”

  “They can't disperse a crowd that big in ten seconds!” Queen Frey objects.

  Chuck snorts. “I know. Sometimes you have to give people impossible tasks to show them the foolishness of their acts. Forming such a mass of people was a mistake in the first place. It violates safety regulations seventy five to two hundred eighty nine. Every child gets taught those in primary school.”

  His voice booms outwards once more. “Okay. You failed! Don't say I didn't give you a fair chance.” He steps out into the empty air beyond the balcony and shakes his totem. Suddenly his figure enlarges drastically and flames engulf him. A fiery giant out of old fairy tales lands on the ground in front of the palace. Chuck's gigantic head is at the balcony's height.

  The fire elemental steps forward towards the crowd which starts dispersing in a wild panic. “Wahahahar! Where is your resolve now? Just a little noise and fire and you shit yourselves! I didn't even do anything... yet.”

  Pearls of sweat appear on king Novak's forehead as he watches the gigantic, flaming form of Chuck chasing people around the plaza. They spread away from him like a frightened swarm of birds. The whole situation has something surreal to it. “It'll be hard to explain that to the church.” Novak wipes the sweat from his forehead.

  “Harhar! Never forget why I am called the Great Shaman!”

  “Stella?”

  “What!”

  “You were right.”

  “Hm?”

  “I feel sick, I might have to...”

  “Go and fly over the crowd! I don't want to see it!”

  96. ~Cite.~

  “I just need my lance and my spiky armour to teach my opponents what true terror is. Once I impale their ########”

  Sadly the rest of the inscription was removed by scratching it out. A true loss for history.

  -Gerneral Trievus

  Free City States of Nict, Capital

  Stella

  I enter the living room and all three kids who are playing on the ground jump up. “Mommy and Daddy are back!” They run towards me with tears in their eyes.

  Ivy was sitting at the sofa and reading a book. When I entered she stood up and bowed to me. “I hope you two had a nice trip.”

  “Everything went fine. I guess I have to call it the usual diplomatic mission by now.” Although I am not happy about getting accustomed to being attacked by people who are out to kill me.

  My attention wanders to the children who are hugging my legs. “And you three? Why are you crying? Is something wrong?”

  Zadkiel rubs his face into my robe. “Y-”

  “No!" Sariel slaps him on the back of his head. "We are just so happy that you are back!”

  “You'll never go away again? Right? Hic...” Zana clings to me desperately. “Why are you carrying Az... I mean Daddy?”

  “Oh, you three are so cute!” I drop Azir unceremoniously onto the ground, carrying him on my shoulders is getting tiresome. Bending down I hug the kids. “Don't worry. Daddy is just a little sick.”

  “Daddy is sick?” Sariel lets go of me and hurries to Azir's side. He is out cold and his face is as green as a plant. “Can't you heal him with magic?”

  I shake my head. “This sickness can't be healed with magic, he has to get through it by himself.”

  “Something that can't be healed with magic?” Zadkiel asks shocked.

  “Yes, it's called stupidity and I fear it's hereditary.” I close my eyes and shake my head.

  “Really?” Zana watches the twins with a sad expression. “You two... I am sorry.”

  “What means herederety?” Zadkiel watches Azir with a troubled expression.

  “It's hereditary and means that it is transferred from the parent to the child.” Sariel mumbles, pulling at Azir's cheek. “Daddy, you stink!”

  I notice the sudden mood swing and hurry to clear up the misunderstanding. “It's not as bad as it looks. As long as you listen to Mommy there is no problem.”

  The twins let out a sigh of relief and I get up to grab Azir. “I have to bring Daddy into the bath. He'll be sleeping there tonight. I think it's all out, but it's better to be safe than sorry.”

  Shouldering Azir again, I stand up to face Ivy. “Thank you for taking care of them. It should be okay to take a day off.”

  Ivy smiles and bows again. “It's no problem. I think I found out on how to deal with children. It's actually quite enjoyable. Don't hesitate to ask when you have a tight schedule.” Then she leaves, taking the corridor towards the servant's quarters.

  I notice that the three kids are as pale as chalk. “Are you sure that there is nothing wrong?”

  They nod in unison.

  Hmm... they are clearly disturbed by something. No matter, if it's something really important they'll tell us. “Fine, if you say so?”

  Dropping Azir into the bathtub goes without problem and I head off to bed. Then I realize that the trio followed my every step. “You need something?”

  Zana is the first to speak. “Can we sleep with you today? We are afraid of sleeping alone!” Sariel and Zadkiel nod in unison at her sides.

  Oh, the image. So cute! “Of course.” I grab them to carry them off to bed. Azir isn't available as body pillow tonight. Having three smaller ones might do just fine.

  Free City States of Nict, Capital

  Azir

  I am still feeling sick and yet I have to be up and working. It's the first day after we returned from our abysmal diplomatic mission in Quinn. According to Lucas we struck a good deal with them and managed to impress their royal family.

  Once we start supplying them with resources they should be able to deal with the barbarians on their own. It's just a question of stopping their raiding. Once their border crossings are safe they should be able to handle the rest.

  Coincidentally it's also Zana's first schoolday. In the afternoon Stella and I got a call over the mana net. It was from the director and she requested our presence as Zana's official guardians. But since Stella is currently wrapped up in her lessons I had to get out of the bathtub. I wonder how I ended up in there? Was Stella really heartless enough to simply drop me off in the bath? Ow, my back hurts. Sleeping in this hard, curved thing isn't good for my health.

  I arrive at the director's office and enter without asking for permission. It was her who summoned me, so it should be fine.

  Inside I find a rather strange scene. As the director, Clara Veit's office is
big and spacious, but right now it's cramped with people. Clara is sitting at her desk, giving off the same impression which I always get when I have to pay her a visit.

  There are four kids of Zana's age lined up at the right side of the room. All of them are frozen in various attacking postures and aren't moving. Upon further inspection I realize that they don't even breathe. Hm. Hm. Good work. It's a perfect execution of the spell frozen mind in combination with a little basic ice magic.

  There are also a few other people inside the room. From their age and appearance I suppose that they are the parents of the kids in question.

  In the far right corner of the room is Zana with Mr. Pendragon, my old teacher for basic classes. Zana is on her knees and has to face the corner of the room.

  “Ah, Azir. It seems like visits to my office run in your family.” Clara points at a chair in front of her. I take her up on the offer and sit down, deliberately ignoring the other parents.

  She gestures at the frozen kids and their parents. “As you see we are facing a little situation. During the magic classes, a fight broke out between the kids and your daughter used a highly advanced spell to defeat her opponents. Such spells aren't supposed to be known to a child her age.”

  I nod, contemplating the situation. “Of course. I am tutoring Zana. The spell she used on those kids is called frozen mind. A very basic mind magic if you ask me.”

  “It's forbidden to teach dangerous spells to children. I hope you have good ties to a lawyer. Because getting out of this one won't be so easy for you and Zana.” Clara points at the kids. “Could you please undo the spell on them?”

  “Let me first confirm something.” I stand up and walk over to Zana, giving Mr. Pendragon a nod of acknowledgement.

  I turn Zana around and smile at her. “Everything okay? Would you like to tell me how all of this happened?”

  “Hic... they said that I am just a motherless freeloader who is living off of her clan's generosity. And they called the Zait weaklings for not being able to defend Tri properly.” She wipes the snot from her nose. Apparently she cried a lot.

  Geez, children are so much trouble. “Well. Tri is still standing and houses can be rebuilt. Why shouldn't you be allowed to be a freeloader as a child? Don't worry, you are a Zait and the Zait always take care of their own. I liked my aunt very much and I would never allow anything to happen to her child. You are Stella's and my daughter.”

  Then I snort. “Though we have to train you a little harder from now on. You were far too nice on those bullies. Should I tell you a story? Actually I ran into a group of bullies myself when I was younger.

  Such people only stop if you show them that you have the courage to fight back. You executed frozen mind perfectly, but it was the wrong choice in this case. When they wake up it'll be as if nothing happened to them.”

  I take a deep breath while Zana is looking up to me, listening to my every word. “You need to cut them to pieces and heal them up again, keeping them on the verge of death for at least a few minutes. They have to experience what it means to face their end. Impaling them on the statue in the park area works especially fine. You know the one of that war hero? The one with the big lance?”

  Zana nods. “You mean General Trievus, who single handedly defended the capital's eastern Gate for a whole day.”

  Who cares, it's just a statue. “Exactly that one. And after you are done with them you have to threaten them with even more gruesome atrocities. Take their pride away, make them lick your shoes. If you leave them with a speck of self-respect, they will just return to take revenge. Of course you have to be careful of getting caught while doing so. There has to be no evidence. I am sorry, I think my lessons were lacking in that regard, but we'll make sure to correct that.”

  I wave my hand at the frozen kids and their bodies relax. They drop to the ground unconsciously. “They will wake up shortly and remember nothing.” Pointing at them I continue explaining. “And that's why we have to approach this situation in another way Zana. When they don't remember a bad experience, they can't learn from it. It's our responsibility to ensure that they learn their place in the social hierarchy.”

  I end my explanation there and place my attention on the parents. Most of them paled when I entered the room. Now they are as white as paper.

  “Mrs. Clara. I think this issue doesn't have to be pursued.” One of the women addresses the director.

  “What? You were the one who was insisting that this issue can't be left unattended.” Clara complains.

  The man at the woman's side starts complaining. “Dear! You can't be serious! We-”

  “Shush! That was then. We didn't know that Zana is Azir's daughter.” She grabs one of the boys and pulls her man out of the room.

  The other parents also express their apologies for causing unnecessary problems and flee the scene with their offspring.

  Clara's eyes turn into small slits, staring daggers at me. “It happened again.”

  I shrug my shoulders. “No complaint, no redress. Your own words.”

  “That doesn't change the fact that you are teaching your daughter dangerous spells.” She grumbles.

  “Can you prove that the spell is dangerous? Obviously you don't even understand it, otherwise you would've dispelled it yourself.” I smirk at her. “If there is nothing else? I have to get home with Zana. Dinner is waiting.”

  Mr. Pendragon raises a finger to get Clara's attention. “It'll be very hard to get any hard evidence if the used spell isn't even found in an official spellbook. We would have to register it properly and get the required doc-”

  Clara raises her hand, gritting her teeth. “Have fun with your dinner.”

  I bow to her and leave the room while Zana is properly waving goodbye. What a well behaved child. I just have to straighten out some small problems with her approach on life.

  97. ~Power Game.~

  “Mana streams, or ley lines, are energy veins of exceptional magical power, consisting of pure mana. They are created by the energies and magnetic fields inside a planet and normally flow only deep down in the planet's core.

  In rare cases though, a mana stream can be pushed close to the surface. This can happen due to a dramatic event inside the planet or rare fluctuations in the magnetic field.

  But no matter the circumstances, a mana stream which reaches close to the surface is always something highly valuable. It enables magicians to recover their mana faster as it saturates the area with power.

  It can also be used to directly fuel magical devices and highly demanding spells.

  There should be no question about how much of a strategic asset such a limitless source of power provides.”

  -Magicae Codex XVI

  Second Continent, Jont-Capital

  Elora

  “Hahahahaha!” Serenzar is laughing like mad while sitting on his throne with me on his lap. We just had a happy time, cuddling with each other, when one of his priests barged into the room.

  Those guys surely know how to destroy the mood. They always interrupt us when I am about to manipulate Serenzar into doing something meaningful for a change. His ambitions are getting a little troublesome from time to time. There is only world domination and controlling the masses in his brain.

  Though I admit that he is trying to govern his acquisitions properly, the ways he is trying to acquire them shocks even me sometimes.

  The priest who is prostrating himself on the floor in front of us is watching me with lecherous eyes. I know those fellows. They are acting innocent and loyal, but dare to turn your back on them and the party is on.

  Though the story he told us was admittedly quite interesting.

  “So this Azir is the leading force which is responsible for our setbacks.” He absent-mindedly strokes my thighs while I am hugging him from the side.

  Normally I would kill someone for the attempt alone, but my hubby has a free pass on doing anything he wants. After all he saved me from a life of slavery. Some might think tha
t my fixation on him isn't appropriate. After all he is far older than me.

  But what point is there in nagging about age differences when the persons in question could live for thousands of years. It was quite clear to me that if I ever had to choose a partner in crime, it had to be someone who equals me.

  Serenzar is more than fulfilling those criteria. If it just wasn't for his strange idea of having a harem. But he is always nice to me and even taught me magic. So I fell in love with him.

  It took me a long time to ~convince~ my fellow harem members to escape and try their luck somewhere else. Now I just have to make Serenzar realize that I am his fated person and not just an object of lust.

  “That's true!” The priest bows. “We think that his appearance is linked to a certain incident years ago. You sent one of your apprentices to Nict. He should have performed a summoning ritual for a demon in order to stop Nict's increasing ambitions.

  Apparently the ritual didn't fail as we originally thought.”

  Serenzar purses his lips. “Explain that point further. How do you link this talented fellow to the summoning ritual.”

  “It's one of the rare cases in which we got first hand information because our own men were involved in the operation. The person in question clearly stated his ambition to use one of Nict's clan heads as a sacrifice in order to summon a particularly powerful demon.” The priest takes a deep breath.

  “We don't know how the events played out afterwards, but the files which we got from our spies clearly show that the Zait clan head indeed went missing for a short while. A little later they announced that they had an heir to their family.”

  “I still don't get it.” I urge the priest to go on while balancing myself on top of Serenzar. The priest ignores me, avoiding my eyes carefully.

  It's only after Serenzar signals him to go on that he proceeds. I try to swallow down my anger. Who does this guy think I am. Could anyone sit on their god's lap? They should pay me some respect too.

  “Our spies got a glimpse at their documents. Nict is keeping very good track of their bloodlines. The family register of the Zait is definitely strange. One might say it's a forgery.” The priest pulls a set of papers from his documents. “Looking at the register of the Zait alone indicates that everything is normal, but taking the logs of other clans into account Azir simply popped into existence at the age of approximately one year. It's a very subtle detail and can't be used as hard evidence. The other clans might have shrugged it off as a case of very good secrecy from the Zait's side. But together with our knowledge about the summoning incident there are-”