2006, 12th January

Space Station, Apotheosis

“Pierre… ngh.. What’s going on with you?”

Aaron’s next words were cut off by a hiss as Pierre pushed him harder against the mattress.

He felt teeth dig into his shoulder, hard enough to draw blood.

Forcefields began to spring into place instinctively around his body.

“Pierre!”

He shoved the larger man off him and he rolled off onto the floor.

“Goddamnit, Aaron-”

“Enough!”

Aaron had hastily pulled on his boxers, and risen to his feet.

“I said enough! I don’t know what the hell happened today, but I’ve had it with you acting up.”

“Aaron-”

Aaron simply vanished.

The door opened without anyone visibly having pulled it open, and then slammed shut.

And Pierre was left alone in his bed past midnight, with no sleep in sight.

A good while later, when the clock said the day had begun, Aaron, Ciara and Pierre found themselves gathered in the office allotted to them.

Aaron and Pierre were in no real hurry to talk, and Ciara had taken up an even more insufferable attitude than she usually projected.

“Did you finally get those pesky dalmatians skinned and turned into a coat, Ciara?”

Sometimes, Aaron simply couldn’t resist poking the bear.

Ciara just turned on him with that infuriating smile of hers.

Either Aaron was imagining it, or the perfume she wore hung thicker in the air than ever.

Sighing, Aaron just leaned further back in his seat.

They sat in awkward silence for a while, before Ciara broke the silence.

“Have you guys met the new overseer yet? I have a feeling he’s going to be good for our team.”

Pierre merely scoffed.

Ciara turned to him with a raised brow.

“You have something to say about that, Pierre?”

“Fucker’s completely insane. How’s that good for us?”

“Insanity is a matter of perspective, Mr. O’Neill-” A deep voice boomed through the office.

A man in a form fitting suit over a dark shirt strode purposefully into the room, accompanied by a woman in a grey uniform.

Aaron was halfway out of his seat, almost instinctively, before catching himself, and sitting back down.

The man grasped the revolving chair at the head of the room, turning it around, and sat down upon it, folding a leg over the other.

“I am whatever I judge necessary to be at any time of the day. Or whatever I think would be most interesting. Insanity is the umbrella term of a limited perspective.”

And Michael Kane let his soul flare.

Static energy built heavy in the air. Aaron felt his every hair stand on end.

The three magi instinctively flared the power of their own souls in response. The temperature of air around Aaron rose, and the air itself seemed to ripple with the mark of his power. The perfumed scent around Ciara rose to even headier heights.

The woman in grey squirmed uncomfortably in place.

Pierre’s mark must have been drowned beneath them. Or he hadn’t bothered with a display in the first place. Either way, his brow darkened.

And Aaron began to understand his previous behaviour.

He examined Michael more closely.

The man seemed to carry with him an air of superiority reserved for mages several times his superior.

But arrogance was not unusual for Outreach.

“It’s far too soon to start making snap judgements, Aaron. And we don’t have time for that anyway. Save that for later.” Michael said.

Aaron winced. Had Michael been reading his mind? Thought perception would make him a novice of Mind Magic at least.

“And no, I’m not reading your mind. You’re transparent enough either way.” Michael continued smoothly.

“Can we get down to it?” Pierre growled. “What are we all doing here, anyway?”

Michael steadily gazed at Pierre, who held the gaze, jaws set stubbornly, refusing to look away.

The silence stretched on just long enough to start getting uncomfortable, when Michael decided to speak again.

He gestured to the woman in grey.

“This is Anisha. She works in Intelligence and Requisitions. And she has a story for us. A story relating to the most important assignment you will ever work on.”

Anisha straightened and stepped forward.

“One year ago, I was tasked with working under Lord Hans Muller-”

“Lord?” Aaron intervened. “This Muller guy- Even I heard about him; though I was on Earth a year ago. Hasn’t he been excommunicated?”

Michael raised an eyebrow.

“Why would he have been excommunicated?”

“Err… Because he went rogue? Killed a bunch of people, tried to seize control of Apotheosis-”

“So?”

Aaron faltered, and Anisha filled in the silence.

“The people Lord Hans killed were mostly Hollows, my Lord. Our lives are rather… expendable, in the grand scheme of things.”

Aaron detected bitterness in the woman’s voice.

Michael spoke again in a dismissive tone.

“Even if he had killed his fellow mages, that’s hardly grounds for excommunication. Power grabs like that are hardly uncommon here, and they’re even encouraged. You haven’t been living under a rock this long, have you?”

“Then if he hasn’t been excommunicated, I assume this isn’t about hunting him down or anything?” Ciara cut in.

Michael smiled predatorily.

“Ciara. Whatever gave you the idea that fellow mages of Apotheosis are barred from hunting each other?”

“Is that what this is about?” Aaron frowned. “Your own power grab, using us to hunt one of your peers down.”

“Our peers, Aaron. And no. While Hans’ goals may have been nothing exceptional, such power grabs are usually just means to their ends. And Hans’ ends.... I have my suspicions about what they are, but we’ll discuss that after you’ve been brought up to speed.”

He gestured at Anisha.

“And, Anisha? Feel free to refrain from calling Hans ‘Lord’, for now. One less syllable to worry about will save us all some time.”

Anisha inclined her head at Magnus, then began to speak again.

“I first worked under Lo- err, Hans, back in-”

4th March, 2005

Space Station, Apotheosis

It had been a fairly routine day of paperwork for Anisha, until it wasn’t.

“Anisha. Your presence has been requested. Report to the Director with the files on your Red Pit report as soon as possible.”

So far so normal.

The Red Pit reports were specifically concerning the Martian Base. Perhaps she was due for a transfer.

She gathered the pertinent data and set off to see the Director.

An older man with greying hair, in the same grey uniform as her, received her at his office.

The only indication of their differing ranks were some stripes stitched onto the fabric over his shoulders.

He held up a hand as she entered.

“You asked for me, sir?”

A slight frown creased the man’s brow and he pressed a finger to his lips, indicating she should be silent.

A large screen mounted on the wall flashed with light.

Then a man appeared on it.

The man sported thick, neatly parted blonde hair, standing out against the shadows which obscure the rest of him.

The Director knelt down on one leg.

“My Lord Hans.”

Anisha hastily knelt as well.

“Director. I trust you have something for me.”

“I’ll have the Red Pit reports sent to you right away, my lord.”

“Who is that I see behind you?”

The Director did not reply. Anisha instinctively knew she was the one meant to answer.

“My name is Anisha, my lord.”

“Ah. So you still have your name, do you?”

“I don’t do much field work, my lord. I haven’t needed my name stripped yet.”

“Indeed? Excellent. You’ll do perfectly.”

At this the Director raised his head.

“My lord?”

“I want this project restarted. I have a few new leads of my own. Or should I say newly rediscovered old leads. Regardless, I require discretion. I have pinpointed an Astral Realm where the first piece of this puzzle can be hunted.”

“An… Astral Realm, my lord?”

Hans continued, ignoring the Director.

“Anisha alone should suffice for this mission. She is free to have one android accompany her. Beyond that, she shall have my blessing.”

He turned his piercing blue eyes on Anisha.

“I will expect you shortly.”

“But my lord-” The Director continued weakly, “The Astral realms, with such minimal reinforcements-”

“It is not your place to question, Director. Trust that I know better than you what is required. This is the end of it. And do hurry up and send me that data.”

The screen went black.

The Director sighed and scratched his head.

“Looks like that’s that. You’re on the job.”

“But sir- I haven’t really the field experience- for an Astral Realm, of all things-”

“Sorry Anisha. Our lives belong to the magi. Can’t do anything about it. You either die on this harebrained errand, or you refuse him and we both die at his hand. That’s it. Get going now. Wouldn’t want to keep him waiting.”

As Anisha began to walk out, the Director said, “I’d wish you luck, but, you know- wouldn’t make any difference. I’m sorry. I wish this wasn’t happening to you.

2006, 12th January

Space Station, Apotheosis

“Well, obviously, you aren’t dead, so he changed his mind, right?” Ciara said.

“He did not. I had to go through with the assignment.”

“Even one of us would be hard pressed to survive an Astral Realm. The Fae have the home ground advantage there. For a Hollow, that would be-”

“Hollow she may be-” Michael intervened, “-but she has proven herself amply. As you said, she has survived something none of us have dared to attempt. That deserves respect.”

Ciara’s face fell ever so slightly, but Michael continued.

“Take her story as an inspiration. Learn from her courage. I have faith in every one of you. Even storming an Astral Plane won’t be beyond this team one day.”

Aaron noticed how Ciara’s face lit up.

Even Pierre tightened his jaw.

Michael gestured for Anisha to continue.

4th March, 2005

Space Station, Apotheosis

Anisha walked down hollow corridors of grey steel to face the man who had doomed her.

The temperature dropped and the shadows deepened with every step she took.

The black marble doors of Hans’ office slid apart as she walked up to them.

Men and women in grey uniforms were seated on either side of her in the enclosed space.

Oddly limp, unmoving.

Dead?

Hans himself stood at the centre of the room behind a heavy oak table, inspecting flickering images on a sheet of glass.

No doubt, the data the Director had already sent him ahead of her.

Without glancing up at her, he addressed her.

“Do you know what a soul is, Anisha?”

“No, my lord.”

The magi liked to hear themselves talk. Claiming ignorance on a subject and allowing them to explain it often worked wonders to soothe their ego.

“Have a guess.”

Not about to let up, then.

“Our… consciousness? Whatever survives after we die?”

“Consciousness is our mind, a distinct thing altogether. And no, the remnants after our death are ghosts. They are just echoes, imprints left behind after death, with no sentience of their own. No different than a footprint on sand.”

Hans now took his gaze off the screen and stared directly at Anisha.

It took the entire strength of her will not to flinch and tear her gaze away.

“A soul is our metaphysical connection to the Horizon Realms. The source of our magic, our powers. For the majority of the populace, it is no more than a vestigial organ, not to be missed even if it were torn away. It is nothing. But for a mage, it is a promise of limitless potential. It is everything.”

He walked to one of the men, laid bonelessly on the chairs arranged on either side of the room.

He put a single finger under the man’s chin, and pulled up his face.

No reaction was forthcoming.

Sighing, he withdrew his hand, and turned to Anisha once more.

“I’ve tried fruitlessly for years to rid you Hollows of your disability, to no avail. Ah. Well. Kneel before me once more, my agent, and I’ll grant you the fortitude you require for this task.”

“Yes, my lord.”

Anisha bent down on one knee, and Hans made no discernable movement.

But the mark of his Power was unmistakable all the same.

She felt a chill seep into her every muscle, the sound grow dimmer in her ears, the air thicker within her lungs.

“Rise, agent.”

Anisha got to her feet once again.

“Go forth, with my blessing. The Director will equip you with most everything you need for this journey, including the android assigned to accompany you.”

Anisha nodded numbly and began to leave.

Back at the Director’s office, she met the grave older man accompanied by a Caucasian man of unusually sturdy build.

The android to be accompanying her, she presumed.

“Sir.” Anisha came to a halt in front of them.

“Agent. Meet Smith. He’s been assigned to accompany you. Not much for conversation, but hopefully he’ll save your life.”

There was no real hope in the old man’s voice.

Anisha swallowed her fear back down her throat, keeping her expression stoic.

“When am I to be briefed, sir?”

“Right now, I’m afraid. No rest for the wicked. You are aware of standard operating procedures in an Astral Realm?”

“Sir… there is none.”

“Of course there is none. Whole place runs on bloody dream logic. Never know what you’ll find there, except certain death. I’m sorry, agent. This is likely the last time we’ll speak so listen carefully to what I have to say.”

Anisha plopped down onto one of the chairs.

“The Astral Realms are the domain of the Fae creature. Think every legendary creature you have ever heard of. Dragons. Pixies. Redcaps. Literal Gods. Whatever. These are the dwellers you can expect to find in the Astral. It has been theorised these creatures are born of the thoughts of humanity rather than inspiring them. Whether that’s true, I can’t say. But I can assure you, these creatures are very real.”

The large screen on the office wall flashed with images of nightmarish creatures even as the Director spoke.

“The Fae are among the few entities recorded to date that can actually match the Magi in overall capability. And the Magi’s abilities are structured in logic, but these creatures operate on their own logic. It’s impossible to guess what any given denizen of that hellscape may be capable of. But… it gets worse.”

Anisha didn’t bother wondering how it could possibly get worse. The way her day was going, she would have been surprised if it didn’t get worse.

“You’ll be walking into their home turf. The Fae can manipulate the very fabric of the Astral as easily as you and I can move our limbs. The magi have managed to replicate such procedures, but it requires at least expertise of mind magic to manipulate the Astral in a way that even the lowliest Fae creature can accomplish. There must be limits to this ability, but to date, no expedition into the Astral has returned alive with any potentially useful information regarding this topic.”

“So I’m to be the first to succeed where so many have failed.”

“Not quite. People have returned, although with no significant contributions to add. But, there lies our silver lining. The Fae do not follow logical patterns like we do. They have often proven entirely impossible to predict, even taking courses of action that would lead to their own harm directly. And now, for our advantages over them…"

The Director placed a firearm on the table between them.

“The Fae are not invulnerable. They can be destroyed. And their most significant vulnerability is iron. To that end, you’ll be provided modified weaponry for the specific purpose of killing Fae.”

He placed the gun back into a steel briefcase.

Anisha could have sworn it was far larger on the inside than it looked.

“Some more things to note, do not bother trying to capture them. It seems to be impossible. Everything has been noticed by the Magi before. Physical barriers, pocket dimensions, dilated time, demesnes within Horizon; nothing seems to work. Only iron bindings can keep them restrained, but since prolonged contact with iron destroys them anyway, it’s a pointless exercise.”

The Director pointed at the screen, that flashed with the image of a strange fragment, translucent, amber coloured, inscribed with unrecognizable patterns, something Anisha was sure was part of a larger whole.

“Project Red Pit. Everything starts and ends with this beauty right here.”

“What is it?”

“Like everything pertaining to the Magi; not for our feeble mortal minds to know. Could be a map, a weapon, a children’s nursery rhyme in some god forsaken language; whatever. Anyway, there’s hardly been widespread interest in this thing up till now.”

“And now, I’m being asked to die for something that may not even be that important to anyone.”

The older man winced, but said nothing.

“Anything else, sir?”

The Director sighed, pressing the bridge of his nose between a thumb and index finger.

“Yes, Anisha. I’m truly very sorry.”

Anisha clenched her jaw, nodded and walked out.

The next day, she was to set off.

“This Voidcraft has been fitted out with top of the line shielding procedures. The coordinates for the specific Astral Realm your assignment takes place in have been fed into the computer.”

The engineer went on excitedly in this vein. Clearly, he was very proud of the Horizon faring vehicle he was working on.

Anisha let monologues about shaped energy weapons and onboard survival systems wash over her, the pit in her stomach growing ever deeper.

And then, sooner than she had expected, it was time to be off.

The Voidcraft was undeniably beautiful.

Anisha marveled at the sleek grey interiors and the displays embedded seamlessly in the glass.

It was a more expensive coffin than most get.

The Voidcraft was wheeled out onto one of several runways leading to the exterior of the Space Station, opening into one of the largest Bleeds ever discovered.

Pressure built against her chest as the Voidcraft built up speed.

And then she was off through the Bleed.

Anisha had never particularly paid attention to religion, but she had a talisman symbolising her faith hung around her neck regardless, for appearance’s sake if nothing else.

She was religious because where she came from, it was unthinkable to really be anything else.

The Voidcraft screamed as it picked up speeds the onboard dial assured her were well above supersonic.

Anisha wrapped her fingers around the talisman, almost hard enough to hurt.

The drowning woman’s one last straw to grab.

More colours than she even knew existed hurtled by a dazzling, brilliant display.

Smith, the android strapped in behind her, had no emotion on his face whatsoever.

At times like this, Anisha debated how great it would be to have her beating heart replaced by clockwork, or whatever these things ran on.

A dot of blinding white light on the horizon got ever larger, until white was all she could see.

The light was bright enough to sting. Anisha screwed her eyes shut.

Then the light turned dim, and she knew she had arrived.

Right into water.

Desperately, Anisha pulled on the steering stick to pull it back up out of the water.

Except there was nowhere to go, as they were surrounded by water in all directions.

The water was darker than a moonless night in every direction she could see, broken up by grains of light floating across like snowflakes scattered through the water.

The display inside her voidcraft helpfully informed her they were currently under 5000 times the atmospheric pressure.

Anisha pulled her knees up under her chin.

“Technically open space, technicallyopenspacetechnicallyopenspace-”

No reply was forthcoming from the android seated behind her.

“I should definitely stop talking to myself.”

Inhaling a rather large gulp of the limited air they had, Anisha straightened her spine and took hold of the controls, flicking an icon on the display so floods of white light erupted from the front of the craft, illuminating the darkness beyond.

The motes of light around them shone ever brighter.

And she forged ahead.

The pressure never let up, but remained mostly consistent.

Anisha had no idea which direction she was heading in.

Perhaps directions did not even exist in this infinite expanse of water.

She gasped as a shoal of pink, luminescent jellyfish floated by, surrounding their craft, then getting left behind in its wake.

The floodlights of her craft fell upon a forest of vines, adorned with cruel black thorns.

She reduced the speed of the craft, piloting it carefully between the black hedge.

Deeper and deeper, till a wall of thorns too tight for the craft to move through, blocked her way.

Left with no way forward, she piloted the craft around, out of the forest of thorns.

She even tried to follow the vines to their roots, taking the chance that she might find the bed of this sea.

But the vines seemed to have no end in sight, and after 30 minutes of chasing an end that would never come, she wrote it off as a futile endeavour.

Again in the open water, one light, larger than all the others around her, beckoned.

So naturally, Anisha steered clear.

Tremors rocked the craft. Something large, and heavy was moving by.

Anisha looked upward, and her breath caught in her throat.

A horse, pale and glowing with ethereal light, it’s legs adorned with drape like flaps of skin, galloped through water as naturally as one would on land.

Then another. And yet one more.

Heading for the light.

Turning the light from her own ship down, Anisha waited, watching with bated breath.

She nearly lost sight of the galloping ghostly stallions in the glare of the ever brightening light ahead.

Until the darkness beyond sprouted silver, razor teeth, and a gaping maw clamped shut, swallowing one whole, and cutting another in half, leaving a trail of pale luminescent fluid smeared across the blackness of the water.

The light went out as soon as those vicious jaws snapped shut, and the third horse reared backwards in alarm.

Giant glassy colourless eyes seemed to fix her with a stare as the creature turned to then disappear into the blackness once more.

Anisha only realised she had been holding her breath in tense anticipation once it had disappeared.

Without bothering to turn the floodlights back on, she prodded the craft into action once more.

Moving away from the direction that monster had disappeared in with considerable haste.

Moving through the blackness of the water, she saw more of the wondrous fauna.

She saw jellyfish, iridescent, the size of umbrellas.

She saw more of the spectral horses treading water unmolested.

She saw a ray, one eye on its ventral body, staring down at her, as they moved past each other, in mutual spirit of self preservation.

What she did not see was any place where she might find the artifact she was looking for.

So far, this hasn’t been all that bad.

Anisha began idly humming to herself.

Stopping only when the waters around her seemed to resonate with the tone, humming back.

She froze.

The tune did not cease, picking up a haunting quality she had never quite picked up in it before.

As if the very waters around her began to stir, and sing.

Particles of light began to dance around the craft.

And a dot of light behind the craft began to grow larger.

Even Smith stirred in his- its?- seat.

“Ah.”

Anisha pushed the voidcraft forward, with as much acceleration as it could manage.

Which really should have been far faster than any marine predator could manage.

But was not.

She watched ivory thorns rush overhead through the window of the cockpit.

The pressure of the surrounding water deescalated drastically.

And whatever little light was available to them, died.

Hastily, Anisha turned the floodlights on once more, only to find walls of flesh closing in around them, constricting the voidcraft from all directions.

The material of the voidcraft was built to explore a wide variety of hazardous environments.

It would not give way, even being constricted within a massive fish’s esophagus.

Just when Anisha began to wonder how they would cut their way out, the crushing walls of flesh were gone.

As was Smith. And the Voidcraft.

She was alone.

Stood in the middle of nowhere.

Looking down to find her own reflection staring back at her.

The melody was back, louder, more sonorous.

She felt a headache starting to form.

“Hello?”

Hello?

Her own echo, reflected back at her.

Her headache grew all the more pronounced, now accompanied with a throbbing pressure.

She felt moisture above her lip.

She ran her fingers below her lip. They came away stained with blood.

Her vision grew blurry, as the pressure within her skull mounted.

The tone grew ever louder.

She couldn’t remember where she had first heard it.

Had she ever heard it before she arrived here?

Her thoughts became as blurry as her memories.

But as she fell to her knees, she saw her own self, staring back at her, with perfect clarity.

Humming that same damned tune.

With her final conscious thoughts, she cursed Hans Muller and Apotheosis for sending her to her death.

And then she passed out.

She awoke to gunfire.

Her eyes snapped open and she inhaled a lungful of rancid air with a gasp.

Rising, she noticed the hatch over the cockpit was open.

And Smith was gone.

She clambered around to find her handgun, then peeked out the side of the craft.

Swelling folds of moist skin wrapped the voidcraft from every direction.

Turning to the rear of the craft, she saw Smith, laid on its left side and buried up to the shoulder in flesh, its arm turned to a volley gun, facing down advancing tendrils of flesh.

The tendrils vibrated, letting off a high pitched sound, nearly loud enough to make Anisha pass out once more.

A wave of nausea hit her and she expelled the contents of her stomach off the side of the ship.

The android, less affected, fired up to 20,000 rounds of ammunition into the advancing tendrils in a single second, reducing it to red mist.

The entire organ seemed to thrash around them, folds of flesh moving erratically, burying the voidcraft further within.

Smith dug itself from the fleshy embrace with prodigious strength, wading back to the craft.

Before he made it back, the very walls began to steam and hiss.

One of the walls buckled inwards.

A jetstream of water pierced through.

And took the android’s head clean off.

Flesh began to slough off the walls and rain over Anisha.

Hastily, she shut the hatch.

Before she could activate the engines in an attempt to burn her way out, the walls around her buckled inward even further.

And the discarded flesh that had infiltrated the craft began to wriggle.

The walls around her ruptured and water rushed in, deep, dark in colour.

The displays within the Voidcraft flashed with some urgency, informing her the shields were compromised.

The pressure on the hull rose meteorically.

And the globules of flesh within began to thrash.

The craft began to sound off it’s internal alarms.

The display told her the pH of the water had dropped to a point where it couldn’t rightly be called water any longer.

But Anisha was preoccupied with the wriggling occupants of the cockpit.

Something clamped around her right index finger like a vise.

She tore the offending creature off her finger, and discovered her finger nail had gone the same way.

It should have hurt.

It didn’t.

The blood had already begun to congeal.

Ice seemed to fill her blood vessels around the fingertip, drowning all sensation.

The wriggling globules of flesh had begun to more closely resemble their parent organism, adorned with thrashing fins and full sets of razor teeth.

Transferring the handgun to her opposite hand, she began to fire.

The pressure on the hull climbed without pause.

The voidcraft glided through the water- no, acid- sliding through akin to a bar of soap through the pressure of a clenched fist.

Anisha fired again.

And again.

The mist of blood and saline water assailed her senses.

She fired again.

Something punched her in the gut.

Blinking away the tears, she saw the spent remains of a bullet against her stomach.

Which had failed to penetrate for some reason.

Before the ice rushed to blanket the pain.

Anisha barked a bitter laugh to herself.

This was it.

Hans’ blessing.

She wondered if it would save her when the Voidcraft inevitably crumpled under several tons of acid water.

Surrendering to the ice blanketing her senses, she left the urgent sirens and the flashing red of the cockpit far behind her, as she sank into her own exhaustion.

With the only thoughts remaining in her head being that tune, repeating within, over and over.

“She seems to be coming around.”

Anisha saw a silvery light just beyond her field of view.

Move towards the light.

Putting her weight over her elbows, Anisha began to rise.

Someone gently put pressure over her shoulders, returning her to her earlier position.

“Don’t try and move. You were shot, even though the bullet didn’t penetrate.”

Anisha felt her head was quite fuzzy.

A man’s face obscured by a surgical mask appeared in front of her.

“I… made it back?”

“Yes. The Voidcraft was heavily damaged, but it held up long enough.”

“Where is Ha- Lord Hans?”

“Sorry?”

“The mage who had sent me on assignment.” Anisha clarified.

“Ah, him. He isn’t at the station right now. Must have had another engagement.”

“Hah… typical.”

“Pardon?”

“Nevermind. How long do I have to be here?”

“Not long now. As I said, the bullet didn’t penetrate, and your other wounds were superficial enough. We’ll have you on your feet in an hour.”

Anisha, in no real hurry to see Hans again, sank further into the bed.

The tune turned earworm refused to leave her head all throughout.

2006, 12th January

Space Station, Apotheosis

“Wow. You sure got lucky with that Astral Realm.” Ciara said.

Aaron noticed the tranquility on Anisha’s face.

He supposed, after an experience like that, very little would phase a person anymore.

Michael remained silently impassive all throughout, although Aaron had noticed his jaw tighten through parts of the retelling.

“So you thought the mission had been a failure? Until you found out that Hans had been looking for a sonic frequency all along?” Aaron queried.

“Yes. The tune stuck in my head. But he didn’t get it. I already made sure of it.”

“So, do we have it, then?”

“Even if we did-” Michael intervened, “-it would be useless to us. That’s only one part of a larger frequency.”

“I’m sure you know what happened next,” Anisha said. “Hans’ attack on the Mars sanctum; everything that happened after-”

“None of that is relevant right now.” Michael interjected once more.

Turning to his fellow magi assembled before him, he regarded them with a piercing gaze.

“What do you make of the man himself? What can you guess about Hans based on what you’ve heard about him so far.”

“He… has a superiority complex?” Ciara ventured.

Aaron snorted. The number of magi that didn’t have a superiority complex could be counted on one hand.

Michael, on the other hand, nodded, gesturing for her to go on.

Ciara shot Aaron a dirty look, then continued.

“The spell he used on Anisha sounded like an entropic shield; slowing down bullets, dulling pain. He would be an apprentice of Death magic at least. He also seemed to have a lot to say about souls, which would explain the specialization.”

At this, Michael smiled. Then he looked at Aaron, prompting him to speak.

“Uh… He obviously looks down on Hollows. But he also seems to think he can do something about that. I can’t imagine what could be done about it, though.”

Pierre had nothing to add, standing back with his arms crossed in stony silence.

Michael never even attempted to address him.

“We don’t know what could be done about it, that’s correct. And that is exactly what I want you to find out. I have a theory, but it’s incomplete. You will fill in the blanks. Then we will decide what is next.”

“Ah… Isn’t that way too much for just our first assignment together? Surely you’d want… a more proven team, for something of this magnitude.”

“Do you think my judgement is a mistake? That I am wasting my time?”

“Err… no..”

“No. I have selected you, because I have faith in your abilities. My judgement has never been wrong before. I trust you. And I will teach you to trust your own abilities as well.”

Pierre snorted, and finally spoke.

“Sounds to me you’re going to sit here with empty words of encouragement while we work our asses off. Would be good to have the Outreach guys actually put all their magic to use instead of cooling their heels.”

Michael’s eyes got ice cold, and he held Pierre’s gaze long enough for the silence to grow uncomfortable once more, before he finally spoke.

“The day I finally deem it necessary to take to the field, know that it will be because I have lost all faith in you, and have decided to abandon you.”

The rest of them fidgeted uncomfortably in their spots.

Michael’s deep brown eyes softened once more.

“Don’t worry about things that won’t happen. We all have our parts to play. I am your voice within this organisation. I am the one who gets you heard. Again, I was the one that chose you. And I do not make mistakes when judging people.”

Saying so, Michael rose, and turned to the window behind him.

“You can go now. Prepare yourselves. We have a lot to do.”

The three mages filed out.

Anisha remained behind.

“Looks like at least one of them is warming up to working with you already. You must have made quite an impression on that girl.”

She noticed Michael was staring at her intently, his gaze seeming to pierce through her.

She shifted in place.

“This earworm you mentioned-” Michael continued. “Does it still play through your head?”

“I mean- occasionally? It’s oddly catchy.”

Michael said nothing, simply scrutinising her some more.

Then he nodded, and saying nothing, turned back to the window.

Anisha left the office.

She knew when she had been dismissed.

Michael pursed his lips as he found himself alone.

Now, let’s see how this plays out.