Beyond?

“One shall not call the Great Shaman by his real name, as he forsakes it in order to serve well. In the long history of Dwem are four hundred and seventy nine Great Shamans recorded. All of their worldly names are remembered as engravings on the Great Shaman's tower.”

-The writings of Dwem.

***Dwem, Capital***

***Azir***

Stella's expression turns concerned and she steps closer to me. “Is that thing really that dangerous?” I take another look at the runes inside the helmet and whisper. “Probably!” There is no way to tell for sure without giving me time to take a proper look at it. The barbarians thought that it could take care of Dwem's artillery, so it's a safe bet in my opinion.

The Great Shaman forces a smile onto his face. “You surprised me. I didn't expect your personal intervention in this war. Technically you jumped in and snatched our spoils of war away. How about turning over this item to the proper authorities?”

I furrow my eyebrows. Politics isn't my strength at all and I am certainly not the social type. “How about seeing it like this. The evil Master was about to rape your sorry asses and destroy your country. Luckily for you he pissed off a third party, namely me, who happened to take away his toy before he could use it against you.”

You have to see this situation from the practical side. “How about telling your army to retreat? There is no point in meeting the enemy head on now.”

He nods. “The general is already taking care of that. You are really sure that you want to keep that? I am just really worried about having such an item that close to me.”

There he goes and turns the situation into something stressful. My eyes wander to the guards who tense up. “Don't worry. I am a perfectly qualified techno mage. Do you know anyone else who could pull off teleporting across the country and stealing the enemy general's helmet?”

The Great Shaman's looks at the head on the floor. “You didn't steal only his helmet.”

Stella steps in. “How about a little agreement? This artefact is obviously very dangerous if its rumoured powers come even close to reality.” She gestures at the helmet in my hands. “Having control over something like this is a very powerful asset to every country.” She points at the video screens which are displaying the barbarian army being mowed down like grass. They continued their charge even after their general fell, not realizing that their secret weapon won't help them now. Explosions are throwing body parts left and right while Dwem's artillery is carpet bombing the entire area. “You don't really need the helmet to defend yourselves and if Azir has it, we may be able to use it against our enemies in the future.”

The Great Shaman tilts his head. “Our enemies?”

Stella nods. “Of course! Didn't we just determine that the southerners, barbarians and dark magicians are all just foot soldiers of the so called Master? That means that your enemy is our enemy. We already explained that we wouldn't like it if our northern border became unstable. So let's say that you give this helmet to us. It would be very likely that we use it for your sake in the near future. On top the helmet wasn't just acquired by our own power, but Azir is also a very qualified person in analysing the helmet.”

The Great Shaman's eyes wander to Padma and she nods enthusiastically. His left eye starts twitching like he is trying to make a very stressful decision. No wonder, who can blame him? I, someone from a foreign power, am standing in front of him, a weapon of mass destruction in my hands.

Stella kneels down to be on eye-height with him and smiles. “If it helps Dwem's war efforts, I can even imagine that Nict could help out with resources. Since I am the second princess, it's within my power to assure you that at least a few Gejene can be dispatched to help with materials like metals and chemicals. Your war machines look awfully expensive. I am not an expert, but isn't mining everything you need for them really troublesome?”

The Great Shaman attempts and answer, but Adala steps closer and whispers something into his ear. He pulls her off into a far away corner and we watch them gesturing for a while. After a minute he returns to Stella and me. “So you Gejene can transmute stuff? How much can a Gejene transmute within a day?” He pulls a fist of beans from his pocket and hands it to Stella. “Show me. How about iron, coal, sulphur or copper?”

Stella performs her magic and flicks the beans one by one back to him. “Whatever you wish. An average member of a branch family can transmute between one and five tons of mass per day.” She places her fingertips together in front of her. “But I am sure that if our friends from Dwem, who keep the northern borders safe, tell us that they need a little help with resources my mother won't deny helping them.”

The Great Shaman scratches himself with his totem behind the left ear and inspects the transmuted beans in his hand. “It's not like we are in big trouble, but if you could prepare a hundred tons of iron, eighty tons potassium nitrate, fifteen tons coal and ten tons of sulphur every two months? It would be seen as a helpful gesture between two friendly nations. Of course only until the barbarians decide that running into our gunfire isn't worth their time.”

My girlfriend smiles a devilish grin. “I am sure that if I tell my mother that this will keep the northern border peaceful, she will happily order a few members of our clan to invest their time into such an important task.”

So she bribed them? I guess that works with everyone. No wonder that the Gejene are Nict's rulers. I relax, looks like we don't have to make a run for it. The helmet is an interesting and dangerous item if I interpret the runes on the inside correctly. Certainly nothing which can be allowed to fall into the wrong hands. Maybe I should add a little bonus to Stella's efforts in keeping the helmet while not damaging our new relationship to Dwem? “I could provide a few of the teleportation discs to transport the material. Just a little gesture of good will.”

The Great Shaman smiles and offers Stella a hand. “Maybe Dwem and Nict should stop ignoring each other.” She shakes it. “It's good to find a friend among so many foes around us.”

Probably I should shake his hand too? I am here as a representative too after all. “I'll make sure to inform you about the helmet's secrets.” I shake the shaman's hand and he stiffens.

“Thank you. I already had the feeling that you are an interesting fellow. Though I realize that I didn't fully comprehend how unique you are.” He holds out one hand and his old aide comes running with a cloth.

Oh, I made him dirty! I completely forgot about the blood on my hand. I press my lips together and ponder over the situation. My eyes wander to Stella who looks very embarrassed. Sorry, Stella. I am simply bad when it comes to relationships with other people.

Now that I think about it, the only people close to me who aren't related by blood are Stella and Karsen, Talia and... and Louise. One moment! Only four people! That's all I achieved during my entire life on this world? Isn't that kinda pathetic?

No! I can count Ivy too, yes that's it! Five! I look at Ivy and she answers me with a questioning expression. “Is something wrong, Creator?”

Four... maybe I can count Ghost? But counting a pet to my circle of friends is even more pathetic than having only a few of them.

The problem is that there are simply no people worth talking to. Having friends for the sake of having friends isn't fun at all. Friends are friends because you share a common interests and emotional bonds with them. Why should I want to have a friend who bores me to death.

Stella is... well she is Stella. I don't really get myself why I got hooked to her in the first place. Maybe because she has this dependable side and her ass is top notch. There is nothing bad about being physically attracted to someone. I feel sorry for those people who think that love is only about mental compatibility. Though Stella and I are working together in that aspect too, because she is smart. It's not like we are boring to each other.

Karsen is... a guy to whom I can talk about sensitive things. It's not like we share any particular interests, but it's good to have a buddy to whom I can talk about gender sensitive stuff.

Louise has an outstanding mind and it's fun to talk to her about all kinds of things. So there are no problems in that aspect.

Talia is... well. Talia is Talia. She is more like a tag along buddy of Karsen and the others. Our relationship is kind of hindered by the fact that she is a member of a branch family and has to listen to me. Argh! My friend count just went down to three! Two if I exclude my girlfriend.

But isn't there an extremely smart person nearby? It could be interesting to talk to someone who understands what it is like to be a little smarter than other people. I look at the Great Shaman. “Say, what's your real name by the way? Everyone just calls you the Great Shaman.”

The room turns silent and some guards look outright shocked. Damn, was my question against the social norm? “Did I say something wrong?”

The Great Shaman looks confused. “It's not exactly like I don't have a name, but it's a tradition to call the Great Shaman only by his title, regardless of who is serving in the position. I wasn't called by my real name since I took the job. That was twelve years ago, I think.” He scratches his chin with his totem. “But since you aren't part of our community I guess there is no reason for you to use my title all the time. My name is Chuck Turninghill.”

I smile and clap my hands together. This is going better than expected. “How about meeting up sometime to drink and talk? I am interested in your trick with the beans.”

Chuck takes his totem between both hands in front of his chest. It almost looks like he is trying to use it as a shield. “I am not sure, I have a tight schedule. Managing a country at war isn't easy.”

Shrugging my shoulders I continue to press on. “No problem at all. I want to first analyse the helmet anyway. And it's not like I have any problems with travelling, since I've already been here I can teleport whenever it fits you.”

Chuck's guards gasp and he looks a little worried. “If it's like that then I guess the late evenings on weekends would be fine?”

I give him a thumbs up. “I'll pay you a visit then.” Yes! One more friend added to the list! I can do it if I put my mind to the task.

Stella steps in. “Then how about setting up a written agreement between Nict and Dwem? We'll take it back to our country and send an envoy together with the resources.”

It took us some time to set up the contract, but in the end we got it safely done. Upon Padma's begging I even agreed on taking a look at Saana and Triz, who had their minds meddled with. They were brought back to the throne room and bound to a chair.

After a seemingly endless time I lift my hands from the gagged Saana and turn to Padma. “The enslavement spell on them is very strong and tricky.”

Padma's expression turns horrified. “Is there no chance to heal them?”

I cross my arms in front of my chest and try to think about the possibilities. “The easiest way is to find the amulet which was used as a focus. Then you destroy the amulet, which should release the spell on them. I suggest you guys search the quarters of the southern delegation and their bodies for an amulet with a pentagram on it.” I pause. “The second possibility is that I break the spell with force, which would very likely result in breaking their minds too. The spell is very strong and would force them to fight me to the bitter end. Probably I could preserve their minds or restore them afterwards, but they would surely be changed. I prefer finding the amulet.”

Chuck looks worried. “Such strong mind magic is troublesome. Can we test our people for foreign influence? Of course we'll take all possible actions to find this amulet. I guess we should check everyone who was outside of Dwem for longer periods of time.”

It may be possible, but I don't have the right equipment at hand. Back in Nict we have heaps of mind magicians for stuff like this. Here in Dwem they aren't that proficient with mind magic. Unless I modify... well, it's basically a scanner after all. “My mirror could detect a foreign influence. I just have to set it to a general scanning mode. We won't be able to see any memories like that, but it could detect a foreign influence on the brain. The test subject would have to clean him or herself of any mind influencing spells beforehand, since the mirror can't discern between good and bad spells.”

The Great Shaman nods. “That sounds at least like we could test our most important officials. I'll arrange to get them tested as fast as possible.”

I turn to the mirror in order to make the necessary changes. “Don't worry, you can have the thing. I'll build myself a new one.” You are joking me right? I can have brain scans of Dwem's leading elite? Keep the damn thing! Mwahaha!

The mirror might only be able to save memories which are uppermost in the user's mind, but that alone should give me tons of important information. I'll simply have Ivy sort them out.

After checking the mirror for its functionality by using Saana as a test subject we say our goodbyes to Chuck and Greywinter and return back to Nict. The journey down the tower goes without problems. Adala and her friends accompany us back too, since they left behind their friend Nikita at the healing faculty.

Helen and Sola were still waiting when we returned. Stella managed to sell her mother the contract as something beneficial to Nict, though Helen was utterly shocked when I returned bathed in blood. Probably I shouldn't have teleported back first.

That wasn't so smart of me. Imagine you send your family members onto a diplomatic mission to a foreign country and stay behind worrying. Then one of them returns bathed in blood.

After she calmed down she took us with Sola to a separate room and listened to our story intently, while eyeing the helmet in my hands with a dangerous expression. Halfway through our story she even started gnawing on her nails. I've never seen the leader of a country doing that. When Stella was done with her story Helen instructed us to visit her at her office the next day and ran off. Since there wasn't much more to do Stella and I went home.

Right now I am sitting in our living room. I already cleaned myself up right after I arrived at home. The helmet is in my hands and I am intensely studying the runes on the inside. They imply that the thing is a very powerful artefact which utilizes mind magic. It also seems to connect the user to some kind of power source. There is a separate set of runes which work as a communication spell and the wings are functioning as antennae. Probably it connects you to a satellite up in the orbit which is responsible for the light attacks. Though I am not sure if it could connect you to something else. I am hesitant to put it on, I don't want myself to end up as a drooling, mind-wiped slave to the Master.

At least the artefact shows that the previous civilisation of Nict was very proficient in techno magic.

By utilizing the runes on the inside of the helmet I can surely build something which can connect me safely to that satellite. All I have to do then is hack it. Or I could try to use Ivy as a test subject. Can her mind be influenced by mind magic? I am not really sure if she is using her body's brain at all? Probably it won't work anyway.

Suddenly the helmet is snatched out of my hands and I find Stella behind me. She is holding the helmet and glaring at me. She is wearing only a bathrobe and is still wet from a shower. “We have to talk about some things!”

I smile. “Could I have that back? It's dangerous you know? I am not sure if it could fry someone's brain if he puts it on.”

“I'll crush it if you don't listen seriously!” Her fingers turn into metal claws and she readies herself to crush the helmet.

A few drops of sweat form on my forehead. What have I done now? I thought our little adventure went really well. She even secured the helmet for me. “I'll listen...”

Stella's expression is furious. “First, don't pick up food from the ground! We were supposed to be the representatives of our country! Not some peasants! Second, don't feed the very same bar of chocolate to the Great Shaman! I almost died of shame! Third, learn something about their culture before you spark a war between our people! Asking the Great Shaman for his name? Seriously!? We seemed to them like rampaging brutes! And then dirtying him with your bloody hand!” She goes on, but somehow I can't keep my attention on what she is saying.

She looks so beautiful when she is angry. Her shivering red lips, the heaving chest and those eyes. Are they even glowing a little, is that her inner fire? That makes her look mysterious and the wet hair which is sticking to her collarbones looks erotic! Even her angry expression is kind of sexy if you think about it. Those half closed eyes... and there are cute wrinkles between her eyebrows. When she is looming over me like that I get a perfect view into her cleavage.

“Are you listening to me?”

“No... I mean YES, Stella!” I smile. “Sorry, I tried my best. Chuck even agreed on becoming friends with me. I can visit him on weekends.”

“Urgh... friends... tomorrow we'll start working on your behavioural disorders! But first I'll rest.” She drops the helmet into my lap and walks away, angrily swinging her tail. “I can't believe that they let us live. He is even calling him Chuck now...”

The movements of her butt signal me that she is very angry. Looks like I really made a few social mistakes during our mission, I did my best though.

Is it a problem that I got a little aroused by her rant? No, it's perfectly fine to get an erection from seeing your girl running around half naked and wet... that came across the wrong way. I place the helmet on the table and pat it softly. “Sorry, you have to wait until tomorrow. Tonight there is someone who needs my full attention.”

I leave the helmet behind and follow Stella.

.