The forest started to thin out as they reached reached the outskirts of the city. It had taken a good part of the day to travel this far. The city itself was still moving. The outskirts still showed it’s farming roots and they passed a good number of farms before they started to get closer to the hub. The scouts reappeared keeping pace with the horses easily.

  The work on the hub had been finished far before there had been any discovery of the ruins over which the fort had been built. The lines themselves were constructed over mana channels that had been established either through natural or artificial means in ages past. No one quite knew what the channels actually were, but that didn’t stop people from using them. Any sense of danger that had come from using magic was quickly squashed either from the weight of the empire or the convenience and money that it brought to anyone fortunate enough to be near an mana channel.

  The work to establish a transportation network hadn’t been much. As Malik understood it, you just needed an origin and a place to anchor the origin. Plates were specifically etched to travel along the lines in a near automatic process. Hubs generally were areas that could hold multiple anchors and were quite generally seen as the prized possessions of the empire due to the fact they could safely transport goods and people long distances.

  Only a kingdoms had been able to discover how to make the transportation lines. Generally the empire offered the scattered kingdoms the chance to join the empire peacefully. If they did not join the empire acquired them in more forceful ways. The empire had been made as a conglomeration of a large number of small kingdoms. Once a kingdom joined the empire the citizens were dispersed throughout the empire.

  The city eventually had it’s center shifted more toward the hub itself as commerce and people flowed in. The guard themselves had trouble initially with the first influx of people who ended up moving to the area, but, with a new governor being assigned to the area who had been from the capitol, he assisted the mayor in getting recruitment and training for the city guard to deal with the growing pains.

  The streets of the city were busy as many of the locals set to work on their normal day. Malik’s group had drawn a few eyes, but were mostly ignored. From what he imagined, the 50 or so men that had been sent to the hub would have drawn more stares as they set about getting to where they needed to go.

  The streets were relatively clean as were the buildings. The buildings had been built haphazardly in the old town, but thankfully the route that they followed had avoided the old town. The newer buildings had proper city planning and had been set up in a grid like patterns mostly coming from the hub itself. The grid work had fallen apart as it fell into land that was held by the die-hard farmers that did not wish to give up their land, but for the owners relented, and more than not had found themselves with more money than they would have reasonably expected to see in their lifetime. The land holders that ended up selling their land usually left first chance they could, but there still had been a group of the locals that saw this as a successful opportunity and ended up reinvesting their new found wealth instead of moving on.

  The current mayor, Basewin, had been a member of one such family. He had only recently become mayor. They mayors of this city had been historically elected for a lifetime position. The previous mayor had been more closed to the influx of money and the new people moving in from all corners of the empire. However, the position had grown to be a bit too much for him and he had taken his own life. The circumstances of his death were widely disputed for some time. Many of the locals saw his death as an assassination by the empire to allow growth, while others had considered him to be murdered by one of the other families in the city in an effort to gain wealth by removing any restrictions that would have placed on growth.

  Basewin won a heated race against four other candidates. His nomination and win were grudgingly accepted by more of the extreme groups that had been in the city. In the end as he did his job rumors of the old mayor simply faded away. He felt often that his own work had been successful at getting no one happy. The key of compromise, as he jokingly saw it, was the ability to give everyone everything that they wouldn’t be happy with.

  The Hub towered over the other buildings in the city, not only was it tall, it was large. Malik often though that without a map the hub would be easy to get lost in. The plates entered the building through a large opening in the center. The plates would then settle on any of the large openings on one of the many floors. This hub had only one anchor point currently attached to it far to the south east. A blue light shown in the center of the transportation hub shooting off into the sky and then shooting off to the anchor point forming a literal line which faded where plates traveled close to it. The color returned just as bright as they moved along.

  There hadn’t been a lot of traffic at first, but as it stood now, there had been a quite a bit of activity on the bottom most floors. Even now as it was starting to get quite late in the afternoon shipments still arrived from the anchor point. Malik watched the opening and nodded to himself, satisfied that no plates were leaving.

  The entrance they arrived at towered over them. A version of The Promise, A large version of the imperial comet, had been fixed to the middle of the arch aligned perfectly. Oddly, Malik didn’t feel the sense of relief that he normally did upon seeing the comet. The promise was an oath from the emperor himself to the people that he would bring protect them and make them prosper. Malik cast a glance to the other members of his party. The Magister and the two scryers looked as they ever had. Laudislaus and a couple of the scouts appeared to be slightly perplexed and glanced around like Malik had. On catching each other’s eyed there was a nervous chuckle shared.

  The inside of the hub would have been rather busy normally, but for now, with the plates not leaving there had been a small crowd had gathered, trying to leave the city. The soldiers that had arrived ahead stood smartly, taking in their surroundings. Malik instructed everyone to meet them at the south entrance and left with Malik to find Garren’s subordinate.

  It hadn’t been much of a search. The man had been waiting with the hub manager in a room that had been set aside the control center. The seal he had been given was still being held by him. The soldier stood quickly to attention upon seeing Malik enter. The manager was a bit slower at getting up from his chair. The man was a little bit on the portly side, and wore a well fitted uniform denoting his public service. The man was quite eager to see Malik and started to rush to greet him. The soldier reluctantly followed the man.

  “You don’t know how glad I was when your soldiers arrived.” The man spat out.

  “Eager to see us?” Malik asked. “Usually people are far from eager to see us in a group.”

  “He practically was in tears when we arrived, sir.” The soldier clarified as he handed the seal back to Malik.

  “Something is wrong with the plates!” He exclaimed, while forcing a whisper.

  “What’s wrong with the plates?” asked Klaas with a look of concern.

  “First the goods stopped arriving” the manager started, “Then the man showed up.”

  “The man?” asked Malik, looking at the soldier. The soldier shook his head, indicating that he hadn’t known.

  “I’ll have to show you.” Said the manager.

  The manager lead them up a couple of levels to an empty floor. There had been a makeshift barrier set up around where a plate would have settled itself. The manager walked them around it simply. The plate had a couple of containers loaded on it, however they were off center.

  “Is this how it arrived?” Asked Klaas.

  The manager nodded, as he walked them to the other side. He stopped suddenly and looked away. Malik Klaas and the soldier looked. A single man had been fixed to the deck of the plate. The container itself had a large growth of large red crystals jutting from it. One of the larger crystals had formed over half of the man’s body, piercing the skin of the plate. Inside where the crystal had formed over the man, his skeleton was visible through the translucent surface. His flesh seemingly eaten away from the more dense skeleton. The uniform that the man wore had been that of another public servant, most likely from the other hub. The plate’s internal etchings had been effected as well. The normally pulsing blue and purple that would have been expected it too had no longer showed any activity. There had been a growth of red crystals forming around where the larger crystal had per iced into the etchings themselves.

  “Did anyone touch him?” Asked Klaas coolly.

  “N-no” answered the manager. “He warned us off before he just stopped moving. That crystal wasn't as big when the plate first arrived.”

  Malik moved the seal in his hand around absentmindedly as he stared at the unnamed man’s corpse.

  Malik told the soldier and the manager to head back to the control room. The scryers pushed forward, pushing past both Malik and Klaas. Malik jumped out of the way. Mostly it was because he was startled and had forgotten that they were even preset. The scryers ran their hands absentmindedly through the air tracing out an invisible border.

  Klaas nodded as if in thought. The scyers had developed a pattern and continued to trace their hands through the air along the border that they had previously established

  “Have you seen anything like this before?” Malik asked, while studying the movements of the scryers

  “Not at this scale.” Klaas said dismissively.

  Klaas looked around the area. He walked over to one of the corners of the makeshift barricade and pulled at a metallic bar. It had been roughly the size of his arm. The runes in his arm glowed momentarily and traveled down to the bar. Klaas swung it through the air a couple of times and placed it gently on the ground. He found a similar length of wood. He examined it closely, and picked up the length of metal.

  “This might take some time.” Klaas said.

  He held both materials close together in one hand as he traced his other over the surface of both objects twisting his fingers into intricate patterns. Malik was half interested in the process, however nothing appeared to be happening for quite some time. Malik grew bored and walked off.

  He walked to one of the lower floors and looked up through the middle opening. By now the stars were out. The line shooting out of the ground cut through the darkness, drowning all but the brightest stars. He shook his head. He never did like the lights that they gave off and wondered how people could live near the hub. City life had never truly appealed to him. The truth of the matter was that he had never really enjoyed being around people. He thought back to his conscription.

  Military service for the empire was mandatory. Any kingdom acquired by force or diplomatic reasons were required to give up a portion of their population for the mandatory service. This went as well to be expected. The conscripts were then shipped off seemingly at random throughout the empire for their assessment and training. Malik was already a full fl egged citizen of the empire. He was required to enter the service as soon as he hit the age of 13.

  He remembered his family taking him to the conscription center. His father stood sternly with his arm wrapped around his mother who was in tears. The building had been rather drab from the front, straight corners with a rather uninspired white coat of paint. The proctors had him sit in a hallway with other teenagers on a series of rather used benches, each of the teenagers were just as nervous as he was.

  There had been no conversation between everyone in the hallway, each casual conversation was quickly broken by the swapping of the teenagers in the hallway. They did a variety of tests, checking basics like magic affinity, standard physical health check ups as well as a battery testing their sight and hearing.

  They were mixed into two separate mixed sex groups and those that had been determined to have a high magic affinity were pulled away from his group. His group were met at their local hub, split further into smaller groups then sent on a plate to their respective boarding schools in surrounding cities and regions of the empire. Typically the young citizen conscripts weren’t sent far, but the conscripts from a conquered kingdom were shipped to the furthest part of the empire.

  Malik shook his head. Something about the lights in the city made him want to think back. He looked up into the sky. The twin moons continued their eternal dance. There had been a story he heard about them once, but it was getting late. As if on cue he let out a yawn. If he was tired, he was sure his soldier were too. Malik needed to see about lodging. He only had a small contingency of soldiers with him currently.

  He found himself wondering back to the control center. He needed to speak to the manager for a little while. He felt that he needed a little prospective on what actually happened. When he came to the control center, it had been rather empty. Malik couldn't be certain if it was the fact it was rather late or if it were the fraudulent shutdown he issued. He had been scared by the visions given by Klaas and his scryers.

  The manager and the still unnamed soldier were talking in the empty control center. There was a slight bit of reverberation on their voices as it echoed off the back wall. They stopped abruptly once they noticed Malik, but he was quick to join in their conversation.

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  ——

  Klaas and his scryers worked hard on containing the contaminated object. They couldn’t Quite make out what exactly it was due to the high concentration of crystallized mana that encrusted it. The soul that had found himself pinned to the plate had had an agonizing death as the mana interacted with his body. The make shift containment rod he had crafted from etching just a simple length of wood and metal seemed to be working well enough. The scryers had set themselves to tracing the contamination border, and lucky for everyone the only traces they could find were contained to the plate and it’s shipping containers.

  Klaas had been satisfied with their work. He would need to issue words of recommendation at the earliest time. While scrying and mana detection had used a lot of the same skill set they had taken to the mana detection with ease with far greater aptitude than he would have normally expected even under normal circumstances. It was a testament to their skill and their training. After all, they had discovered this anomaly.

  Klaas had fixed the makeshift containment rod to one of the corners of the plate. The size of the plate would make it difficult to contain, but as long as the crystallized mana hadn’t made it’s way too far into the internal etchings of the plate he was confident they would at least be able to prevent any further damage to the plate itself. Klaas fixed the newly constructed containment rod to one of the corners of the plate.

  Klaas felt a little drained but knew he could continue. It might take a while to get the plate contained correctly. He looked over to the scryers. Taelon looked exhausted, however his companion Maeve seemed to be holding up pretty well. That would change, Klaas knew. Their linked physiology would have both of them collapsing at roughly the same time. They had done a lot recently. Two scrying sessions and now mana detection. That would have a heavy toll on anyone’s body. The fact that they had been linked was not lost on Klaas.

  The linking process had always been controversial. It had helped with the lifespan of the average mage, but there had been a large list of drawbacks. Klaas had to opportunity to be linked when he was initially conscripted. He shook his head. The process of getting embedded was always a sore memory. The process itself was harrowing, and even thinking back to it was enough to start him sweating. Klaas had always loved the fact he had an additional facet of the world that was fully exposed to him and his fellow mages, yet he always had at the back of the mind the thought of the actual cost of what that entailed. When he found himself in a position of power in the Westwatch fort he vowed to himself that he would always care for those in his charge. It was the least he could do.

  “How are you two holding up?” Klaas asked.

  The spoke simultaneously. “We could use some rest.”

  “We’ll probably be here for a few days,” Klaas replied with a nod, “Go meet up with Commander Malik to see if he can get somewhere for you to sleep.”

  The two scryers stopped moving ending all the glowing from their embedded runes. They turned to leave.

  “Wait a moment” Klaas called out.

  Both the scryers turned back to face Klaas as he fished into a pouch that had been hidden underneath his sash that was tied around his waist.After a moment he produced two small vials swirling with both blue and purple colors. He tossed them to both Taelon and Maeve who caught them smoothly.

  “It’s not much,” Klaas stated “But it’ll help recovery.”

  The scryers thanked him and left to find find commander Malik. Klaas set back to work creating more containment rods. The work was simple enough. He simply repeated the the steps that had been drilled in to him all those years ago. The flow of mana had initially fought him quite a bit but once the first containment rod had been formed and placed it became easier to direct the mana through his runes. He began the dance using his runes and directed the flow of magic around him to form a shell around the unidentified object. It was always a little hard to get the mana weave started, but like mostly everything, the first step was always the hardest. Once he had been confident that he had successfully tied the weave to the control rod, he started making a second rod using the readily available materials he had, collecting both metal and wood from the makeshift barrier that the manager of the hub had started. Klaas knew that it wouldn’t be enough to fully reverse the crystallized mana, nor restore the plate’s functionality, but it would be a start. He knew he would have to talk to Malik when he had a chance to get materials from the vault.

  When the scryers approached him Malik had been surprised by them speaking in near unison. He could tell they had physically been drained. With a quick look and and the use of an actual edict he lead the pair to the quarters for soldiers yet to be assigned to their own posts. The manager eagerly lead them down into the lower levels of the hub. The room that was available had been large. It had a set of twenty bunk beds lined on either side of a single aisle. The beds themselves had been recessed into the wall. They were a bit nicer than the beds that had been set up in Westwatch. There had even been a panel that could slide down shutting the room’s light out of the individual section.

  Malik had tried to see if there was an available room that would have been separate from the bunk itself. However, it became quickly apparent that he would have to bunk in that room itself. Malik talked with the officer that he had been acquainted with to set up a staggered sleeping schedule to keep everyone alert when the dawn would break. Malik knew that there wouldn’t be too many people happy with the lock down that he initiated on the hub itself.

  Malik and the two scryers were the first to head to the quarters as the officer went to set up the schedule. Malik felt he should have at least remembered his name. He chose the top bed at the bunk he selected. He had been taught early that the bottom bunk was always a trap. It had been more comfortable than he expected, however he still found himself staring at the ceiling, unable to sleep. He concentrated a bit on the officer that was in charge of the men. His face he could clearly picture his face, the single command dot, no honors. It was when he tried focusing on the name itself that things seemed to get foggy.

  He was distracted from his thoughts as the scryers readied themselves for bed. He watched them briefly. They drank something from the vials and then appeared to hug for quite a while. The two scryers separated from each other almost reluctantly and went to their selected beds. Malik always had thought mages were strange. He didn’t want to worry about the scryers anymore as he let out a yawn. He simply lowered the divider and fell into a quick sleep.

  ————

  The next day had come quickly. And Malik woke feeling as though he hadn’t slept at all. He gave a glance to the beds being occupied by the scryers. The panels were still closed. The rest of the room still had activity, small groups of soldiers were climbing into their respective beds, while others were leaving theres. Outside in the hallway he had a chance meeting with the unnamed officer who directed Malik to a cafeteria where he could pick up some food.

  The officer accompanied him to the cafeteria and lined up behind Malik as they picked up some trays. Malik cringed internally as he was served his food. The food itself wasn’t anything awful to look at, it was more of the cost of the food that would come up over the time he had the soldiers stationed out here. He could possibly write off the perimeter that would be set up out in the outskirts of the city as some kind of training exercise and had most definitely had funds set aside for such a thing. The trouble would be for the costs of having his men quartered in the hub itself.

  The thoughts of logistics were set aside, he had managed to travel along the line picking up exactly what he felt like eating. The food on the tray was rather standard for hub food. There was a porridge with a roll of bread, as well as an unidentified cut of meat. That was what at least what Malik had selected. As an after though he also added a slice of an orange melon just to have some sort of fruit to accompany the rest of the food. He had also had a rather aromatic tea selected for him. He was never a flashy eater, but he found that the most fragrant of teas in the morning was enough to snap him awake. Malik went to pay for the food, just in case something hadn’t been worked out, but the unnamed officer simply advised him that it had indeed been taken care of.

  The cafeteria was pretty nice as far as Malik had been concerned. He had always considered himself more utilitarian than anything. They had selected a table to the edge of the room. There was a painting of a floral arrangement hanging above the table. Malik lazily spooned his porridge into his mouth as he half listened to the officer. It was just a summary of the sleep schedule that Malik requested. Just hearing basic details would have been enough to satisfy Malik.

  Malik looked at his companion’s food. It was just about the same as his, although for some reason it had looked far more appetizing. The meat wasn’t just a slab of meat, it looked like there were proper sausages. Malik let out an inaudible sigh. Everyone else’s food always looked better. Malik would have to just make due.

  “Have you talked to Astyr and her scouts?” asked Malik, in between bites of his food.

  “Not yet sir. She made herself scarce once she arrived.” The officer continued, “We also have the day manager on duty now, and she’s not exactly taking well to the shutdown.”

  Malik nodded. He reached thoughtfully to the tea and gave it an experimental sip. It was quite bitter, any hint of the wondrous aroma had been instantly demolished. After that first sip, however, he felt a slight, yet unexpected surge of energy. He put the tea down and stared at the cup. The rest of his breakfast had somewhat become less appealing. He ate a good portion of the mystery meat and found it had tasted just as he expected it. He didn’t know if he should be disappointed or impressed. They continued eating in silence, finally Malik’s tea had cooled down enough and was finished in a giant gulp.

  “After you’re done eating I want you to find Astyr and Laudislaus and have them wait for me in the command center.”

  Without waiting for a reply Malik got up from the table returning his tray. He then talked to the server, in an effort to get a larger cup that he could carry with him.

  ———

  Klaas continued his work late intro the night constructing containment rods out of materials that he simply snatched from the makeshift barrier . The twisting and etching of the materials was the most taxing part of what he had to do. In a flash of foresight he had packed enough flasks of concentrated mana that he could handle most of the stresses that the work would place on him.

  The work had been mostly haphazard, just to overcome unexpected disturbances. He wasn’t quite sure how long his work would hold, but he had felt quite certain that it would hold at least long enough for a quick supply run to the fort. He didn’t want to chance moving whatever it was that had been shipped here, but they could at least continue to conceal the plate on the dock itself.

  Klaas looked at his hand to get a gauge of how much further he could push himself. The skin had someone become gray and ashy, there was also a slight tremble. He feared he may have pushed himself just a little too far, and pulled yet another flask that had been fixed under the sash at his midsection. Once it had been emptied his completion had improved just slightly, but the tremor continued. He pulled some black leather gloves from the sash and pushed his hands in. They had been quite tight, but, they would work for now to suppress the quaking in his hands. Klaas decided he should probably go to sleep to prepare for the next day. As an afterthought he wrote down a list of some materials and some names of his personnel that he needed to work on his project.

  Klaas went to the hub’s control center. He had been greeted by two guards that had been posted at the entrance and was immediately waved inside. There had been a different station manager on duty at this time, and unlined the manager that had been on shift the previous night, she had been far less accommodating. Any effort that had been used to get her to at least take a look at the downed plate had also been pushed aside and ignored.

  Klaas was too tired to deal with this and turned to walk away. As luck would have it, Malik entered the room carrying a large thermos in one hand and a small cup in the other. A smile had been glued to his face that hadn’t shown any indication of fading any time soon. Klaas caught a whiff of the tea and chuckled to himself.

  “I’d be careful with that if I were you” he whispered to Malik.

  Malik waved his hand dismissively in the air.

  “I’ll be fine,” he replied.

  Klaas handed Malik the list that he wrote. Malik took a look at the paper and furrowed his brow in scrutiny.

  “I’ll get a runner out as soon as I finish up here.”

  Klaas pointed at the thermos nonchalantly and said “You’re probably going to need that whole thing to deal with the Day manager.”

  Malik listened to the heated debate. Some of the joy faded from his face.

  “I heard she wasn’t liking our little shutdown here.” Malik replied.

  “It’s too late for me to deal with this,” Klaas replied then left before Malik could say anything else.

   )