Law of Shadows, page 41
It certainly forced them to move their plans forward. I allow myself a few moments of silence to gather my thoughts. “You are probably right that they wouldn't present themselves as openly if they didn't have something as simple as a nuke covered. I still think that I should strengthen my Veil to the point that only humans are let through.”
Closing my eyes, I concentrate and give the necessary instructions. The Veil only interferes with beings who hold a certain level of magical power. Anything else is let through without causing problems. As the creator of the Veil, I can adjust the settings. It certainly won't stop someone determined from pushing his way through, but it will at least alert me to the fact that someone entered my territory. Sadly, this won't protect me from a fairytree which opens a portal directly in my territory.
I sigh and get to my feet. “Talk with the others about necessary steps to defend ourselves. I have to go to Hatlix. We have to finish that thing and activate it earlier than I expected. A few more weeks of testing would've been more to my liking, but Fate seems to have other plans.”
61. ~Priorities~
“Everyone has his own, little, problems.”
A memory of the Old Ones.
Carinthia
Sely
It has been a week since the fae decided on open warfare against us and the world is falling apart bit by ugly bit. Millions died in the first night and the casualties are piling up. It doesn't matter that most humans had a sudden change of heart and are now working together with the supernaturals. The various clans are also lending a hand. In some cases, our people even took charge of the resistance, which was openly encouraged by our elders.
It won't change the fact that the world will never be the same as it was when this is over. According to a rough estimation, the dead must number in the millions. Oh, I've no doubt that we can at least hold the fae back for a little while longer. Our people are very crafty when it comes to unorthodox warfare.
The average fae, at least a regular soldier, isn't much more powerful than a human when it comes to magic. It seems like their breeding methods diminished the magical potential of their offspring with each generation. Maybe that's the reason why they are so desperate.
Though their magic is weak, they are numerous, and quicker and stronger than the average human. They also have the advantage of healing faster than any human could ever hope to. In addition, they can resist most of the nasty stuff which is used in chemical warfare. Lastly, they are armed with modern weapons, which makes them superior to any human army.
Someone among the clans quickly realized that and devised an alteration to his Veil, giving it the ability to cast a focused area spell, which tries to ignite combustibles. It isn't perfect and ignites only one of ten shells, but that's enough. Cast it on an army which relies heavily on guns, and the effect is pretty devastating.
The spell is crude, hard to aim and very chaotic. But that’s the reason why it’s so good. What’s chaotic, is hard to counter.
Having one of ten shells explode doesn't mean that the fae troops will be suddenly without their weapons. But it certainly gets all the magazines. And no matter how fast and strong the fae are, being reduced to rifles with only a single shot makes all the difference when your enemy has access to automatic weapons.
It's also not very reassuring to carry a weapon which could fire at any moment without your consent. All the clans relished the idea and I am pretty sure that by now, all the Veils around the world have such a function. Together with a few more nasty surprises. I heard that one clan found a way to pressurize the city's sewer system, pumping all the ugly stuff into the area with the fairytree, flooding it.
They are now waiting for its roots to rot. I hope it works and doesn’t just fertilize the damned thing.
But it doesn't change the fact that the fae are a relentless wave, spilling forth from the large trees with sprouted in every capital. For every fae who gets killed, there are two more to take up his weapon. In some regions, they even bring heavy weapons like tanks and artillery to bear. Or they use the ones which they captured from the humans. I am not entirely sure of that.
What I am sure of, is that this is just the first step in a much larger campaign. So far, all they have been doing is to establish bridgeheads. At some point they will have to move out in order to conquer the rest of the world.
In some places, the situation is so dire that the remaining government officials authorized the use of dirty weapons. China and the USA even resorted to nuking their capitals. Magnus suggested that from the start, but he also doesn't care much for human lives. As long as he can test the fae's defences to rule out certain weapons, it's all the same to him.
I have no illusions about my dear partner's character.
Of course, the nukes failed. The fae found a way to create really strong shields, which they use to defend their portals. Admittedly, the nukes bought a little time by wiping out a large number of fae around the portals, but those were easily replaced by even more soldiers.
Now the human soldiers face the problem of radiation while the fae are fairly unconcerned by it. They inherited that trait and their long lifespans from us.
I sigh heavily while I listen to the hastily assembled war council of our territory. It consists of Eva, Paul and Adam. So far, they did a fairly good job in keeping the humans from panicking. I also admit that taking control of the local news transmitter had a lot to do with it. We censor everything that even hints at this territory being in danger. At first, Eva wasn't exactly thrilled by the idea of informational warfare, but she quickly admitted defeat when she saw how badly countries like France are dealing with the situation.
The huge amounts of refugees who try to flee from one war zone to another aren't exactly helpful in keeping law and order. At this point, France is pretty much non-existent as a nation.
“Is there anything else we can do?” I ask the others. “We could try to close off the Veil completely. If you think that total isolation is a good choice. I am fairly certain that we won't hear anything helpful from this country's government. Their military pretty much abandoned this area when they were ordered to move against the capital.”
Not that this country had any mentionable forces to begin with. They will have a hard time holding the fae back. It’s just good that the clan which is holding Vienna is an old and large one. From what I heard, the town is a pile of rubbish by now, but I am sure that the Old Ones who own the territory won’t give up their home so easily.
Eva shakes her head and Adam doesn't have more than a few reassuring words to add, “I ordered all the Krampus to uphold the law. We even conscripted some humans as assistants. They are more than enough to deal with their own kind.”
Paul nods and gurgles. The little man and his people are one of my hidden trump cards in our defence. “The lake is ready. We are ready to change the weather at any time. Should anyone decide to move against this territory, they will have to deal with rain, storm and drown in a flood of water.”
“Thank you. If there is nothing else, you should take care of your duties. I'll talk to Fiacre about the Veil. She mentioned that she might be able to adapt some new changes. At the moment, the elders are making everything that could be helpful public knowledge.”
I am interrupted by the opening of the door to the conference room, which grants me sight of my little sister. Annia's eyes are red and there are tears on her cheeks. For a short moment, I see her eyes flash with red light. But it's gone in the blink of an eye, leaving me with the question of whether what I saw really happened, or if I imagined it.
Annia storms into the room and hugs me. “They did it! They really did it!”
Oh, by the gods. What did the fae do now? It must be horrible for Annia to be affected. I educated her to be a tough woman who can take care of herself. Nothing short of the end of the world should make her cry. “Shh, Honey. There is no need to cry. What happened? Tell me.”
“They took down the internet!”
Her sorrowful sobs are the only noise in the otherwise silent room. I try to understand Annia's problem, but I fail to see the issue. “I am sorry? They took down the internet?” I turn her answer into a question, hoping for her to elaborate.
“Those bastards blew up the intercontinental data highways. I only have access to small parts of Europe! That's all! How could anyone do something so horrible!? The internet is holy, a vast well of information and entertainment!”
I reply with a hug. There is nothing else I can do. Seriously? Annia is that affected by losing some technological gimmick? I lived a large part of my life without computers, and she gets a mental breakdown because she doesn't have access to the net?
“I am sure that it can be repaired. We'll-”
Annia pushes herself away from me and her eyes flash red. “They have to be punished! I'll go down to the lab and help Hatlix and Magnus with whatever they are doing! We'll wipe them out to the last cell!” Then she storms out of the room, the same way in which she entered.
“Well.” I clear my throat force myself to smile. Then I turn my attention back to my three supernatural attendants. “It's hard when they reach puberty. All those unwanted emotions. The rage and frustration simply drives one crazy. My clan had to arrest me for a week before I stopped bashing in random heads. What's better than a good round of genocide to focus all those emotions on something productive?”
All three of them look at me with pale faces. I can tell that they want to be somewhere else.
62. ~It~
“We like new toys. That’s why we like the humans.”
A memory of the Old Ones.
Carinthia
Magnus
“So that's it?” Hatlix raises the small bubble of glass and inspects the surface for damage. It's nothing more than a small marble with a diameter of three centimetres. Inside it is nothing more than air and its surface is littered with delicate runes which hold the enchantments in place. It took the two of us three weeks to produce just one of these little wonders.
Grandpa shakes his head in wonder. “I admit that we wouldn't have solved the problems so fast without your help, Annia. What do you call it? Coding? It's certainly an interesting approach at placing enchantments on top of each other. Do you want to learn the craft from us? I think you could become an excellent enchanter.”
I raise my eyebrow and turn my attention to the gloomy teenager who poured all her energy into assisting us. She clearly played a role in the creation of this artefact. At first, we tried to achieve our goal with a single, complicated enchantment. It never worked out and we had to trash a lot of failed attempts.
It was Annia who suggested to stack several small enchantments on top of each other, each of them aimed at creating the spell matrix which we desired. I always did my enchanting like Hatlix taught me to, and he was caught inside the same thinking processes.
Sometimes, it takes someone to take a look from outside the box in order to find the solution.
But once the idea was on the table, we solved the problem of creating a stable spell matrix quickly. It took just a few failed attempts.
Annia shrugs, not realizing what great honour it is to be taught by Hatlix. I assume that he already forgot more about enchanting and artefacts than I'll learn in a thousand years. “If you want to teach me? I am not someone who would deny knowledge. And this enchanting thing seems very similar to programming. I can apply what I’ve learned about computer languages.”
Her eyes turn to the small bubble of glass. The delicate threads of silver and gold which form the runes on its surface seem like they could come off with a single rough touch. “So when will we use it? Right here and now?”
I clear my throat. “Do we dare to use it? Don't misunderstand me. After weeks of work, I would smash that little wonder just for the heck of it. At the very least it'll spell the end of all fae, but it could also doom us all. Just a little mistake in the spell matrix is enough. If this turns into a spell of wild magic, only the gods might know what will happen. If they exist.”
Hatlix clears his throat. “We could demand a gathering and allow everyone to decide? Then using this little marble can't be blamed entirely on us.”
Annia sighs. “Do you really think that it would make any difference? If the spell goes wrong, those who created it will be blamed, no matter what.”
I nod. “I am more worried about the other races. What will they do if we show them what our magic is capable of? Our people are already feared enough, not that it's a bad thing. With this, the others will freak out.”
Hatlix scratches his chin and sets the marble down onto a red cushion. It's enchanted to hover the sphere one centimetre above it to make sure that our weapon doesn't get damaged under any circumstances. “We can say that we could've done this any time we wanted to. It would make us look like very patient-”
“Genocidal!” Annia inserts her own two cents.
“Godlike!” I add absent-mindedly. The imaginary little-gamer-me who is sitting on my left shoulder is already rubbing his little hands. I wonder if there is a game which announces a kill-count after godlike? In terms of MtG, this little marble is the personification of a wrath of god.
“-and restrained beings.” Hatlix finishes his sentence.
I roll my eyes. “I seriously doubt that there will be any way to save our reputation once we let this genie out of the bottle!” I gesture at the little marble. Hadn't I created it myself, I wouldn't believe that it's a weapon of mass destruction.
But then again, my chewing gums aren't exactly safe to eat either.
Annia takes the cushion with the marble on top of it. “Let's go and see the others. They can add their own opinion as to whether we should use it, or think of something else.”
Together, we take the stairway from the basement. I call for Oilell and the brownie appears dutifully in front of us. A few instructions later, she disappears to call everyone into the garden. This is a grave matter, and I want everyone in our community to give their opinion. At least we can share the blame if something goes wrong.
A few minutes later, all the Old Ones and Oilell are assembled. I can see on their faces that they are eagerly expecting a solution to their problem. And we are the ones who are supposed to give it to them. They are waiting in a half circle in front of us. I give Sely a wink before Hatlix presents our creation.
Hatlix clears his throat and takes the cushion from Annia. “This is-” He stops, realizing something of importance. “Hmm. How should we call it? Something like this needs a name.”
“Wrath of god?” I suggest in a questioning manner. Okay, I admit that I am not very imaginative.
“The last device!” Annia calls out and claps her hands together.
Hatlix furrows his forehead and eyes the marble. “Let's name it 'The End'.”
Sely steps forward and shakes her fist at us. “Just tell us what it does! You three were holed up in the basement for four weeks, while we did our best to delay the fae! The siege on Vienna and several other cities was about to be broken several times! The various supernatural races even moved in to help the humans in holding the fae at bay.”
Really? I was so concerned with our project that I didn’t pay any attention to the war.
Hatlix clears his throat. “Fine. This little marble has a set of enchantments on it. Once the marble is broken, the spell will activate and wipe out the fae. But it could also be that the spell wipes out other races too. Or everyone.”
“You want to say that you don't know!?” Fiacre shrieks and is joined by Cecilia. “Old fool! Didn’t you make that thing? Why can't you say what will happen!?”
Leila raises her hand. “Can't we test it in a safe environment?”
Hatlix shrugs. “Yes and no. We obviously know what it should do. And we can't 'test' it, because we designed it to circumvent any known defence or containment. The spell is incredibly complicated and we didn't dare to run a 'test'.
“The enchantments on this marble are designed to create a spell matrix, which creates another smaller spell matrix and so forth until we end up with an incredibly small, self-replicating enchantment. The enchantment will continue to reproduce as long as there is enough energy available. Its nature should allow it to bypass most magical defences. We took the human idea of nano-machines and adapted it to nano-magic.
“The spell spreads like a living organism and should reach every notch and hole all around the world and beyond. As long as there is an open doorway, it will even reach Fairy. The various enchantments also interact with each other and check their surroundings for certain types of organisms. They recognize them by their magical signature, which is very distinct for every race. Once a certain threshold is reached, the various enchantments activate and release a little, localized disintegration spell. Any affected fae should turn to ash in the blink of an eye, or anything that is touched by their magic. The problem lies in guaranteeing that the spell doesn't change or mutate while it copies itself again and again. We tried to keep it as simple as possible, to reduce the chance of mistakes. We also tried to foresee various mutations which could change the spell's intention or turn it into wild magic.”
“We think that it will work!” Annia adds helpfully.
Hatlix huffs. “We think that the risk is minimal, but this is a new field of magic. Much like when we realized that E=mc².”
I look at their faces and try to make eye contact with everyone. “The question is, do we want to use it?”
Hell, yes! I want to use it and go back to playing cards.
63. ~Question~
“One can’t plan for everything.”
A memory of the Old Ones.
Carinthia
Sely
I stare at the small sphere which could be our end, or our salvation. The last four weeks were a single, relentless attack by the fae. We weren't directly involved in the fighting, but what we heard makes it clear that we have to do everything we can to prepare. I don't claim that I know all the details, but I've heard enough. This isn't a pitiful modern war which hardly deserves being called a war. Nowadays, soldiers shoot at each other and if there are five casualties it's seen as major losses.
