Fun Fact: Deities are highly respected, since their magic powers fundamental parts of society, despite the barriers separating their realms. They cannot be summoned directly from their alternate planes of existence, but a shade of their true form can still be called upon by Shamans, Warlocks, and Clerics.
As such, temples do not exist in this world.
~ ~ ~
Explosions singed the air with the musky smell of sulphur. The ground shook, accompanied by roars of defeat as a row of huge humanoid-looking rocks collapsed. Never-ending waves of those magically-conjured entities shuffled towards the heavily outnumbered Magis. Yet, lightning bolts and fireballs continued crackling through the air; the Magis weren’t keen to let up just yet.
“Three minutes left! Come on, guys. Not too many golems left! We can do this!” Meta Felix Pagonis called out to his teammates. His glowing eyes swept across the forest surrounding him, keeping his telekinetic focus on his foes.
Any moment now…
“Behold!” An enthusiastic voice caught his attention. “The divine Star Shatterer!”
Felix took the cue to stretch out his hand. Pink energy wrapped around the remaining golems as he dragged them right under the Magi’s spell. A burst of orange reflected off his irises as he watched the Sorcerer bring down a huge meteor of fire onto the unfortunate arcane entities.
He hissed, emitting a psionic shield around his team.
Surrounding trees vaporised as the shockwave that followed the devastating explosive spell threatened to overwhelm the pink dome. Thankfully, it did not have nearly enough power to scratch the shield. After all, the Tier Five psychic had fully recovered his power since he lost ninety per cent of it just a year ago.
“Nice, two minutes left!” Felix burst from the ground.
Fresh air hit his face, and he took the chance to gulp it into his lungs greedily. He closed his eyes, focusing his telekinetic senses as he scanned the area for the anomaly.
There!
Wind rippled through his bright pink cape as he darted forward at a blistering speed, closing in on his target in less than a second.
“Sorry about this!” he yelled, hand outstretched.
Bodies of still struggling Magis punched out of a nearby warehouse, cushioned by a pink shield. Thin strips of metal ripped themselves out from the nearby gates and bound them to the ground. The hostiles were down. Time to rescue the hostage.
The psychic focused his telekinetic senses again, although he felt nothing else this time.
Felix narrowed his eyes, looking at the seemingly empty building. This place was definitely his target, so why couldn’t he feel the hostage’s physical body?
He pressed a finger to his ear, activating his comms line. “Phantom to Alpha. I cannot sense our target. Request to double confirm hostage location.”
“Raven to Phantom. Location is positive. Arcani scans show that the hostage has been magically transfigured into gas.”
Is that even allowed?
“How long until the spell expires?” Felix checked his timer. One minute left.
“Ten minutes.”
He pursed his lips as he racked his brains for a solution. Transfiguration magicks were usually temporary, but time wasn’t exactly on his side now. His teammates were still too far away distracting the golems, so waiting for someone to come up with a counterspell was out of the question as well.
He was on his own.
Felix gritted his teeth, breaking into the warehouse anyway. Sure enough, a light blue gas was swirling around the empty room. He glanced at his timer again. Ten seconds. No time to do this elegantly.
So he furrowed his eyebrows in concentration, squeezing his fist. His eyes lit up with power.
“I… have you!” Felix’s voice broke into a roar as the telekinetic pressure on the gas increased by a hundredfold, forcing it to change its state. And then he spotted it.
It was minuscule, but it was enough for him to make contact. Felix lunged towards the small spot of wood and grabbed it firmly. A gust of wind rippled around his cape as his psychic powers broke through the transfiguration spell. The gas sucked itself into the wood, turning back into its original form.
A loud klaxon blared in the air.
“HOSTAGE SECURED. NEW RECORD TIME SET. WELL DONE, GUARDIANS.”
Footsteps scuttled towards the warehouse as Felix flew out of an open skylight, carrying a wooden mannequin in his arms. Pink flashed in his irises as the metal around his fellow Guardians’ bodies burst open. They stood up groggily, although they were unharmed.
The nineteen-year-old Meta grinned widely at his teammates as he landed gracefully in front of them.
“You really are our ace in the hole! Way to go, Phantom!” a Soothsayer congratulated him heartily, patting him on the back.
“You helped a lot as well, Raven.” Felix flashed an abashed smile. “As did the rest of you.”
“I believe we can conclude today’s drill.” Guardian Leader Cybele Vulcan sauntered towards them from behind. “Well done to Staff Sergeant Pagonis’ team for the swift rescue. Be sure to remember your training when you need it. Dismissed.”
A few more celebratory remarks drifted among the Guardians as they began packing up their equipment, eager to leave this private, untrimmed piece of land. Felix was no different. The last of his equipment soared into his robes as he prepared to take off into the air—
“Hey, Felix! We’re gonna have dinner at Farby’s. Wanna come with?”
“Pagonis,” Cybele Vulcan called out to him, tapping her watch impatiently. “Do not forget.”
“Not today,” Felix chuckled politely to cover up his exasperation at the Guardian Council’s new, naggy leader. “I have somewhere else to be tonight.”
He gave a final wave at his slightly pouting colleague and burst off the ground.
~ ~ ~
Felix looked over the balcony, watching the junior cadets miss yet another shot at their targets. Or at least, most of them did. A row of target boards hung flimsily on the furthest corner of the shooting range. They were all human-shaped, except for the one at the very end of the row.
The target board was unrecognisable by now, having been pelted by the powerful Arcani blasts that evidently struck the same spot more than once.
He beamed proudly at the shooter preparing to fire another round. Her feet plastered her body firmly onto the ground while she rested her cheek against the rifle stock. Her firing posture was nearly perfect.
But only nearly.
Felix could tell that her body was still a little too tense, and it would take a lot more effort to keep that weapon steady. It was obvious that this cadet was new to shooting plasma rifles, but she was already doing exceedingly well for someone so inexperienced.
The light above the target flashed, and a pulse of energy put the target board out of its misery less than a second later.
“Shooters, fall out.”
Felix leaned against his chair as the cadets walked out of the firing range in a miserable single file.
A twang of nostalgia hit him; he remembered most of the Guardians taking about three months to get used to that rifle’s insane recoil as well. He wondered how they would fare with it now, considering the Council had not used a projectile weapon in years. After all, their powerful magic was more than enough to get the job done. Perhaps technomagick weaponry would eventually get phased out of their standard training regimen.
“Felix? What’re you doing here?” an incredulous voice exclaimed.
“Why, I came specifically to see your progress, Kleo,” Felix smirked at the star shooter, who had just finished returning her weapon to the quartermaster.
“Gods, you’re such a stalker.” Kleopatra Vulcan rolled her eyes before breaking into a mischievous grin. “No, really. What business do you have here?”
“To be honest, I have no idea as well. Your sister just told me to wait here for a certain important person to show up. She didn’t elaborate.”
“Do you think my father’s coming in today?” A hint of excitement coated Kleopatra’s words.
“I doubt so,” Felix mused. “I’m sure his Presidential duties are going to keep him really busy, especially during times like this. After all, he had to delegate the role of Guardian Council Leader to your sister.”
“You have a point.” Kleopatra’s shoulders dropped. “Even Cybele was forced to take up that position because everyone’s just too afraid of being part of the government leadership.”
She sighed audibly.
“I do hope she isn’t taking on more than she can handle.” The girl shook her head. “Oh, and by the by—”
She looked downwards as she kicked her feet idly.
“Have you… have you seen Gaius lately?” she asked, still trying to hide her slightly blushing face. “I haven’t been seeing him around in the council lately, and I— Uhm… I kinda miss him.”
“Right, you’ve been going out with him these days, haven’t you?”
“What? No! I mean, yes— I mean—” Kleopatra flushed a deep red this time. “N— Not like that! We were only going out as friends—”
“Oh, there you are— Kleo, you’re here too?” Her sister’s voice cut in, saving her from the embarrassment of explaining herself further. “Felix, I’d like you to meet Atlas Cicero, the Secretary of State.”
Felix flashed a professional smile at the middle-aged man, who was now shaking his hand a little too enthusiastically. He looked like he was in his fifties— about Vulcan’s age— and he was dressed in a set of smart-looking green Druid robes.
“Well met, well met.” Cicero had an unusually booming voice for one who looked as frail as he did. “What. An. Honour it is, to meet the Guardian Council’s first Meta. I hear you have enough power to nullify even the strongest weapons humanity can offer, Sergeant Pagonis.”
“Only if the situation calls for it,” Felix stuttered, slightly taken aback by the Secretary’s rather forward greeting. Not like he was the type to be shy about his power level, but it still felt weird for a Magi to treat a Meta with such reverence.
“These are strange times, Sergeant. For all we know, that situation could be just around the corner. Sirius City is honoured to have you on our side,” Cicero replied grimly, before breaking into a wide smile yet again. “Well, thank you for agreeing to this confidential meeting between the Guardian Council’s management executives.”
His eyes shifted to the junior cadet as he waited patiently.
“I’ll… leave you guys to it,” Kleopatra mumbled awkwardly. She turned around, her battle robes billowing behind her as she left the place swiftly.
The Secretary clasped his hands gleefully as the door closed loudly. “Right, let us get straight into business. I’m here to announce some changes to the government policies as implemented by President Alcaeus Vulcan.”
“Shouldn’t you be announcing that on television for the public instead?” Cybele queried.
“I will, but I thought it best to inform you of a certain policy personally. I’m a fan of authenticity, you see.” Cicero grinned at them. “Warlock Vulcan has announced that a few changes in government policies have been made to accommodate more Metas in their society. One of which involves opening up a new department in the Guardian Council.”
Felix and Cybele stared at him with an equal amount of confusion.
“As of today, the Guardian Council will be opening a small division of trainees composed of potential talented Meta children. And you, Staff Sergeant Felix Pagonis—”
The Secretary of State turned to the gaping Meta. “—Have been granted the honour of being in charge of that very division. Congratulations, Sergeant Pagonis.”
Silence echoed around the room as the Meta’s eyes grew larger and larger. And then a cry rang out.
“Oh, you have got to be kidding me!”233Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD8AQ7G9VfU
