Leveling up the World

Chapter 982: Magic from Above

Restoring power after even a minor disaster usually took hours—more during particularly entangled arguments regarding jurisdiction and responsibility. Watching the problem be resolved in twenty minutes was beyond miraculous. Many of the local residents couldn’t believe their luck. Dallion, on the other hand, knew the simple truth: where someone with enough power and means wanted something done, it got done.

Lights went back up in the houses of the area, often accompanied by the sound of turned-on televisions, radios, or, in one instance, a cooking utensil that had resumed its original function. In Alien’s house, things proceeded somewhat differently. The holes in the ground quickly vanished, covered in lush grass. A large wall surrounded the mansion. Several people glanced at it, yet before they could make any comment, the illusion had taken effect, convincing their minds that the wall had always been there. One or two people kept on looking a bit longer, trying to cling to their original thought, before returning to the more bureaucratic matters of the day. Only the people in the know were aware of what had taken place, but acted oblivious.

Inside the building, things were weirder still. As electricity went through the many shapes on the walls and ceilings, the rooms themselves changed. The small, sloppy room Dallion and the two mages had been in a moment ago suddenly stretched, increasing its size tenfold. Expensive paintings and statues covered the walls, fit for an emperor’s throne room. Looking closely, Dallion could recognize four or five masterworks that were identical to what he had seen in the imperial palace back in the other world.

You’ve kept your taste for luxuries, he thought, even if it was a bit too much for his liking.

The ceiling stretched up, rising by a dozen feet. The windows tripled in size, allowing bright rays of sunlight to flow through, even if the real sun outside was shining from a completely different direction.

“That’s it,” Dallion said. “Make the plane,” he told Alien. “I’ll stretch the windows.”

As the two set to working, Katka went to one of the statues then, after a quick spell, took a plastic bag full of money from it. It seemed that even in a world of illusionary magic, people relied on hard currency. Hiding it in an illusion was a rather nice touch guaranteeing that no one else would find it.

“Don’t break anything, Nox,” Dallion whispered as he concentrated on the magic thread pattern near the window.

It was a bit more complicated than the average illusion; thankfully, Alien hadn’t bothered adding too many safeguards. Thanks to his combat splitting, Dallion used two of his instances to ask for instructions, fading them out of existence whenever they made a serious mistake.

Meanwhile, Alien focused on his illusion. Unlike Dallion’s, it was a lot more complex, requiring a whole lot of things to work properly. The good thing was—as Dallion had seen—that the physical appearance of the generator didn’t matter. All it had to do was provide a source of electricity for the subsequent illusion to function. As such, the plane didn’t need to have nearly as many elements correct. Its weight could be decreased, its “engine” could be given a lot more power than it was physically capable of. It was the body that caused the greatest problem. In the awakened world, magic made the laws of nature mere suggestions. Here, spells got a lot of pushback.

“If you have any schematics online, I can help,” Dallion suggested. “I have scholar skills.”

“Both of us have scholar skills,” the man snapped. “Think we would have survived if we didn’t?”

“We made a few quick millions early on,” Katka explained. Unlike Dallion, she viewed Alien’s work with the same level of disappointment and silent mockery she’d view anyone painting strategy miniatures. “That was before the org gave us a warning. Don’t cause ripples or we step in.”

Not the most ominous warning, but it did the job. Dallion could imagine a lot of people pausing after getting that. He, personally, would only have started digging further. Maybe that was the difference between mages and domain rulers? Mages were a lot more susceptible to threats, while domain rulers had to be kept in the dark and constantly monitored.

What will you do about a mage who is a domain ruler, then? He wondered.

After another half minute, and the generator going through a large variety of shapes, the single engine plane was complete. It could be called impressive—plastic-perfect in appearance and barely capable of holding three people. Considering that it remained a generator, it was beyond words.

“It’s definitely something,” Dallion had to admit.

“It helps if you have ten years to practice,” Alien said. “Let’s get out of here.”

Having a plane fly out of a window was one of those emblematic moments that everyone pictured clearly in their mind until the moment it actually happened.

The window of the building shattered, sprinkling fragments of glass in all directions. Scores of people gasped as something way too big to fit in the room, let alone pass through the window, flew above them, heading into the sky. Dallion could feel the confusion as even the awakened conscious minds rejected the notion. Having no memory of the awakened world made it impossible for them to visualize the real power of an Academy mage. Even now, weakened and lacking resources, they defied imagination.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

COMBAT INITIATED

A purple rectangle flickered within the airplane’s illusion. It lasted a fragment of a second, though was seen by all.

“Careful!” Dallion split into three instances. Two of them turned to either side, trying to see the invisible attacker.

Moments later, a ray of green light emerged, shining through the window straight at Alien’s head.

“Duck!” Combining all his skills, Dallion shuffled, reaching with his hand in front of the mage’s head.

The glass shattered as a bullet made it through, striking Dallion’s palm. The pain was greater than anything he remembered from the awakened world. Shattered by Nox, bullet fragments dispersed through his skin, burning like living embers.

Stop them, Dallion ordered his minions.

His heightened senses could feel the fragments splintering more and more, slowing down in the process. The piercing pain turned into searing as dust pushed through flesh and bone. His minions’ efforts proved incapable of completely stopping the attack. Alien’s head swung back.

Sheer terror passed through Dallion’s mind. This was the first time he had witnessed such a death. One single invisible bullet had put an abrupt end to his plan and nothing he or Alien could do had—

“Damn it!” Alien hissed, his fingers moving wildly, weaving a new spell pattern. Within moments, a solid piece of steel covered the front window.

Simultaneously, Katka reached into her pocket and threw a handful of bullets out of the window. Tiny purple symbols covered the metal bodies, causing them to scatter and boost in all directions like homing missiles. Dallion was able to see them turn through the air moments before another sheet of steel blocked his view.

Two more shots fired, causing large dents on the protective sheets, but thankfully nothing more.

“Where did those come from?” Dallion asked, trying to see through the threads of illusion. While the spells were less powerful than in the other world, so were his magic abilities.

“I told you we’ve always got someone on us,” Alien grumbled. “Did you get him?”

“Don’t know.” Katka replied from behind Dallion. “Discouraged, hopefully.”

The attack was an unexpected element Dallion hadn’t foreseen. It only strengthened his resolve. There was no point in hesitating anymore. He had peeled off the layer of deception, so now his only option was to go all out. No delays, no “normalcy.” Either he’d find a way back to the other world or die.

The pain In Dallion’s hand abruptly decreased, replaced by an itchy-burning sensation. Looking at it, he could see a number of deep wounds, but at least his hand was whole. Looking closely, he could see the magic threads link together as Lux was no doubt working on overdrive.

When he wiped off the blood on his shirt, the wounds were smaller still.

“Are you alright?” Dallion asked.

“Barriers aren’t what they used to be,” Alien grumbled. “It hurts like shit.”

Reaching out, Dallion placed his other hand on the man’s head.

“What the—?”

“Lux,” he said.

There was a low purple glow, one that only a mage could see. Once it was gone, Dallion removed his hand.

“What the heck are you?” the mage asked in awe.

“It’s Lux,” Dallion explained.

“He’s not supposed to exist here.” There was another pause. “You really weren’t lying about your companions.”

“Just as I wasn’t lying that I want to go back. Can you see?”

“Through that?” Alien pointed at the layer of steel in front of him. “Partial illusion. I’m seeing through it just fine. Despite everything else, the old man managed to teach me a thing or two about illusions.” A faint smile emerged on his face. “So, where to, navigator? We have five minutes left of fuel before all this changes back to what it was.”

“Head for the powerlines,” Dallion said without hesitation. “Then start getting your power from there.”

“Clever bastard,” Katka laughed from behind. “Contactless illusions. You haven’t lost your touch.”

Alien didn’t laugh, though did as instructed. A minute later, the speculative hypothesis had been proven. As Dallion suspected, it wasn’t just electricity that provided magic, but also the fields surrounding it. Based on that logic, he could probably manage to extract a bit of power from a magnet.

Once the plane changed its power source and remained flying, Alien quickly changed the illusion to make it a bit less conspicuous. Turning it invisible, although very practical, was out of the question, so the second best option had to do: a flock of birds. Anyone who saw it would find it curious or amusing for a moment or two; they might even snap a picture, but when it came down to it, the incident would soon be forgotten.

Half an hour later, when the group felt relatively assured that the organization wasn’t on their back, it was time to make the first real decision.

“Now what?” Alien turned back. “I wasn’t lying when I said I don’t know where the other mages are. All of us took precautions.”

“Managed to find any other awakened? Simon? Jeremy?”

“The emperor believed that Simon was from somewhere in Europe. Besides, I’m not going to either of them even if I knew where they were! One lifetime was enough.”

Dallion could appreciate the point. In all honesty, Alien hadn’t been his first choice to ask for help either. Ironic that it was thanks to him that Atol’s veil of deception had been torn off.

“You said you could find others, though?”

“If they’re close enough, sure. I’ll need to reach through the local grid, but it’s possible. There’s no telling who I come across. Might be the real thing, might be one of the amnesiacs, or someone else.”

“You’ll have to teach me that. Before that, I need to go back to college.”

“Are you an idiot? People want to kill us and you’re worried about your exams?”

“I need to tie up a few loose ends.” Hopefully, Atol wouldn’t think to search for him there, at least not immediately. “After that, we’ll head to DC.”

“That’s probably where most of them are!”

“Attack is the best form of defense. I want to see what sort of people have conquered the world. Maybe we can come to an understanding.”

Chances were that they wouldn’t, yet if the past was any indication, they would spend some time playing along. That was precisely what Dallion intended to exploit. If they intended to use him, he planned on using them first.