A New Day

Etham Bannecath

Ugh. A few more bodies to go. A pity they have to go. Every step I have to take with one of them is heavy. Not because of the extra weight that they bring with them, though it is less as a burnt shell. No, instead it is because of me wondering how painful their death was and a dozen more question I can come up with to torment myself. Funnily enough, I still can’t manage to actually care about any of them.

I hope none of them had funeral insurance. Otherwise they would be quite upset at what I do with them instead. Not that I will be kept awake by that. Ha. No, instead it will be whether or not arcanium forms a metaphysical interconnected web. If I were even a smidgen emotional, or cared for these people, I might have a harder time surviving or finding a want to live. Wanting to flay dr Errhart does not count as emotional for your information.

“In you go.” My clothes were already dirty from taking care of the two corpses in the corridor before, so I didn’t spare that much effort trying to get the few I found in the hall to neatly fit inside this little cleaning closet. The sooner done, the better. That shouldn’t tax one’s imagination too much.

“I should probably check what they have on them… Nah.” Yeah, I am not going to do that. Their clothes are crumbling on contact, not a hopeful sign. And what would I want to find there? Coins? Their smouldering phones? Would be nice if I had connection and could call for help but there’s only one landline which is safely tucked away in the security centre.

It’s been a while and you might notice me still being smoking pissed at what I saw there. Because it is so much worse than just that. Downright terrifying actually and while it isn’t particularly dangerous right now, it represents despair. I am trying to do what I can to improve that though.

I think I will get something to eat. Eating always helps to take my mind off of things. It doesn’t matter that I don’t feel hungry or anything. I don’t know how hard my head got hit that that happened, but I won’t starve if I eat often enough. I hope that will keep me alive until the rescue team gets through.

With a sigh I close the door to where I dumped the last few bodies. It is only a service closet, not something I really need to use. Like how I had to clear out the cafeteria of a few charred husks. I can still remember the sound of arms tearing off. Sadly enough, it’s hard to replicate. Well, without using another husk I mean. Gods know that there are enough of them in the living quarters for that.

The flames are sparse and far apart as I walk by them. I didn’t have the patience to fully light the facility and while that does cause me to trip over a few people, they are also all removed now. The ones I tripped over that is. I try not to look down the hall towards the elevator corridor. I’ll go there later anyway.

I reach the cafeteria without even realising it. I lazily go through the motions I did the last few years of my life, every day. I take out the bread from the cupboards near the kitchen door and while not wooden they are still horribly warped from the heat. The benches that are attached to the tables are also plastic, so consequently there are only a few semi straight seats left. No one to share the table with though, so the flew good places remaining are all for me. So far, I have only used one place, close to where I normally sat. It is comfortable enough.

I pick up the music player from by the door. The batteries somehow get spend every time I rest so I only use the damn thing when I’m eating. There were only a few batteries scattered over the places I have lit up, and I am near run out already. I guess there will be more in the living quarters, but it didn’t smell too good from where I was already. A stench that is similar to burnt chicken. Honestly, I am dead scared to go in.

I still have to finish searching the offices though, but even then there are still the laboratories and the control room. Errhart probably destroyed anything worthwhile before he left, hence why I am checking the offices first. That my notes are also there is a pleasant coincidence. I would at least like to smuggle those with me when the rescue team arrives.

I sit down and place the music player on the table. A nice rock song starts playing as I put the batteries back in. It is quite old, I found it in the closet after all. Doubt anyone knew the thing was there.

I like to put everything in a pile where I need it. Thus, I pick up a plate from the plate pile below the table. The kitchen is nearly unscathed though I had to bash open the door. The door however resembled a crispy chicken, minus the chicken. Metaphors were never my strong suit.

Yep. Tasty, tasty stale bread. A lot of food was already spoiled when I got to it. Luckily this bread isn’t mouldy. There is of course tinned food as well but with no way to boil the water, the pasta will stay hard. I have tried it, but it isn’t that nice. Take my word for it. Luckily, I have some packaged cheese as well, that stays good until I open it. I try to finish it before I rest and refill my source but sometimes I forget. A shame that I then have to throw it out but yeah. Same happens to the bread if I’m not careful.

I’m halfway through my ‘meal’ as the music stops. A sigh escapes my lips I stop myself. I have eaten enough I guess. I can’t stomach to swallow one more bite. I stand up with the plate, a quick glance at the music players shows a dark screen, and walk over to a bin in the corner. I shouldn’t be throwing food away, but it probably be inedible when I get back here anyway. Curious as to why for that. Maybe the experiment affected the food as well?

As I do so, another problem becomes clear. I might be throwing away the food pre-emptively, the food doesn’t stop decaying as I do so. The bin stinks horribly. I do have something for that though. I close my eyes and calm myself. I allow myself to get close to the allure of rest, but just before that definite step out of reality I stop. Instead I try to call the words in this dreamlike state. “Clear smell stay.” It’s barely above a whisper but I have sensitive ears nowadays. Depending on how many days passed. Probably not that many.

A solid cold starts flowing through me as the spell activates. Suddenly the stench around the bin vanishes. The effect should stay for a while. The time does vary though. I am now quite exhausted from casting just that useless spell. But then let me say a few things. What I am going to do now has nothing to do with magic, so I will recover while I work. And the energy I spend for it is far less than what those flames cost.

It helps that I can now promptly ignore the whole issue as well. Out of the nose is out of the mind. So next on the list would be to go back to work. With a sigh I walk back to the hall. I just gathered corpses so now it’s turn for the other task I have to do. It’s hard to say which I dislike more, for different reasons however.

I enter the hall and walk down its length, but not towards the central laboratory. No, instead I go down the hallway to the facility entrance. Just enough lights shine in the corridor to lead me the way. There weren’t any corpses here. No one would have been here during the experiment anyway. Most of the security is electronic and found at the actual elevator.

It would be hard to get past those but with enough time and no repercussions it could be done. Now there is a far better security measure in place, probably thanks to Errhart. I walk around the one heap of stone I already piled up. The last flame I placed is just in front of the now further wall of rock and rubble. There is officially no way a rescue team can reach me now. Hence why I am trying to clear it up.

With a deep sigh I start lifting the lighter stones and rolling the heavier ones to the pile. If that one gets too big I will have to make another one further away. It’ll be more effort to get the stones there, but ease of passage is more important than that.

While I work, I try to access my source. It is near impossible to even feel it, let alone anything else. But since this is grunt work, it doesn’t require that much active thought of mine. I do however notice that I am getting better at accessing my source, which excites me. And why wouldn’t it? Who knows how long it takes every time I try to even touch it. I always liken the experience to a dream. In a true dream, there is no sense of time. Neither is there one when I am one foot over the threshold out of reality.

I slip on a tiny loose rock and tumble backwards. With a heavy rock in my hands. It lands square on my stomach and forces the air out of me. “Uhf.” I roll the damned thing off me as I try to breathe. Gods be damned. I’m sick of this. It has been work and only more work, and what have I gained? Some piles of rock and a closet of corpses? This is boring me to death. There have to be better ways to do this. I think it is time to apply magic to this situation. Actually, I should have tried that from the beginning.

I sit down into a comfortable position and close my eyes. I try to calm the anger I am currently feeling. Such emotions only complicate the magic more. Then suddenly I find the border. I take one step into the dream like state of my source. With a pull on the power of my source I bind it to my spell. Which I improvised on the spot of course.

“Lift, move and float. Rise stone. Follow my commands.” I try to keep the remnants of the anger out of my voice. Then the energy starts pouring out of me. And continues. I quickly become afraid as more than even my flames escapes from me. I panic as I try to access my source to stop it. I barely register all the small rocks starting to rise and the bigger ones’ shuddering.

This is the fastest I have ever found my source. And while I do have a greater motivation than normal, that wasn’t the reason. The cold was becoming all encompassing, nearly submerging me. No, the reason is that I could feel my source is visibly shrinking and weakening to my sense. I desperately try to metaphorically ram it. Nothing happens.

“Aaaah.” The cold is like a spike, a great feeling of losing something vital, and it hits me everywhere. Even my head. An urgent hunger overflows my system and a tiredness I hadn’t felt in ages tries to overcome me. And still the cold gets worse. Never before have I so clearly felt and seen my source but not been able to even touch it. With a last urgent breath, I try to bring down my source’s gate to reality. I hear heavy thuds and soft clatters all around me. Before I lose consciousness of course. That’s a given.

Later

I come by to a cluttered corridor. Even by semi neat pile is somewhat scattered now. I sit up and immediately think back to what happened. I don’t know how dangerous that was, but it felt horrible. The fact that I suddenly could feel hunger is however a good thing. I mean, I do think it weird I never feel even a pang of hunger and I can’t believe that I have only been trapped here for a few days.

It gives me even more reason not never exert myself like that again. I truly felt… weak for the first time since all this happened. And that scares me most of all. Even more than going into the old living quarters. Hell, that seems petty now in comparison. Not that that means I’m going in there, since I don’t have a very good reason for it.

For now, I just want to rest. While I feel better than how I was when I went unconscious, I still barely feel anything. That… cold is still there. All I want right now is some more rest. Up until now, I have just kind of rested where ever I was at the moment. But right now… I am going to the Recreational room. I should have a flame there so it’s fine.

I somehow manage to stand up and shamble towards the hall, out of the corridor leading to the blocked elevator. As fortune has it, I stumble over another corpse and fall on my face. Too exhausted to get up again but I don’t want to rest on a corpse. I crawl forward until I’m off the body. Then I just stay here. Slowly I sink into a deep rest. As close as actual sleep as I have been in a while.

I wake up some time later feeling a lot better. Just about entirely full of warmth. At the very least I can think clearly now. That corpse though. Like the others I can see its skeleton at places where the fat burned through, but with this one that is far less than the others. It is currently lying on its stomach. I am interested to see if I can recognise this person. Just a feeling I have.

“Ah aha ha aha!” I can’t help but laugh as I see the warped name tag on his chest. Coupled with the more intact parts of his uniform, I am quite sure this is that bastard guard. I already have the tall one in one of the tanks but I think this one owes me some vengeance as well. And I have the perfect idea to solve two of my problems. Well, perfect. It’s actually more crazy than perfect.

But it hopefully works well enough. I should prepare a bit more this time. Last time I only wanted to lift the one chunk of rock but I think the spell did far more. I guess I left it too open ended. But why that effect was worse than my usual light? No clue yet. Hm, I think I have something clear enough.

I sit in my meditative position, one I have grown accustomed to by now, and begin the now somewhat familiar process of how I connect to my source. Eventually I get hold of my source again. It feels shakier this time and it takes a bit longer to control my source than normal. It used to be not so long ago that I had that one moment of control where I had to cast the spell. Luckily, I now have more control.

The moment of truth. Last time I sort of collapsed the weakened gate to my source. I vaguely remember how I did that. For my own safety, I’ll try and be prepared to do the same again. Okay, I’m ready. Prepare to be desecrated.

“Rise, listen and be commanded. Stand and move. See, hear and feel.” Again, the power comes pouring out of me. I don’t know if I performed the spell better but the power that now rushes out of me is greater than the other failed spell before. The weakness and cold starts to fill me once again. Or rather strength and heat leaves me and the space they free up feels such.

This time however, I try not to panic even though it’s hard not to do so on a more instinctual level. When it nearly reaches my uncomfortable limit, I quickly try to collapse the somewhat weakened gate. Panic finally does set in as it holds. What to do, what to do. Try again! I pull, push and metaphorically batter the port as much as I can. When it finally does come down again, it feels like I hit an old fracture. If that makes sense. And of course I immediately slump backwards, unconscious.

Groggily and unsteady, feeling even more exhausted than I felt when I did this the first time, I wake up again. For a while I just lay there, looking at the flames I have in my hall. I must really have wandered off the path between flames when I left the corridor after the first failed spell. Wait, did this spell fail as well or not?

I push myself up and nearly fall back again in shock. Positive shock though. I have seen, carried and even fallen over them but this is the first time I see one of the charred corpses upright again. “Ha aha ha aha! It worked! Welcome to slavery you ass!” I did it! I let myself fall back on the floor. This will be so much better. Can’t wait to get more already.

Alaska, Facility

“Have you seen the newest update?” Two scientists were sitting at a table in the facility’s canteen. The one who asked the question was the younger of the two and has just finished his food. The other man was well past his sixties, his hair long since turned grey. With an annoyed look, he quickly swallows the last of his food.

“My break just started. I swear that the corporation wants to work us to the bone nowadays.” The younger one let out a chuckle. From his pocket he takes out his phone. He quickly types in his password, scrolls a bit and then hands it over to the older man.

“That’s nothing new. There was a clear spike of their interference ever since our Arcanium burst. In fact, the affected security and maintenance staff have all already been replaced with others that lack the mana. Serena has even been approached by them to relocate to a new private lab. And she’s not the only one.” He looks expectantly at the older one.

The person in question simply grunts while reading what it said on the phone. The younger one leans forward and starts whispering. “I think that the head researchers and of the facility, dr Allen and Fjalnord, are considering splitting off from the organisation. I have seen their vice heads and head of security mr Sittings meet up in the conference room with them. I checked in with dr Allen’s personal secretary and apparently there wasn’t any kind of meeting scheduled. I guess they are lucky that mr Sittings and some of the security staff were too far from any sources of arcanium to take it in.”

The grey-haired man doesn’t bother to whisper as he replies. “It wouldn’t surprise me at all. Last I heard, they took away Peter and Jessica because they qualified as wild mages. I know they barely can control their magic, it expresses itself only in simple ways, and you know there are enough cases even in the USA of them going loose on monsters and men indiscriminately. Apparently, there is now a company in Mexico comprised of them and they don’t sit still as their government sways.” He turns the phone back around to the younger man.

Well, younger, he just turned fifty-two. He was the youngest member of the facility seven years ago when their Arcanium burst for some reason. The grey hairs still have to appear strangely enough and that is something he reminds his colleagues often. “Did you even read what I showed you?” He sounds exasperated as he looks at the new article on the phone.

“It wasn’t that long. Nor do I care about the state of the Netherlands.” Finally, the topic went to what the brown-haired man first wanted to talk about. He couldn’t keep the grin of his face as he replies. “Ah and that’s what you are wrong about. I know you all are either focussed on discovering how it happened, though you have to agree that’s looking hopeless currently, or fining a way to interact with the mana.”

“But in between that and more, I also went looking for where the other facilities are that handled arcanium. I guess I would like to compare notes again or even just talk about their experiences with all this. Charlie was ordered to break off communications before they moved him. That a few months after the release of the mana when everyone was more worried about the new wild mages and those that managed to patch a mana interface system together.” He gets slightly annoyed at seeing his grey-haired friend look back on the phone again. Quickly, he snatches his phone back from him.

The younger scientist takes a moment to recollect himself. “Anyway, one of the last official dispatches from one of the other facilities was a request for confirmation that Entrus facility was offline with the others as well. Clearly suspicious, so I focussed…”

“And let me guess, it’s in the Netherlands? Very intriguing. Apparently, the pope finally officially declared the mana a holy gift. And I quote, ‘This holy deliverance is meant to both test and guide us. We will try to teach the righteous to wield this blessing and take care of any of the fallen souls who failed this testing and sold themselves to it.’ End quote.” The older man interrupts the other. The younger one just sits by silently as the grey-haired scientist rants on about his own topic.

“Idiots. A few relics fall apart, and the priests wake up with mana in their bones. Now suddenly they all rush to the Vatican and seek guidance and power from the church once more.” And of course, the older man is against the church.

“To be fair Russ, they did manage to repel the attacks on Rome. And that’s no small feat considering it got attacked by sea monsters. Wouldn’t I love to have one of those priests over to confer with.” The grey-haired scientist, Russ, can’t help but laugh at that.

“You think they would let one of their precious priests go to a faraway research facility where they have little to no control? How would they even get here? All but the luckiest of ships gets sunk by the sea monsters. And I hear that vicious sky monsters have started to take flight. There is no way for them to even get here from the Vatican. And for Rome, remember that they used mana very little in the fights and while they focussed most of the Italian firepower in Rome, they still killed only one smaller type I monster.” Religion was Russ’ one thing he never could quite agree with. Not that he ever told anyone who asked why.

“True, true. I wouldn’t want to be living in Italy right now. I actually wonder how long those Italian islands will survive with those populations. Big parts of Afrika and the Middle East are struggling with their food shortages. Asia is getting progressively worse as the years go by. At least we are still getting food. Actually, where would we get our food if we go against CARC?” The older scientist looks at the younger one with an unworried expression.

“Not that I particularly support it but we could, theoretically, interact more with the people on the surface. Have them farm for us in exchange for money and protection. I don’t know how well farming would go up there but otherwise we could always move more south. This facility isn’t worth that much.”

The brown-haired man takes that into consideration as he seriously contemplates the issue. The grey scientist picks up both their trays and sets them down where they will get picked up later. When he sits back down, the younger man speaks up again. “That actually sounds decent. Though if we go that far, we might as well stake out a territory for ourselves. Like the German splinter states, the African tribes, and the North and Western European independent settlements. There is already barely any cooperation left between states here in USA.”

This time Ross, the older scientist, was the one to look somewhat annoyed. “Did you really have to fact bomb me? I am sure you impress the ladies with all that knowledge.” Ross’ coat is on the table. He picks it up and the younger man gets up as well. “The African tribes aren’t that many. It’ll be more appropriate to call them the Northern African tribes. In fact…”

Suddenly a siren goes off in the facility. After a minute of grabbing everyone’s attention it stops and a voice comes through the speakers instead. “Attention everyone. This is not a drill. All personnel of the facility id requested to gather in the hall. Any gunshots heard is advised to be ignored unless followed by another siren. Attention everyone. This is…” Then it goes on a loop for several minutes. Ross and the younger scientist weren’t the only ones currently in the canteen, so they simply join the mostly calm but nervous line to the hall. The kitchen staff soon add themselves to it as well.

Ross and the other scientist stay together as the finally get to the crowd steadily accumulating in the hall. A woman comes to stand next to them when she sees them. She nods at Ross but addresses the younger one. “Hi Bryce. You think they are going to kill us now?” She tries to come over jokingly, but she is a tad too nervous to sell it off.

Bryce, the brown-haired younger scientist than Ross, gives it a serious consideration. “Probably not. They shouldn’t have warned us about possible gun fights then. But whatever they have to say could be said over the announcement system. Then again, it doesn’t seem like most of security is present here anyway.” The woman takes a look around the room.

“Now that you say so, that’s true.” Up front, in the direction of the elevator corridor at the end of the hall, an even older man than Ross claps his hands. He appears to shout something but from near the back, Ross and Bryce can but barely notice it. A different woman strides over to the leading man in question and hands him over a microphone.

“Can everyone hear me clearly now? Even in the back? Yes? Good.” His voice comes out crisp and clear. Even with the old man, there is an underlying excitement however. The hall has quieted down and everyone looks at the old man with the microphone. “For those in the back who can hear but not see me, it’s head of the facility dr Allen that’s speaking.”

He takes in a quick breath before continuing on. “Some of you might have noticed the increased and unprecedented interest CARC has shown us the last years since the incident as well as the current strain the USA is experiencing. What you can’t have known is that CARC has been trying to get support using it’s mana imbued resources as well as also supplying mana possessing humans to private research institutes. As it is, two other relevant facilities have already been emptied of all their affected staff, not merely the non-scientific staff. Five days ago, mr Sittings has received a call ordering him to prepare to do the same forcefully if necessary.”

Dr Allen can see that some are confused, others are sceptical while most are simply shocked as he looks at everyone’s faces. “Unbeknownst to the direct managers of CARC, we have managed to re-establish communication with the other head of facilities. The last three years I have prepared to separate from CARC with support from the other facility heads. Now they simply force my hand a bit sooner. From this moment on, we are our own.”

A cheer ripples through the crowd as dr Allen finishes. Slowly everyone who has nothing pressing to do gets herded into the canteen. There the kitchen staff quickly tries to prepare a small feast for everyone there. Dr Allen looks on with a satisfied gaze from a chair at the side as the separation is generally well accepted. Weaving through the people, a guard stops at dr Allen. “Say it quickly.” The smile doesn’t leave his face as he says it.

“Dr Fjalnord has been confined to his room. Sittings advises to keep him there until she either changes her mind or agrees to not support and actively aid CARC anymore.” Dr Allen nods in agreement to this. “Furthermore, the last of the CARC supporters should be captured or otherwise taken care of by now. You can expect us to properly secure the network against the organisation with a week or so. Until then Sittings says not to make to make much use of it.”

Dr Allen’s eyes start to shine in delight. “Well done my good man. Tell Sittings to try and recruit more men on the surface to fill his security units back up.” Dr Allen gets up from his chair with a groan and starts to walk into the crowd. The guard looks unsure of what to do, but then stops dr Allen. “What.” Dr Allen quickly turns around to face the guard, clearly irritated.

“I was wondering if you knew when our families should start arriving. I know some of my mates and I would love to see our families safe and close by. And Sittings himself asked when you could deliver your promise of giving us mana like you said.” The guard asks, slightly nervous for doing so.

Dr Allen sighs and tries to smile again. “Others have been sent to bring your families here a week ago. So far they can’t call us back and don’t want to attract CARC’s or the government’s attention by doing so anyway. The routes have been planned out and should be as safe as I can make it.” As the guard seems to be satisfied and not about to ask more of dr Allen, he continues on.

“Ah.” Dr Allen turn around again. “Nearly forgot. Tell mr Sittings that I am a man that has always kept his promises and I don’t plan on changing that.” Dr Allen can’t help but let out a short laugh. “The same counts for my threats.” With that he vanishes into the crowd.