The House of Grey- Volume 4 (24 page)

Monson’s eyebrow shot up
.
“AOI
and
Scripting
,
h
uh? Why two names?
"

“Because they have different forms, functions
,
and possibilities.”

“Cool.” 

Grayson chuckled. “As far as we can tell
,
Kei
, or magic as you call it, is inside everyone, everything
,
all creations
;
if it has substance
,
it has magic.”

“How on earth is that possible?
”

“Hold on Monson,” said Grayson
,
reverting back to his southern drawl
.
“
I’m
a-
gettin
’
there. As far as we know, which is
miniscule
compared
with
how much we would like to know, there isn’t anyone
who
can see internal
Kei.
T
his is the power that permeates our bodies like an internal delivery system
,
much like that of our blood vessels.
Kei
travels through this system connecting the spiritual to the physical. Think of it as blood vessels for the soul.  The manipulation of
this
system is what produces magical effects. Now
,
notice I said that no one can see internal
Kei
, meaning people can’t see the
‘
magic
’
in a dormant state, but when people release and manipulate it
,
t
hat
’
s a different story.”

Again
,
Casey flashed through Monson’s mind. He kept quiet
,
however.

“Now don’t get me wrong. Most people can’t see external
Kei
even if it’s being released, but there are a few who can. We call these people
‘
Power Sensitive
’
or
Sentinel
for short. People who are
identified as
Power Sensitive are taken and trained
.”

Grayson’s pause for breath allowed Monson a question. “How do you know who is Power Sensitive?”

Grayson smirked. “Excellent question. There are a variety of ways, but the most consistent and reliable one is a device that my grandfather designed and my father built called a Counter. It can detect anyone
’
s Kei levels, allowing us to zero in on
Sentinel
s. Most people don’t know much about their talents so they may unknowingly release Kei. But some get to the point where they can deliberately manipulate it. The Counter finds these people.”

Monson nodded his understanding.

Grayson continued, “Those identified as Sentinels are then taken and trained to become
operatives of H.U.M
.A.N.E,
or Human
U
sers of Magic
and Necromantic Exploration
. The people who drew these pictures are all H.U.M
.A.N.E
agents; they were able to see what was really happening on that bridge
,
rewarding
our efforts
in
following you.”

“Which brings me to my next two questions,” said Monson impatiently
.
“
W
hy were you following me and why did you draw pictures
?
W
hy didn’t you just use a camera or something?”

“The latter question is an easy one; magic does freaky stuff to electronics or non-
Kei
technology.
”

“You didn’t have K
ei
technology on the bridge?”

“Another excellent observation
.
W
e did, but whatever was on that bridge overloaded it. Overloaded everything K
ei
, mechanical or electronic.”

Monson
nodded
.
It made sense.

“
The
first
question is a bit tougher to explain
.
L
et
’
s just say that we made contact at
t
he
Horum Vir
competition. We had a couple of our agents there
,
and by pure chance
,
one of them witnessed a Scripting of
Kei
.”

Monson started to rub at his temple
s.
“I feel like I’m taking a
language
test with vocabulary that I’ve never heard
before
.
”

Grayson refilled his teacup
,
adding an extra bag as he did
.
“
L
et me back up and explain
the gap. It might help
. The easiest
way
to manipulate Kei is through your hands
;
it
’
s
not the only way, but one of the easiest. The most basic mode of supernatural manipulation is through this process.  You release your Kei from your hands
,
saturating your surroundings
, and
then anything that comes in contact with that power
can also be manipulated
.  For example
….
”

Grayson straightened out his hand
,
pointing it towards one of the tower
s
of books.
Nothing happened for several seconds,
until a single book slid out from
the
s
h
elf and landed with a thud on the floor.

Monson raised his eyebrow at Grayson
.
“Whoa
,
”
he
said
,
impressed.

“Whoa indeed
,
” agreed Grayson.

“This style is of magic is called
‘
the area of influence
,
’
or the AOI.
Kei
functions a great deal like any other type of energy in that its effectiveness will diminish with time and distance.  Again
,
take me as an example. My area of influence is only about
twelve
feet
,
and that is for very minor manipulations.”

Grayson paused
,
opening the
sketchbook
again.
“
T
he second type of magic manipulation is vastly more difficult but much more effective
,
at least in theory.”

“In theory
?
” asked Monson
,
watching as Grayson flipped the page
s.

“Yes, in theory. The second type is called Scripting. Little is known about the process but most of our
researchers
believe that
Scripting
requires
three key elements
:
t
he heart, the hand
,
and the word
.
The heart’s power, the hand’s path
,
and the word’s grip
.
”

Monson interrupted. “
U
mm…so what’s the difference between Scripting and AOI?”

“It
’
s difficult to explain without totally confusing you.” Grayson rubbed at his face
,
thinking
.
“
L
et me try this. Think of electricity. What can electricity do?”

Monson played along. “A
lot
. Everything is powered by electricity. I mean
,
everything from appliances to video games.”

“Exactly!” Grayson beamed
.
“Electricity is the source of power that enables technology to function. Computers, microwaves, projectors
,
everything
;
basically without electricity we would be in the Stone Age.
Kei
manipulation
,
or AOI
,
is like trying to get electricity to
actually
do everything that all those
machines
can do. It doesn’t work that way. Why? Because electricity isn’t supposed to be able to do
everything the machine can do, only power it.
Electricity is a source of energy that allows the other parts
—
a circuit in a computer, the
plasma
in a television
,
or the navigation system of a satellite
—
to operate.  AOI manipulation of Kei uses the same concept.
That is why it’s so limited.
Scripting, on
the
other hand
, takes the
Kei
and
converts
it to a form that can do a much greater array of things. Just like technology. I can’t explain the details because I don’t
fully understand
, but it has to do with t
hose three elements I mentioned
.”

Monson interrupted Grayson
again.
“
That seems simple enough, but why do you consider it a theory?
”

“
B
ecause we haven’t had a successful Scripting yet in the organization. There isn’t an agent in
H.U.M
.A.N.E
who
can Script. Grandfather wrote about it and we
’
ve been researching
it
ever since. We’ve made progress, we feel like we
’
re getting close. We just aren’t there yet. That’s why
,
when
the man at the
Horum Vir
competition
saw
Scripting
, it
was so unbelievable. Our agents did not quite know what to make of it.”

Monson sat back in his chair
.
H
e wanted to ask more questions about it, but there didn’t seem to be much
point
at this
time
. “Let’s leave
Kei
and Scripting
for a minute
. You keep talking about your organization
’
s theories and scientists. 
Why don
’
t
you tell me about this H.U.M
.A.N.E
organization and how you have all this information.” 

Grayson nodded
.
“As you wish, but I warn you
,
it’s a long story
.
”

“We’ve got time.”

“Then I
’
ll explain as much as I can.”

He sat back in his chair stirring his tea
,
a
thoughtful
look on his face. “
More than
sixty-five
years ago
,
right around the end of the
S
econd
W
orld
W
ar
,
Germany was in a bind. The wars on both the Eastern and Western fronts were going badly. They were
searching
desperately for anything that might change what seemed to be
a
forgone conclusion
.
”

“Wait
,
don’t tell me
.
”
Monson stirred his tea absentmindedly
.
“
I think I
’
ve heard this one.
The scientists
were searching for legendary power
,
found it
,
and ended up dying in
the
process.”

“What?”
asked
Grayson
,
his voice laced with surprise.

“
I think I’ve seen at least one movie with this exact plotline
.
Are you just making this up as you go along? If I see this on some sort of gag reality TV show, I
’
m going to be pissed.
”