Tabby leaves the room then, and Lawrence regards us both. He says that magic has been a part of the human world since the beginning of time, it was just an aspect that has been relegated to myth due to the power and potential for abuse. Every human can do extraordinary things, it just takes training and patience to unlock those abilities. Unfortunately for me, I am now a caster whether I wanted to be or not. He tells me that I will develop more mana, and through that things will occur around me if I do not receive training in control.

Over time with the churches stance on magic, human casters such as druids, witches, warlocks and all the others decided to go underground to make cities that normal humans would not be able to reach. They are protected by powerful glamour, in case an intrepid adventurer such as myself got too close. For hundreds of years, the casters were able to flourish this way only leaving the caverns to explore the above ground under heavy restrictions, so that war with the normal humans was not started again.

The other races are all from different planets that can be reached either through magical portals, or on advanced spacecraft, but those spacecraft are not allowed near Earth for fear of what the mundane population would do if they knew of the other worlds or races.

The casters were also nearly immortal as well. Technomancers had created in the past 80 years an implant that would record memories up to the second. These memories would then be transmitted to a central core. If a person were to die a new implant would be grown and installed into a clone created using the casters DNA. This also explained why David would be returning to the living, and makes me glad now that he never got to see me or know I was even there. This implant is also able to analyze things that the user views and provide information about the object being viewed, from people and animals to weapons and armor. This made things such as old age and sickness obsolete. Your body is getting old, euthanize it and transfer to a new clone. Suffering from cancer, Euthanasia. He also informed me that both Xiantha and I would be eligible to receive one. The only issue with the new bodies is some deterioration in the cloning process causing the loss of some strength, dexterity and other such statistics.

Then Lawrence starts pointing out the downside, he explains that about 100 years ago a subset of the group splintered off and started helping the more negatively aligned races, such as the drow, ogres, trolls and their ilk. They are of the belief that Earth should belong solely to the mages and that all the populace against that should be put to death. After years of battle which coincide with the two world wars, the supremacist group left the planet and has since been sneaking back and building up more human forces for another attack, along with their allies.

He then tells us we have choices to make. First Xiantha cannot go to the upper realm, or she would be captured and either experimented on or killed outright. This means that she would have to stay below regardless. I would be the one making the choices. I could stay below as well, learn, and accept all the responsibilities that would come my way, including the implant. I would be able to journey to other planets and develop myself, but if an attack were to occur, I would need to join the fight, with Xiantha at my side. The downside is that I cannot go back home. I will to everyone I know have died exploring the caves.

Second, I could just get enough training to make sure I was not dangerous. They would then take me back to the upper world and leave me where I could be found. I would not be able to tell anyone about the underground realm. Xiantha would still get mana from me, even with the distance but when I died of whatever came, she would die from mana thirst too.

Third, we both could remain below ground and stay in hiding. We would have to work jobs to help out with society, but if war came, we would just move to another location to wait it out. Eventually, if we worked hard enough we could save enough to gain an implant for ourselves to be able to live as long as we wish, but that would take a long time, but again I would never see my family again.

He then told us that he would leave us alone to discuss our options and make a decision. When he left, I turned to Xiantha and thought “ This is up to you, I know what I want. I always played RPG’s, and this implant offers immortality, magic, and everything I love about the games I played only in real life. I will miss my family, but I was ready to leave anyway, and I do not want to lose this opportunity.”

She thought back to me, “ I don’t know why but the thought of being separated is very undesirable to me. I am used to fighting, I have no problem with that if it keeps us together. I have no desire to be alone in this world.”

Out loud I say “Let’s do this then.” We get up and walk outside the room to find Tabby waiting on us. We relay our decision to get the implants and improve ourselves to her, and she gives us a small smile and beckons us to follow her. She explains, “Implant will be first then. Once you have it, it will give you a much greater understanding of yourself and the world around you. This will help you both in training and accomplishing your goals. Not just that, but when you first get the implant, it can take some getting used to things appearing before your eyes. Better start now and not be surprised later when trying to cast a spell and having something ruin your concentration.”

We left the administration building completely and went across the road to one of the buildings shaped like a mushroom. I asked Tabby something that had been bothering me, “Why are there no signs on any of the buildings?”

Tabby explains “The implants can provide a map of known areas, and also are able to analyze what you are looking at and determine what it is. In that way just by looking at a building, you know what it is, so signs are not really needed.”

That makes sense to me, so I ask “How long will it take to get the implants?”

Tabby responds “About 5 hours total. First, the technomancer and cleric will place you under a deep sleep spell. Then they will perform a deep scan on your mind and take DNA samples to start the process. After that, the cleric will create a hole into your skull while the technomancer installs a technology seed into your brain. Similarly to how a druid causes a tree to grow from seed, the technomancer will cause this seed to grow into the components necessary to interface with all of your senses, plus your memories. The memory connection will be first, and it will then start downloading and transferring your memories in case something bad happens during the entire process. Even if something does happen, the cleric will immediately heal you and try to correct the issue. Once the process is done, you will most likely take about a day to wake back up again, sometimes more, sometimes less.”

It seems that Tabby has anticipated what our choice would be as there are 4 people in mage robes two of gold, two in black are waiting for us when we walk in. Two separate to Xiantha, and two come to me. They separate us and take us to similar rooms according to what we are telling each other telepathically. The lady in the gold robe asks me if I have any questions before they start and I tell her I am OK, she places her hand on my forehead and seconds later I fall asleep.