Mana Mutation Menace (Journey to Chaos Book 3)

by Brian Wilkerson

  “If Your Highness doubts me, then generate a Truth Zone around him,” Kasile replied. “Your Highness does possess such a skill, does he not?”

  The phrase “caught flat-footed” described Lunas’ expression. Never would he imagine that someone would know as much about ordercraft as he did, nor would Order allow anyone to use it against him.

  “No, I do not.”

  Although his experience was not as great as Nulso’s, he studied his craft every day as Eric did with Dengel’s books. While he knew of the skill, learning it and practicing it regularly could turn him into something like Nulso.

  “Our courts find it more expedient to simply take the needed information out of a suspect or defendant’s mind.”

  “Then allow me to demonstrate. Ordercrafter Captain Kimberly.”

  “Yes, Your Majesty?”

  “Generate a Truth Zone around Eric Watley and question him.”

  “Yes, Your Majesty.”

  The girl stood in front of Eric and stamped her foot on the ground. A pillar of eldritch light sprouted eight feet high. She walked around Eric and the light followed her in four lines to create a box. She waved her foot low to cover the floor and then high to seal the box. At her starting place, she concluded the technique with the following spell.

  “Eric Watley, do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you Order?”

  “I do.”

  “Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Watley is now in a zone of sanctified orderly power. As you know, Order does not abide lies. It guarantees that what he says is the truth. Omissions, half-truths, and exact word phrasing are not allowed. Once agreeing as Mr. Watley has done, not even an elf can lie. Prince Lunas, please verify that this is indeed orderly power and not a light show.”

  Latrot’s prince glanced at it. “It will do.”

  “Mr. Watley, are you ready?”

  “Yes, I am.”

  “Question 1: Did you mana mutate in Ceiha?”

  “Yes.”

  “Question 2: Were you treated by Ataidar’s branch of the ICDMM without help from elves, Dnnac Ledo, or any other individual other than your teammates?”

  “Yes.”

  “Question 3: Are you a demon?”

  “Yes.”

  “Question 4: Why are you here?”

  “To help those precious to me prove that Medical Mana Mutation is possible. Personally, I don’t care if this thing goes through or not.”

  “Question 5: Were you capable of shapeshifting before you mana mutated?”

  “No.”

  “Question 6: Were you capable of shapeshifting after you mana mutated?”

  “Yes, but only back and forth between human and grendel because of my dual identity. You’ll have to ask Kallen for the details, because I don’t understand the technical stuff.”

  “Question 7: Do you have any connection, affiliation, or cooperation with elves?”

  “Just my gorgeous girlfriend.” He winked and she giggled. “Oh yeah, my guild captain is one, but I rarely see him and he’s a battle mage anyways.”

  “Prince Lunas, do you have any questions you would like to ask?”

  “A couple.”

  Lunas left his seat and strolled around the table to stand next to Kimberly. Her knees quivered as if resisting the urge to kneel to him. Instead, she left his presence to stand next to the monarch to whom she had sworn loyalty.

  “Just recently, Her Majesty’s royal mage was conducting research to train monsters to act like sapients and before that there was a similar mission with the dead. How do we know you are the real Eric Watley and not a simulacrum programed to act like him?”

  “I’m not a simulacrum because the royal mage failed at both attempts. If you’re not convinced, ask me anything. You’ll see I’m no bot.”

  “Who guards the guards?”

  “The Trickster.”

  “Who is Shmoopie?”

  “They argue over which one of them has that name.”

  “What is a ninja?”

  “A heart, a mind, a body, and a spirit.”

  “What is the square root of 25?”

  “5.”

  “Are you a monster?”

  “No. I’m a demon. Are you ticklish?”

  “Yes. Why did you ask a nonsensical question?”

  “Because you made a funny face answering it. Compulsive honesty can be a pain, huh?”

  “Thank you, Mr. Watley,” Kasile said. “I’m sure you’ve proven your level of intelligence to everyone here. Please take your seat.”

  The Summit formally began with Kasile calling ICDMM members to give an account of their research since the last meeting.

  Percy Tota took it upon himself to give a brief summary of recent developments. The Elemental Mana Mutation Factor hypothesis was gathering strength thanks to the work of Kallen Selios and other field agents around the globe, but it could not yet be called a theory because its practical experiments were still ongoing. In contrast, the Emotional Memory hypothesis was elevated to the level of theory thanks to Eric Watley, Kallen Selios, and the researchers who worked with/on them in addition to more numerous cases like Tiza. The final item he mentioned was the Mutation Shapeshifting Theory, but before he could finish explaining, Ponix shouted, “HERSEY!”

  He clapped three hands over his mouth. A second one generated on his forehead and said, “Sorry. Knee jerk.”

  Annala face-palmed.

  “While the Mutation Shapeshifting Theory is interesting,” Tota continued, “our true goal is to restore a victim’s sanity. Thus, our true focus is Emotional Memory.”

  With a remote control, he lowered a projection screen and clicked once. A video of a monster being led to a holding cell played on its surface. No one knew precisely what it looked like, but they all agreed that it was a grendel.

  “Mr. Watley was such a vicious monster that a Grand Fighter of Magic was injured subduing him and one of our cells was closed for repairs before we could sedate him. Now he is civil enough to sit amongst us because his friends and guild fellows reached out to him.”

  He clicked again and played a scene of a human trashing about in a strait jacket.

  “This is a human in the throes of monsanity. Physically, there is nothing wrong with him. Mentally, everything is wrong. His sense of self is gone, his memories are scrambled, and only his base instincts remain. Until recently, this described Miss Aranid. A severe case of mana poisoning overwhelmed her mind, but Lord Heleti restored her senses with exemplary first aid, trust, and shared memories. Her deep attachment to him overcoming monsanity is a classic example of Emotional Memory.”

  Tiza blushed and Nolien noted the appealing contrast it made with her blue dress.

  Tota clicked a third time and the screen showed a chimera, and not just any chimera, but a truly grotesque and bizarre one. Among its many features was a snake tail, triangle irises, and horns of many shapes. There was no consistency of any sort in its hide and parts of its body appeared to escape the picture and intrude upon their room.

  “This is Kallen Selios when she emerged from the Pit of Chaotic Fog at the Necrohal of Siduban. She was mutated in mind, body, and soul by chaos itself. This is a more severe mutation than anyone on record, and yet when she was found, she was determined to protect her younger sister, Ariel. She retained enough sapience to know her and be capable of guarding her. Family relations were the deciding factor in other successes as well.”

  Tota called for the pairs and they took center stage. One by one, they told their stories and demonstrated the docility of their monster relatives. To prove their point, each approached the monster of another, only to be threatened. The only one not impressed was Lunas.

  “While this is heartwarming, it remains that your success rate is dismal and your greatest successes are the Trickster’s Chosen. Instead of this ‘Emotional Memory’ nonsense, the simpler explanation is that the former are flukes and the latter are exceptional.”

  “P
roof of Concept is sound, Your Highness,” Abbot Tolis said. “Success is due to emotions: love and hatred, loyalty and revenge. We have documented many cases.”

  “Your ‘documents’ are folklore and your scientists are monks.”

  “The oldest scientific institutions on this continent were founded by monks. My monastery is older than your entire country.”

  “Older doesn’t mean better,” said a dwarf duke from Acemo. “It means antiquated, swamp rotted, and in need of replacement. If these results came from Rlawader, I wouldn’t give them the weight of a soggy map.”

  “If you could hold a government together for more than a year, then you would understand the appeal of age. You would also be able to conduct your own studies instead of relying on others.”

  “My country has conducted independent studies,” the human administrator from Latlis said. “According to them, family and friends are predominantly a new monster’s first victims.”

  “That’s because you advocate shooting them,” argued the Support Beam from Mithra, a walking tree. “If you instead educated your citizens to approach with apples instead of spears, then you would have better results.”

  “I suppose you use apples to solve unemployment, budget deficits, and poor sanitation too,” snarked the fairy elder from Symphonia.

  Kasile struck her gavel. “Ambassador Enaz, what is your opinion on this theory?”

  “My wife has the details,” Ponix said, “and she’d be happy to discuss them with you at length. In fact, she’d rather stand where I’m standing so she could give you blueprints for technology based on this principle. Alas, she cannot because of the Supreme Council’s ban against sharing technology with non-elves.”

  “In other words, we’re on the right track.”

  “I can neither say ‘yes’ nor ‘no’ and so I will say ‘Are you a yeti’?”

  “Queen Kasile,” Lunas said. “I formally request that Ambassador Enaz be removed from this meeting. He clearly has nothing to contribute except misdirection and nonsense. Surely you have not forgotten what his wife did to your city some years ago.”

  “I have not forgotten, Prince Lunas, but that is no reason to exclude an honorary member of this council.”

  The Strongwoman from Ozid laughed so heartily at this that she stomped the floor and unintentionally cracked it. Ponix sent the orc a glare, which only increased her merriment.

  “Excuse me, but such a joke was too clever to go unappreciated. Dnnac Ledo has never contributed to our work. Indeed, no elf village ever has. I have watched Ponix stand there in the corner during every meeting since this organization was founded two hundred years ago. He’s watched us struggle and our people mutate all this time and has done nothing to change the status quo. Such devotion to authority would be admirable, if he were an orc like myself. Instead, I imagine he’s here simply to report to his village that they are still superior.”

  “JJ, do you want to provoke another fight with me?”

  “Don’t mind if I do!”

  In a single motion, the orc jumped out of her seat and threw it at Ponix. The elf shrank out of its path, then lunged forward in a punch. His small size made him harder to swat than a mosquito and he landed on the bridge of JJ’s right eye. He poked it and then the other. JJ’s hand rose to smash him, but he flew away and she only smacked herself. Instead, she blew him away with a flare of her spirit. He tumbled head over heels before he steadied himself. Returning to his normal size, he shifted one hand into a gong and the other into a hammer.

  Shouldn’t you stop them?

  They do this at every Summit. It’s an orc-elf thing.

  “I represent the Supreme Council,” Ponix said between ducks and weaves. “They won’t consider doing business with non-elves as long certain countries hold our people in slavery.”

  Abruptly, they both stopped and stared at the rest of the table. The orc folded her arms and looked disapprovingly. The elf left his at his sides and looked up at the picture of Earth’s Avatar breaking up POW camps across the ages. Both of them were a silent accusation.

  “There’s no need to be passive-aggressive, Ambassador Enaz,” Lunas said. “Latrot will not apologize for its way of life.”

  “I’m not singling you out, Your Highness. I said, ‘countries,’ plural; among them, I hold Latrot in the highest regard because you alone are honest about your sapient rights abuses.”

  “Thank you, Ambassador Enaz. If there’s one thing Latrot is proud of, it’s our honesty.”

  “Then tell me this, Your Highness!”

  All the rulers turned to the secondary table, where Kallen was standing and glaring. Of everyone present, only Lunas and Eric knew how close she was to turning back into the monster on the screen.

  “Is my sister, Ariel, your prisoner?”

  “No, she is my pet.”

  Kallen’s pupils became triangles and a horn emerged from her forehead. Kasile sent an urgent message to Eric, and he grabbed her hand. At once, the transformation reversed.

  “It’s not an odd situation,” Lunas continued. “Are there not laws here in Ataidar that state one sapient may take another as a pet so long as the arrangement is consensual?”

  “What kind of pet are we talking about?” asked the mermaid senator from East Azure Republic.

  Kasile struck her gavel. “It is clear that we have drifted off topic, but I thank Miss Selios and Prince Latrot for illustrating Hr. Tota’s presentation, and Strongwoman JJ for her input. Miss Selios, I believe you have your presentation prepared for today’s meeting?”

  Kallen hesitated and Eric squeezed her hand; a surge of warmth and peace banished the lingering killing intent. “Yes, Your Majesty, I do.”

  Kallen replaced Tota on center stage. She summarized the events in Mambi and the course of the Elemental Mana Mutation Factor research in recent decades. Then she explained how it related to broader Mana Mutation research and its applications in personalized treatment. At the end of her techno babble and data pile, she recapped the following, “If mutation is connected to a single mana gate, then the mutation could be reversed with Elemental Synthesis. This would be less invasive than chaos-based technology and require less therapy afterward. Thus the success rate will increase.”

  “When I hear ‘personalized treatment,’ I think ‘the cost will increase,’ ” Lunas said. “You did not require such a thing and neither did Mr. Watley.”

  “As you said, Your Highness, our success rate is low. We are investigating methods of improving this. Once the technology and methodology exist, then we can focus on the cost.”

  “The ICDMM already receives substantial funding from the global community and has been for years,” the dragon lord of Najica said. “Now you want more? There is little return on the investments we have been making.”

  Kasile struck her gavel. “We’re not talking about funding yet.”

  The dragon snorted fire from his nostrils. “I say we should! Whose idea was it to let a child host a meeting for adults?”

  “Such objections are best discussed before the meetings begin,” Kasile said, eyes glowing red.

  “Don’t think you can scare us with your divine heritage,” the Latlis administrator said. “After two thousand years, you’re as human as the rest of us.”

  “Human?” the beastfolk chief of Kyraa asked. “Is that what you teach your children?”

  “Don’t get your tail in a bind; you know what I meant.”

  “That sort of speciesism is why you have regular riots in your capital,” the mermaid senator of East Azure Republic remarked.

  “Our scientists have proven the reason to be latent monster instincts.”

  “That’s why no one trusts your scientists; they’re federal mouthpieces.”

  Kasile struck her gavel. “Will the next presenter please take the stage?”

  Lunas didn’t listen to any of them. He was busy with his own presentation.

  A sliver of his spirit inched around the table before this meeting b
egan. It crept into the ear of everyone seated at it. It encouraged them, “You are right and they are wrong,” “Don’t compromise; go for the throat,” “Remember your country and disdain theirs.”

  The words became a strong and confident presence pushing them forward. The only ruling mind he couldn’t breach was Kasile’s, for she was full of confidence, but as each ICDMM researcher announced less than ideal results and the rulers muttered louder and harsher, her confidence flagged. It gratified him to find the inside still tender from his earlier takeover.

  “I think we’ve heard enough, don’t you, Your Majesty?”

  Kasile wrung her gloved hands and quickly hid them under the table where no one could see. She averted her eyes from the group and muttered, “Y-yes, we have.”

  Under his breath, Ponix recited a chaotic prayer of freedom. His hair glimmered and a faint chaos pulse radiated throughout the room. It washed away Lunas’ work and allowed the rulers to think clearly, but Kasile remained under Lunas’ influence.

  The Latrot Prince knew the elven ambassador would attempt to undermine his work. He was expecting it because of the elf’s experience, investment in Chaos, and most of all, devotion to that witch wife of his. Thus, he focused his power into a partial dimensional partition between him and the queen. The glare Ponix sent his way confirmed that he realized his own helplessness.

  The daughter was no threat. He was half-expecting her to appear just as he was Quando and Hasina. His sources told him that she was static and a disbeliever, borderline apostate. The only chaotic power she possessed was the healing factor. She could not stop him either.

  Lunas smirked. Now the Summit would proceed to his advantage.

  “Is it time to talk about funding, Your Majesty?”

  She nodded meekly.

  “You forgot the gavel.”

  She squeaked, blushed, and softly tapped it.

  “Now then, let’s begin with the current expenses. Is that all right with you, Your Majesty?”

  She nodded.

  “Excellent. Current expenses are 595,830,002 International Standard Units. Despite how this is shared by all member nations, it is still a significant sum for the paltry results we have been presented with today. These are funds that could be directed to other pursuits: education, transportation infrastructure, elimination of poverty, law enforcement, etc. Does everyone agree?”