Trapped in Another World With No Magic

Chapter 115: The Mechanic Meets the Warden

Rikuto stares at the empty plot of land overlooking the sea. The route is unchanged, and he made no mistakes. He recognizes all of the surroundings. But, a plot of land where an elegant tree was growing with colorful leaves that reminded the Japanese man of the sakura cherry blossom trees in bloom native to his homeland, is missing, as if it were never there. The same goes for the house that should be housing one of the most powerful mages in the human territories; Senn, the elf.

Rikuto only saw fractions of the elf’s powers, which included the ability to share dawnsights with someone like Rikuto.

And now, it’s as if Senn never existed. The elven man is nowhere to be found. The only clue is a single stone in the middle of the grassy clearing. Rikuto approaches it, cautiously reaching forward to feel for an invisible solid object.

“Your Majesty,” cautions the guard leader with him. “You should use caution. There could be traps.”

Rikuto stops, and he nods. “You’re right… Search the area. If there are tracks, I want to know where he went.”

“As you wish.” The guard captain signals with his hands, and some of the guards spread out to begin searching the area while Rikuto returns to his carriage, taking a seat in the cushioned cabin of the vehicle. He grumbles to himself, “I should’ve known better. He has been a coward all along. The entire world at stake, and all you do is run away, huh?”

The otherworlder king watches the soldiers search. There doesn’t seem to be anything other than the stone, but several of the soldiers gather around it to inspect it. One of them directs another to pick it up, and he cautiously obeys. The stone doesn’t trigger anything, and the soldiers inspect the rest of its surface. After, they bring it to the carriage.

Rikuto opens the door to lean out. “What is it?”

The captain replies, “It appears to be a message, your Majesty.” The soldier holds the stone up, and Rikuto can see scratches in the surface that spell out words.

The words declare a simple message; “I warned you, King Rikuto. You will never see me again.”

It’s the language that sends a horrified chill down the magically displaced young Japanese man.

He steps down from the carriage to inspect the characters etched perfectly into the stone, done only by magic.

“Does it mean something, your Majesty? It’s not a language I’m familiar with.”

Rikuto murmurs, “You wouldn’t be…”

The characters are perfectly written Japanese kanji.

How? How is this possible? I haven’t spoken Japanese since coming here, let alone written it. Did he pull it from my memories when we used the dawnsight spell? Yes, that must be it.

He had half a mind to try to use hypnosis magic to implant suggestion in the elf’s mind, but it seems Rikuto may have actually lucked out that he didn’t get to try. If Senn could pull his old language out, and even write it with a practiced hand, then one wrong move could add another extremely dangerous enemy to the growing list.

“Should we commence a search, Sire?” asks the Lieutenant, second to the captain.

“No. We need to return and coordinate the counterattack. I was hoping to enlist Senn, but that seems to be impossible.”

“It was worth a try. I’ve heard the elves preserve balance before anything else.”

Rikuto ignores the platitude. It’s nostalgic to see Japanese, and he is somewhat entranced by seeing it after so long. 

He takes a breath and sighs. Patience, Rikuto. Once you get this all squared away, you can just start introducing pieces of Japan here. What I wouldn’t give for a proper onsen [Jap: Hot spring] to soak in. Not to mention miso… and dango…

He starts to order, “Take us to…” A chill quakes his whole body with a shiver, and when he looks at his guards, those who are still able to stand have turned pale, all staring towards the sea. Rikuto turns, looking towards the ocean beyond the cape.

He understands the horror in the eyes of the soldiers, as it grips him at once as well.

If the sun were at its back, the monolith that suddenly appeared would appear much like an eclipse, casting a long and dark shadow that would reach almost to the horizon behind Rikuto.

It is not a simple artifact or stone mountain, nor is it any kind of mirage.

It is a titanic creature, armored by angled scales designed to streamline a predator in the sea and armor it against attacks. It is hundreds of feet across and tall, with a rather familiar roughly-cone-like or arrow-like shape to its humongous head, though none of the counterparts to this creature on Earth could compare.

Four eyes, each as big as a train tunnel, are looking directly at Rikuto. He can feel the titan’s gaze.

To him, it looks like a squid on an unnaturally large scale; so large it would have to be impossible for it to even support its own weight in the water, let alone lift its head out of the water so close to shore to study him. Regardless, Rikuto knows his eyes aren’t deceiving him, and his guards can’t even form words or coherent thoughts. Rikuto can feel his own legs trembling, and he’s not even sure if he’s still breathing.

The mountainous squid then turns its gaze, looking well over Rikuto’s head towards the northwest. It can likely see quite far into the distance.

Is… it trying to tell me something? Is this some kind of sign? What is this creature?

Suddenly, a voice rumbles in Rikuto’s head, as if speaking to every fiber of his being all at once. It’s similar to a deep base that touches every cell of his body, causing him to tremble. “{Human from another world, turn back. Walk your current path no longer. You have been warned.}”

The titan looks down at Rikuto again, and he finally manages to stammer, “W-Was that you?”

“{You will not be warned again.}”

“Listen! I’m trying to protect the world! There’s another human from my world, and he has… Wait!” Rikuto calls out as the titanic squid sinks below the cliff. He runs towards the cliff to try to keep it in view. Either the ocean is extremely deep just off of the cliffside, or the squid is all but literally melting into the sea.

“I’m your ally! I’m trying to save you, too!”

The creature doesn’t respond, simply melting into the waves without a word, and without looking at Rikuto.

Frustrated, he kicks a small stick that flies a comparatively tiny and insignificant distance into the sea below him. A beast that can talk, and it has no willingness to even hear me out? What is with this world?

He sighs in disgust. He turns and walks back towards the carriage, stumbling a little when his legs wobble and nearly give out. He notices that his pants are wet. He clenches his fists, doing his best to regain his composure. Almost all of his soldiers are incapacitated. They’ll need a moment to poise themselves so they can return. If the beast doesn’t have the sense to acknowledge Daniel’s weapon for the terror that it is, then it is a beast that Rikuto’s void artillery can destroy as well.

For now, he’ll ignore it until the right time.

He scoffs to himself. I wonder how much saki-ika [Jap: dried shredded squid] that thing would make. Definitely more than useful that way than it is now.

With that, Rikuto begins his return journey once more. The army should be finished forming a defensive line against the Grand Duchy of Stalvaltan by the time he returns.

***

“[Hail and well met, Daniel of the Earthly realm.]”

Daniel starts to reach for Nemaisol, but Treia is on his left side, and he wants to make sure she’s safe as well.

“I don’t recognize that language, Miss. Is it an ancient elvish phrase?” asks Treia innocently. The woman simply continues to smile, glancing briefly at Treia, before returning her gaze to Daniel. She replies to Treia politely, “Something like that.”

“I’m afraid Daniel doesn’t speak many languages from this world. R-Right?” She looks at Daniel. His own gaze is focused on the elf. He unfortunately understood every word, though her chosen sentence was awkward but spoken naturally, like a greeting from a different era.

Kaeralegier, how does she know English? I barely speak it except singular words, most of the time, and I’ve never met any elves.

“{I’m not sure. Some spells can pull languages from a target, like the reverse of hypnosis. More advanced spells can read memories, but I don’t know of any that can copy memories. As for language,...}”

If she was stealing it from me, it would be in my era’s English.

Daniel replies as calmly as he can, planning his moves carefully. “[Good afternoon. You have me at a disadvantage at the moment, Miss. You know I’m Daniel, and this is Treia. Can I get your name?]”

“Oh! Daniel? Have you… been practicing other languages? I had no idea.”

Daniel puts his hand on her hip, pulling her close as he whispers, “Stay close to me.”

She cocks her head, becoming a little concerned.

“[Thou dost not need fear me, good fellow. I bring ye no ill will. I would’st rightly desire to speak with mine own name reserved.]” <Author note: I did my best for a brief conversation of old English gibberish. Don’t get too technical on me please lol.>

“[You aren’t screwing with me, are you?]”

“[Begging thine pardon? I dost not fully understand thine speech, but thou have not an err in understanding me, so it seems. Is this not thine language of yon homeland?]”

“[An ancient dialect of it.]”

“[Indeed, it dost seem there be conflicts.]”

Daniel switches to the Eastern Imperial trade language of Zenkon. “If it’s all the same to you, I can speak this world’s Eastern Imperial trade just fine.”

She smiles. “Very well. It will be difficult to gauge your answers if you are speaking in a different dialect.”

“Different dialect?” asks Treia. She asks Daniel nervously, “Is… everything alright?”

Daniel nods. “Yes. I’ll explain later.” He looks at the elf, replying, “If you don’t mind, I’ll call you Miss Elf for now until you tell me more.”

“Very well. Though, if it’s all the same, please refer to me as ‘the Warden’. I’ll explain when the time is right. And, your suspicion is to be expected. I only came to observe, but it seems I was noticed.” She looks slightly to her right, adding softly, “Was it the archoneldwyn? She’s quite protective of you, and I wouldn’t have noticed her if you hadn’t approached.”

Daniel notices Doephluev lingering subtly over the elf’s shoulder.

Daniel replies, “We all have our secrets. Anything in particular you want to know from observing me? Hoping to witness the magic of the Harbinger of Calamity?”

She smiles at him. “Among other things. But, it's fascinating. Either you're the most powerful magic being that has ever visited this world short of the gods, or you're the weakest.”

“Be careful who you say that in front of,” retorts Treia with a warning tone. “Not everyone is as patient as I am.”

“I'm aware.” The elf looks directly at Nemaisol. “I thought at first it was merely Nemaisol's magic negation, but then he released the blade. That should be impossible with mana greater than what I saw.”

“I'm surprised you know that about Nemaisol,” replies Daniel.

“I would hope so. I was alive when the blade was used to strike down the divine summon that was out of control.”

Daniel only needs a moment to piece another fact together. “That’s how you know English, then, even if it’s an old dialect. You’ve met another divine summon from Earth.”

She smiles. “Correct. Though, I expect that much was obvious.”

“English?” asks Treia. “That language was your native tongue, Daniel?”

Daniel nods. “Yes. It seems our new acquaintance met others who spoke it.”

Treia gingerly takes his hand, holding it for a moment.

“I don’t believe we’re enemies,” admits the elven woman. “I’ve been told a great deal about you, and I’ve researched a great deal about you. What I have seen in my dawnsights has also made a great deal of sense.”

“What have you heard?” asks Daniel. According to Erimaya, Daniel, his rifle, and his ‘god-killers’ are what showed up in the dawnsight that led to Daniel and Rikuto being summoned from Earth, which Vaergraes confirmed. If this elf has seen the same dawnsights, she may still be a threat if she doesn’t believe in Daniel’s reason for using the atom bombs. He has had Xyreko send golems occasionally to determine the remaining fallout in the affected areas to make sure it has decreased. However fast the specially armored golems lose mana is directly proportional to remaining radiation, as far as Daniel can tell. He isn’t sure of the mechanism that causes radiation to interact with and negate mana, but he has figured out how to roughly quantify the effect by making shielded lead golems which carry a similarly shielded magic device with a tiny hole drilled to the magic crystal. The rate at which it loses power is then calculated to determine the radiation levels, which he compared to one of the uranium ingots, which should have a relatively minor decay rate, which can still shut down most magic instantly.

The elf replies to Daniel’s question, “I have heard that you are out of control and dangerous. But, from what I have seen, you exhaust naive options before you draw a hard line, though you are not afraid to acknowledge a threat for what it is and act accordingly. As was the case with the Devourer.”

“I’m not proud of what I did, and I’ll never teach anyone how to do what I did.”

She nods. “I know. But, a mutual acquaintance of ours is convinced that you will strong-arm the world with those weapons.”

“Never. I would prefer no one know they exist, and I only used it because my trusted friends have already done far more than I ever could otherwise.”

The elf nods. “Yes, magic was quite ineffective, and physical attacks were all but meaningless.” She bows as she says gently, “You have my gratitude for defeating the Devourer. And, you have my respect for restraining such a dangerous power.”

“Thank you.”

“Will you tell us who you are and what you want?” asks Treia. “Daniel is more interested in stopping the war between the east and the west, which was a goal of the elves once upon a time, was it not?”

“It still is. But, our voices are too few. The Citadel is an unbalancing factor, so it may send a stronger message than we ever could. The wisdom of the past is meaningless if those of the present refuse to hear it.”

“That’s the curse of us short-lived races,” replies Daniel. “Too many of us want to leave our own mark on history. And, a lot of times, the only way to do that is to break something that isn’t broken.”

“Yes, though it’s not exclusive to short-lived races, I’m afraid.”

Her eyes trail around, and she states calmly, “It seems I have been noticed by the rest of your harem. So, let me ask you one last question; would you be willing to accept me into your harem?”

Daniel cocks his head in surprise, and he can feel Treia’s grip tighten on his hand. Daniel grips her hand back gently, replying softly, “I stumbled into the situation I’m in, and I’m happy for it. But, I’m not actively looking to add more members. So, I have to decline.”

“Are you certain? I am an elf you know. I can carry your legacy on for many more centuries to come.”

“I’ve never been one that was too concerned with my legacy. It won’t matter after I’m dead and gone. I’ll just be dead. You’re not attracted to me. That’s easy enough to tell. If you just want to watch me in case I do something suspicious, then I don’t mind.”

“I wouldn’t mind, really.” She tries to emphasize her modest chest, doing her best to do her most enticing pose.

Daniel stays focused on her face, unfazed by her attempts. Though, Treia is a little more irritated, humming in disapproval.

“Like I said. It’d be different if you weren't just testing me.”

 She smirks at him. “Saw through me, huh?”

“You don't strike me as someone after money or to marry someone whom everyone is calling Emperor. So, the simplest answer is that you're gauging how to interact with me going forward.”

“Yes, but I’m a woman. And, I have been told I am fairly attractive, even to humans.”

Daniel nods once. “You are quite attractive. But, my cup not only runneth over, but has filled nine more cups and runneth them over, too.”

She chuckles, and Treia adds bluntly, “I think you’re up to fourteen now, Daniel.”

He looks at her blankly as he thinks. While he values everyone he has come to care about, he hadn’t really given thought to numbers, since it would make it more and more unbelievable. “Huh…” He looks at the elven woman again. “Anyways, I’m not a middle-schooler. I can continue to function when an attractive woman is in my presence. Especially when there’s no attraction on her part.”

She smiles and nods in turn. “I see. Forgive me for associating you with those I’ve known in my past.”

Daniel bows his head. “Allow me to apologize for my fellow Earthlings. I am but a singular humble man, and so I can only truly represent myself.”

“Does your apology include Tachibana Rikuto?” asks the elf.

Daniel’s cordial smile disheartens a little. “I don’t plan on using the nukes against  him, if that’s what you’re asking. Though, the feeling doesn’t appear to be mutual.”

“I’m aware. Which is why I was hoping you would turn out to be level-headed. I would like to speak to you regarding Rikuto.”

“And, how do you know him? I don’t recall catching glimpses of you in the castle when I was there.”

“I’ve never been to Mornistae since your arrival in this world. Rikuto came to me, though, I believe I have successfully deceived him.”
“Deceived him?” asks Treia cautiously. “Yes. Your companions here mostly know who I am, though I believe even Miss Treia here will recognize me like this.”

Outwardly, seemingly nothing changes, except for a slight flutter of the elf’s priest-like clothing and her hair. But, Daniel notices there seems to be a little more glow to her skin, and her hair takes on almost a strange, glimmering look, like bright stars managing to overpower a bright sky. Even her eyes seem to be full of power, with glowing light of slowly varying color swirling in her silver irises.

Treia instantly tries to recoil against Daniel’s arm to back away from her, and he notices that even Doephluev, who was stalking casually closer, takes a step back in surprise, while Ryuogriar, Reignleif, and Geirahoel immediately face them and ignite pilot flames in their mouths.

Treia pants, as she all but whispers a single syllable, “Senn…”

Daniel looks at Treia. He can feel a sort of heaviness to the air suddenly, but it seems to have terrified or startled everyone else present. Some of the Mattarglos residents have even fallen backwards or fainted, while guards and soldiers crowd around the various lords, trembling in their own armor.

Daniel replies calmly, “My friends have mentioned you once, briefly, when we came under attack from the archoneldwyns Doephluev and her companion. But, to think you could put everyone on edge by ending your concealment spell.”

Senn cocks her head with an amused smirk. “And yet, you seem to be completely unafraid. Are you truly so powerful?”

“No. Not powerful enough, actually. I noticed this with Hekate and the Feral Feldrok, who we call Mr. Lugrae now; enough mana creates a visceral reaction, but for most of my life, I’ve had none at all. I can feel pressure, but I know that if you wanted to fight, we would already be in battle.”

Treia is now trying to pull Daniel away, and he tries to reassure her, “It’s alright, Treia. We’re not enemies.”

Daniel can feel the pressure decrease and fade, and Senn replies gently, “I am sorry for that. I wanted to test one final thing.” She looks at Daniel, adding confidently, “You have passed. I will trust you with what I have come to tell you.”

Within seconds, they are surrounded by the majority of the collective might of the Fievegal, though Daniel’s companions do their best to appear calm and composed as they close in.

Vaergraes states as calmly as she can when she closes the distance, “Senn. It has been some time.”

Senn bows politely to the former demon queen. “Vaergraes. I believe human-kin usually would say too long, but it truly feels like a blink, and you’re all grown up.”

Vaergraes chuckles nervously. “I worried during much of that time if we were going to come against each other in battle.”

“As I have told many, I have long since served. I am no longer interested in taking sides.”

“Then why did you come here if you're not going to take Mukori's side?” asks Geirahoel sharply.

“Because I don't want to die.”

This causes an awkward silence to befall the group. After letting it go for a poignant emphasis, Senn adds softly, “I knew a day would come when not even I or the great Strylak would be able to escape the Devourer any longer. A day when the world would be on the brink of ending. And, for all of my magic power, I knew there would be nothing I could do except follow in the steps of the Outsiders, and attempt to flee this world through magic.” She then looks at Daniel. “But, then I had the same prophetic vision everyone else had. One that led me to peer into the dawn. And, it was the first dawn I could never see beyond.” She turns her gaze to Vaergraes, who is listening intently. “I knew at once we would be safe.”

“How? All I understood was that the humans would be summoning heroes. Imagine my surprise when I met Daniel, the first divine summon in likely all of our history who didn’t loyally side with the human-kin who summoned him.”

Senn nods in agreement. “It was the flash. What you all know as Daniel’s god-killers. They destroy magic. Temporarily, thankfully, but… for a beast that absorbs all magic and is resistant to physical attacks of all kinds… a weapon that destroys magic was our saving grace. Even if it meant we could never use magic again, our world would be spared.”

“I… hadn’t thought of that,” replies Daniel gently. “I was just fairly certain it would work, since the destruction is so powerful. I never once considered what it could do to magic.”

“And yet, magic returned just as quickly… without the Devourer,” adds Senn gently. When I could see the next dawn, I saw a breathtaking sight for the first time in a long time. I saw peace. Even if brief, the world was quiet for a moment.” She smiles up at the sky. “Like the rest of you, I’m sure, I saw the future.” She looks directly at Daniel again, her expression turning grim and serious. “I have seen another dawn that I cannot see beyond. As you hopefully know, the visions are an art, more than a science, and open to interpretation. It wasn’t your god-killers, but a fire. A fire that was consuming everything. Like the Devourer, magic only makes it stronger. Just as some of you felt dread a moment ago in the presence of my mana, I felt that dread as my mana was consumed.”

“I have no other superweapons,” replies Daniel. “Nothing that I intend to attempt anyways. I won’t be using the nukes against Rikuto, no matter what.”

“I think that is the problem,” replies Senn, concern evident in her otherwise confident and warm voice. “Rikuto has let fear guide his hand, and he has started losing touch with reality. He has far fewer reservations about using his weapons than you do, Daniel.”

“If you know this, why not just stop him yourself?” asks Hekate.

Senn hesitates looking aside, so Daniel is the one to answer, “There’s nothing to say that future is caused by Rikuto living or being assassinated. I was summoned because the Dawnseer of Mornistae’s royal court witnessed the initiation of the atom bomb. They hadn’t perceived the Devourer yet, since it just looked like a shadowy mountain.”

Senn nods, replying softly, “That’s…exactly right…”

“For most of the time I was here, the eastern military forces didn’t even know that the leader of the demon covenant was a demon queen. They just called her the ‘Demon Tyrant’.”

“I tried to make Rikuto understand this about Dawnseeing, but he wouldn’t heed my advice. He just kept trying to convince me to defend the world from you, in spite of acknowledging that your world has thrived with these weapons in existence for most of a human lifetime.”

The grey dragon Neith asks, “What would you like to do, Sire? If you order it, I will do what is necessary.”

Daniel shakes his head. “No. I know I’m naive, but I don’t want to become the kind of Emperor that orders extrajudicial killings of other leadership. Lady Senn, do you believe the future can be changed?”

She hesitates to answer for a moment. “I don’t know. Dawnsights change, but it’s impossible to know for certain what actions lead to the change. I have never seen two opposing futures, if that is what you are asking, indicating that, no, the future is like a river that we can’t possibly see the destination of.”

Daniel nods. “Then, making a knee-jerk response to a premonition isn’t the right move. For now, we know the threat Rikuto poses. What we need to keep in mind is something worse than the void artillery.” Daniel looks past the three dragon Empresses to where Aramellianna, Wenlianna and her sisters, as well as Aoloan, Kera’tai, Veiranoei and Gwenesphia are gathered. He calls out gently, “Wenlianna, can I run something by you?”

“Oh!? Yes! Coming!” Wenlianna excuses herself, jogging over. They were remaining cautious, since the latter group are not capable of fighting at the level of the ones that came to confront Senn, just in case she was hostile.

Hekate asks as Wenlianna is making her way over quickly, “You want to have Ahok figure out what could be worse?”

Daniel nods. “That’s right. She helped design the void artillery. If there’s some mechanism that could lead to apocalypse, as Senn’s vision indicated, then we need to bounce some ideas around.”

“Could it be the same as how your god-killers work, Mukori?” asks Ryuogriar. “I still don’t fully understand that myself, but what if the void artillery is doing the same thing, but with magic?”

Daniel nods, “I’m open to any possibility, but I think the mechanisms are different. I don’t have the means to study how magic is produced in the body. I just know what I learned about atomic particles.”

“I’ve heard the stories, Lady Senn,” states Wenlianna once she arrives at the group, which Neith makes space for her to step up to the front. “It is an honor to meet you.”

Senn bows her head respectfully. She is a legendary personage in this world, so it seems her reputation precedes her. She does reply gently, “I’m not an aristocrat, though, so no need to be so formal with me. No country in this world can rightfully claim me, and in turn, I claim none of the privileges that would come with such belonging.”

“I couldn’t possibly. I have several of your books, which have taught me so many of the fundamentals of magic.”

“I’m glad. But, we can discuss that much later. If you would, please hear out Daniel.”

Wenlianna blushes. “O-Oh! Of course! Forgive me Daniel.”

“No need. I just wanted to ask you to do something when you conference with Ahok later.”

“Oh! Of course! Anything I can do to help.”

Daniel nods contentedly, and he briefly catches her up to speed on the conversation so far. He then makes his request. “So, when you’re discussing with Ahok, ask her to prepare some materials on the way the weapon works, and to examine any additional changes to make it start a runaway reaction.”

“Runaway?” asks Hekate.

Daniel nods. “When atom bombs were being developed, there were people who were afraid the weapon would ignite the atmosphere or start a chain reaction with all of the matter of the world, annihilating the whole world. Thankfully, this didn’t happen, but if such a thing is possible with magic, most matter in this world seems to contain some magic, as far as I can tell.”

“Mana fire…” murmurs Senn suddenly. “Yes, something like that could be what I saw…”

“Figure something out?” asks Vaergraes.

“Only that one of the divine summons of the past used a magic never replicated since, and it was… like a flame, but wasn’t fire. It could burn through anything. I still to this day don’t know how it worked. Such a thing, though… If Rikuto has a similar power,... But, for it to go out of control…” She descends deep into thought.

Vaergraes offers, “Daniel, I’ll perform a Dawnsight later and see if I can witness anything different. If I can make sense of anything, knowing what I do know about you, then I’ll certainly share.”

“That would be very helpful, thank you.” He then looks at his group. “In the meantime, we continue forward with caution, and focus on the tasks that we can deal with. If we provoke Rikuto further than we are, he’ll use the weapons again, and if we make him desperate, he might somehow stumble across this mana fire, or whatever the true threat is. If our combined group can think of anything to counter it, then we’ll start forming emergency contingencies.”

“I know you just said you don’t want to use them, but…” Treia speaks up, and she looks up at Daniel. “If your ‘god-killers’ can erase magic, couldn’t you just use those?”

Daniel thinks for a moment. He replies softly, “If we can help it, I don’t want to. I rather recklessly used the ones I did because the target areas were already massive wastelands. A concern I haven’t brought up prior is the fallout; poison dust that rains down. The airburst was specifically to minimize it, but if we use it too close to civilization, it can still cause problems for an even larger area around the weapons.” He looks directly at Treia. “If it is the only option, then we’ll do what we have to do. But, it is an absolute last resort. If it is a fire, we’ll try firefighting methods to deny it fuel or air or anything else. Otherwise, well… I know of only a handful of ways to deny magic right now.”

Treia smiles and nods, taking his hand. Hekate adds, “If it’s just a fire, it’ll be way easier to deal with than a monster that can form its own plans. There’s nothing that can beat us!”

Senn smiles as she looks at the optimism of the group; a group that trusts a peculiar and earnest man from another world.

She adds quietly, “Daniel, that is something that separates you from him.”

Daniel looks at her, and she adds gently, “You actually put your trust in the words of your companions.”

The human mechanic cocks his head. “People I love have trusted me with their entire world and their future. I’d be a fool not to trust them with mine.”

“And, that is why you might actually save us all…” murmurs the elven woman.

***

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