Mana Mutation Menace (Journey to Chaos Book 3) (21 page)

 Eric thought of an old man running through a village,
yelling, “Squirrels!” and then tripping over his long white beard. He cracked
up laughing.

"I'm serious! It’s especially bad when he thinks they’re
in his pants!" 

That only made his laughter worse. When he finally
stopped, Annala continued, if just a
little
annoyed.

"
Anyway
, elven families are dispersed all over
the world and the Festival of Arin's Ascension is usually when they all
gather.”

"Is this how your aunt and uncle met?" Eric
asked.

"They brought back a Lofnir they killed," Annala
said. "Which brings me to the most important part of the festival: the
annual play. It's the story of a herbalist and her guardian as they wandered,
much like elves do today. They're the mother and father of the elven
race."

"I'm looking forward to it. I'm tired of learning
about elves through war documentaries."

"It’s the opposite of what...Tasio...wanted, but...those
wars happened."

"So the reason elves are so secretive is the same
reason humans know anything about them at all?" Eric sat his chin on his
fist. "Is it the chicken or the egg?"

They spent dinner debating the subject. They framed their
arguments using reason, philosophy, religion, biology, and other subjects. The
winner of each round had to pay the penalty of feeding the other a fry. Eric
pulled Annala into his lap to make the exchange more pleasant.

 The move startled Annala because she didn't expect him to
be so bold. His hands didn't wander and his arguments didn't falter, so she
relaxed. Eric was still Eric. The fundamental nature remained unchanged despite
appearance.

A metal utensil on a glass cup rang in the restaurant. All
eyes in the room centered on Kallen. She stood on a table that Emily sat at.

"Fellow patrons of this fine restaurant, allow me to
present the winner of the 2000 AA Winter Blaze art gallery, Emily
Tompson!" She clapped and other customers followed suit. Emily stood and
took a bow. "She will accompany me to the Mana Mutation Summit, where her
statue of me in all my monstrous glory will be on display for everyone to see!"

Her eyes traveled over the restaurant to drink in their
amazement and they connected with Eric, who didn't look away in time. She
jumped off her table and speed-dashed to Eric's table. The eyes of the room
followed her. Annala pushed herself off his lap and tugged her ear.

"My, my, what a coincidence! Eric Watley, the Modern
Demon." Kallen picked up a spoon and thrust it forward like a microphone.
"Mr. Watley, are you excited for the Summit?"

"Kallen, get that out of my face." To the crowd
at large, he said, "There's nothing to see here, only a trickster's choice
making dribble bottles for people that stare at him."

At once, he was as invisible as if he'd cast the Dark
Veil.

 "Mind if I join you?" Kallen asked.

She slipped into the booth opposite them without waiting
for an answer.

"Kallen...how...what are you doing here!?"

"I thought that would be obvious." She gestured
to her own meal and Emily.

"Are you stalking me?"

"Why not? You're a handsome warrior," Kallen
said flirtatiously. "Then again, Annala's pretty cute too..."

Eric did a spit-take and all over her too. Annala was
unimpressed.

“I feel sorry for your assistant if she has to put up with
your teasing every day.”

Eric wiped himself off while Kallen did the same.

"What are you
really
doing here?"

"I came to see the happy couple," Kallen said
sincerely. "Tasio told me you hooked up, so I thought I’d say
congrats."

"Kallen, we're not married," Eric said.

"
Technically,
no," Kallen reached over
and tweaked his currently rounded ears, "but you are considering it and
I'm happy for you. I was hoping you would ask her out."

"You were?" Annala asked.

"Me and Tasio both." Kallen sipped her hot chocolate.
"He doesn't give out Seeds of Chaos to just anyone."

"Kallen, what are you up to?" Eric asked.

"I'll leave you to your date now." She pulled
out her money pouch and put coins in Eric's hand. A jolt of happiness and peace
shot through him when her fingers brushed his palm. It was replaced by a twinge
of longing. "Here, have one of those Big Chocolate Couple shakes on
me."

"You’re as outrageous as ever," Annala said.

"You know her?" Eric asked.

"Long story short; we used to live together."

"Okay, now I want the long story."

Sisters; they were sisters. Eric
asked Annala to repeat herself to make sure he heard right.

“Kallen’s immediate family was
wiped out in the Siduban Chaos Explosion and her relatives either couldn’t be
found or refused responsibility. My mother, who had been her mother’s business
partner in similar manner to Auntie H, adopted her in order to treat her
mutation and my father made sure that loophole was in effect: ‘humans that
belong to an elven family by way of marriage or adoption are considered part of
the village and thus are exempted from technology bans and other laws forbidding
and/or restricting human/elf interaction but not those laws whose purpose is to
otherwise govern such interaction and prevent abuse.’ She had a room down the
hall from mine in Dnnac Ledo and she helped me adjust to life in a human city
when I decided to study abroad. Thus, it would be accurate to call her ‘my big
sister.’”

“Okay, I think I understand this
time. So she took you under her wing like she’s doing to Emily right now?”

“Yep!” Annala chirped. “She
played with me, shared dessert with me, let me sleep in her bed when I had
nightmares, and protected me from bullies. She’s the best big sister ever!”

Eric ate a fry.

“Then how did she end up in the
ICDMM? I figured she’d work for your mom.”

Kallen swallowed a piece of
chicken tender before replying. “I wasn’t The Trickster’s Choice back then. Although
I was legally part of the Enaz family, I was not accepted in their community.
It was dangerous for me there.”

Like Zettai and the Bladi
Clan...

“It was safer for me to be among
my fellow mortals,” Kallen continued. “Plus, Nunnal hoped I could provide them
with clues to solving mana mutation on their own and serve as a bridge between
our two worlds. They exploited her goodwill and treated me like a lab rat. I
went back to Dnnac Ledo as often as I could, and once I inherited
Albatros
IX
, I stayed as far away from the ICDMM as possible for as long as
possible.”

“Then during my stay there, you —”

Kallen stuck the rest of her
chicken tender in his mouth. Since she had bite marks in it, Eric wondered if
this counted as a kiss. He decided that was ridiculous and swallowed.

“Yeah...bad memories...but it’s
in the past. Right now, the important thing is the Summit and making sure
‘Loony Lunas’ doesn’t derail it.”

Eric sweat-dropped, then he
wondered if Kallen read that from the article he was involved or if she called
him that herself.

“That reminds me. I haven’t
remembered how to read yet. I'm a high school graduate so I should know how to
do that.”

“I should
hope
a high
school graduate can do that much,” Emily muttered.

Annala sipped her drink. “The
Summit is scheduled for the day after Torch Day,” she said. “We have plenty of
time for you to re-learn reading and anything else you like.”

  “My girlfriend wants to do
research with me; I’ve died and gone to Elysium.”

Annala stood and walked off.
“You have to please the gods to get there.” With a sly look over her shoulder,
she finished, “And right now, Death doesn’t like you.”

Eric stood and raised his hands
like a Rattlelance actor. In a stage voice, he proclaimed, “The mind is its own
place, and in itself, the mind can make a paradise out of a wasteland or a
wasteland out of a paradise.” He sidled next to Annala and put his arm around
her. “My paradise is right here.”

She nestled. “Oh, Eric….”

Emily gagged. “I don’t know
what’s worse. Their PDA or that he’s quoting
Paradise Lost
to start it.
Right, Boss?”

“Yeah….”

“Uh… you know, Boss…We could do
something later…” She colored. “…if you want.”

Kallen placed her under her arm.
“Thanks, Emily.”

In the library, the first couple
checked out simple books and sat down for lessons.

It was an odd experience for
Eric. He remembered reading the collective work of Rattlelance and could quote
all of them, but he couldn’t decipher the written words. Annala was a patient
teacher and guided him in the shapes of letters and the sounds they made. Next was
how to string them together into words and sentences. It was a stumbling and
halting process, and sometimes, Eric forgot something he had re-learned five
minutes previously. Then he had an epiphany.

“Magecraft! This isn’t any
different from spell study. Every night with Dengel’s
Introduction to Magecraft
.
Prologue: Magecraft is Not Necrocraft. Spells are words and words are letters.
Letters are sounds and sounds are necessary for novice mages. The master uses
thoughts that sound like sounds until only the feeling is needed. THUS!”

He grabbed the nearest book to
hand and read it out loud, disturbing the other visitors with his triumphant
voice. The librarian threw a silence spell at him, but he deflected it on
reflex. Then he jumped onto the table, assumed his true form, and declared,
“I’m going to read every
book in this library before the Summit!”

This tremendously bothered the
library patrons. Many of them turned to “shh!” him. Others raised their scries
to take a picture of him. Only a couple were scared of him, and all they did
was check that their weapons were close at hand.

“Eric! Get down!” Annala hissed.

She yanked him by his metallic hand
until he resumed his seat. Then she told him to change back and he did. This
too was immortalized in digital media and posted to
Carrier Pidgeon.
The
tagline was #WhoNeedsBeowulf.

 “Anyway, the Summit is ten days
away. You’d have to take a leave of absence from the Dragon’s Lair, eat all
your meals here, pee into a cup, stay up all night, every night, and even then
you would not make it.”

“Between my recovery and
‘preparing myself for the Summit,’ I think I can swing the leave, meals aren’t
a problem because of the cafeteria, Grey Dengel taught me waste treatment
spells for just such an occasion, and the chaos seed will prevent me from
building a tolerance to caffeine, right?” Annala nodded. “Then I can do it.”

Thus began Eric’s second
nine-day library stay. Considering he didn’t have to sleep, he gained a net of
seventy-two extra hours, so it was more like twelve days. Between the library’s
books and its access to the internet, he read about every academic subject in
five sub-areas of interest, current events throughout the world dating back one
year, six web comics up to their fifth story arc, and upcoming holiday deals so
he’d have something for his friends.

“So
this
is why elves are
so much more advanced than humans; you don’t sleep!”

Annala placed a brown paper bag
at his table. It was littered with such bags and other trash beyond counting.
Most of it was fast food from the local Sandwich Queen, but others were vitamin
water and salads from the café. She sat down across from him and said, “You
have to sleep
eventually
; otherwise, you’ll end up like Grandpa Nueces.”

“There’s so much to learn…and so
much is relevant to the Summit! Do you know how long the Mana Mutation Method
of Mage Moderation controversy goes? It’s an extreme theory to say the least,
but it would no doubt be effective in its goal, but it would also leave them
unable to deal with the monsters that remained after the mana level dimmed and
not to mention the long-term consequences! On the other hand, it’s certainly
something Order would want; more of a side-benefit than a side effect, but I
do not doubt that Loony Lunas will push this at the Summit. His country
operates under different technology and so it wouldn’t be an issue for him, but
how would he persuade the rest of the world go along with it?”

Annala began the process of
cleaning up the mess. Eric was clearly in no state of mind to do so and the
librarian was the verge of attacking him over it.

“I thought you didn’t care about
The First War,” she said.

“I don’t. Not in the slightest; Chaos
and Order can both jump in a lake for all I care.”

He took a swig from an energy
drink and then tossed the empty bottle into a recycling bin.

“But this involves my little
sister and she’s counting on me to make her latest plan work by supporting the
side of the tricksters. Thus I care about this tiny little front of The First War
and only this tiny little front.”

“Little sister?...Oh….Monster mindset.” She resumed
stuffing wrappers into a trash bag. “So you consider Her Majesty to be your
little sister?”

“She’s younger than me, relies on me, annoys the abyss out
of me on occasion, and I protect her from evil suitors because she’s important
to me. That makes her my little sister. Anyway, I’m only doing this because of
her and to become immortal; in other words, because of you, which is both selfless
and selfish of me because I’m performing an unpleasant task for the sake of
another but only to fulfill my own objectives. It’s like eating; speaking of
which, I am hungry and for more than the lunch special salads in the
cafeteria.”

Annala gathered up all the bottles, shot tubes, and dark
chocolate containers that had fueled her boyfriend’s marathon study session.
There had to be over ten thousand milligrams of caffeine in total.

“What you need is sleep.”

“If you insist, my lady, then I shall sleep like a baby
because no one can kill me…No one can kill me, right? There’s not some weird
weakness I’m unaware of that Loony Lunas will exploit as soon as I close my
eyes, right?”

Annala tossed the trash bag over her shoulder. Eric waited
for her to answer. After a deliberate pause, she said, “Now that you mention
it, we’re deathly allergic to pickles.”

“Really?!”

“No. Go home and go to sleep.” She grabbed his arm and
pulled him out of his seat. “Come on. I’ll tuck you in myself.”

“Aww, I thought you were going to join me.”

Annala grimaced and continued pulling. “Because you’re
sleep deprived and have more caffeine in your veins than water, I’m going to
ignore that.”

With effort, patience, and an intellectually stimulating
discussion about the struggle between Chaos and Order over the world fruit of
Noitrearc, Annala successfully extracted Eric from his temporary lodgings. With
honeyed smiles and sweeter words, she lured him from the library to his
apartment. Finally, she tucked him in.

“Tomorrow is Torch Day with plenty of parties to
celebrate. If you rest and go back to the guild, then we’ll go to one at the
end of the day. You have my word as a lady of chaos.”

The next day, Eric hummed to work: he had a girlfriend, it
was Torch Day, and his job's greatest occupational hazard was no longer an
issue. There was every reason for him to be happy.

He read about Torch Day on his first day at the library. Despite
its focus on the veneration of Fiol, the Avatar of Fire, its roots were far
older. It was practiced by Fiol’s mortal ancestors in the days before the
written record. Its symbolism and meaning could be traced to humans discovering
fire for the first time.

A torch illuminated the area around itself even in the
darkest night. It lit the way for all around it. Sharing this fire meant sharing
warmth, which in the winter could mean the difference between life and death.
The holiday was marked by rituals to the Fire Goddess; it was a full day of
observance and special behavior for the entire community. Now only the royal
family and devoted adherents still upheld them.

In modern times, commoners were more involved with
festivities like the party for the statue contest (which he had a date for),
special holiday food, a torch runner from Mt. Fiol (an active volcano and holy
site) to the capital and secular seat of Fiol’s power. There were CV specials
and a reenactment of the historical event.

Locking the door to his bridge house, he skipped up the
stairs and an arrow pierced his skull and lodged in his brain.

Holy chaos, that hurts!

 Despite the agony, it was not lethal. He pulled it out
and the hole mended itself. Even the pain was brief. More arrows followed the
first and they too pierced him, but they didn't kill him. Eric searched nearby
windows and rooftops but didn't spot anyone. The arrows stopped coming, so he
assumed they gave up.

You can't kill an immortal, but why'd they want to kill
me in the first place?

Grey Dengel appeared.
You have enemies besides Order.

"Oh, hey, Grey Dengel. Where've you been? I haven't
seen you since the soul mate talk."

Grey Dengel sighed.
I am not the real Dengel. I am
little more than your imaginary friend. My absences are yours to explain.

"I suppose my enemies are Gruffle, but he works for
Nulso, who works for Order. I suppose Dengel-fans or those objecting to Medical
Mana Mutation might have something against me, but worth killing me over?”

No one else attacked him on his way to the Dragon’s Lair.
Nor did he see anyone from his team. Someone else was in the lobby instead.
Ever since Eric's first day, Mia never once failed to greet him, but today, she
didn't even notice the door's ding.
The young man leaning on her desk
had her full attention.

Prince Lunas looked directly into her eyes and moved his
hand discretely at his waist. Eric’s Magic Sight couldn't detect any magic or
ordercraft, but he knew the prince was up to something. The ribbons holding
Mia's hair in pigtails contained protective wards and they wouldn't be glowing
if Lunas were harmless. Only by chance did her eyes wander away.