The Fire and the Storm - Metric Pro Edition: Fiction, Dragons, Elves, Unicorns, Magic (68 page)

He paused for a moment, and smiled at Talia as he continued speaking to the world.  She smiled up at him in adoration as he spoke.  “When I went into the time-bubble, I thought my life was as full of love and happiness as it could be, and I thought I was as in love as a man could get.  I was wrong.”

He looked out at the crowd again.  “Our main purpose for going in the time-bubble was to have children and raise them before we began a task that the gods wanted us to do.  Talia and I knew she was expecting twins before we left Hilia, and having children and raising them with her has made me love her, and fall far more deeply in love with her, than I ever thought possible.

“But my incredible good fortune had more in store for me.” he continued as he smiled down at Alilia, who met his smile.  “A wonderful love grew between me and Talia and Alilia, and she also bore us a child.”

He spontaneously hugged them both, and they returned it as he took a long look around at the crowd, who represented all the people in the world, most of whom were watching and listening via public Revealings all over Kellaran.

“Raising children has been the most wonderful and beautiful part of our lives, and it’s also been our greatest accomplishment.  As parents, we hoped to produce children who were greater than ourselves, and we did.  Though our children are only seven years old, already they’ve surpassed us in most areas of endeavor.  They’ll accomplish more, and help all of Kellaran more, than we ever will.

“But I’ll return to the subject of our children in a few minutes.  For now, suffice to say that today they and others helped me fulfill the task that had been set for me by the gods.

“Before The War Of The Founding really got going, after I Healed Dalia and Bezedil, a bunch of us went to Hilia to relax for a few minutes, and we were visited by the gods.  The gods told us that we were Candidates for Divinity, that we might become gods ourselves, and that I’d probably have to get it first for it to work for the rest of us.  They encouraged us to try to attain divinity as soon as possible, so that Kellaran would have more gods when we faced the demons.  But they couldn’t tell us how to do it without thousands of years of study.

“Today, with the help of my family and closest friends, I discovered how to become a god.  And I discovered how to help anyone who has the potential for it to become a god as well.  Soon, there will be new gods of Kellaran.”

The crowd had been silent and attentive, but now a murmur of many quiet speakers began.  Mark continued as the sound and excitement of the people rose with his every word.

“I also discovered how to tell if a person has the potential to become a god, and I designed a spell that will automatically check every person in the world, and give me the identities of everyone who has that potential.

“When we’re all done speaking here, I’ll cast the spell that detects those who have divine potential.  Three minutes after that, I’ll know who all of them are except those in the other time-bubbles, and each of them will know that they’ve been selected.”

The buzz of the crowd was getting loud now, but Mark just increased his own volume and kept going.

“It’s a big step, becoming a god.  And to be honest, I’m still a little hesitant about taking that step.  I made an agreement with the gods where I didn’t have to start working on it until the end of the two-month duration of the time-bubbles, and I’m sure they expected me to take at least a week to get it, so I’m going to wait until then.  When the time-bubbles end, we’ll take a week to welcome their occupants back to the world, and to start integrating what they’ll have discovered with our efforts to prepare for war against the demons, and check them for the potential.

“So most Candidates will have about seven weeks to prepare themselves.  One week after the time-bubbles end I’ll call them to me, and we’ll all become gods, unless they absolutely refuse it.  And those who refuse had best prepare to be extensively debated by the Pantheon about it.  If any need more time before they agree, the gods might provide it for them in another round of time-bubbles.  But one way or another, we have to maximize our capabilities before we face the demons.”

He took a long pause to give them a chance to absorb what he’d said.

“Now I’ll return to the subject of our children.  Like all parents I suppose, I could go on for hours and hours about their abilities and accomplishments, but they deserve to present their own accomplishments, so I’ll merely introduce them.  And in this case, our children includes Povon and Kragorram’s son.”

He paused for a moment as the three moved away from the center of the dais and were joined by a beaming Povon and Kragorram, then raised his hands and announced with a booming voice and a joyous smile;

“Good people of Kellaran, we most proudly introduce; The Governors of Hiliani!”

The four youngsters appeared in formation on the center of the dais facing their parents, and bowed to them with happy smiles.

Mark formally introduced them with their full names and every honorific they had, and each bowed again as they were introduced.

Then the parents bowed to their children, and Mark finished by saying;  “Governors, you have our attention.”

“Thank you Father.” Six acknowledged with a smile.

Mark returned it with a nod, and the five parents Translocated back to their place on the floor.

Six stepped forward a bit, clasped his hands behind his back as he struck a thoughtful stance, and spoke.  His boyish voice rang with confidence.

“We were incredibly and undeserved blessed with the parents, companions, and circumstances we were born with, and we’ve always felt a certain responsibility because of it.  We wanted to do something to deserve all that we’ve been given, so we’ve worked very hard to accomplish something worthwhile.

“We were proud to take part in our community’s development of new methods of warfare, Shielding, and Warding, and we’ve made important advances in spell design and psionic techniques.

“We’ve designed and implemented a better life for Sylvan, especially their youth, and we’re convinced that soon, all Sylvan will choose to take part in it, instead of playing The Game Of Status.  That will have a very significant and immediate effect on the state of society on Kellaran, both among the Sylvan and among the rest of The Just Alliance.

“We cast a spell today that apprehended and punished every murderer still at large in The Just Alliance, almost all of whom were players of The Game of Status.  If anyone else murders anyone from now on, the spell will be hunting them in less than a second.

“And we helped Hilsith with her discovery of longevity and magic for those who lacked it.  We know that soon there’ll be a lot of new magic users who need training, and we think the existing training programs could be a lot more efficient, so we’ll be establishing training programs among the general public, as well as among the Sylvan.”

He gave them a moment to absorb the import of that, then stepped back, and Val stepped up.

“Today I designed a spell that can do everyone’s physical work for them.” she stated without preamble.  “When we face the demons, it will allow us to put every able body into the fight, and after the war, if we survive it, it can eliminate unpleasant work from our lives.

“I also designed a spell that can Heal any wound as soon as it’s taken, almost instantaneously.  Can I have a brave volunteer to…  Ah, thank you Zayobod.” she nodded as that worthy elf appeared on the dais in front of her with a huge grin and a sweeping bow.

“You are most welcome!” he responded.

“This is Zayobod of The High People, of The Hilian Volunteers, Leader of The Valiant Glory Seekers, and a Sergeant in The Hiliani Defense Forces.” Val stated.

Zayobod grinned and bowed again, to the audience this time.

“Please stand with your chin high and your shoulders low, Zayobod.” Val instructed as she reached out and drew his sword from it’s sheath at his side, rose a little in the air, and held the middle of the blade against his throat.  “I’m now casting The Healing of Valentia upon you.  You’ll want to hold still for this.  The Healing will still work the same if you move, but it’ll probably hurt less if you don’t.”

She drew the sword all the way back and made a slow practice swing, ending with the edge against his throat again, so that there could be no doubt that she planned to cut his head off.  She drew back again, then struck with an incredibly quick two-handed swing.  The blade passed through Zayobod’s neck and out the other side, his blood was whipped from the end of the blade to spatter on the dais in an arc that almost reached the first rows of the audience, and he cringed and yelped a bit a fraction of a second after the fact.  His hands slapped onto his neck in panic and found it intact as the audience reacted to what they’d seen with flinches and cries, and he released his held breath in a deep sigh.  Then he grinned and bowed to Val again as she handed him his sword.

“Thank you Zayobod,” Val said with a smile, “That was indeed very brave and trusting of you.  How do you feel?”

“I’m fine now, but that did actually hurt quite a lot for a moment, and as the sword passed through my spine I got a feeling like lightning was striking in my brain.”

“Interesting.  Thank you.” Val told him with a smile and a nod of dismissal.

He returned the smile, then returned to his place.

Val cast a meter wide Revealing in front of her, knowing that it would be shown in the great Revealing above her.

“Let’s look at that again, shall we?” she said as she replayed her view of her strike through Zayobod’s neck.  “Now let’s watch it very slowly, focusing on the area of the spell’s effect.”

Her Revealing zoomed in until she was showing only the trailing edge of the blade and a few millimeters behind it.

“You can see that the wound is closed a hair’s breadth behind the blade, even at the speed I was swinging, and the damage is completely healed three millimeters behind that.  If the blade didn’t have blood channels, he might not have lost a single drop of blood.”

She dismissed her Reading, and paused a moment.

“Now I feel what the gods must have felt, when they decided upon The Withdrawal.  I can cast these two spells right now.  I can do all of your work for you, and I can save you from most injuries.  The Healing spell can’t save you if you’re torn apart, dispersed in an explosion, burned constantly and completely in a big fire, or struck with any sufficiently powerful magical attack.  And if I’d have cut his head off with a big battle axe wider than his neck, completely separating his head from his body with a layer of steel, the spell wouldn’t have saved him unless you stuck his head back on within about three seconds.

“But still, casting those two spells on everyone right now would have a revolutionary effect on everyone on Kellaran.  And we can’t predict what the effect would be.  Like the gods, we worry that people will stagnate without useful physical work to do, and that they’ll lose the habit of being careful if they know they’re protected from almost any injury.  We worry that everyone will grow too dependent on the spells, and on us.

“So I’m not going to cast those spells today, or most of the other new stuff we came up with either.  I’ll cast them when we start fighting the demons, but I won’t cast them on anyone else before then unless the issue has been discussed and voted on by all the rulers, leaders, and gods of The Assembly of The Just Alliance, and they tell me I should do it.”

She paused another moment as she looked around, considering those watching, then she stepped back beside Six.

Fire stepped forward.

She paused, then considered the great Revealing above her, showing the four of them on the dais.  She concentrated on it, seeking control of it, felt the extra energy flowing into her brain as she engaged in a contest of wills and skills with the initially-unknown person controlling it.  After Locating and Identifying Edsda the Kleti Goddess of Entertainment as her opponent and successfully wresting control of the Revealing from her, Fire gave her a polite psionic;
“Excuse me a moment.”

This was achieved in a bit more than a tenth of a second, and the Pantheon of Kellaran were aware of it a hundredth of a second later, as were the other three children on the dais.  None of them revealed their knowledge of it to the assembled mortals in any way.

She concentrated the Revealing on her own face, slowly shrinking the viewpoint until her seven-year-old half-elven features were revealed to the Hall of The Just Alliance two hundred and fifty meters high, and to the world.  She gave them a moment to consider what she was showing; long enough for most to recognize that she was not a human or an elf, she was not like the other rare half-elven children.  She was something different, and her expression of grim and mature determination seemed at odds with her young age.  Her gaze held a mind of such intense ferocity that it overpowered the emotional reaction to her pretty childish features.  Some of those watching were chilled by her unflinching gaze, others were simply struck with wonder.

“Excuse me a moment while I take a quick surface Reading of all of you, if you don’t mind.” she said, and did so.

She waited a moment to let that sink in as well.

“As I expected.  Most of you expected us to be brilliant but cute, to stand up here and bask in the glory of our moment in the public eye.

“We have no time for basking in glory.

“Let me show you something.  This is a memory from seven million years ago.  It was experienced by Bukpuk of the Tgek, and recorded by Somonik as part of his Chronicle of The Demon War.  I’ll cast it as a Reading too, so those here in the hall can feel the emotion of it, as well as seeing and hearing it.  This was the very first demon attack on Kellaran.”

The Revealing began showing a village of gargoyles, built on a steep cliff face, being assaulted by demons.  It was twilight on a cloudy day, and it was apparent that the gargoyles had been completely caught by surprise; none of them had been expecting the demons’ attack, and none were prepared for it.  The demons laid waste to them as they panicked, almost incapacitated with fear and shock.