Spires

Southern California, Spring 2053

“No,” Nila said flatly.

She lay partially submerged in Threnosh healing gel.

A broken spine was no longer a crippling injury.

What was weeks or months when compared to the rest of her life?

“What about it do you not like?” Cal said.

She pulled her gaze away from the holographic projection.

His tentative proposal for an important and lengthy quest.

“The fact that it exists. This is sending people into danger. Just like Vancouver. Just like Manila. Just like every other stupid thing for the last 30 years!” she snapped. “The main ritual is somewhere in D.C., right? That’s what Ms. Teacher thinks?”

“She seems certain of that at least.”

“Then drop those stupid rods. Plug the variables into the computer and let the algorithms tell you where to drop them to destroy every possible place it could be hidden. It’s in the bunkers? Deep underground? Then go to space and drop an asteroid on it. You can contain the blast.”

“Hold that thought.” He deliberately stood from her tank-side chair to go through the bag on the counter.

Ice cream.

He had been idly keeping it cold by slowing the movement of molecules in a thin layer of air around the half pint cartons.

“I got some of your favorites. Matcha Crème Brûlée? Matcha Latte? Matcha Tiramisu? Ma—”

“My back is broken,” she narrowed her eyes, “I’m not cranky because I’m on my period.”

“This is the last batch Kynnro personally had a hand in making.”

Nila sighed.

“I was too slow. I had them in my arms. I should’ve been faster. Wasted the time Jayde gave us.”

Her eyes reddened, grew misty.

He left the ice cream to stroke her hair.

Black and straight.

As rich and vibrant as the first time he saw her all those decades ago.

Honestly, he didn’t even register that there were more strands of gray. More lines around her eyes and mouth.

“For being a woman over 60, you don’t look a day over 40,” he smiled sadly. “And a very young 40 at that.”

“I’d punch you if I wasn’t stuck in here.” She pouted.

“I’ll look forward to that… as always.”

“Talk to me about something else. Anything but this… this crap.” She dismissed the projection with a word. “How is our son handling this? He doesn’t talk to me about it when he visits.”

“Hmm, guilty, like you. I’m making him talk to a therapist, like everyone. It’s… it’s a process. I think once everyone is okay to spend time out of the tanks I’ll have you meet as a group with a therapist in addition to one on one sessions.”

“Not everyone will want to do that.”

“We’ll be gentle about it.”

“Ice cream me, ahhh.” She opened her mouth.

“Which one?”

“Surprise me.”

He reached out and pulled a cartoon out of the bag at random.

“No powers!”

“Tsk. I wasn’t going to use them.”

Cal proceeded to feed his wife with a gold spoon for the purest taste.

Every order came with a gold spoon because of Kynnro.

He fed her in silence, taking his tax every fifth spoonful.

They finished the half pint quickly.

“More?”

“Break.” A tube extended from the healing unit to give her a drink of water. “So, tell me something new. Nothing bad or business related.”

He raised a brow.

“Something happy.”

He thought about it.

It was hard to remember or notice that in the midst of violence and death there were always bright spots if one looked hard enough or allowed themselves to pay attention.

“Rynnen’s girlfriend is pregnant.”

“Um… Jenesis? So, that’s their 2nd?”

“No. That was, like, 2 years ago. This one is with Jacklyn.”

“He broke up with Jenesis?” She narrowed her eyes. “Why didn’t I know that?”

“Uh… cause he didn’t break with her.”

“Then who’s this Jacklyn?”

“She’s kind of new. I believe they got together less than 6 months ago.”

“Ah, well, that makes sense. The last time I talked to him was before that.” Her eyes widened. “Wait? You said he didn’t break up with Jenesis.” She made a face like a skunk had just wafted under her nose.

“I’m not going to judge.” He shrugged. “As long as everyone involved chose that life and they’re free to exit it at any time then it’s none of my business.”

“Your cousin knows that stupid anime is stupid because it’s not real life, right?”

“They all seem happy. I didn’t check, but emotions bleed through.”

“I guess that’s what matters.”

Nila opened her mouth.

This time they talked as he fed her and took his occasional tax despite her complaints.

“I don’t know how I feel about Lera’s dinosaur. It’s got a lot of sharp teeth and those claws, its got a giant foot one like in the movie,” she mused. “That scared me for, like, weeks.”

“I thought it was awesome. Kinda disappointing to learn that they didn’t really look like that. Colorful feathers just don’t look right. Less streamlined, less dangerous. It’ll be fine. He’s getting trained. Besides, he can’t hurt her.”

“I’m more worried about everyone else around her. What about her little faerie ferret thing?”

“Which can fly and teleport short distances.”

“Other kids and pets?”

“I think they’ve got it covered. Wytchraven wouldn’t have allowed her to keep the dinosaur otherwise.”

“You know I haven’t actually talked to her face to face. I mean her real face. It’s hard to make a connection with a cloud of black feathers.”

“If you want to do that you’re going to have to go to their little pocket in the Fae Realm.”

“I know. Maybe we should make concrete plans to do that.” She swallowed a lump in her throat. “I got so close to never being able to that.”

He cupped her cheek and kissed her on the forehead.

“Let’s plan a family trip. Once you’re done with the treatments and the defenses have been repaired and strengthened.”

She nodded stiffly. “It’ll be safer. Demigod bastard came for me. It’ll be better for everyone if I wasn’t here.”

“Just the three of us, maybe invite Kat if the rangers will let her have some time off. It’ll be like those road trips when Boy was a kid.”

“They’ve been together for a long time,” she mused. “Do you think…”

“I promised not to read your mind, unless the circumstances were ‘dire’.”

“Grandkids.”

“Meh… I haven’t changed my mind. Recent events only made me more sure. This isn’t a world for babies. Especially, those connected to us. They would be targets for an infinite number of bastards and evil things I can imagine.”

“You’ve kept Boy’s general identity out of their thoughts.”

“I can’t do the same to Suiteonemiades because of that helmet. But, I’ve watched the footage and gone over the memories with everyone there. I’m confident in saying he doesn’t know Boy is our son, nor did he make that connection despite your… lack of opsec. And I spent a few days making sure that no one will say those words out loud, accidentally or on purpose.”

Nila raised a brow.

“I know, I know. It’s not like I wanted to.”

“You have to keep our son safe. No complaints from me.” She chewed the inside of her cheek.

“What are you thinking?”

“I get that it’s not safe for babies.” She sighed. “Which means, if they were to get pregnant, then it’d be easy to suggest a move… to the Threnosh world. It would be years, over a decade, before the child can even start earning enough points to travel back here.”

“And obviously the parents, our son and Kat, would have to stay there that whole time.”

“Right, and since it’s clearly a better environment for a child, they’d have no reason to come back. It’d become a new home.” Nila smiled, pleased with her idea. “And we can visit easily since the spires don’t require us to use all of our points each time we travel.”

“I’d support the plan. Except, a baby is so far down the list of what they both want that it might as well not be on there.”

“I know. Just brainstorming.”

“Please don’t start dropping hints. I don’t need psychic powers to know that would just knock baby-making right off the list.”

“Of course not! I’m not dumb.”

“Dumb and desperate sometimes… well… a lot of the time turn into the same thing.”

“Well, what can we do to keep our baby safe?”

“He’s an adult. With superpowers and plenty of combat experience.”

“None of that matters to me. People, friends were murdered despite every advantage we’ve spent years building. Boy could be dead if any number of things went differently in that fight.”

She was right.

He had identified over a hundred pivot points, so to speak, during his review in which Boy or her, for that matter, could’ve died rather than one of the others.

He had constructed an elaborate web in his mind like a tangled network of yarn connected notes pinned to countless cork boards covering a room with countless walls.

A conspiracy theorist’s dream setup.

Or was it more of a nightmare?

The combinations of who lived and died were essentially endless.

He had compartmentalized them. Kept those emotions sequestered in a part of his psyche. He wouldn’t have been able to create their memorial statues otherwise. Wouldn’t have been able to think clearly about his future steps.

Had he allowed his emotions to rampage unfettered he might’ve done as Nila had suggested.

Revenge on Suiteonemiades regardless of the costs. Ignore and rationalize collateral damage like the old Americans did.

Washington, D.C. was seeing an influx of people.

Some had chosen.

Others had the choice made for them.

He could read their actions.

Human shields and potential fuel for the ritual.

So much unnecessary death.

For what?

Territory?

Control?

Sometimes, during his darker moments, he thought about letting it go.

Earth being a Terminus World meant that there’d be no end to the violence.

No end to the struggle.

Why continue?

The rational, optimal decision was to stop playing the game.

Just stand up from the table and leave the casino.

There were an infinite number of worlds.

The Threnosh world was an objectively safer place to live.

“Have you thought about it?”

“Your world is my world. We’re not separating. Never again.”

“Manila then?”

She pursed her lips.

“You’re basically in charge of running this place. No one better to oversee getting our operation transferred.”

She pursed her lips harder.

“Nila, love…”

“I was under the impression that I was done with that. They don’t have a Danger Complex, but the rest of it’s basically the same. Since you started it. I won’t step on anyone’s toes. Also, my spine is broken.” She squinted at him.

“Obviously, recovery and healing is your first priority, but after…”

“I’ll help as needed and only if asked.”

She spoke with finality of a vault door slamming shut.

It was just as well.

The important thing to him was that she wasn’t going to put up a fight about leaving.

“How’s the process going so far? I’ve been reading some of the reports when I get bored of watching shows.”

“Efficiently. Only a few of our people opted to move to Manila right away. Same with those moving south. Most decided to stay and continue. They’re putting off their final decision until the end.”

“You know, I never thought that this dingy hotel casino was going to become our home. I’m going to miss it.”

“Home’s where you and Boy are for me. Nothing else matters.”

She smiled sadly. “That’s easy for you to say since you don’t care about the weather. I’m definitely not going to enjoy the humidity. It’s just wrong to feel sweaty right after you take a cold shower.”

“Climate controlled buildings. Exponentially better with minuscule impact on the environment thanks to magic and advanced technology. Enclosed walkways means that you can practically go anywhere in Manila without having to be outside.”

“That’s true. Not that I’ll be doing any walking for awhile.”

“The hover chair pod thing is ready and waiting, Professor N! Fully loaded and tricked out with shields, guns, lasers and stuff!”

“Stupid demigod,” she spat.

Suiteonemiades had done something or perhaps it was a natural effect of the divine energy.

Experts, medical and magical, had agreed on that nebulous assessment on why all their healing methods hit some kind of invisible ceiling for all those that had directly fought the demigod.

Even connecting her nerves with his telekinesis down to the molecular level hadn’t instantly restored the ability for the nerve impulses to travel from her brain down past where the break had been.

Bones, tissue, nerves… everything was technically fine.

“Hopefully, Megan can do something before they leave.”

Biomancy was different from healing.

He hoped that his sister in-law’s higher level and more advanced class would be the difference compared to the biomancers that had tried and failed.

“Speaking of hover chairs… how about finally watching that cartoon with me?”

“I’m not a captive audience.”

“C’mon…”

“I did watch, like, the first 3 episodes with you once. Like, before the spires.”

“Did you?”

“Don’t pretend you can’t remember. I distinctly remember terrible animation and over-acted dialogue.”

“Well, the first thing’s unavoidable since it was from the 90’s. And the second thing’s part of the charm. It’s like me watching black and white movies with you.”

“No way! They couldn’t be further apart in terms of quality. I watch classic movies. You watch bad cartoons.”

“Just try it again. Maybe time has allowed your tastes to mature.”

“No,” Nila said flatly.

“Boy?”

“What’s up, Dad?”

“You busy?”

“Nope. Just finished the daily scan and checkup. All good and normal.”

He unconsciously touched his stomach.

There had been a hole.

He hadn’t truly realized it at the time, but it had mostly closed by the time the battle had ended with his aunt’s arrival and the demigod’s forced departure.

That wasn’t the healing gel’s doing.

In fact, none of their healing methods were working well on those injured by the demigod.

He was hopeful that Aunt Megan could do something for them.

Tabitha wanted a new, real, natural arm, not a magitech prosthetic or any other weird replacement.

“Yup. That makes 20 straight days of a clean bill of health.”

“Physically. Your mental and emotional state…”

“Yeah, yeah. I know. I’m cooperating, right?”

“Which I appreciate. Which is why I wanted to go over something with you before you take off.”

“Sure. I’ve got time before training. Hit me with it.”

“In person.”

He suppressed a sigh.

“I’ll be right there.”

His dad was in an office behind the front desk at the lobby according to the map projection from his watch.

The hotel-casino hadn’t been repaired beyond the removal of debris and making it safe from possibly collapsing.

What was the point when they were abandoning it eventually?

Most of their operation was being moved to Manila.

The only home he could truly remember was going to end up as a stripped down fort.

Ghosts of a child’s laughter and cries flitted across the hallways which his dad had once turned into a cardboard dungeon to be delved and plundered.

As soon as he walked into the office his dad grabbed him in a hug.

“Uh,” he patted his dad on the back, “I just saw you yesterday.”

“So?”

“Nothing. So, what’s up?” He grabbed a seat, while his dad went back to the business side of the desk.

“Couple of things actually. Family vacation plans are on.”

“Mom’s not better yet.”

“She said not to worry about it because if we wait too long for that, then the trip might not ever happen.”

“Um… okay… but what about the whole war thing?”

“Well, everyone’s learning what war looks like when individuals become, essentially, walking weapons of mass destruction.”

“We’re just staring at each other.”

He laughed at the thought that the Americans had gone through all that effort to rebuild their arsenal only for his uncle and dad to wreck their ships, planes and tanks from the sky.

The ritual ban thing kept them from entering territory, but it didn’t stop them from throwing giant rocks, burning and smashing the toys.

Hiding what they could in underground bunkers made the stuff just as useless.

The only real clashes were the occasional skirmishes between the skyships and the harpies.

The latter only sortied when they could confirm that his dad and Uncle Eron where elsewhere dealing a world event or three.

Truthfully, the North American continent was the quietest theater in the world.

Other outworld polities had turned up the heat on their invasion plans.

From what his dad could gather from reading minds, it appeared that they had come to a tentative agreement behind the scenes to carve up the Earth imperialism style. At least for now.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out those agreements and truces would only last as long as the different sides benefited from them.

“Is it okay for you to be gone?”

“It’ll only be a week. And it’s not like I’m going to announce it.”

“I guess I’ll ask for time off.”

“Last week of June.”

That was a couple of months away.

Plenty of notice time for the rangers.

Not that he had been cleared to return to duty.

“You should invite Kat.”

“I’ll do that.”

“Alright, good!” His dad grinned. “Now, that’s the good news out of the way.”

“There’s a bad news?” He frowned.

“For me, it is, but not for you, I think.”

“Weird, but I’m listening.”

“We have one main problem.”

“Suiteonemiades. He’s too strong for everyone, even teaming up. You, my uncles and aunt can handle him. I’m not counting anyone not on our side, like Tlaloc or the Phoenix Empress. And it’s a moot point since the pantheon’s laid claim to North America. He’s not going to risk attacking Tlaloc because that’ll give you an opening. And it’s obvious that he’s probably thinking the same thing since he’s been hiding behind the ritual barrier thing this whole time.”

“I can’t reach him, but I can reach others. Did some long distance reading and he’s framing it as allowing the Americans the opportunity to level and prove themselves worthy. Plus, he’s ‘graciously’ allowing them to upgrade their military with knowledge and some materials from the pantheon.”

“You’re going to wreck them.”

“When they’re almost done. No need to let them know that their latest secret labs and manufacturing plants aren’t so secret until the last minute.”

“It would be devastating to morale.” Alin mulled it over. “Taking him down won’t matter if you haven’t decided to finally put an end to old America. It’s obvious that they’ll never settle for anything less than what they once had.”

“Let’s focus on the first step.”

“Yeah, sure, but you’re the one that always says if I’m going to make plans I should look ahead more than just a few steps.”

“I’m doing that. So, the demigod has to go, but that can’t happen unless he comes out or I get in.”

“We can wait for Ms. Teacher to figure out a counterspell or find one of our own, but that feels like a waste of time and effort. If she can’t, then what can our magic-types do? We don’t do collateral damage. So, we have to go inside. Find the main ritual circle and wreck it. Except, that means sending people that can’t fight the demigod. So, we send a lot of people, do a lot of distractions for a small team to do the wrecking. If that’s even possible.”

“Ms. Teacher says that there aren’t a lot of magical things that can’t be disrupted by powerful explosions.”

“Nuke?”

“Depends on where the ritual circle is hidden. In a building in the center of the city? Nope. In an underground bunker on the outskirts? I’ll have that discussion.”

“Magical nuke?”

“It’s on the table. She’s willing if we can get her comprehensive information on the ritual. Which I have not been able to gather. I have been able to put together a list of people with suspicious blank spots in their memories that might be useful in putting together that puzzle.”

“You have agents.”

“I have to be careful about activating them too early.”

“What about a coup?”

“Suiteonemiades will put down any violence by himself.”

“Their next presidential election.”

“Political theater. They aren’t in control of their government. The winner, Washington or another, will be picked by the demigod.”

“So, we want to minimize loss of life on both sides.”

“Always.”

“Sneak in. Find the ritual site. Disrupt or destroy it. You come in or Uncle Eron, preferably both. Smash the demigod. And put an end to this stupid war.”

“How would you do it?”

“I don’t know. I’d have to sit down and really think about it.”

“We’re brainstorming. So, brainstorm…”

“I’d have your agents narrow down potential sites. Then I’d go and use my fog to check for the circle.”

“How would you get boots on the ground?”

Alin fell silent.

The first idea was an aerial assault.

Multiple skyships to engage the enemy.

Landing teams to go after legitimate strategic and tactical targets. Things like the White House, Congress, supply depots, power plants and stations.

Distractions to give him time to locate the main ritual circle.

However, that entailed putting rangers in direct combat with other people.

They weren’t a conquering army.

They fought to protect. Mostly against monsters.

And the collateral damage would’ve been horrifying.

Most of the people in D.C. didn’t deserve that.

And he didn’t doubt that the demigod would extract a terrible toll, like he had already.

“I’d go alone. You insert me while blanking anyone looking. I find it first, then we figure out how to bring it down. I mean, obviously a full plan would be a lot more detailed.”

“What if he detects you? What if they have a way to detect your power.”

“I had my faceplate dark the whole time. Obviously, I’d need to ditch my typical gear, but I don’t think he’d know me even if we ran into each other. I mean, he didn’t react to the gray, like, at all.”

“Ignoring isn’t the same as not noticing.” His dad pointed out reasonably. “And that doesn’t answer the second question.”

“I can test it out in a less important location. One of their outer towns or military bases. Find something that we can reasonably say they’d put effort into defending.”

“Hmm. You’d still be a new face and they’re very 1984 over there.”

Ah!

He got the reference.

They had made him read that book back when he was a teenager.

“Sure, that’s true, but they’re always recruiting adventuring bands and mercenary companies. I can just say I’m one of those if I have to.”

“Truth spells and Skills.”

“Easy. We make it legitimate. I spend a few weeks beforehand as part of the Golden Eagles or Ray’s team or something like that. With how many of those groups are moving in and out of D.C. it shouldn’t be too hard to get lost in the crowd. And you’ll be just on the other side of the barrier for crowd control and emergency extraction.”

His dad cleared his throat.

“I know, I know, this is all best case scenarios. Plans have to account for the worst cases.”

“History has shown that the spires have occasionally placed their thumbs, so to speak, on the side of the scale that holds the most conflict and that often meant violence and tragedy.”

“I know you keep your agents identities secret for opsec reasons, but…”

“Go on.”

“Do you have any that can provide extra cover for my hypothetical plan? Someone that can, say, hire me or the team, if that’s what we go with, for, like, bodyguard work or a monster-killing contract.”

“If I did, I might not explicitly mention it to provide plausible deniability against spells or Skills of discovery. At best, I would tell you ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to one of these hypothetical employers.”

Alin skipped training so he could brainstorm with his dad into the late afternoon.

For several hours his limbs felt lighter, the vise around his heart loosened, the darkness creeping in from the edges of his thoughts was pushed away.

Thanks, Dad.