The Magi's Society

Murano dismissed himself from Kalesi’s apartment. The four-armed man was shaken from the experience they shared over the last two days, the struggle to wrestle Mevi back into a semi-conscious state was difficult on both of them. He usually strode with an air of confidence that is natural for a Magicae, but as he departed he only carried a shroud of uncertainty and heavy exhaustion. He was originally confident in his ability to tutor Mevi, her potential for Magicae abilities were low he said. Murano was quickly proven wrong, and didn’t seem to have believed Kalesi when she reported strange shadows escaping Mevi’s room and attacking the girl’s body. When the two confronted the possessed room together, Murano seemed almost to shrink away in fear at the mere sight of the creatures. While Kalesi’s experience taught her not to fear anything she could face, and the monsters that were conjured seemed corporal enough for her to fight them in her own way.

Kalesi was left in the parlor of her apartment, alone. She had no company beyond her own thoughts and the mysteries that hung about the curtains and clung to the carpet. Since Mevi’s adoption into Kalesi’s household there had been incident after incident. Something was brewing, and she hated being left out of the loop. It is not unusual to have a strange experience with a Magi once in your life. Yet Mevi had not been within the Barge’s realm a week, and she already encountered not one, but two, Magi directly. If Kalesi included the cryptic warning from Masasi that claimed to be the voice of Counsilor Thra’Nasa, Mevi had three encounters with the Magi. They were obviously watching her, or interested in her, for some reason beyond Kalesi’s understanding.

Kalesi decided to run a medical scan over Mevi’s body as she slept, not having the chance to see her vital functions quantified since her initial recruitment. Without a Magi’s equipment and power, the scan would take time. Yet Kalesi was not in a hurry. She gathered the equipment needed and began setting up within Mevi’s room. She tried her best to remain quiet, but the moving of clanking materials was an unstealthy affair, but even so Mevi remained asleep. The girl was probably exhausted, the amount of events plaguing her in such a short amount of time had likely drained what little spirit the girl had.

The scanning equipment was set. A tall pylon, of sorts, that almost touched the ceiling. A long wire, connected to the tall conduit, which was inserted into a metallic bracelet fastened to Mevi’s wrist. Kalesi owned few advanced equipments, most of her toolset was meant for on-the-job tasks or fighting. She still had a few dusty items here and there, and managed to cobble together a sort of monitoring screen that could be carried away due to the wireless communication between the pylon. Kalesi set up her monitoring station in the pit of the parlor, where she could use the table for notes and to compile what little she knew about what was going on.

The machine took an arduous amount of time analyzing the data it received from Mevi. But the time gave Kalesi precious moments of empty thought. To be alone without eventful interruption or important tasks to attend to. She had become worn thin in such a short amount of time, but that could also just be her lack of sleep from her vigil with Murano. The piles of documents on the table made quiet vibrations as the data pads slowly came to life. The sound of a notifying beep brought Kalesi from her thoughtless state.

The monitor connected to Mevi beeped for attention. Kalesi was confused at the display, it read ‘Error, rescanning.’ That wasn’t something that should happen, perhaps the wireless communicators weren’t as strong as she thought. She left the monitor to its work and addressed the data pads before her. She had begun searching and compiling information in these brief moments of reprieve. She had notes on the three Lords who have made their influence known to Mevi. Lord Falcier, Lord Councilor Maphet, and Lord Councilor Thra’Nasa. While Lord Falcier could possibly be ignored as a major influence, the presence of two councilors within the same day intrigued Kalesi. What value, or threat, could Mevi pose to such omnipotent beings? Counsilor Maphet was the lord of knowledge, it is said that any and all there is to know is already known by the will of their inexhaustible curiosity. Then Counsilor Thra’Nasa, the militant lord of the Magi’s coalition of foreign legions. Two completely different, and essentially opposite, realms of influence.

The monitor beeped again, once again showing ‘Error, rescanning.’ The equipment was old, and unmaintained by Aedifexi, but it should not fail more than once. Kalesi rose and returned to Mevi’s room. Investigating the band, and ensuring the pylon was secure, Kalesi readjusted the equipment and returned to her study in the parlor. The monitor was processing once again, so Kalesi sat down back to her notes. Or lack of notes.

Kalesi held next to no information about either Councilors, and even less clues as to how a single acolyte could possibly warrant so much attention. Kalesi’s thoughts were drawn back to the waking nightmare that spiraled around Mevi’s room, a whirlwind of darkened shadow. It was strangely reminiscent of some Magi who flaunt their power to intimidate their followers or enemies. Mevi had been carried out of the Education Forum by Councilor Maphet; such a thing had never happened before, at least within Kalesi’s memory. A Magi does not touch a mortal unless it is to kill them in some glorious show of power. The idea was brought forward between her and Murano, Mevi’s lost memories were distinctly within the realm of time that she disappeared from Naazir’s pupils and was personally escorted by Councilor Maphet. They had both dismissed the idea as heresy before it had fully formed, but in the sanctity of her solitude the conclusion was drawn that the Lord Councilor was somehow involved.

A beep from the monitor brought Kalesi from heretical contemplation. The monitor showed the message, ‘Three consecutive failures to retrieve data. Display data anyway?’ Kalesi was confused, it had erred but had data to display? Without wanting to wait for it to conduct another scan, Kalesi brought up the ‘failed’ data. Her vital signs were quantified in an algorithmic method, most of which was lost on Kalesi. Her physical signs showed nominal, her injuries were gone, and she bore no sign of illness. Murano’s manaflow therapy seemed to have worked at least. Yet the next section of data was displayed with a message blocking it, ‘Data may be skewed. Show anyway?’ Kalesi quickly dismissed the message, not having time for the device’s warnings. Within this page there should be four sets of data. Mana, Essence, Compatibility, and Source.

Kalesi suddenly understood the warning that data was ‘skewed’. Kalesi’s own array would be something similar to “502 Mana”, “640 Essence”, “Low Compatibility”, and “128 Source”. Mana represents the speed at which mana flows into and out of a person’s body, as mana flows naturally at all times like oxygen. Essence was the purity of a person’s bodily mana, the equivalent of life force or mana that does not flow out of your body but rather stays within. Compatibility showed how easily, and effectively, a person could use Magi-tech and mana devices like a Maige. Finally Source, the representation of a person’s psyche and best descriptor of how powerful certain devices could be if said person used them. Mevi’s array showed around 200 mana, 100 essence, low compatibility, but 350 source when Kalesi first received Mevi’s readings aboard Lord Falcier’s ship. The monitor now showed “-368 Mana”, “0 Essence”, “?#&?@% Compatibility”, and “2340 Source”. To have negative mana meant that a body was actively losing mana faster than they naturally produced it, and this would conclude someone was dying very quickly. The rest of the readings made little to no sense, and Kalesi quickly determined the equipment was faulty. The error message was obviously right, some data was obviously corrupted or otherwise not translating from her body into the bracelet.

Kalesi had few choices she could make, and none of them gave her confidence she would find any answers. She was given little choice, she could either contact the Order of Magicae directly, await their inevitable investigator, or Kalesi could attempt to treat with Councilor Maphet’s followers to find answers. All of her options contained the threat of losing Mevi, and Kalesi could not risk that happening. Even while she protected Mevi she protected herself. If a Neophyte fails to rear an acolyte to a steward, their service to the Magi is severed. In the case of a Socialite, they would most likely be given as a tributary to serve a Magi Lord’s underbelly infrastructure. Kalesi had to be careful how to handle the situation, for both her and Mevi’s sake.

Kalesi determined the least heretical of options was her best chance to protect her household. She needed to contact the Order of Magicae and admit to the strangeness surrounding her pupil. Murano would not be able to make an official report until he finished his own duties, as protocol demands procedure. So Kalesi would contact his order first, and admit to everything she saw.

Kalesi began cleaning her equipment, and placing it within the storage spaces that were abundant in the overly large apartment. Once she finished she activated her interface to bring up the Aetheric Communication Network that was tied to her section of the City of Light. She began searching through the mental webbing of data, less a visual experience than a physical inclination of what she should be perceiving. The feelings, touch, even smells and tastes of a vast collection of thought and code. An almost overwhelming quantity of information barrages any unregulated stream of data, but all incoherent and without meaning or translation. Kalesi began traveling the neural highways to locate the nearest available Magicae mind, when her access was suddenly ripped away from her.

Kalesi fell to the floor clutching at her head, a sharp pain like being hit with a blunt object rang through her brain. She had been jacked, a crude term used by those in the Pipes, the term meaning someone was listening for her unique neural wavelength and forcibly blocked transmission or attempted to seize control of information streams. To be suddenly thrust out of the Network was dangerous, and painful, and few could manage the feet unless they were monitoring someone for a long time while they waited for a connection.

Kalesi was suddenly on edge. Still reeling from the sock of the jacking, she got to her feet holding the side of her head. Wobbling up the large steps she fell against the hallway wall. She needed to get to her room, to retrieve her weapons. Regardless if it was an accidental incident, or malicious attack, Kalesi would not risk being unarmed when so distraught. As she stumbled into the hallway and fell against her personal room floor, and quickly collected one of her war gauntlets. With it she could at least defend herself.

She rallied her willpower and rose, unsteady for a few moments, and slowly made her way into Mevi’s room. She would not risk leaving the girl alone after such an incident. Kalesi quickly stumbled into the room and sat on the edge of the bed, and closed the door slightly. Only a crack was left open, to allow sound and light to filter in so as to listen for potential invaders. But no sounds came.

Kalesi’s implant eventually rebooted, and ran its safety measures. The dazed feeling subsided after a few minutes of sitting and not moving. Kalesi was cautious, but decided to interface with her implant again. She slowly activated it, but did not make any attempt to access anything directly, she simply existed in the Communication Network and allowed the stimuli to pass over her consciousness. Eventually a ping at the back of her brain was sensed.

She felt some kind of request, a message, a transfer of information. It was from an anonymous source. It simply read ‘Cease investigation. Do not contact Magicae.’ The abrupt message, and violent method of communication, gave Kalesi cause to be worried. If whoever this was knew she was conducting research, what else could they possibly know? Did they simply recognize she was attempting to contact a Magicae, or did they know more than that and if so how did they keep track of her actions?

Kalesi attempted to respond to the message, to send some mental invitation to converse with the anonymous entity, but they seemed to have disappeared. As if they were never within the Network in the first place. Few, if anyone, could manage such an accomplishment. To mask your own mind and be seen as a non-entity, becoming anonymous, was already incredibly difficult and would require immense resources to set up such a system. Yet even then, if you conversed in any way with another being in the Network they could return in kind. There was no trace of the message, or the sender, there was nothing but empty void in the mental grid that spanned where a personality should have been. Did Kalesi imagine the message? No, she couldn’t have imagined something so specific. But to disappear entirely, and have your identity masked was impossible as far as Kalesi’s basic knowledge of the Network allowed.

Kalesi was suddenly acutely aware of her surroundings. The dark corners in Mevi’s room and eerie silence beyond the partially shut door. To say she was on edge would not accurately describe how Kalesi felt.

Kalesi stood up, carefully maintaining her balance as her body still recovered from the violent jacking. Leaving the room silently, she crept into the hallway. Yet she found no intruder, or unknown variable within her household’s apartment. She swept the entire apartment regardless, finding no sign of malicious activity or intrusion. Her own scans with personal equipment confirmed that nothing was amiss, but she felt something had to be. How could some unknown entity have predicted what she was doing, even with an intimate understanding of the Network no person or intelligence could possibly predict what Kalesi was searching for without knowing something about recent events. So whoever had reached out to her had to know something, or have some way to observe Kalesi’s actions, and were likely responsible for the jacking as well.

Kalesi had few choices remaining, fewer than she had previously assumed. She would not dare leave Mevi’s side after such an event, but her access to communication was somehow being monitored and prevented. She could only stay and wait. Wait until Murano completed his own tasks, and sent a Magicae after them, or until this unknown entity deigned to contact Kalesi again. Whatever the path that was taken, Kalesi somehow knew she would get little sleep in the coming days.