The Fire and the Storm - Metric Pro Edition: Fiction, Dragons, Elves, Unicorns, Magic (55 page)

“The rest of this is a problem of enforcement, rather than being the result of any major flaw in the system.  If those who are overseeing the game were doing their jobs well, then none of the non-players would have been inconvenienced.  Killing anyone obviously reduces production and military capability, so we have to prevent that.  And as the dwarf woman pointed out, losses to non-players cause dissention in the ranks.

“After we’ve cleaned up all the messes, I will most definitely be re-considering the playing of the game outside Serminak.  I may drastically increase my enforcement of the rules on the other continents, or I may do as the petitioners ask and limit the game to Serminak.

“The most important thing is to prevent injustice to the just, closely followed by maximizing our preparedness for war against the demons.  The right of people to play the game outside Serminak does not exist except on our sufferance, and it’s a very low priority as far as I’m concerned.”

“Lord Regent Povon,” Fire formally began, “We would like to make a contribution to this project that is commensurate with our abilities.  And, since this will be our first work in the outside world, its successful completion will inform the world of the magnitude of our capability.

“We would therefore appreciate it if you let us deal with the murderers, beyond letting us take a good Reading of you while you spend a moment psionicly listening for rule-breaking.  I’m sure you’ve developed an excellent technique for doing so, and it would save us a bit of time if you would allow us to incorporate that technique into our solution.

“Dealing with the non-players who’ve been wronged by players is a far more subtle problem, and we’ll gladly leave that to the rest of you.”

“My, what a bold little thing you are for your age!” Gran chuckled.

“Yes, and they’re capable enough to justify their boldness.” Mark agreed, joining her chuckle.  “By the way, Somonik; Speaker of the Ninety-Nine, and Grakonexikaldoron of the Ninety-Nine; our neighbor in Xervia, and Empress Honey; Monarch of The Swarm, and Sheramiv of the Atoned; First Minister of Hilia, I am very proud to formally introduce my daughter with Alilia; Princess Valentia Longstrider; known informally as Val, my son with Talia; Prince Markhan Reginus Longstrider the Sixth; known as Six, and my daughter with Talia; Princess Helemia Longstrider, known as Fire.

“They, along with Prince Karzog here who you met before the time-bubble and who’s known informally as Karz, are The Governors of Hiliani.  Since the four of them are an inseparable team, we’ve taken to referring to them collectively and informally as The Governors.  They were entirely responsible for the design and execution of the program for integrating the Hiliani Sylvan into our military efforts there, and I think the social system they’ve designed for young Sylvan is the best there is; allowing them a very fulfilling and enjoyable life while preventing them from killing each other.  As far as I know, the system Zwak has in place in Serminak works, but the young Sylvan there don’t like it very much.”

Each of the four young stood and bowed as they were introduced.

“We are very glad and proud to meet you.” Somonik declared as he, Sheramiv, Honey, and Gran returned their bows with smiles.

“We’re extremely honored to meet you, Most Noble Somonik.” Six told him with another bow of great respect.  “We’re honored to meet you all, including you gods, who truly need no introduction.  But Fire and I are really your enthusiastic and devoted fans, Most Noble.  Of all the people outside the time-bubble, you’re the one we most wanted to meet.  We’ve studied your exploits with great interest, and it seems plain to us that of all the intelligent beings still living on Kellaran, mortal or divine, you are truly the most noble of character; the most just, the most determined, the bravest, the best.  It’s our opinion that this fact isn’t as widely recognized as it should be, and we intend to correct that situation.”

“Well, I’m flattered and surprised, and I haven’t been surprised for a long time!” the ancient white dragon told him with a grin.  “Thank you!”

“Don’t worry.” Fire giggled.  “We intend that you’ll have legions of devoted fans, as you richly deserve, but we know you’re very busy so we’ll do all we can to prevent them from being an inconvenience to you.”

“Thank you again.”

“I’m surprised that you consider Somonik to be Most Noble,” Gran smiled, “When most of the people in the world would nominate your father for that honor.

“Oh, Father’s very noble, and of course we love him dearly.” Fire said with a warm smile for Mark.  “And if the question is of who’s gained the most nobility in the shortest time, he’d win that easily.  But it’ll still take him at least thirty million years to equal Somonik’s accumulated record of incredibly noble behavior.  And besides, Father’s nobility is already universally and fully recognized, whereas most of Somonik’s incredible achievements are so far in the past for most people that they’ve largely been forgotten.

“He’s gained in world-wide recognition and respect since he helped form The Just Alliance, but still, we think most people fail to realize how incredible he really is.  He’s very humble in his public affairs and he doesn’t promote himself or tend to talk about his past, and we think that everything he’s done to help others at great cost to himself over the last sixty-five million years deserves to be known and recognized and honored.”

“I couldn’t agree more.” Gran grinned as she cuddled against Somonik a little closer.  “I’m one of those who are already aware of his incredible achievements and his unmatched nobility, and that’s why I love him with all of my soul.”

“Who else do you wish to meet, now that you’re out of the bubble?” Somonik asked, becoming a bit abashed at the praise and seeking to change the subject.

“We’d like to meet a lot of the great figures of the world.” Six replied around a mouthful of roast pork.  “Osbald, Emeroth, Senchak, Wosea, and Tokibimina are high on the list, as was Empress Honey, whom we’re honored to meet here.”

“I look forward to spending some time with you on spell design, if I may.” Val told the great insect.  “Father got a lot of spells from a lot of people before we were born, and of all of them, I found the ones he got from you to be the most interesting.  My team-mates here are all good spell-casters, but I’m our magic specialist, and
you’re
the person I was most looking forward to meeting.  Your spells are absolutely unique and distinct from anything else I’ve learned, and I’ve finally gotten good enough to have something of value to contribute to our exchange of thoughts and techniques.  If I may share something with you psionicly right now, I’d love to give you a portfolio of some of my latest work, since I’ve already got some of yours from Father.”

“I am honored, thank you.  I would also gladly give you such a portfolio.”
Honey responded. 
“Your father is very adept at learning and teaching spells psionicly, but he is not the theorist that you seem to be, and he chose from my repertoire with a different criterion than you would use, I think.  Since I exchanged spells with him, I have learned spells and techniques from many in The Just Alliance, and I have integrated some of their techniques with my own, and made new advances in technique while working with my daughters.  This is, as you say, ‘my latest work’ in the field.

“I will likely require at least two weeks to fully study what you have given me, judging by the volume of the information, and given the other responsibilities and demands on my time that my position entails.  But I must admit that my curiosity requires that I take a quick look now…

“By the blazing Source!  This is the work of a six-year-old being?!!”

“Not entirely, of course.” Val giggled.  “I take what everyone else shows me, then I work on it, then I work on it with my team, then we teach what we’ve done to everyone on Hiliani, including the senior Sylvan there, who are quite accomplished at a few things.  It all gets passed around and improved by everyone, over and over.  Father’s really handy for showing everyone the latest stuff.  Only a couple of those are developments of things that I originated, but that’s my most recent work, the rest haven’t had a chance to learn that or work on it yet.  I focus on improvements in casting time, concentration required, energy efficiency, and automation.

“It’ll only take about an hour for the four of us to come up with an automated spell-set that’ll detect and punish every murderer on Kellaran.  Mind you, even with all the delicious power there is out here, we’ll need to get some power from elsewhere to get it all done in a reasonable amount of time.  But it should all be over by suppertime.  Hilia time, that is.

“Now, I’ve got to look at your stuff too…  Ooooh, this is so deliciously weird!  I’m sure glad you labeled it all in Trade Common!”

“Here.” Talia said with a laugh as she Retrieved and handed over a pair of necklaces to Six, who was the closest of the Governors.  Each had a flat stone mounted on a gold necklace, one stone eight centimeters wide and the other four, both the same color and outline as the Truthstone.

“These are power stones.” she explained.  “The larger one transmits warlock power from another stone that floats in the focus at Focus Mountain.  The smaller one transmits wizard’s power from Laylas Valley.  The wizard’s power varies a bit with time of day at Laylas, with the minimum just before dawn there, and the warlock’s power varies from nothing when it’s night at Focus Mountain to maximum when it’s noon there.  It’ll be noon there in an hour, so be careful.  Beyond what they transmit, they’re both batteries with a lot of capacity, and they’re fully charged.  We’ve put safeties on them that turn them off on command, and they only work for whoever they’re keyed to, so I’ve keyed them to the four of you.

“If you need more power beyond that, just let us know.”

“Thank you.” Six stated for his team.  “Once we’re done with the spells to deal with murderers, we’ll spend some time meeting a few people, if they have time for us.  If not, we’ll probably meet them at the next gathering of The Assembly of The Just Alliance.  Assuming we can get an invitation.

“But after meeting people, we have a lot of work planned.  We assume you’d like our assistance in showing the rest of the world the military techniques and spells we’ve all developed on Hiliani, and in learning what the rest of the world came up with while we were away, and integrating it all.

“And we intend to go to Serminak and set up training camps for the young Sylvan there along the lines of our system on Hiliani.

“And then we and Kragorram are going to test our void craft and void survival spells up in the real void.  If all goes well with that, then we’ll need to set up systems to build a lot more of the craft, to teach the spells to those who’ll fight in the void, and to train everyone to do so.

“If we can get all that done before Father decides to start working on gaining godhood, well, we have a few ideas for that too.

“And if we can get all of
that
done before we have to fight the demons, then we have another project in mind.  But we’re going to keep that confidential for now.”

“Very confidential indeed, considering that you’re psionicly shielded so thoroughly that even Falgaroth and I can’t see through!” Visinniria laughed.  “Truly, you are a most impressive quartette of youngsters!”

“Thank you.” Six grinned.  “It’s really nice to meet you both, by the way.  We’ve only met one other god before today.   You’re a lot more different from Ria than I expected.”

“I did a lot of changing after her personality was set.” Visinniria smiled.  “Not least of which was becoming Elven Goddess of War.  But she’s a darling and I love her.”

“Thank you, My Lady.” Ria said as Talia touched her hilt and she manifested.

“Goddess, could you alter Ria again, so that she can be aware or manifest whenever she wishes?” Talia asked.  “Without me or Quewanak having to touch her hilt, that is?  And it would be nice if I didn’t have to touch it to Link with her, as well.”

“I can do that.” Visinniria nodded with a warm smile.  “And it is done.”

“My Lady, thank you, you are most generous.”
Ria smiled as she gave her stiff bow. 
“And if I may be so bold, I would also like to impose on your generosity for a further alteration.”

“Oh?  Of what sort?”

“The only moment of true physical pleasure I have felt in this manifestation was the moment I was allowed to share hugs with you and the Six of Hilia, on the occasion of our victory over Zarkog.  It was as nice as feeling your hand on my hilt and my blade slicing through the flesh of our enemies.  It was truly heavenly.  I wish to be able to have the aspect of flesh as I did that day, when I choose it.

“And if you would gift me with your embrace again, I would truly treasure it.”

“Ah, my darling, my truest friend, I would be glad to do so.” Visinniria smiled, and waved her over with outstretched arms.

Ria’s stiff but smiling form flew over to her with palpable eagerness, and settled into the arms of her goddess.

“You know Ria,” Talia giggled as she hugged her sword’s hilt to her bosom and gently caressed the blade, “If I’d have realized that you were capable of perceiving the sensations of touch through your steel, I’d have hugged you regularly.”

“Oh!  Oh my!”
Ria giggled as both of her physical forms were simultaneously hugged and caressed by the two people she cared for most in the world. 
“Thank you, excuse me, I am overwhelmed!”
she exclaimed, then her elven manifestation disappeared.

“Simply call me whenever you’d like another hug, my dear.” Visinniria laughed, and all understood that Ria had heard her.

After a round of warm chuckles had gone around, Mark said to his children; “I think I’ll call for The Assembly of The Just Alliance to meet tonight.  It’ll be my public appearance as Visinniria asked for, and you can meet the leaders you’d like to meet, we can all show what we’ve done for the last seven years and get what others have developed, and you and Kragorram can make a presentation on the void craft and on the void warfare techniques we’ve got.