Wearing Power Armor to a Magic School

Dragon’s Heart Tower, Level 23, Hallway. Local Time: 0325 Hours.

Seconds after being teleported back to the Academy.

Emma Booker

[ALERT: TELEMETRY RESTORED]

[RECALIBRATING SYSTEMS, STANDBY.]

[PARSING CONFLICTING DATASETS, STANDBY.]

[ALERT: CRITICAL MISSION EQUIPMENT LOSS DETECTED… [1] EXO-REALITY COMMUNICATIONS SUITE (ECS)]

“Requesting Operator Status: Please confirm loss of critical mission equipment.”

“Confirmed.”

[Notice: Please file Critical Mission Equipment Loss Report Form EF-102.]

“Requesting Operator Status: What are your orders on proceeding following loss of mission-critical equipment?”

“...Delay and defer. Just give me a minute here, EVI.”

“Acknowledged. Setting reminder(s) for 1 Hour.”

“Thanks… I’ll think of something.”

Peace was a fragile thing. Like a piece of fine china or a statue made up of porcelain, it was beautiful and faultless, so long as it remained untampered and untouched.

So when the cracks start to show, or when a slight bump causes a small chip in the lacquer, it was easy to tell that something was off; that something had fundamentally changed.

Though what exactly constituted a crack, chip or nick was difficult to gauge when you were dealing with an interdimensional feudal empire of magic and sorcery.

Context and scale was key here, and whether or not the sudden destruction of an entire building in an idyllic town right next to one of the hearts of Nexian Academia constituted a crack in that facade of peace was anyone’s guess.

Personally though? I couldn’t see it as anything but a complete shattering of the porcelain facade that was Nexian peace.

But then again, it was probably my bias talking. It was difficult to really analyze the situation objectively with just barely half an hour separating me from the incident after all. That, and the dull aching of my right arm, and the distant ringing in both of my ears, still tied me to the reality of what had just happened.

A reality that the students flocking to the window had only the faintest of ideas of.

I didn’t know what brought me to the window, The Solarium Common Room as the EVI was quick to remind me as soon as it’d regained its bearings, because the most logical thing to do at that point would’ve been to cut all of my losses to debrief and reassess back at basecamp, i.e. the dorms.

In fact, the massive common room should’ve been the last place I wanted to be, what with the growing crowd of students in varying states of dress all huddled together near the floor to ceiling window.

But I couldn’t help it. I couldn’t help but to witness everything from this perspective, this angle.

Because it just felt so surreal.

I didn’t know how much of it was my own adrenaline-fueled high, and I didn’t know how much of it was just the sheer whiplash of that teleport back to the Academy, but it felt like with each tentative step forward, I was losing more and more of my focus.

It felt like I was on auto-pilot, like I was seeing everything from this weird third-person vantage point.

None of it felt real, and all of it just felt so… distant.

For the briefest of moments, I felt like I was floating, my consciousness detached from everything around me; unable to really process anything. Everything was just a blur.

With all of the noise, all of the murmurs, all of the whispers, all of them just blending together into an incoherent mess; like I was listening to the muffled sounds of a crowd from a room and a half away.

I felt my breath hitching up, only to be reminded of my breathing exercises by the EVI, which helped, but not by a lot.

It was at least enough to keep me grounded without stepping into hyperventilation territory, and it was at least enough to keep my focus squarely on what I was here to see.

The town, or more specifically, a part of the town that should not have been this bright this late into the night. A part of town that had always been sleepier, and barely lit up compared to the rest of the medieval urban sprawl. A part of town that had no business lighting up the surrounding area like a poorly placed leis-com development smack-dab in the center of some middle-america heritage town.

A part of town that was the source of that plume of pitch black smoke that rose up lazily against a rapidly approaching dawn.

“-was anyone awake when it all started?” I finally heard a voice piercing through the sea of miasma that had been my mental fog, a voice that was loud, commanding, and imposing enough that it not only penetrated through the mumbling crowd, but caused it to practically die down in the process.

The speaker’s identity was promptly identified for me, as the EVI highlighted his form from the shapeless crowd, and superimposed his name and identifier next to the transcribed speech.

ENTITY IFF CONFIRMED: A10 QIV RATOM - BARALON REALM [NEUTRAL]

But in typical Nexian fashion, instead of a straightforward answer or something even remotely constructive, there was always someone ready to redirect the conversation towards some petty exchange.

“As much as I must applaud your barely-disguised opportunistic zeal, there are far less blatant means of ascertaining the sleeping habits of our fellow floor-compatriots, Lord Qiv Ratom.” Another voice from the crowd emerged to directly challenge the lizard man, a voice that belonged to another student that the EVI had logged during orientation day, but that I’d already dislodged from memory.

ENTITY IFF CONFIRMED: A43 AURIS PING - PRONARTHIA REALM [NEUTRAL]

If there ever was proof that physical size doesn’t translate to how much space someone takes up in your brain, then it’d be them. Because I don’t even know how I managed to forget this hulking mass of an anthropomorphized bull, horns and all.

A small clearing had formed in the crowd now, with a completely empty tract of space opening between the lizard and the bull, allowing them unimpeded line of sight.

“And what, pray tell, might I do with such worthless information?” Qiv responded indignantly.

“It was not I who initiated this question with blatant disregard for its ramifications, Lord Qiv. That is a question that only you will be able to answer. I will by no means draw up excuses for some trivial plot-”

“Ahem.” A voice finally pierced through the sudden bout of bickering, a soft voice belonging to yet another faceless student, that despite being barely audible against the growing argument was somehow capable of stopping it in its tracks. “I was awake, and I believe I saw, felt, and heard the explosion… before I sensed any disturbances in the manastreams.”

ENTITY IFF CONFIRMED: A72 ETHOLIN ESILA - RONTALIS REALM [NEUTRAL]

This answer, for whatever reason, elicited a series of shocked gasps, followed by hushed whispers.

“Seeing and hearing before sensing a mana-field disturbance? What a joke.”

“Oh please, stirring up melodrama for the sake of a brief flicker of attention is not wise you know.”

“Hah! Refrain with the accusations to the content of this one’s character my friend, it is just as likely he speaks the truth… which would indicate that his realm has sent the Academy yet another of below-average stock.”

“Below average is one way of putting it, there exists no possible reality where one senses the physical repercussions of mana, without first sensing a disturbance in the manafields. Only half-blind peasants would be so capable of such incompetence.”

The hot-takes were destined to go on and on, if it wasn’t for the newly emboldened confidence of the one who started this whole conversation in the first place. “You too, Etholin?” Qiv suddenly proclaimed, once more silencing the crowd, eliciting only a sheepish nod from the smaller, ferret-like student.

“Yes Lord Qiv, I swear it on my family honor. This was an event unlike any I’ve experienced. This… felt like a devastating release of physical energy, without the requisite of mana.”

The whole room suddenly erupted in a series of difficult-to-make-out noises, all of which were promptly analyzed and displayed in a neat little row of text courtesy of the EVI.

All of which however, seemed to all point to one general consensus amongst the group: shock and disbelief.

“Impossible.”

“The boy is delusional, perhaps he should be sent to the infirmary!”

“An explosion of such immensity can only be derived from the intentional manipulation of mana!”

“Lord Qiv, why waste your time on a second-rate merchant lord?”

“Please do not humor this one, Lord Qiv, it is clear he only wishes for your attention and will speak of anything to attain it.”

This continued for a few more minutes, until finally, Qiv once more broke the unintelligible murmurs with a loud, imposing voice. “Then why are all of you here?” Qiv proclaimed, causing the crowd to once more go silent. “You could’ve simply watched on in the comfort and privacy of your own rooms, yet clearly, all of you have decided against this. So pray tell, why are all of you present here, together? Is it to collectively gawk at the destruction of some commoners? To point and stare at a matter entirely beneath our stations? Or is it because all of you present likewise felt this aberrancy? An aberrance that I know none of you dares to be the one to openly acknowledge first, because not a single one of you has the spine to do it.” He glared accusingly at the crowd, before unsurprisingly shifting the focus back towards himself. “You need someone of stronger will and braver character to take that first step. Just as I was the first to brave the ceremony of scholarly rights, so too am I the first to bravely initiate this line of conversation.” The man placed both of his hands on his hips, standing in what I could only describe as a victorious pose befitting of a third rate superhero.

This, surprisingly, was enough to get more than a few of the students to nod and murmur in agreement.

Tentative statements of acknowledgement began to follow suit.

“On second thought, perhaps I did feel something strange.”

“I had initially assumed it was simply an oversight. You see, I was deep in my own intellectual pursuits, so much so that I perhaps had purposely shut off my mana-field sight for the purposes of concentration. It would seem as if this might not be the case after all.”

“Ahh, likewise, likewise! I too was deep in scholarly pursuits! Preparing myself for the semester ahead with some preemptive reading. I didn’t wish to believe I’d experienced the physical effects of an explosion without first sensing its mana-field disruptions.”

Clap. Clap. Clap.

A series of slow, purposeful, dismissive claps stopped the train of acknowledgement in its tracks, pulling the wind right out of Qiv’s sails. “Very well spoken, Lord Qiv. You have somehow managed to duck and weave unreality into reality, manipulating the narrative as a rallying cry.” The man soon turned to the group, causing a few smaller students to step away in fear. “A rallying cry for fools at best…” He paused, staring each and every student in the eye, before zeroing in on Etholin and the small group of students that had come to Qiv’s side of the argument. “... and outright heretics at worst. You may have taken the initiative at the ceremony of scholarly rights, but it is clear that you have misconstrued bravery with brainless foolishness.” The bull quickly turned to the crowd once more. “So-called bravery of this sort, is more akin to reckless abandon, than worthy gallantry.”

The wide, open gap between the somehow still well-dressed Qiv, and the absolute behemoth that was Auris had only widened at the conclusion of that jab.

I could feel all eyes in the room focusing on them instead of me weirdly enough, and for a moment I almost forgot my own circumstances, feeling as if I was somehow propelled into some magical school drama.

ALERT: LOCALIZED SURGE OF MANA-RADIATION DETECTED, 950% ABOVE BACKGROUND RADIATION LEVELS

All of that quickly changed however upon the sudden surge of mana-radiation. One that beckoned the whole student body to once more turn their attention towards the windows, just in time to witness a shiny, shimmering ball of light rising up from the billowing plumes of smoke below.

A glistening source of light, in the shape of a crystal dragon.

The winged beast practically radiated light, illuminating the town below in irregular splotches and patches of multicolored light, most of which were tinted in shades of purple, pink, and lavender.

Yet there was no cry, no roar, only what I could describe as a gentle, almost imperceptible sound that resembled the clinking of glass.

The whole room went silent, all of the petty drama completely sublimated away in an instant, as only the distant sound of windchimes echoed. The dragon seemed to pause above the massive lake separating the town below from the Academy above. It hovered there for a few tentative seconds, rearing its head, then its whole body towards the Academy, and towards us in particular. This stare intensified, as if it was trying to find something or perhaps someone. But just as quickly as it’d initiated that staredown, so too did it abruptly leave. With only a few powerful flaps of its wings, it began ascending, flying up and out of sight, rising above the clouds leaving only a contrail of brilliant light in its wake.

Light, which seemed to crystallize into what I could only describe as sparkling snow, but a brief zoom of my suit’s optics soon proved to be otherwise; as each and every shard that sparkled was a small chunk of crystal.

The whole room erupted in a completely new topic of discussion, their petty arguments suddenly forgotten, as the new focus was squarely on the dragon.

It was at that point, as the group began once more descending into a series of hushed mumbles, and as the lizard and the bull seemed to back away from one another’s throats, that I finally took my leave.

As I slowly, and very carefully, backed off from the crowd and back towards the hallway which led to my dorm.

Thankfully, I didn’t have to walk far. The blue-robed Vanavan was considerate enough to drop me off in front of my dorm after all.

This little detour down the hall was just made a little longer because of my unpowered legs though, and with each strained step forward, I felt exhaustion quickly catching up with me.

Dragon’s Heart Tower, Level 23, Residence 30. Local Time: 0340 Hours.

Emma Booker

This all changed as soon as I opened that door, back into a space that I was starting to really call home base.

It was then, as soon as I saw the two familiar figures standing across the room from me, that I suddenly felt a sharp, focused gaze meeting my own.

An unhealthy mixture of exhaustion and pain all seemed to vanish, as did the thoughts and concerns still swirling about in a brain riding high off of equal parts adrenaline and panic.

I struggled to bridge the gap, but it was clear I didn’t need to, as Thacea approached with a series of slow, purposeful clacks of hard talon on exposed stones, before finally, she was barely a foot away from me.

I didn’t know why I did what I did next, but it came about so suddenly that I didn’t even question it.

What happened next just felt so natural, like it was second-nature to just do, as I reached out a single gloved hand and placed it on the princess’ back as softly as I could.

I could feel her whole body shaking at that, as a looming, anxious part of me quietly questioned the appropriateness of my actions.

That anxiousness was short lived however, because as soon as I felt that initial wave of sharp shallow breathing transforming into slower, deeper, calmer breaths, I knew that I’d made the right call.

And just as naturally as that physical gesture came to me, so too did a verbal response practically flow as if it was somehow rehearsed. “Knights don’t break their word, right?” I managed out, my mind instantly recalling the promise made an entire night ago, bringing a nerve wracking chapter of my life to a close with a cheesy one liner.

Thacea continued looking at me with those piercing eyes. However, instead of the polite, distant, cold, and calculating gaze I’d seen her wearing about half the time I was with her in public… this gaze was different. In fact, as strange as it might sound, it suited her more than that forced facade. Even if she was the first and only bird person I’d seen, even if I had no context on whatever constituted avinor beauty standards or what have you, there was a part of me that could just tell she was just prettier like this.

More accurately, there was just that latent part of me that just felt like that was the undeniable truth.

I slowly brought up my hand from her back, towards her shoulder, and stopped just shy of her lower neckline, eliciting what I could only describe as a series of slow slow coos. I could feel the avinor’s muscles tensing for a moment, feeling her head wanting to crook down towards my hand, but purposefully stopping before she could even manage an inch of movement.

We didn’t say anything over those tentative few seconds, the whole world seemed to melt away in that time, as only relief colored my world instead of the strange post-battle high that had kept me going for the past half hour.

“Please… don’t ever do this again, Emma.” Thacea finally broke the silence with a sentence that was first broken up into a heartful tone of voice, before shifting to something more contained and reserved.

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to-” I slowly began pulling my hand away, to which Thacea responded with a confused series of blinks. “-I mean, I’m sorry, I just thought…”

“I am talking about your disappearance Emma.” Thacea quickly clarified, eliciting a small cough of nervousness on my end.

“So you’re okay with-”

“It… It is understandable if earthrealm customs rely on more… physical means of conveying contextual nuances and undertones in conjunction with the spoken word. It wouldn’t be appropriate of me if I simply supplanted your customs with an attempt to impose my own…” Thacea began trailing off, as we both looked away sheepishly around the same time, before locking eyes with each other near-effortlessly once more. “With that being said, are you hurt, Emma?”

“I’m…” I paused, taking a moment to glance up at my HUD and the small list of injuries that existed. A list that would’ve looked more like a requisitions office receipt if it wasn’t for the armor shrugging off most of the force of the explosion. “I’m fine. Just a sore arm, some bruising, nothing too major.”

“Not too major?! You’re limping, Emma!” I heard a familiar lupinor voice suddenly enter the fray, having taken position right next to Thacea. “Stoicism is good and all, but you have to tell us if you’re injured. Must have been quite a fight if the black-robed professor managed to inflict even minor damage through that suit. Mind you, if the firm grip of a lupinor hand was unable to cause you to even flinch, then whatever the black-robe did must have been… quite extensive.” Thalmin quickly added. It didn’t take long for me to realize what he was referencing, as the memory of the bewildered face of a wolf prince gripping my wrists to no avail was still relatively fresh in my mind. “So, what exactly happened, Emma?”

Thacea took a moment to glare indignantly at Thalmin, though the prince simply shrugged it off.

I took a moment to consider how I could even summarize everything that happened.

It would take a good while, but I started the only way I could, by pointing out the window and at the devastation in the town below.

“That happened.” I spoke in no uncertain terms, as I could tell the exact moment the whole situation finally dawned on the pair. “It’s a bit of a long story, so why don’t we start where we left off.”

“Right then.” Thalmin nodded, as he glanced at my legs. “Well we better get you seated. Come on now.” He moved towards my side, making an actual effort in forcing my arm around the crook of his neck, wrapping it around his shoulders.

“What are you doing?”

“Helping you hobble forward. If you’re going to be this stubborn about an injury, let me be stubborn about being a fellow brother in arms, Emma.” Thalmin shot back with a friendly, toothy grin.

“Alright, thanks Thalmin.” I managed back with a tired smile, as the lupinor simply nodded, helping me as best he could towards the living room sofa.

Dragon’s Heart Tower, Level 23, Residence 30. Local Time: 0430 Hours.

Emma Booker

It took nearly an hour to explain everything to the pair. Most of it was straightforward, but some of it required more than a little elaborating upon.

Thacea’s reactions were nothing short of mortified all throughout. The clips I played from my interactions with Mal’tory in his office definitely didn’t help matters either, as it looked as if the avinor’s soul was forcibly trying to leave her body with each passing clip that was played. The intensity of the situation grew with each and every clip, until finally, we reached the final showdown.

Thalmin’s reactions however, were much more mixed. As evidenced by how silent he was throughout all of it, allowing Thacea to dictate much of the flow of the questions, before finally, he had one final word to cap off the whole debriefing.

“That… was nothing short of incredible.” He made an effort to pause, to slowly turn his gaze to face my own, though it was clear he wasn’t as practiced as Thacea was, as he struggled to lock onto what was behind the opaque lenses. “Cadet Emma Booker of Earthrealm, you have single handedly managed to prove your point by allowing those fools to play their game, earning their just desserts. Through no inaction of your own, and with the full might of Nexian incompetence, you’ve caused a world of pain to those that have purposefully wronged you.” The wolf began to cackle with glee. “Oh how countless generations of adjacent realmers would have loved to witness this. I am more than honored to have actively been a part of this story, even though I wish I could’ve played more of an active role in this epic.”

“Trust me, I’m starting to get tired of playing the leading role here.” I managed out with a tired chuckle.

It didn’t take long for Thacea to shoot me a curveball of a question however, as she turned towards me with a look of genuine concern. “So what now, Emma? With how you’ve worded your circumstances prior, you made it seem as if your home would have wished for some form of semi-regular communiques. What happens after this point, now that this is a physical impossibility?”

That reminder hit me like a sack of bricks. It was a far departure from the weird vibe of victory Thalmin had been showering me with prior. I didn’t have to think long about it before I responded though, and what I said was the plain, unadulterated truth. “Nothing good. Let’s just say it’s nothing good.” I began with a sigh. “The plan was to message home as soon as I was able to, and there was a time limit placed on how long they’d wait before eyebrows started being raised. I told you the previous night about how the ECS was supposed to work right? How, using the same logic as the tent, it’s just a glorified mana pump working in reverse? And how that’s supposed to fill up the crystal?”

“The minor shard of impart.” Thacea promptly corrected.

“Yes, that. Well, the number crunchers back at home estimated that this process, at the slowest possible rate of mana diffusion, should take about 4 weeks tops. Four weeks to get the crystal charged up enough to send a data package back home. So the cutoff point was set at 5 weeks, accounting for 1 potential week of calibrations after full charge-up.”

Thacea paused, as if pondering that number carefully, anxiously, before nodding in either agreement or affirmation. “Four weeks for a revitalization of a minor shard of impart is something I cannot comment on, since there is no precedent of such an occurrence happening in my realm. However, what I can say is that three to four weeks is approximately the same time it would take for the crystal matrices to realign, when the crystals are at an appropriate saturation of mana.”

I cocked my head at that, my eyes squinting as I shot the EVI a question regarding the so-called crystal matrices. What I got was paper upon paper of bleeding edge research that seemed to confirm a similar phenomenon. “So the recharge time isn’t the only limiting factor in communication.” I muttered out, trying to wrap my head around this. “It’s these…” I tried squinting at the 20-word descriptor that I quickly gave up on, reaching a similar conclusion the scientists at home, and Thacea seemed to have somehow agreed upon. “It’s these crystal matrices that need to realign before they’re able to shoot off an interdimensional signal?”

“Correct. Each time a crystal is used, the crystal matrices within deform, thus becoming inert. Natural realignment of the crystal matrices occurs in the presence of adequate mana, this phenomenon taking approximately three to four weeks to accomplish.” Thacea nodded. “The Nexus claims this to be a natural result of the limitations of the system. I’m certain Prince Thalmin can attest to the fact that whilst this may be true, this is also a means of ensuring a hard-limiter exists with regards to the frequency of communications that occur between the realms. With that being said, whether by coincidence or by intent, the timeframe imposed upon you is distressingly accurate, Emma.”

The room suddenly descended into silence once again, as I attempted to find a solution to a problem that clearly didn’t have one.

That was, until something lit up in Thalmin’s eyes, as he looked at the both of us with a renewed sense of hopeful glee. “Princess, these minor shards of impart grow naturally in the Nexus, right?”

Thacea seemed to immediately understand where the prince was getting at this as she quickly attempted to shoot down the idea. “Yes, but you cannot simply grab any would-be minor shard of impart in the hopes of aligning its crystal matrices in such a way that it would somehow bind with a previously half-broken one.”

A massive light bulb suddenly lit up in my mind, as I turned towards Thacea with a renewed sense of hope. “Yes but… what if you could?”

Thacea turned towards me with a befuddled stare. “Entertaining this thought, you would first have to obtain the complete and accurate breakdown of the fundamental building blocks of the crystal you wish to align it to-”

“I have them.” I interrupted with a confident grin.

Thacea, unfazed, pressed on. “Secondly, you would then need a minor shard of impart-”

“Which the Nexus has plenty of.” Thalmin interjected with a toothy grin of his own.

“Then third, and perhaps most impossible of all, you would need a highly skilled artificer to somehow, through some means, change the natural alignment of a raw shard of impart, to that of your intended alignment. Artificers who are more than likely locked away in the crownlands, with their allegiances completely bound to the crown, their lives soulbound or oathbound making them incapable of agreeing to any clandestine agreement.”

This seemed to be a roadblock that I should’ve expected. Though, with at least a rekindled hope that two out of three parts of this idea was within reach, I refused to yield. I maintained my gaze, with a look of hopeful desperation she couldn’t possibly hope to have seen under the helmet. “Is there any other way? Like, any at all?”

The princess gave out a slow, sullen sigh, her head craning towards the massive windows and the town that had just stopped billowing out smoke.

Seconds passed, then minutes, before finally, something dawned on the princess. Her eyes seemingly locked on to the trail of glittering shards of light left behind by the dragon; specks of light which remained suspended in the air. “No, there is not. I cannot think of any other way to go about this.” Thacea began, before promptly shifting gears on the spot. “But I know of another winged ally who just might.”

[REMINDER: 1 Hour has elapsed.]

[Alert: 1 Hour Deferral has elapsed.]

“Requesting Operator Status: What are your orders on proceeding following loss of mission-critical equipment?”

The EVI’s timing was impeccable this time around, as all I could do was to let out a brief grin of optimism, before responding not with words, but with a few deft movements of my fingers on my wrist-mounted datapad. “Set a new primary objective: Rebuild the ECS and reestablish communications with the IAS before the cut-off point.”

“Acknowledged.”