Beyond?

“I managed it! Rerouteing a mana stream is possible! Now it is just a matter of time until I become the most powerful being on the planet! I'll be on par with a god! There is just a little problem with influencing a mana stream permanently. It takes tremendous power to do so. But where should I take it from?”

-Experiment 666

***Free City States of Nict, Capital***

***Azir***

I am sitting at my working desk while humming happily as I am doing the stuff which I like the most... fooling around with my artefacts and devices. It has been a year since I got a little spare time for myself and of course I used the rare chance to hide myself in my laboratory. Unfortunately one of my fears about having children turned into reality.

“What are you making, Daddy?” Sariel asks from my lap and eyes the long, cylindrical tube in my hands with suspicion. The rod is about half a metre in length and has a diameter of about two centimetres. She is trying to imitate my work and asking me many, many questions while I am doing my work. Why are you doing this? Why does it look like that? How does it work? Seriously! I think I am spending more time answering questions than I am actually working.

“That's my new multi-tool. It can be anything I want it to be!”

Sariel points at my multi-tool. “Why aren't you creating tools by using your ability. Isn't condensing mana more convenient? This thing takes up so much space and it doesn't look pretty.”

“That's... that... don't question the great mind of an inventor!” There are tons of reasons! “A creation isn't simply created because you need it. You make new things to test the borders of what's possible! And what would I do if there isn't enough mana to solidify it in the environment? The technique of creating a physical shape out of mana is highly mana consuming.” Why am I even defending myself?

Sariel's hands wander over the necklace which she created under my guidance. “But it isn't as pretty as mine.”

“Admittedly, your necklace has a very beautiful design, but functionality is always more important than looks. Didn't you notice that I tried very hard to keep it's natural state very simple?”

“That worked out at least... it's just a stick.” Sariel determines.

“That's because a wizard should always have a wand, or a staff! You can't call yourself a proper magician without having one.” Yes, in my old world everyone above master stage had a wand at the very least.

“Mom doesn't use one.” Sariel starts counting on her fingers. “Neither do Lucas, Yoran, Ivy, Grandmother Helen or Valeria-”

“You can't count Lucas and Yoran. They are just weak magicians.” I exclaim. “Should I explain my staff in detail?”

“It doesn't change the fact that I haven't seen anybody using a wand so far.” Sariel stays on track and doesn't want to change the subject.

The door to the room opens and Stella enters the room. “So here you are. Are you trying to skip the family meeting?”

“Family meeting?” I ask in wonder. Did I forget about it? “I didn't hear anything about a family meeting. When was it announced?”

“Helen invited everyone from both of our families to plan our future course of action.” Stella's eyes wander around the room. “She also wished for us to bring the Emperor's artefacts. Her plan is to confront Jeremiah with them in order to find out what's inside the vault. Didn't you store them on that wall?” Her eyes study the empty holders at the wall. Originally they held the helmet, dagger and sword, but now they are empty.

My eyes wander to the table in front of the empty weapon holders. What lies on the table is recognisable as the pitiful remains of the Emperor's artefacts.

Stella smacks her forehead. “You destroyed them?”

I raise a finger to defend myself. “That's not destroyed! The proper term is 'disassembled for spare parts'. I reused some of the finer magical circuits.”

“Spare parts? What did you build by destroying three of the emperor's most dangerous artefacts?” She focuses her attention on me and squints her eyes.

Smiling proudly, I raise the multi-tool. “I built a multi-tool.” To demonstrate my point I change it rapidly from different screwdrivers to a small knife and then back to a short rod. “And with the rest of the parts we built an amulet for Sariel.”

“Oh my, that's beautiful!” Blinking, Stella suddenly snaps at me. “Don't try to distract me! You seriously want to tell me that you made yourself a screwdriver?”

“A high end screwdriver!” I change the rod to the Emperor's sword and then to the dagger. “Of course I kept the former functionality of the magical circuits, but now they are able to reconfigure themselves.”

Stella makes an audible sigh of relief and shoves the useless parts of the artefacts into a suitcase which she brought with her. “In any case, we are late! And I want to introduce our three youngsters to their cousin.”

“Cousin?” Sariel asks.

“The daughter of Stella's sister, Sola. You shouldn't have too high hopes for her. She isn't as talented as you and only a little older.” I explain, trying to dampen Sariel's expectations of the new playmate.

“Come on, we have to go.” Stella rushes out of the room, so I pocket my newest creation and follow her with Sariel in my arms.

Half an hour later we are in the palace's throne room where I get a forceful update on what's going on. Apparently Helen and Lucas decided to combine the forces of Nict, Dwem and Quinn. The rulers of the other nations already gave their approval.

For that purpose we'll establish a fixed trade with Quinn through the usage of my stepper discs. We already got quite a few magicians from them and even if they are untrained, they are more than able to operate the discs after a few instructions. That frees our trained personnel from wasting their time with the transportation of goods.

The second big point is that we'll build a fleet of flying fortresses to strike at our enemies. The plan is to use them in order to subdue our aggressive neighbours as the fortresses get finished. Once we have enough of them to hit the second continent, we'll organize an attack.

In the meantime our big transport drones are used to smuggle highly trained operatives to the second continent. They'll learn about the culture there and try to obtain the information we need to plan our offensive.

At this point even knowing where their major cities are located is of great value to us. Of course we expect to lose many of those spies, but that's the reason why we send only mind magicians. They'll have to grab an unimportant farmer to learn the language and customs. If we find their capital with the so called Master it would be worth the cost of lives.

After everything is said and done Helen calls everyone of the family closer to the throne in order to move to the last point on our list.

“Then it's time to take a look at Jeremiah.” Helen's voice echoes loudly through the throne room. “Let's see if he has learned something from his imprisonment.”

The doors open and a pair of guards pulls Jeremiah into the room. He looks defeated and wears dirty rags. Though he had enough to eat and drink, he still got a little slimmer.

When they drop him to the ground he immediately gets to his knees and glares at us. “How dare you to do this to me!?”

“Because of your crimes against the royal family of course.” Helen explains while brushing her fingernails on her formal robe. Like always she isn't wearing anything too extravagant.

“Have you finally come to your senses? We need information about your brother and the vault.” Lucas asks Jeremiah with a grave voice. Then he lifts the suitcase, which he got from Stella, and pours the remains of the Emperor's artefacts on the ground in front of Jeremiah. “We disassembled these artefacts to learn more about their assumed function as keys, but found nothing.”

Jeremiah's jaw drops as he stares at the remains. “You destroyed my sword! That was a memento of my father! I'll punish you for this!” He jumps to his feet and twists his cuffed arms out of his shackles.

The metallic handcuffs fall to the ground as the maniac spreads his arms wide.

“I call upon the heavens!

Come forth storms of old!

I am the one whose will is done!

Make the black cloud overhead and rain ice like glass!

Not you, nor any other can fathom what is nigh!

Tear this town asunder!”

The echo of his chant dies away while we are watching him with expecting expressions, but nothing happens.

“I was right.” Lucas reaches for Helen and hugs her from the side. “You know what that means.”

“Tch! And I thought that a little over a year in prison would soften him up!” She shakes her head. “It's my fault for losing the bet against you. I shouldn't have underestimated someone as old as him. Probably he suffered through much worse than our special prison.”

Sola nods and gestures at Jeremiah. “I didn't expect him to try to eradicate the city as soon as his handcuffs are off.”

Valda snorts. “It's as I said, you should let a few magicians mind-wipe him. It would be far kinder and his life expectancy allows for a proper retraining. I've never heard of someone regaining his social skills after being locked away for years in a small room. The idea alone is preposterous! How should he? It would be a true miracle.”

Jeremiah starts shrieking in shock. “Why!? I sanded them through! They are off... oh...” He takes a look at his wrists where my handcuffs sealed his abilities before.

But the handcuffs were only a part of our safety precautions. You have to be very careful with a being like him. Hidden under his handcuffs are sealing tattoos like those used for children. Apparently he didn't see them in his dark cell.

Of course there are a few more lines of defences in place.

Helen sighs heavily and gestures for me to do my part. “A mind-wipe is too final and I am still hoping to return a great spirit like him to the right path. We'll try again another time.”

I step closer towards Jeremiah, whose eyes are starting to turn wet, and put a new set of handcuffs on his hands. Is he seriously starting to cry? “Those are sturdier. I suggest cutting off your arms the next time.”

.