Steel and Mana

I was visiting Merlin this time around, finding him in his own library. As one of the leading figures within Avalon, his home was, of course, rebuilt following his ideas and desires. This is how he ended up with an entire library incorporated into the first floor and a laboratory put below it. I just hoped he wouldn't try to expand it and burrow further, straight into our sewers or something similar. Right now, he was standing before his massive, oval table within his library, having multiple pieces of documents put on it like a giant puzzle.

I knew what he was doing, as I also read and analyzed Elvira's messages. Still, I let him fiddle with it because I was occupied mainly by visiting the excavation site and planning our hidden factory. What I understood from it was that the formation was indeed something akin to the Imaginary in the Ishillian warships. It was, essentially, an image recorder device, as I had previously guessed. The issue was that I couldn't tell just by looking at the incomplete spell and the pieces of it that Elvira had sent home and tell which type of images we were discussing. Snapshots? Looking like a PowerPoint presentation? Or is it more like a moving picture? What was the resolution? Was it as crisp and sharp as the Imaginary that we also used within our mechs? Or was it like a VGA camera from the old days…

Whatever it was, the spell itself no longer truly interested me. It was the design! Because we were stuck shrinking our spell down and implementing it into our helmets, this could be what would give us the inspiration and knowledge to overcome the energy issue. If we can crack this one, we may be able to manufacture helmets for my soldiers, one that would allow them to fight in a way no regular soldier can.

"You have done a lot, huh?" I asked after examining his drawings and determining what was missing from the device; he had already worked it out, including at least three alternative solutions.

"Ah, Leon! Yes, yes! It is a great design; I really like how it was made!"

"Prepare for a long explanation." Elena added with a whisper while walking in behind me, bringing freshly brewed coffee.

"Oh, thanks!" I stepped out of the way for her, watching her put down the tray and offer me a cup.

"Keep your grubby hands off of it!" She snorted, slapping Merlin's hand away before he could reach for the second mug. "That's mine, you get none!"

"B-but!"

"None!" She exclaimed, looking at him with eyes that could spit fire, making him shrink back and mumble something while playing with his fingers. "Last time I let him drink one, he was up for three days straight, waking me up almost hourly, wanting to teach me more runes."

"I did hear you are getting good with it!" I nodded, ignoring the frustration in her voice and also trying not to laugh. Well, my boy, it seems your girlfriend has the pants in this house. Good… You need someone who keeps you in line.

"That's… true, but not as you think!" She replied, blushing a little, not wanting to put herself on a pedestal. "Anyway, I am still just a novice, if I could even be called that. But Merlin is a good teacher... but not when high on coffee! He was unbearable, and then he crashed hard, sleeping the whole fourth day through… So no, no more coffee for him! Please, don't give him any while he is at work!"

"Sure." I promised at once, my lips twitching while I did my best to hold back my laugh. "Khm. So… What did we learn so far, Merlin?"

"It is for sure derived from the imaginary." He began, no longer looking troubled. Instead, he was like a little bunny, hopping around the table, searching for different drawings. "The parts we were sent back so far all confirm it because they match the details within the Imaginary after referencing them. The difference is that it has been extensively simplified. For sure, this device can't map large areas, it can't allow the user to zoom in or out, and it doesn't have any type of field of vision. It needs to be pointed at its target."

"Go on." I nodded after he stopped and kept sipping on my coffee.

"At the center of the formation, a palm-sized CC was used. I can already tell that even if we are missing that part. The formation surrounding it resembles a labyrinth designed to capture light. Its runes spiral outward in complex geometric patterns that not only make up its magic but are designed to bend and trap light itself!"

"It captures… photons?" I asked, unsure, because I was not an astrophysicist to get it, but Merlin's blank look was enough of an answer, "Don't mind me. Go on!"

"Um, yes….? Anyway… As usual, the formation hums to life when the CC is pressed into place. It begins drawing in ambient light through the box's lens. It is clearly designed for it to funnel light in! I tried recreating it, but my calculations clearly have… Issues."

"What issues?"

"Well…" he muttered, flipping through his papers, some of them wholly crossed out. "I get the part that it captures light. I know from you that our eyes are the same; we see the light, and our brains transform it into what we see. This thing is doing the same process… I just don't know how to get it out of it. ""

"What you see here..." Elena smiled while explaining, pointing at the different, alternate drawings fitted into the formation lying on the table. "He had basically already cracked it. We could recreate it, but Merlin cannot make it give back the light. To show us what was recorded!"

"It just doesn't fit!" He shrugged, rubbing his forehead. "The moment I try to include anything else in it, it falls apart. I already asked Mikan; her magic is more light-focused, but nothing has returned yet. At least, nothing that would work."

"So we can't develop the film, eh?" I hummed, rubbing my chin, thinking. Then, the idea came to me. We had cameras that could be given different lenses and connected to devices to export files, etc. Who says that's not the case here? "What if there is a second instrument?"

"Second… instrument?" They asked, looking at me.

"Yeah. One that would be connected to this and is the exact opposite, or it makes this one work in the opposite way. Instead of capturing light, it emits it, or more precisely, draws out what this one has captured!"

"A second apparatus…" they both murmured, their brains beginning to work on the idea.

"It makes sense." Elena nodded. "If you send a spy away with an artifact that can record its surroundings, you don't want the enemy to look at what it has within if the spy gets captured. I wouldn't be surprised if the one who gave it to the spy had the machine to check what was recorded!"

"Most likely. If this was made for spying, it has to have a decoder." I agreed while watching them as Merlin was already scribbling something.

"It will take time…" He explained, not even looking at us, "But I can come up with something!"

"Sure." I chuckled, ready to leave as it seemed our little meeting had come to an end. "Make sure he sleeps." I whispered into Elena's ears before nudging her a little.

"Haaah… No promises. He is more of a mule than a human…"

"Huh!" I hummed, crossing my arms, "Didn't know he was packing… He did grow up, after all!"

…
….
……

Within the capital city of Ishillia, Mirian had been feeling weirdly anxious for the past four days. She never could explain why, but something was… off.

"Are you worried you will have bad dreams again?" Milan asked, rubbing her shoulders as they were about to go to bed.

"I am a witch… These feelings are akin to premonition. It is either caused by Pascal or by the nobles' anger towards me. It very well could be the collective hatred that my mind perceives as danger."

"I'm a stranger to magic… so I can do nothing but believe you." He answered with a smile, kissing her face. "I listen to you."

"And I listen to you." She nodded, leaning back against his chest. "Although I want to have your baby, you are right. Our child would be in danger while Pascal lives…"

"We will have ample time!" He chuckled, and right now, on his stump, there was a golden arm, looking like a skeleton's, decorated with intricate runes and a pebble-sized CC on the top of its hand.

Since returning, Mirian utilized the wealth of the Royal Bloodline and their knowledge to craft it for her husband, giving his arm back in a way. She created something that was the privilege of true Ishillians, the bloodline of emperors, and to have an outsider wear such an expensive artifact was a great insult. Still, Mirian didn't care; she was just happy her husband could use it. Although he was still clumsy with it, and it had no feelings to transmit to his brain as Milan was not a mage, making it challenging to operate, he was slowly getting used to it. Furthermore, it was a protective artifact, as Mirian made sure it was equipped with a personal shield spell that would automatically activate so no assassins could try and kill her husband again.

"Today, we received new reports. Our allies among the nobles are growing thinner and thinner. Only lower-ranked ones are still with us; the others, relying on the reports coming from my sister, are probably under Pascal's command."

"I know…" She sighed again, "Even in the palace, it is getting hard to pass without attracting gazes, ones that I can feel would love to do nothing else but stab me in the back and take my throne. I knew the country was like a cracked master-level spell, ready to explode, but I didn't think it was this close to imploding. It will happen sooner than I wished for!"

"I kept doing what you asked me to," Milan whispered, hugging her closer to his chest. "The Judgment is almost full and ready to leave anytime. I am feeling a bit bad about branding the servants' minds to follow my commands…"

"They can't be trusted." Mirian answered immediately, "Don't feel bad about their fate."

"What I'm saying," Milan continued, ignoring the topic because he knew those people no longer had any free will left in them and would do anything they told them to. He wasn't sure what Mirian did to them, but he didn't want to know either. "It's that everything is ready. We can leave whenever. Are you sure we could escape if Pascal decides to block us?"

"Yes…" Mirian answered with a smile, "I am an Ishillian, too, you know. He may have lived longer, but all of our main branches of the bloodline have their secrets… And while he is three branches away from the Emperor of Magic, my blood is only 1 branch from him."

"I don't get it."

"We are a big family, Milly! One of my ancestors was the brother of the Emperor of Magic. Pascal's ancestor was his cousin… I know something that others don't~!"