“You eat it,” Aidan repeated. “How? As far as I know when you kill a beast there’s only the body left and whatever loot you acquire. But I’ve never seen them leave essence. Though I have known chefs in Estea that use beast flesh in their cooking. It’s rare and fairly frowned upon. Do you eat the flesh?”

  The Director looked at Aidan for a moment, “I can’t tell you everything. Each group or agency or whatever they call themselves has a different process and it’s all secret. But we don’t eat the flesh. Not really. We have a refining process. Every part of the Demon…beast,” Glovell corrected himself, “is essentially magic. We have a system that tears down the beast; flesh, bones, blood, everything; and creates what we call an essence shard. Once that shard is created, we consume it. The larger the beast, the more powerful the shard. So, as far as classes go, we don’t have them. We gain the primary power of the beast that we kill.”

  That made Aidan pause for moment. He considered the repercussions of eating a beast’s essence. “So,” he started slowly. “Your abilities are finite then.” More of a statement than a question.

  Grace looked at Director Glovell, a sense of worry tinging her features. The Director cleared his throat, “Essentially, yes, our powers are finite. However, we typically only use them while fighting beasts that enter Earth. Sometimes as a show of power to other agencies. We can usually hold onto our abilities for decades. We also give our strongest fighters the larger beasts to defeat and gain their essence. Though with this war right now, some have decided to aid their countries by using their powers to help on the battlefield. Which is draining them of their abilities quickly. Section 16 has not deemed that necessary as of yet, but it’s probably only a matter of time. Right now we feel that our enemies are within the Rifts and not with one another. But we are not our government.”

  “I understand why you’d be hesitant to tell me that,” Aidan replied, processing what he had just learned. He was also starting to understand why he had been sent back to Earth. If these people had to worry about their abilities draining and weren’t able to fight without eating the beasts, then the changes that were coming would be nearly impossible for them. It would probably be too much for just him alone.

  “The world is going to change soon,” Aidan began. “The Veil that I mentioned earlier,” he noticed Grace pick up her tablet again, “The Gods that the Electorate sent to build this world and populate it were from a secret order with the Ascended called the Purists. These Purists believed that magic and Will should’t be artificially injected into a world or its people. Rather, it should develop naturally over time. Or at least that’s my understanding of their beliefs. None of that has been confirmed. As far as I know, the Electorate doesn’t even acknowledge that this order exists. Either way, once the Gods were finished constructing this world, they placed a Veil around it tht not only hid it from the other worlds within the Electorate, but also significantly diminished the magic coming into this world. It didn’t stop it completely, obviously, but they ensured that Earth developed as naturally as possible.”

  “The problem is, all of the worlds within the Electorate are connected. That means when one world becomes overpowered, the ruler or leaders of that world discharge the excess magic and Will to the other worlds. For literally billions of years the Veil around Earth has been taking that beating of excess Magic and Will. But now it’s deteriorating and will fail soon.”

  “How soon?” The Director and Grace both interjected.

  “Within the next three years,” Aidan replied. “You might have already noticed stronger beasts appearing. Maybe your Rifts are more active than in the past.”

  Glovell nodded at this. “We have seen some unusual activity lately. We believed that it was just the increased activity from those aiding in the war.”

  “That certainly doesn’t help. The more power and Will being used in an area will increase the magic activity. But, the Veil is failing and when it does Earth will be flooded with an immense amount of magic and Will. It will fundamentally change this world. When that happens, tens of thousands of Rifts will open and beasts stronger than any of you have ever fought will appear. And if you survive all of that, you will be connected to the rest of the worlds who have had these abilities for eons. Some will be friendly. Others will be antagonistic. Either way you will have extremely strong visitors.”

  The Director opened his mouth to speak but Grace beat him, “You keep saying magic and Will. There’s a difference?”

  Aidan smiled slightly at this, noticing the Director stop and look at him. “Yes there’s a difference.” He held out his hand palm up and a ball of purple rippling liquid formed in his hand expanding and contracting. “This is magic.” The purple ball lifted up, growing larger and enveloping Aidan. The young man disappeared entirely before reappearing right next to Max smiling at the man. Max jumped back and began to form his sword. Aidan held up both hands and slowly backed away until returning to the table with the Director and Grace, their mouths hanging open.

  “I’m a Domain Mage,” Aidan said taking his seat. “And that ability is called Shift. It allows me to move myself and others or objects anywhere I need. Though I’m more of a melee fighter when it comes to combat.” And two short swords appeared from black smoke on the table before disappearing. “They call me a mage, but I think of myself much more as a rogue that uses magic.” Aidan then grew quiet, his eyes beginning to shift between grey-white and a deep purple. A heaviness fell over the entire vessel. Max looked towards the table, taking a slight, unintentional, step back. Grace remembered this feeling. Though it wasn’t as overbearing as it had been, it still filled her with a sense of dread. A dark heaviness fell over her. She couldn’t think of anything else but death. As hard as she tried, it wouldn’t go away. The Director felt a deep fear inside of him and began to slightly tremble, balling his hands into fists to try and stop. And then a moment later the heaviness was gone and world seemed to return to normal.

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “That is Will,” Aidan said. “Some use their Will to heal. Others to contain, attract, provide a sense of calm. It depends on the person and their experiences and each one is different. Will is difficult to understand and nearly impossible to master.”

  “You seem to use it with ease,” Grace said.

  “A lot of trial and error. And not so great times,” Aidan replied, looking down at the table. “All I’ll say for now, there’s a reason why my Will feels like oppression. And that usually doesn’t come with happy stories.”

  “So, how do we fix the Veil?” the Director asked.

  “You can’t,” Aidan said. “It’s going to fail. The only way forward is to prepare yourselves. That’s going to mean ending the war and making sure the people of Earth are ready for what’s coming.” Aidan noticed the skeptical looks on Glovell and Grace’s faces and chuckled. “I may have been gone for five years, but I do still remember how the world was before I left. And I’m sure with everything that’s happening now it’s gotten much worse. All governments can be secretive. How much does the U.S. government know about Section 16 and what you do?”

  Director Glovell clicked his tongue and shuffled uncomfortably in the seat. “Are they completely blind to Section 16 Director?” Aidan asked.

  This is going to be a disaster. Aurora growled to her companion. If the governments cannot stand with the only ones who can possibly fight what is coming, this world is doomed. Perhaps it is best to let the world end and try and save those that might move to another world. She did say that could be the worst case. Though it would take a lot of Will.

  “Then we should prepare for that possibility,” Aidan said out loud. The Director and Grace looked at him confused. “Sorry,” he scratched at his head. “I was talking to my companion. Still not used to not having her next to me”.

  “The wolf that was with you?” Grace asked. “She felt like a beast, she’s pure magic”.

  Aidan laughed, “She’s much more than that. But that’s a story for another time. If your government doesn’t know about Section 16—”

  “They are aware of out existence,” the Director cut him off. “A select few within the government are given access to the information about the Demons and Rifts and what we do. But we’ve primarily operated in the shadows because it’s safer. Other governments like France and Saudi Arabia and China have full knowledge of their essence users. And have made them fight in the war or do their bidding. We never wanted to be beholden to a government that could easily become corrupt. So Section 16 has remained neutral around the globe.”

  “The officials that do know,” Aidan began, “I’m assuming they are in positions of some influence? The President?”

  “They have influence,” Glovell nodded. “We don’t usually read the President in unless absolutely necessary. Plausible deniability or some nonsense. Plus, because the war, the President and Congress have paused elections for the time being.”

  “Paused elections?” Aidan said. “How long has this been going on?”

  “Since the first bombs went off in Los Angeles,” Grace replied.”Three and half years ago”.

  “The Presidential election was supposed to be in November. It didn’t happen. A lot of people protested. Some members of government walked out. Some states tried to fight against it, and still are. Doesn’t seem likely,” the Director said.

  This was truly going to be an uphill battle. “Alright,” Aidan said. “So the government doesn’t really know about anything that matters, you all have finite amounts of magic and little to no will. We have maybe three years until the Veil comes crashing down. And in that time beasts will be growing stronger and more and more Rifts will be appearing. Oh and we need to stop a war before it goes nuclear.” Aidan nodded and held up both thumbs. “Cool. Yea, totally doable.”

  There was a chime from overhead and the automated voice came, “Now arriving at the Seattle Ferry Terminal”. The vessel began to vibrate louder as it slowed to pull into the terminal.

  “Well it seems that’s our time Director. It was good to meet you. And to see you again Grace,” Aidan said smiling to both. “I’m sure we will talk soon. But my family is important. And I need to make sure they are prepared for what’s coming. I’ll be here to help. But you need to get your people ready. And quickly.”

  Director Glovell nodded and held out his hand. Aidan took it. “I understand that you won’t be joining Section 16. But I’m glad to hear that you’re at least willing to help us.”

  Their conversation was cut short as Max walked up and started whispering into the Director’s ear. Aidan felt a flash of power. Strong somewhere in the distance.

  Something is here, Aurora said. Something powerful.

  I felt it too, Aidan said back mentally this time. It seems that maybe our time with the Director isn’t finished just yet.

  Glovell looked at Aidan and sighed heavily. “There was a report—”

  “Sir,” Max cautioned, “do you really think it’s a good idea to tell him?”

  “Something has broken through a Rift not far from here,” Aidan said.

  The three looked at him. Ho-how do you know?” Grace asked.

  “Will is a powerful thing. And when something big breaks through a Dungeon, or Rift in this case, it sends a massive push of Will out with it. Most won’t notice it, unless they’ve trained their Will. Mine is constantly surrounding me,” Aidan said. “So, would you like help? Honestly, I’d like to see how your Section 16 fights. And I’m sure you’re curious to see how I stack up”.

  The Director thought for a moment and nodded his head. “You’re right,” he said. “We need to see how we fight together. If what you’re saying is really coming, we don’t have the time to stand around doing nothing. This fight will see what we need to get better at. And what you could learn from us. Max, make sure you’re ready to go. There’s a car waiting for us outside the terminal. It’ll take us to the Cascades where the beast was seen. Let’s call in the troops.”

  Aidan smiled, stood up and stretched. Aurora appeared next to him and yawned. The Director’s eyes grew wide and his jaw slightly dropped. “We’ll see you there Director,” Aidan said and started to walk away. A moment later the purple ball appeared enveloping around the wolf and young man and they disappeared.

  “This is going to be interesting,” The Director said. He and Grace stood up and along with Max, walked towards the exit of the ferry.