EDIT 8/19/16: Fixed a glaring plot hole courtesy of a reviewer pointing it out.
EDIT 9/19/16: Changed the time Hansen will portal (1400 Zulu now 1100 Zulu)
(Still working on Chapter 8! About halfway done with it)
HOLY FUCKING SHIT… FINALLY… I'm sorry for the delay but I had a lot going on between my 9-6 job and a very active (and fulfilling) social life. As a treat, this is the longest chapter thus far.
I want to thank New Universe Returns, Reishin Amara, Ospery, Appbeza, and Ridli Scott for their unwavering support of this story. You guys have reviewed every chapter and in some cases provided very useful insight and ideas. I encourage my other readers to review as well.
GOOD REVIEWS:
Appbeza: You're welcome
Ospery: XD oh I've had my fair share of reading binges
Gak237: Maybe a bit of weak writing on my part. But there really WAS nothing they could do except watch
Reishin Amara: Although it would be amusing, this is going to be a slightly more serious story than the anime. Mundalfr will be revealed soon
New Universe Returns: Thank you
Ridli Scott: Hehehe yes it is. And idk, like I said it's supposed to be a more serious story than the anime. There might be a scene like that though
399123: Thanks; I realized that having them at the Academy suited me much better. And yes, there will be more Fringe tie-ins down the line, as well as some thematic/plot devices/quotes from other series and games
And now for one not so fun review:
Nivek Beldo: If despite your disdain for the story, you tough it out and follow the story from here onwards, you'll see this was the only way I could do it. Victor would NOT buy into any political crap as he actively wants to get back. However, he actively, and you'll notice a lot in this chapter, tries not to be a dick.
As for Brimir, let me clear this up for everyone: let's just say the stories about Brimir are 6000 years old. Today, we have very little idea what everyday life or famous people were like ON OUR PLANET 6000 years ago. Hell, unless you follow the Bible religiously (pun TOTALLY intended), you have no idea what Jesus of Nazareth was ACTUALLY like in real life 2000 years ago or if he was the son of God or not. With that much time having passed, the facts about Brimir are bound to be distorted, something that will play a part in the story later. The best I can leave you with is: the Brimiric legends, as with many legends, only have a smidge of truth in them.
And at no point did I say that Victor was unemployed or did not have a job or a life he wanted to get back to. He DOES have friends back home. He DOES have a nice apartment with a good job back home. Hold your horses and don't make assumptions about MY story and where I want to take it. Your review quite frankly pissed me off a bit. So if, after this long explanation you still don't like it, tough shit. I'm not rewriting it to suit you. I've got an outline of where the story goes all the way to the end. No more rewrites for this story.
And now, on to the story!
Tristain
The light of the twin moons illuminated the balcony as brown eyes stared out across the countryside.
Two moons… I'd be surprised if the Universe could find a more obvious sign that I'm about as far away from home as I can be thought Victor. The two moons were bright enough that he could see the countryside surrounding the Academy to an extent. Below, just past the circular wall, he could see the moonlight reflecting off the parked airliner on the runway.
He'd been staring out the window for a while now, trying to make sense of everything that had happened. He could almost still feel the burning of his chest runes, as well as the warm hum of the ones on his back.
Mundalfr he thought.
What the hell does it mean? I keep hearing it in my dreams but why?
No one in the Headmaster's office had known what Mundalfr was. Colbert had even admitted he'd never heard of such a familiar.
When he'd mentioned his dreams of Mundalfr, Colbert had seemed even more confused. The headmaster had emphasized that Victor had made the right choice and that the answers would be revealed as soon as they could gain access to the Romalian Archives.
Whatever those are… I'll bet they're like the Vatican Archives if the similarities between worlds keep holding up.
Turning back inside, he took in the room he'd been assigned. The bed seemed comfortable enough, and the room even had a bathroom with what looked like a hand-cranked toilet. Much like the ones he'd seen on his father's boat.
He'd originally been slated to share a room with Hansen but at Colbert's insistence, he'd been moved to one next to Tiffania's.
Tiffania he thought.
Part of him was still furious for being forced into this mess. Furious at her, the mages, the whole goddamn system of forcing people into contracts. He was a bit bitter at Hansen for lying to him as well. Though he also felt a bit of guilt for being a bit of a dick the night before. But still… He felt it justified considering what had happened to them all.
Shit he thought. The passengers'll hate me if they ever find out.
Hansen had made it a point to have everyone in that office swear silence on the whole familiar-summoning-brought-the-plane-over thing out of concern for everyone's safety.
"Your concern is touching" had been Victor's snarky response.
His carry-on lay beside the bed, half unpacked. His larger suitcase was still in the belly of the plane, which the crew had agreed to unload in the morning.
Throwing his shirt onto the chair, he climbed into bed, exhausted from the day's events. He fell asleep quickly, his internal clock out of whack with the different time zones.
Tiffania looked at the stack of assignments she had been grading in the morning, before everything had happened. They sat there on her desk in her room, almost mocking her as if nothing had changed. Everything has changed, though she thought.
Her assumption that her new familiar would be Saito, or someone similar to her experience with Saito could not have been farther from the truth.
Her new familiar had resented her and shown contempt towards Colbert during his explanation.
Not that I can blame him… He made a good point. Familiars generally have no say in being chosen. Still, I didn't expect this…
Seeing as the summoning spell usually chose someone who would work well with the summoner, Tiffania had expected someone of at least a similar demeanor to Saito; easy-going, understanding, and loyal. Instead, she'd been given a stubborn, bitter man who seemed to hold a grudge.
And there's the other issue… He's only here until they return to Earth… How is that even going to work? Then again, we only need to do this to get the Church off our back. Ugh… I hate politics.
Tiffania sighed, shaking her head at the notion of politics. Glancing outside at the moons, she reached for the bottle of wine in her cupboard and poured herself a glass. This was one of her favorite wines, a red grown locally at Saito and Louise's estate.
Savoring the liquid, she sat and thought of a way to solve her problem. She would have to research the familiar bond more closely. And yet, the only way to do that lay at the Romalian Archives. Despite her warm welcome the last time they were there, Tiffania could not help but worry.
In the wake of the Ancient Dragon Crisis, the newly elected Pope Caius II, who had replaced the deceased Pope Vittorio, had ushered in a more progressive relationship between the Humans and the Elves. Caius went so far as to reject the notion of a Crusade into the Holy Land, drawing much scorn and derision from the radicals in Romalia. These fringe groups only grew angrier when Caius gave Cardinal Mazarin of Tristain his blessing to invite Elven scholars and merchants to the more progressive Tristania in the hopes of hopefully kick-starting a more amicable trade relationship with the Elven lands. The move had proved so successful that a similar arrangement had been implemented in the other Brimiric Countries, further infuriating the radicals.
However, with Caius' death and the recent election of the radical Cardinal Viscido Sforza to the title of Pope, attitudes towards Elves had been shifting in Halkeginia. And not for the better. Sforza, now known as Pope Honorius, stood for everything Caius had not. Calls for a new Crusade to the Holy Land had begun again and the hatred for the Elves that had for a brief period begun to subside returned in full force. Already, the Elves in Romalia had either returned home or fled to Tristainia and Germania after several high profile attacks had left Elves brutalized or dead in the streets of the Romalian Capital.
The hateful rhetoric was now spreading as far the traditionally more progressive Tristain. Mazarin's next step, which would have allowed for Humans to visit and live in the Holy Land, had been derailed after the attacks in Romalia. The Elves had, in no uncertain terms, forbidden the Humans from sending anyone to the Holy Land, and were seriously considering calling all of their people back home from Halkeginia.
The spread of the rhetoric from Romalia was also having a detrimental effect on the Tristainians themselves. Already, there had been incidents in the Capital. Small incidents, a rock thrown at an Elven merchant, slurs being shouted, etcetera, but incidents nonetheless.
The somewhat hostile atmosphere permeating Halkeginia meant Tiffa had no idea what to expect in Romalia.
And yet he wants me, an elf, my familiar, and the rest of us there… I don't like it she thought.
Downing the rest of the wine, she changed into her nightclothes and climbed into bed. Her mind continued to wander as it drifted off to sleep, the wine doing its work…
The antechamber to the temple below was grandiose, almost glowing as Victor walked along the galleries to the sides.
Questions on where he was, how he got there, or what he was doing there went unasked and unanswered as he walked briskly along the gallery. All Victor knew was that he needed to get downstairs and to the center of the temple.
He noticed movement off to his right, in the gallery on the opposite side. He couldn't tell much at this distance but all he saw was blonde hair running down the gallery towards the stairs. Victor picked up the pace and followed the corridor down, turning left, then right, and right again, scrambling down the stairs.
As he came to the bottom of the stairs, he found himself staring across the way. There, standing at the bottom of the opposite stairs was Tiffania. She looked just as confused as he did.
Before either of them could speak, an echoing whisper came from the temple center.
The whisper snapped them out of their staring contest and both master and familiar began running towards the center of the temple. Coming across the doors at the end of the massive antechamber, Victor stole a glance at Tiffania, who still retained a confused look on her face.
The massive doors began to swing open before he could comment on anything, revealing the temple within.
The large, circle shaped temple contained an altar in the center. Looking around, Victor could see four other doors to form a pentagon shape and in front of each of them stood pairs of figures as well. Who they were, Victor could not tell as they all wore glowing white robes.
Suddenly, light began to envelop him and the center of the altar glowed. Blinded, the last thing Victor saw was a symbol of a 5 point star within a pentagon.
Tristain
Victor's eyes snapped open. He never could get quality sleep in a foreign bed but this was…
What the hell was that? And that symbol… I've seen it before… But where?
More questions continued to stew in his mind as he glanced over to the window. The sun was already just over the horizon.
Thinking back to the previous day, Victor reflected on everything that had happened.
This really is happening… Oh God… What about everyone back home? What about Erin?
He could see all the news stories, nonstop coverage of the "Disappearance of Oceanic 29", talking heads and pundits discussing theories, all the while his friends would have no idea what the hell had happened or if he was even alive.
Victor let out a heavy sigh. It was then he noticed how hot he felt. Despite sleeping in nothing but gym shorts, his brow was sweaty and the sheets felt heavy on him. His head hurt as well. I need some damn coffee he thought. If this world even has coffee that is...
Moving towards the bathroom he filled the wash basin with cold water and splashed it on his face. Washing his face off, he noticed the runes on his chest. Bringing his hand to them, he could still remember the pain from the previous night. Turning around, he glanced at the runes on his back.
Mundalfr. Still gotta find out what that means he thought.
As he grabbed his clothes, he tried shaking his head, as if to clear his headache from his head. The water seemed to have finally cooled him down but his head still pulsed in pain as he left his room, searching for some breakfast.
Tiffania awoke, confused at what she had seen.
That was an odd dream she thought. The symbol at the end was similar to the seal of Brimir, but slightly modified. But it was the presence of her familiar that had her confused. He'd been glowing, almost on fire in the dream. And the figures in white, she couldn't quite put her finger down on it but they looked familiar.
Who were they? And what does all this mean?
She had learned quite a bit about her kin after being exposed to them in the years following the Ancient Dragon Crisis. While the Elves knew most people forgot about their dreams, they believed dreams that one remembered had some grounding in reality, either past, present, or future.
Brushing her frazzled bed hair in the bathroom and preparing herself for the day ahead, the line of thought came back to her familiar, Victor.
On the one hand, Tiffania could sympathize with him. Torn from his home and forced into a contract in which he had no interest, it was no wonder for him to be antagonistic to her.
However, they had to present a united front for the Pope in order to access the Archives. And, if she was being perfectly honest with herself, she was hoping he or one of his fellow passengers might lend some outside perspective to her current mission.
Seeking to subdue Romalia's toxic influence, and in no small part due to his disdain for the current pontiff, Cardinal Mazarin, along with Queen Henrietta, sought to preempt the hateful rhetoric spouting from Romalia by reminding Tristain just what the Elves had done for them when the Ancient Dragon threatened their lives. The strategy was working to an extent but the Crown could only push back so much, lest they threaten excommunication or worse from Romalia. Tristain's liberal attitudes had already drawn the ire of the Church and Henrietta was not keen on pushing them too far and jeopardizing her long-term goal.
Aside from being more tolerant and even encouraging scientific research (thanks in no small part to Saito), part of Queen Henrietta's long-term plans to better life in Tristain involved grooming the next generation of Nobles to be selfless and forward thinking, always seeking to improve the lives of the Commoners who lived under them. Beloved as he was, her father's reign had been plagued by corruption and abuse of power by the nobility. And so, Henrietta and Cardinal Mazarin had tasked the Tristain Academy's staff with the mission of grooming the next generation to this end goal, a task Colbert had eagerly taken up.
With the rhetoric from Romalia threatening to spill over into Tristain, Cardinal Mazarin had quietly asked Tiffania to focus her efforts on molding the young Nobles into leaders eager to seek peace and coexistence with the Elves. Risking excommunication himself, he had warned her that if Tristain was dragged into a Crusade, an entire generation of Tristanians would be wiped out.
Her efforts had been successful to an extent. She had taught her students what little she knew of her people, including customs, some of their history, even the basis of their magic. Many had taken to her teachings with great interest, having come of age with tales of Saito, Louise, and Tiffania, and the coalition of Humans and Elves that had fought against the Ancient Dragon. However, despite having Saito speak of his utopian homeland and how there was no war there, she could not convince the more skeptical or traditional students that coexistence was possible.
Now she not only had a familiar from Saito's world, she had hundreds of people from the same world. She had seen how different some of them looked. And yet they all seemed to come together in a time of crisis.
Imagine the possibilities! she had thought. The stories and lessons we could learn from all of them! How they live together despite being different!
This line of reasoning brought her back to her familiar. They, at the very least, needed to present a united front in Romalia. But she hoped she could get him to warm up, and perhaps even help her out.
Finishing her morning routine, Tiffania resolved to at the very least, make peace with her familiar after her afternoon classes, and hope he came around later.
Hansen paid the passengers trickling into the Dining Hall no mind as a storm of thoughts and questions raged in his mind.
His current predicament revolved around finding a way to get a definitive message to SWORD about their situation. He had a theory but he wasn't sure if it would even work.
"Hansen."
He looked up just in time to see the owner of that voice, none other than last night's man of the hour Victor, sit down across from him.
"Victor. Sleep well?" he asked the young familiar.
"No thanks to your stunt last night. I slept well enough" came the snarky reply.
"Sorry about that. It was the best course of action" he said, immediately regretting his choice of words.
"What the hell kind of lame excuse is that? You set me up…" retorted Victor.
"And for good reason…" interrupted Hansen.
Luckily for him, one of the kitchen staff came by with breakfast, giving Hansen a chance to try to explain his reasoning to Victor. Careful not to reveal any classified information, he explained.
"Look, here's the deal. We need to know when and where the next eclipse is to fly home, right? Who has that information? The Church. The anomalies that are popping up all over Earth? Who might have information on what's causing them and how to stop them? The Church. Who won't give us the information we both need if we don't cooperate? The Church. And who would have died if you hadn't said yes? Professor Westwood who, last I checked, is key to getting the Church to help us!"
Victor looked like he was about to say something, but didn't, merely sighing and rolling his eyes.
"Now do you see why I set you up?" finished Hansen.
"Yeah…" replied Victor. "I get it… But I still don't like it. Kind of a dick move."
"I don't like it either mate. But it's the only way I could see us get what we need".
Being a SWORD Agent in Halkeginia, Hansen was in a unique position to potentially find information on the source of the Anomalies on Earth. And where better to start than the Church?
"Now… Random question. You told me on the plane you used to work with mobiles, right?" asked Hansen.
"Years ago, yeah. I worked part-time at a Horizon Wireless store while I was in school" replied Victor digging into his breakfast. "Why?"
Seeing as Victor was familiar to a Void mage with similar abilities to Valliere, Hansen decided to trust him with what he said next.
"This stays between us for now - I'll tell the other passengers later - but Valliere and probably Westwood as well have the ability to open portals to Earth" he began.
Victor almost choked on his food. "Perfect! We can…"
"Whoa there, mate. I wasn't finished" Hansen said, cutting off Victor. "Don't get your hopes up, the portals have been jumpy lately. You're likely to lose an arm or a leg if you try to go through. Our best bet to get home is still the eclipse But that brings me to your experience with mobiles."
"We can't risk sending anything physical through but… You reckon we can get a signal through these portals? Long enough for me to send a message to Earth?" finished Hansen.
Victor's face scrunched up in thought.
"I see where you're going with this… I suppose it's possible. I don't know how these portals you mentioned work though, so I can't be sure we'd get a cell signal. But we should definitely try it, let everyone know we're not dead."
"My thoughts exactly. Although until we establish that we CAN communicate, I can't chance an open channel and let, say Russia or China, know about this world. The people I work for, they'll know what to do. I'll send an encrypted message to them, they'll know how to handle this whole situation and try to get word out to people's relatives" replied Hansen, lying through his teeth.
There was no way SWORD would trust the emotionally unstable family and friends of the passengers with the knowledge of Avalon. At best, they'd give them some hope, maybe that the plane made it to an island in the Pacific. But that was their problem. He knew his priority was making contact. Let the big-wigs handle the politics and PR.
The rest of breakfast passed without much controversy. Idle chit-chat filled the hall. The passengers, who'd been largely silent during dinner the previous night, chattered away at the wondrous sights they'd already seen. Floating books, fantastic creatures, magic spells, they were in awe of it all.
The Nobles on the other hand paid the passengers little mind, preferring to talk amongst themselves of the strange visitors from the metal dragon.
Finishing breakfast, Hansen turned to Victor, who had been glancing around the dining hall of what he was calling "Discount Hogwarts".
"We need to find Lady Valliere to open the portal. I'm certain Tiffania could do it but I know for a fact Valliere has the most raw power, which means we can keep it open as long as we need to" he told him.
"Great… You go ahead and do that" replied Victor, swallowing the last of his breakfast.
"What are you talking about, mate? You're coming with me."
"Wait what?"
"You know, when I mentioned around the bonfire that I wanted to go see around the castle, this wasn't what I meant" grumbled Victor. He'd wanted to go up to the ramparts and take a look at the scenery, not go stumbling around the staff hallways.
"Well the plane's not scheduled to be unloaded till after lunch, so we've some time to kill" replied Hansen. "Plus, I might need your expertise."
Victor merely rolled his eyes as they walked towards the kitchen.
Finding Valliere and Hiraga had been a relatively easy matter of asking some of the kitchen staff. Walking into the kitchen, the two Earthers saw the couple chatting away with the head chef.
"...when this one was but a wee Second Year! They got along as well as a cat and a dog thrown into a bag!" bellowed Marteau, laughing.
Louise and Saito both sported embarrassed smiles on their faces as Marteau told the younger staff of the duo's days at the Academy.
"Hey, we weren't that bad!" replied Saito, sipping his tea. "We came around… eventually."
"Reminiscing, are ya Hiraga?" quipped Hansen as they walked up.
"Marteau here felt he HAD to bring it up" replied Saito.
"Well if the two of you are looking for a bit of excitement, I've got a crazy idea on how to get word back home" said Hansen.
Saito merely raised an eyebrow.
"You're right… It is crazy… And I like it" grinned Saito as they walked along the corridor towards the courtyard. Louise had lost track of the conversation the instant it had shifted to talk of signals, satellites, and cell towers and simply had a confused look on her face.
"So you want me to open a portal to Earth and hold it open as long as possible?" she asked to clarify.
"Yeah, the way I figure, the longer it's open, the better chance my message has of going through" replied Hansen.
"There's no way of knowing whether the whole 'portal-bouncing' thing will even let your phone get a signal though" added Victor.
"If all else fails, we'll try again later and chuck a coded paper message through the instant it connects. Hopefully it makes it and if it doesn't, no one will be able to decipher it" noted Hansen.
"My reserves are large enough that I should be able to hold it open for about five to ten minutes. Any more and I'll have to close it. Or borrow some magic from you, Victor" said Louise.
Victor took this answer as a sign to ask about something that had been bothering him since the night before.
"Yeah, I've been meaning to ask someone about this Lifdrasir thing. How exactly does that work?" he asked.
Saito took the opportunity to clarify.
"Well, basically, from my experience, and after doing a bit of research, you're kind of like a magical solar battery. You take in ambient magic and store it until it's needed by a Void mage. They can call upon this magic reserve to fuel their own Void spells until it's depleted. Completely depleting it then forces it to switch to the power of the runes themselves. When those are exhausted, the Runes will disappear."
Victor absorbed this information. Ok, so that's not AS bad as they made it sound last night.
Saito continued. "When I was Lifdrasir, that's precisely what happened. Louise drew on my power until the runes themselves were exhausted. We previously thought they drew on life force but obviously, I'm still alive" he finished, shrugging his shoulders.
"Good thing too" quipped Louise, smiling. "Otherwise, I'd have had to beat your stupid-dog ass back to life."
"Hardy har har" replied Saito, rolling his eyes, earning a punch in the shoulder from Louise. "Love you too, lemon-chan."
"So, theoretically, if I really wanted out of this contract thing, I could just de-power the runes?" asked Victor.
"You're welcome to try it, but we need you as a Familiar in a month's time when we go to Romalia. Maybe hold off on doing that until then?" replied Saito. "Also, between you and me, I think you were a little cold to Tiffania last night."
Victor leveled a "really?" look at Saito.
"I'll admit I was pissed last night but you all pretty much blackmailed me last night into sealing this contract. Wouldn't you have had the same reaction? Hell, didn't you have the same reaction when Louise brought you here?"
Saito paled, and scratched his neck, embarrassed. Louise looked away, suddenly finding the walls very interesting.
"Ummm… Louise kind of just sealed it before I knew what was happening" he said with an embarrassed smile. "The branding… may have knocked me unconscious until that night" he admitted. "Hell, I thought it was all a bad dream until I saw the two moons in the sky. And we didn't know anything about Void Mages or Void Familiars at that point. Louise was the first one to emerge in 6000 years."
Victor sighed. "Alright, I guess I was a bit harsh last night but still, you can see why I was upset. I've got a life back home, friends, a nice apartment, my job pays pretty well…" it was then that Victor had a realization. "Oh shit… Damn it…." he said, hanging his head.
"What?" asked Saito.
"I am so fired…" admitted Victor.
"Fret not" said Hansen, nudging his shoulder. "I can make sure SWORD takes care of any issues like that. Hell, they'll probably pay your bills too."
Raising his eyebrows, Victor quipped. "Really? Wow that's pretty cool."
"Yeah, there shouldn't be a problem once we get everything sorted."
"I don't mean to be the materialistic weasel here but you think they could get me tax-exempt status while they're at it?" asked Victor.
"Don't push your luck, mate" came the deadpan response.
"Someone just has to take the fun out of everything…" grumbled Victor.
"Moving back to Tiffania" continued Saito, "I think you should at least talk to her. She's a good friend of ours and a nice girl. She was my master when I was Lifdrasir. At least be cordial."
Despite his unhealthy propensity for holding a grudge, Victor couldn't help but see that Saito had a point, mentally rolling his eyes all the while. He could at least be cordial to the person he had to pretend to be on the same page with when it came to the Church.
"Alright, alright" replied Victor. "I'll talk to her tonight."
Hansen had started typing his message as the group came to the center of the Vestri Courtyard. The group drew looks from some of the passengers who had been walking around that morning. Hansen took this moment to address the gathering crowd.
"Alright, ladies and gents. Here's the update. We're going to try to use an experimental portal to get word to Earth that we're alive." This sent a wave of murmurs through the crowd. Soon the inevitable questions began to pop up.
"Can't we use this portal to get home?"
"Will it even work?"
"Folks, please" said Hansen, trying to calm the crowd. "Unfortunately, we can't use this to get home. It's too unstable and anyone going through could lose an arm or a leg. But hopefully, we can send a message through the portal, just to let them know we're all alive. They can tell us when the next eclipse is."
Turning back to Louise Saito, and Victor he continued.
"My phone is satellite capable, meaning we don't need to open up in range of a tower. I just need any sort of signal; wi-fi, satellite, mobile, any signal will do."
"I'll keep it short and to the point" he said finishing his brief message. "The smaller the message, the better chance it'll go through. Aaaand that should do it. Let me just encrypt it…"
The others watched as Hansen paid attention to nothing but his phone. A beep signaled that the encryption process was complete. Anyone without the decryption key would see nothing but gibberish.
"Alright, moment of truth. Whenever you're ready Lady Valliere" he said.
Louise nodded and began casting. Victor and the other curious passengers watched in amazement at their first up close display of magic as light began to gather at Louise's wand.
Oh that is so cool thought Victor.
Finishing the chant, a glowing oval opened in front of her wand. The others couldn't help but stare as a drab grey room was visible through the opening. Hansen moved next to the oval.
"Come on, come on…" he muttered staring at the taunting "No Service" indicator. Suddenly it changed to one bar of signal strength.
"Sending!" cried Hansen. He paid the portal no mind as he watched the email progress bar on his phone.
The view in the portal suddenly changed to a busy street, before shifting several more times.
All the while, Hansen's eyes never left his phone.
Staring at the signal strength indicator, he prayed the message would go through. It still showed one bar.
"Come on, come on…" he muttered.
Aside from Hansen's muttering, the courtyard was silent. A swoosh suddenly emanated from the phone and interrupted that silence.
"YES! IT WORKED!" cried Hansen, leaping for joy as Louise cancelled the portal, wavering a bit from burning through her reserves.
"Alright! So what happens now?" asked Victor.
"Now we wait… My message told them the next time we'll portal, which will be tomorrow."
Brussels, A Few Moments Earlier
"BREACH! We have a breach!"
"Scanning… It's right on top of us!"
"It's the transport room!"
Reynolds's eyes bulged out. The transport room could only mean Valliere was trying to establish contact.
"Bring up the surveillance camera!" he yelled.
The screen switched to the surveillance camera showing the room reserved for Higara and Valliere to portal in, located in another wing of the underground headquarters. As expected, the center of the room was glowing as a dot expanded into a portal. As with all of the recent attempts, this one looked unstable as it wobbled.
Come on… Send something thought Reynolds.
The portal lasted no more than five seconds before it vanished.
"Tracking… Portal's now 200 meters to the south."
Reynolds watched as the portal jumped around a few more times, the farthest reading showing it almost a kilometer away.
They've never held it open this long since the instability began…
"Levels falling. Portal is collapsing."
Reynolds watched as the REL readings fell to normal parameters. This had been the longest lasting portal since contact had been lost 4 months prior.
"Did you see anything come through?" he asked.
"Nothing sir".
Reynolds rubbed his temple, wondering what that had been about before the answer came to him.
"Director! Australia's on the horn. They said it's urgent" cried an aide.
"On screen."
The main screen fizzled as Director Meyers appeared, looking tired but excited as well.
"Reynolds, you're not going to believe what just happened. We've got an email from Hansen! He's in Halkeginia!"
Reynolds nearly choked on his coffee as he heard this.
"What? How?"
"We just received an encrypted email from Hansen. I'm forwarding it to you now. I think you're better off reading it."
A pop-up appeared on the side of the screen as the message was enlarged for all to read. Encrypted in case any uninvited guests had intercepted it, the message was nothing but gibberish unless the proper decryption key was provided. Which was only possessed by SWORD.
James Hansen, Authentication 47AT22BC37GE
Encryption Code: Amber
Vys5e5me1y4nC325i63456s3suh4ehkp435nui4kr6dbm8yhdfadduDn58ecd6yeh9. 2lyc5i5ymdea0c.7Sy6t4a4lu6h7dy8ldfe8d6r54R3e3n3y54k6y8.0Mu-l8y6m4c3l3u2ub5an6y7d8e8h8k9.9Femmb8un5d4y6m7y458kyehyydamajah1riht6n7atWimivune1hcdnilde7u8h9c.
"Run decryption program Amber" ordered Reynolds.
In a second the message changed from unintelligible gibberish to something readable.
Familiar Summoning brought OCN29 to Halk. Landed safely at TMA. 0 casualties. In contact w/ Hiraga. Locals cooperating. Will portal tomorrow at 1100 Zulu for instructions - JH
Silence dominated the information center. Reynolds let out a breath he had not realized he'd been holding. Someone cheered and the rest of the room followed.
Letting a smile grow on his face, Reynolds cleared his throat and began barking orders.
"Alright everyone. Let's focus. We still have a job to do. Recon, tell Mobile 1 they're being reassigned. Bring them in and get them to the Academy's location on Earth and set up surveillance. I want updates every hour."
"Someone get me the date to the next solar eclipse. That's probably the best chance we'll get to bring everyone home."
"Everyone else, keep up the good work. Anybody has any ideas, let me know. Let's get to it."
Seeing everyone moving to their assignments, Reynolds was finally able to take stock of the situation.
Lucky did not even begin to describe it.
Somehow, the plane had been summoned to Tristain. Not only had the plane been intercepted before it could fly off, it had also been able to land safely at the Academy. The contact with Hiraga had also been surprising.
In the months following loss of contact with Hiraga, the Mobile Reconnaissance Division's surveillance of him had been rolled back in favor of more pressing matters, such as keeping up with the increasing Anomalies and monitoring Romalia's new Pope. As a result, the team assigned to monitoring Hiraga only checked in on him once every two weeks as they made their rounds across the Belgian/Tristanian countryside.
Now, he had another conundrum. How to handle the families and friends of those on board. He couldn't just tell the truth. No, it was still too soon for full disclosure on the Avalon matter. If word got out, he'd have private interests, hostile states, and terrorists all racing towards the next eclipse or finding some other way to get to the other side. And there was no way he could trust the loved ones with keeping their mouths shut. Someone ALWAYS talked.
No, at this point, he had to prioritize keeping Earth blissfully unaware of the world that lay just next to them. But Reynolds wasn't entirely heartless. He had to give the loved ones some sort of hope, enough to have them hold out until the next eclipse.
His desktop pinged with a new email.
FROM: Lea Gardot, SWORD Planetary Sciences
TO: Nick Reynolds, Director/Agent-In-Charge
SUBJ: Eclipse Date
Next eclipse is on November 27th. Eclipse is expected to occur somewhere in Eastern Turkey. Working on figuring out a heading for the pilots in Tristain to return on.
Lea
Reynolds breathed a sigh of relief. The eclipse would take place well within the range of the airliner, meaning that the plane could easily fly through and come out where they wanted to.
If Hiraga's previous transits through the Eclipse were any indication, anything coming through emerged where it wanted to no matter the relative position of the Eclipse on Earth. Perfect given that the next Eclipse was within screaming distance of ISIS territory AND the grand clusterfuck that was the Syrian Civil War. Not to mention the Russians in Syria...
Damn magic and your inconvenient and nonsensical logic.
Reynolds thought of where they could have the plane come out of the portal.
Probably near Wake Island or Midway. They're remote military installations, nobody will ask any questions and it makes things easier for us. That left where to fake the crash of the plane.
The night the plane had disappeared, he'd ordered fake passenger names added to the manifest in order to sell the idea that the plane had gone down on an island in the Pacific. No one would buy the fact that all the passengers would have survived not only the crash, but two months on a deserted island.
Thus far, they are looking near its last known position. If prior disappearances are any indicator, they'll branch out along likely vectors. Perhaps we can give them a nudge in the wrong direction. That should give us enough time to come up with a plan on how to fake a plane crash on an island in the opposite direction. Somewhere large enough to sustain 120 people for two months. And somewhere, people won't think to look.
Moving to his computer, he started typing an email.
Tristain
The elation at the successful message was still in the air even in the late afternoon, as a group of passengers moved to unload the parked plane. Captain Rollins had switched on the plane's APU allowing the cargo doors to be opened. First Officer Lapidus, along with the relief flight crew were down by the cargo bays opening the hydraulically operated doors.
Thanks to some help from one of the Earth Magic professors, ramps had been raised up to the cargo doors in order to facilitate unloading.
Wide-body aircraft like the 787 use large cargo pallets in lieu of simply tossing passengers' bags into the cargo hold, in order to save time loading at the gate. This also allowed cargo and mail to be carried on passenger flights. As was the case with Oceanic 29.
Victor grunted as he pulled down another bag from the pallet. Fifteen minutes and he still hadn't found his suitcase.
"Mister De La Fuente. I was hoping you had a moment?" came a gentle voice. Turning around, he saw none other than his summoner, Tiffania, approaching.
"Ummm just a moment though, we've still got a lot of bags left" he replied, though admittedly he just wanted to put off talking to his Master just a bit longer.
"That's fair enough" said Tiffania, struggling to overcome her shyness and maintain some sort of control of the conversation. "I just wish to speak with you tonight after dinner regarding our… situation. Will that be amenable?"
Victor paused for a moment before answering.
"Sure. That works. I'll come up after dinner."
Tiffania nodded. "Very well. I will speak with you then. My quarters are next to yours. Just give me a knock."
As she walked away, Victor mentally sighed. He'd been trying to put this off as long as possible. He wasn't pissed anymore, but like any young twenty-something, he would rather avoid difficult conversations.
Please don't tell me every conversation I have in this place is going to sound like I'm in the fucking Palace of Versailles he groaned inwardly. Despite coming from a rather upper-class background himself, his parents had always instilled the value of humility into him. As a result, he would always mentally roll his eyes whenever he had to act "bougie" as he put it.
Throwing himself back into the unloading routine, he finally spotted his bag in the pallet currently being unloaded. Setting it aside, he turned back to the next palette. This one was colored differently, something the others noticed too.
"Hey Captain!" asked one of the passengers. "What's with these ones? They look different?"
Rollins, who'd been supervising the unloading from inside the cargo bay, poked his head out.
"They're cargo pallets. We usually have some space reserved for cargo and mail. Hang on, I've got the manifest somewhere in here."
Brussels
SWORD HQ
1803 Hours (6:03 PM)
"Floyd" said Director Reynolds as in walked one Alexander Floyd, Head of the Analyst Corps.
"Hey Nick. Couple of things. Mobile 1 has reached the Academy's site on our side and are reporting back. The plane is intact and landed. Last report I got said the passengers were unloading the cargo."
"Good. Keep the updates coming. Anything interesting comes up, let me know."
"Will do. You know, I took a look at the cargo manifest. Looks like the passengers are in for a treat" he said.
"What did you find?"
"Well…"
Tristain
"Check it out, mate!" said Hansen, opening one of the cargo pallets they'd unloaded from the plane.
"You're kidding…" added Victor, as he saw the contents.
"Our own selection of emergency radios. Completely equipped with hand-cranks and USB inputs. Thank you Cyclone season" commented Hansen.
"Hey Captain! Can we grab these? It's not like they're going to be delivered on time anyway" asked one passenger.
"If it lightens the plane for takeoff and the journey home, I don't care" shouted Rollins from inside the hold.
"Mine!" said Victor, picking up one of the radios and throwing it into his suitcase. Several of the other passengers quickly followed suit.
"Well charging my phone and laptop should be no problem now. Wonder what else is in there?" he said, glancing back at the hold.
"Got it!" cried out Rollins as he stepped out of the hold with the cargo manifest. "Let's see… Two pallets of emergency survival equipment, some IT goods, several pallets of mail, perishables… most of this is just a bunch of useless melarkey. Still, like I said, it can't hurt to lighten the plane for when we take off for home." Looking up from the manifest, he spoke to the passengers.
"If you find anything of interest in the cargo containers, feel free to grab it. We'll deal with it when we get back home" he explained, purposely ensuring to mention returning home, so as to keep hopes up.
Brussels
SWORD HQ
1803 Hours (6:03 PM)
"Well at least that'll keep them occupied for the time being… What else did you need?"
"The other reason I'm here is a bit more serious" he said closing the door. "We've got a bit of a security issue."
Reynolds raised an eyebrow as Floyd continued.
"Server logs indicate one of my analysts made copies of several key files on Avalon, including Hansen's email."
Reynolds paled. Had they gotten to one of his agents?
"Who?"
"Alphonse Schoden. With the Observation Division."
"Get him in my office. I want to speak to him."
"That's what concerns me. Schoden clocked out early today. Said he wasn't feeling well."
Reynolds paused for a moment before reaching for his phone. There was only one person he trusted to take care of this. And in this kind of work, nothing was left to chance.
The line rang twice before it was picked up on the other end.
"SpecOps"
"Owens, pick your six best agents. I need two teams ready in 15 minutes…"
1843 Hours (6:43 PM)
Apartment of Alphonse Schoden
The doorknob to the non-descript apartment jiggled a bit before being forced opened.
Walking inside, three SWORD agents fanned out, searching the apartment.
"Clear"
"Clear"
"Clear" said the third agent. Putting his hand to his ear, he communicated to his superior.
"Schoden's not at his apartment."
"Confirmed. We have eyes on him. Return to us."
1917 Hours (7:17 PM)
Alphonse Schoden, analyst for SWORD HQ, walked briskly through the streets of Brussels. He arrived at his destination, a very specific street corner in the middle of the city.
His eyes darted around as he waited, sweat building on his brown. Finally, a blue sedan pulled up, an Uber sticker in the window.
Calming himself down, Schoden climbed into the front seat of the car.
"It says you're going to Number 17 Rue Saint-Jean?" asked the driver in French.
"Yes, I'm meeting a friend there at the Rusted Furnace" replied Schoden.
"Oh, that is a good place. What is the occasion?"
"My friend's homecoming party. He's been hitchhiking around Europe on a freight car. He's finally come home and I've been longing to see him."
"Hmm… I will get you there" replied the driver.
The rest of the trip was silent, which unnerved Schoden slightly. He was taking a big risk doing this. But the alternative was… He shuddered at the thought.
No… he thought. He had no choice. He was screwed otherwise.
After about 30 minutes of driving through the streets of Brussels in a seemingly erratic route, the car slowed to a halt near the Mont des Arts. Outside, the city bustled as outside, the sun had dipped below the horizon.
The driver switched off the car but stared straight ahead.
"Were you followed?" he asked in Russian-accented English.
"Of course not. I was careful. Random routes to the corner" replied Schoden.
Satisfied, the driver turned to Schoden. "Well tovarisch, it seems you are actually serious about our offer. If your information makes my bosses happy, you'll find all your problems will go away. What do you have for me?"
Schoden glared at the driver, but pulled out a USB containing what he'd copied off the SWORD servers.
"Something that will make your bosses very happy, especially with how things are going for your people in Ukraine" he replied.
The driver smirked. "NATO propaganda. My people are not involved in some squabble between rebels and a corrupt government."
Schoden rolled his eyes. "Uh huh… Sure… Just make sure my troubles are gone, you hear?"
"If your information proves to be useful, then we…"
(CRASH)
The sentence went unanswered as someone rear-ended the car and launched the two passengers in the blue sedan into the airbags.
Dazed from the impact, Schoden did not see two men get out of the offending vehicle and walk up to his car.
Just as he was starting to regain his focus, he felt something metal stick to his neck before 50,000 volts coursed through his body and the world went dark.
Tristain
With the plane fully unloaded and the mood running surprisingly high, dinner that evening had been louder than usual.
Despite the lifted spirits, the passengers and nobles had still sat apart. The conversations on the passengers' side of the hall had consisted mainly of all the amazing things they'd seen during the day, while the conversation on the nobles' side was one of mainly curiosity for the commoners that had taken over their Academy. Some of the more traditional students held these loud commoners with contempt, though they knew better than to openly say as much, or risk the Headmaster's wrath.
Victor had gone upstairs after dinner to change into his nightclothes when he remembered he still had to speak with Tiffania. Mentally sighing, he threw on a fresh shirt, bracing himself for an uncomfortable conversation.
Tiffania was in the midst of planning her lessons for the upcoming week when she heard a knock on her door.
"Tiffania? It's Victor."
"Come in."
Her familiar stepped into the room closing the door behind her.
Victor took in his Summoner's room. It was similar to his, although it obviously had a bit of the elf's personal touch. A small pantry held a few bottles of wine and a large desk dominated the right wall. It was at this desk that he found Tiffania.
"Thank you for coming. I was hoping to speak to you about our situation now that things have cooled down a bit" she began.
"Yeah, about that… I'm uh, sorry about last night" admitted Victor. "It was rude of me. But I hope you can understand why I was upset."
Tiffania nodded. "It was a bad situation. One I wouldn't wish upon anyone. But thank you. I know it's selfish but thank you for agreeing. The alternative, at least for me, would have been… Well… I hope we can at least be cordial to each other."
"That shouldn't be an issue. Last night was just… Look… Sometimes, when I get mad, I turn into a bit of an asshole…"
I can't believe I'm semi-quoting Guardians of the Galaxy here Victor thought internally.
"...but I'm not a dick 100% of the time" he finished.
Tiffania digested this information for a moment before replying.
"A dick?"
Victor held his deadpan expression for just a moment before he let out a chortle and a brief chuckle.
"What?" asked Tiffania, still confused.
"It's an expression" replied Victor, still chuckling. "Being a dick means… Pretty much doing something bad to someone just because you can… If I were to shove you in the hallway for no reason, I'd be acting like a dick."
Tiffania chuckled at this crude description. "I see" she said. Even with a translation spell having been cast on the passengers earlier, she could tell he was speaking the same language as her. However, she had to admit her Familiar had a most peculiar accent and vocabulary. If there was a way to describe it, she would have to go with brutish, almost vulgar. Though it wasn't necessarily a bad thing; the dialect felt almost like a cousin of her own language.
Many of the passengers had similarly bizarre accents, even if they were all speaking Albionese. Though on several occasions, when she'd inquired about their accents, they all insisted they were speaking something called "English".
"So, Tiffania, I apologize for acting like a dick last night" finished Victor.
Tiffania smiled. "All is forgiven, Victor. You were understandably upset. I hope we can have a cordial relationship at the very least. And please, call me Tiffa." Seeing the conversation moving in a good direction, she decided now was as good a time as any to bring up the reason for their meeting.
"Now, as for why I called asked to meet with you", she began "you are no doubt aware we must journey to Romalia in a month's time."
"So I hear" replied Victor. "Some sort of gathering of Void mages? Saito mentioned as much."
"Yes, the Pope has called a gathering of the Void mages in the Romalian capital. Therefore, we must present a unified front in that regard."
"We gotta be on the same page, huh? So what's the plan?"
"As unintended as it may be, I am your Summoner and you are my Familiar. We'll have to act like it when we're in Romalia. While we are here though, you'll not be a servant or a slave. I'll have none of that" said Tiffania, bringing out her inner teacher for a moment. "No calling me Master or Mistress. All I ask is you treat me as you would any other person. You are free go where you wish and do what you please. When it comes to me, you'd be a colleague, a partner even. If that is agreeable?"
Victor nodded. "That sounds agreeable. I still feel bad about last night, so if there's something I can help with, let me know. It'll give me something to do around here."
Tiffa smiled. "Good. I am grateful for that. And I am glad we could reach an accord."
Victor gave a slight smile.
"Well, it's late. And my internal clock is still about seven hours behind" he said, turning to leave. "I'll see you around, then."
Tiffa nodded. "Good night Victor"
"Good night" he replied.
"And Tiffa…" he said, turning to look at her before stepping out of the room.
"Call me Vic."
Brussels
Undisclosed Location
Schoden struggled to open his eyes. His whole body was stiff from the Taser as he rolled his neck. He tried moving his arms, only to find they were handcuffed to the chair he was sitting in.
His breathing quickened as his eyes popped wide open. Taking in his surroundings, he saw he was in a dark warehouse.
A light illuminated his seat but the rest of the room was dark. It was then he noticed the Russian was sitting next to him, in a similar state. Except his head was covered by a hood and he seemed strangely calm considering the situation.
"Agent Schoden, you disappoint me" said a voice. A voice anyone who's worked in SWORD would recognize.
Into the light walked Agent Michael Owens, head of SWORD's counterintelligence teams. A tall, muscular, red-headed Irishman, he had a neutral, almost boring look on his face. However, a trained observer like Schoden could see the underlying rage beneath the boring façade.
"You know, we didn't mind your little gambling problem. Yes, we knew all about that. Your boss put in a good word on your behalf but personally, I wanted to bring you in the moment you went anywhere near that loan shark…"
He paused for effect before continuing.
"And now, instead of coming to us for help, you betrayed your oath."
Schoden was sweating bullets now, on the verge of tears.
"I had no choice! They came to my apartment. Put a gun in my mouth. Said they'd shoot my fingers off one by one if I didn't pay. Please! You must understand!" he sobbed, earning a punch to the face courtesy of Owens' fist.
The Irishman was struggling to rein in his anger. He was one of the few in SWORD who truly understood how their decisions affected those in Avalon. He understood that if word of Avalon got to the wrong hands, the consequences could be disastrous for the natives. That thinking was part of the reason Reynolds trusted him with these kinds of missions.
"Was it worth it? Was everything you nearly compromised… Everything you almost put in jeopardy! Was it worth it? For this?"
Stealing a glance at the hooded and gagged Russian, Owens kneeled down to Schoden's eye level.
"You're lucky the Boss isn't completely heartless. Personally, I think we should make an example of you. But… We still have a few questions for you and your friend. One way or another, Schoden, you and your GRU friend WILL tell us everything we want to know."
Lighting a cigarette, Owens continued.
"So, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way."
Schoden gulped as he glanced at the Russian, who was being dragged away to another area of the warehouse.
Alright, I'll be the first to admit this chapter is pretty much all over the place. I've started and stopped writing this chapter too many times in the past three months. However, I'm trying to stick to the outline I defined in my storyboard.
WAIT! Before you close out this tab, I know this probably gets old but reviews bring up things I might want to put in or remove from the story. They bring up any mistakes I may have made. Short story, REVIEWS ARE HELPFUL! I CANNOT reiterate how much I enjoy seeing reviews. If this is your first time seeing this story, PLEASE review. You might spot something I missed and all that.