June 8th, 628

My eyes groggily opened, my head throbbing as I started to register the stimuli entering my senses.

My suit was screaming at me with an unnerving sequence of sounds and voices. When my eyes focused I could see my altimeter, and the tip of my plane, nosediving.

25 thousand feet to kiss the ground.

My eyes snapped fully open, adrenaline shooting through me as I yanked on my control stick. It was to no avail, the entire plane completely dead. Not even its power systems were active, the enchantments lifeless.

I was sitting in an ejection seat, so I wasn’t completely concerned for my life. Still, I didn’t intend to just drop this bird.

“Come on, sweetheart, gimme some juice.”

I flicked the power a few times, getting nothing out of it, before taking out my SEER Knife and driving it into the console. I poured power into it, jumpstarting the enchantments forcefully and finding the White Crystal in charge of power nearly dead.

There was a spare, also dead, that I activated alongside the main. The two were regenerating slowly but this plane was designed to use less power than was regenerated for the sake of indefinite flight, so it would be enough.

The systems rebooted, flashing to life and allowing me to rip out my knife. Then I cycled the engine and kickstarted the elemental crystals while communications systems came back online.

I heard Control chattering frantically, noticing my reconnection.

“John?!”

I heard Umara’s voice, but didn’t yet respond. I had bigger issues.

The engine flashed, fire escaping the nozzle and giving me thrust. I pushed it to max speed before pulling up. My helmet’s augmented vision gave me a view of the intimately close landscape approaching. It had taken 15 thousand feet to get the engine burning.

The G forces pressing down on my body rapidly increased as I made the sharp turn upward. Pressure and drag caused clouds to appear around the body of the plane, my eyes tracking my G force counter and seeing it rise past 10.

It got more difficult to breathe, but with my temperings, I was more than strong enough to resist it with my bare body. My suit also compressed with the intensity, squeezing my legs and abdomen, assisting my muscles in keeping blood in the brain.

My nose gradually turned upward, my altitude only refusing to fall further at 1400 feet and 13 Gs.

I started regaining altitude, the Gs falling sharply as I leveled out and settled.

I took a second to breathe, hearing Umara call one more time.

“John?”

“…I’m alright.”

I heard her sigh in relief, my adrenaline still wearing off. I did one last round of checks.

“You scared the shit out of me, John. What the hell happened?”

“I’m not entirely sure myself. Power levels are unstable but holding. Engine is nominal. Adjusting heading and returning to base.”

“Roger Falcon.”

I heard Feruga’s voice, maintaining full burn as I checked the map and made my turns to set course for Wonderland.

I maintained a 3000 foot altitude, breaking back into Mach 5 relatively easily. Before long I was flying past Wonderland, arcing around after buzzing the Control Tower and hitting the air brakes.

Not long after I was making my approach for landing. The landing gear thankfully deployed, making the process smooth.

I killed the engine and pulled into the hangar where everyone was waiting. I stopped, cut power, popped the canopy, and climbed out.

My body felt oddly weak, my head still throbbing a bit. It wasn’t a massive headache, but after finally getting out of that metal coffin, I noticed my eyes burning too.

I took off my helmet, Umara running over to me and breaking her momentum with a hug. I chuckled and returned the squeeze.

“Sorry about that.”

“You’re grounded for a month.”

“Oh.”

“No more piloting.”

“Well there goes my plans.”

I glanced to the side, seeing Polly and Jasmine approach with Feruga. After giving Umara a few more seconds we separated.

I motioned to the plane.

“It’s too good. Bring it down to fifteen hundred miles per hour cruising, twenty-five hundred maximum. Keep improving its efficiency and pack in more instruments and comfort. I’ll be sending requirements later.”

“Of course, sir.”

“Well, you have the data now, so my job is done. I’ll send a personal report tomorrow. Also, when the plane is done being studied, scrap it completely. Nobody else is allowed to fly it.”

“Understood…”

He looked at me curiously, wisely not questioning my order. I’d be personally ensuring that my directions were followed, and he knew better than to try and pull something within Wonderland.

After settling those affairs, I left the hangar and Wonderland with Umara, Polly, and Jasmine. It had only been around 90 minutes since we first arrived. This little stunt hadn’t taken long.

We went back to the estate where Polly and Jasmine bid me goodbye to go back to their own homes. I would brief Polly later. For now, my attention would be with Umara.

We settled into our room, and I immediately brought myself to my workshop. I hadn’t taken off my suit nor sent my helmet away, and after arriving I started offloading the data collected from the flight by the suit.

I had captured everything. Every second of change in the avionics, every measurement taken of the plane, every second of footage from its cameras across all spectrums, including communications and my own biometrics. Nothing was left out, and I compiled it all.

I wanted to know what happened, because I currently didn’t.

Umara arrived right as I got it all onto my personal system. Keeping the suit equipped just in case, I started browsing through, going straight for the video footage.

I hit play and sat on a chair, Umara joining me, the two of us watching my first person view on a projected screen.

The initial bulk wasn’t long. It only took a handful of minutes for me to breach the Karman Line, touching the edge of space. While there was no definite edge between the atmosphere and space, a general marker was the altitude at which air density became a non factor. It was where aerodynamics lost all meaning, making way for astronautics or orbital mechanics.

“Had you intended to test those limits from the start?”

Umara asked, the video pausing as my gaze turned to her.

“Yes, I had. It’s why I ordered them to equip the plane with attitude rockets. If those weren’t there, I wouldn’t have been able to control the plane beyond about three hundred thousand feet.”

“Is there a reason you had to do it now? When this technology is still in its infancy?”

I could tell she was a bit angry. It was of natural course since I had almost killed myself, but I didn’t plan to take the blame.

“Under normal circumstances, this fiasco wouldn’t have happened. It’s not like I planned to pass out. I’m still not sure what hit me. Either way, yes, I did have to do this now, and I told you why.”

“The firmament. You wanted to see if it was there? Based on that scripture you read, the firmament is effectively Heaven. Why did you think you could reach it? Or, more importantly, why did you think you should even try?”

I sighed, leaning back and massaging my head.

“I don’t know. I just wanted to. Maybe it’s the part of me that still wants to find a way to return home. Or, it was the part of me that’s still trying to find the dividing line between reality on this planet and reality on Earth. Extremely few people on Earth, at least during my time, had ever been beyond a hundred thousand feet. There were always all kinds of theories and conspiracies, superstitions and legends about what was actually up there. In the back of my mind, maybe I wanted to be one of those who got a glimpse of the truth, regardless of what it was.”

“…Well, did you?”

I answered her with a motion toward the screen.

“I’m trying to find out.”

“Fine…”

She sighed and went quiet, the video resuming.

The altitude and speed metrics were overlaid, showing my rise past 200 thousand feet and beyond 300 thousand. Approaching 400 thousand it showed when I leveled out before soon beginning my ascent once more.

My attention focused and I subconsciously leaned forward.

I could hear my audio feed. I clearly remembered speaking the scripture.

And then, when my last words left my mouth, it appeared.

That familiar hue of gold, the one I could see even now, forever present over the horizon.

“The Great Barrier.”

Umara muttered, the two of us watching as I slammed straight into that golden wall.

That’s when the plane gave out. The engine went cold, the console blinked to darkness, and nothing but momentum carried me further. My visual feed was completely covered by that golden hue, but I didn’t seem to hit anything physical.

My suit continued to monitor my rise in altitude. I rapidly slowed, but was still carried further another few hundred thousand feet. I was clearly passed out as soon as I hit the barrier, my biometrics slumping like I was asleep, totally relaxed.

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Then, the plane approached its apogee. When gravity had finally slowed it enough to turn it down, in that short few moments when I became weightless, something reached out in front of the plane’s nose.

Like lightning, a blinding white being struck through the golden space. It stopped before the plane, and from that mass of light reached an arm.

The hand pointed a finger, and the tip of the plane’s nose touched that finger before turning downward. The light and arm turned out of view, my visual feed showing the planet below.

With the extended field of view, the entire planet could be seen. Its wondrous curves and endless mass gracing my eyes.

From then on it was a simple freefall. The plane oriented itself perfectly, cutting through the atmosphere on reentry. It handled exceptionally well, too well if I was being honest.

After that, I woke up near death and managed to save the plane.

I paused the video, pondering silently about what I had seen.

Seems like there was more to this planet’s surrounding space than I thought. I certainly didn’t enter Heaven and I could still see the Great Barrier on the horizon, so I hadn’t broken through that either. But perhaps there really was a ‘firmament’ around the planet. Just because it had a golden hue didn’t mean that it was the Great Barrier.

It could be some other natural phenomenon. I could imagine that, with the effects that Magika had on the planet itself, there was a possibility that it affected space as well. Perhaps Magika formed its own sort of magnetosphere or ozone layer around the planet, and what I hit was such a protective barrier. It wouldn’t be tangible, but slamming into such thick magic would no doubt cause what it did. It was no wonder all the enchantments stopped working.

I went back and replied the portion when I slammed into the barrier. Getting another look at the color, I found that although it was relatively golden, the hue was more white than the Great Barrier on the horizon, which was a rich gold. It was brighter, purer.

A subtle difference, but a difference nonetheless. Who knows what the golden color came from? Either way, chances were this was a standard magical phenomenon.

That meant it could be studied, and eventually conquered.

I wrote some quick notes, including some ideas about its nature that I thought about on a whim. I doubted it was a bow shock of any kind since that would be located much farther out from the planet, but I still put down every idea I had.

“Well, there we have it.”

I sighed and brushed away the screens in front of me. The video in front of us was paused on the image of that arm placing its finger on the tip of the plane.

My immediate guess was that it was an angel. I couldn’t know, of course, but it wouldn’t be the first time one had interacted with me.

I pat Umara’s hip, her eyes glued to the screen.

“You can keep watching if you want, but I’m going to bed. My head still hurts.”

“Oh, sure. I’ll go with you.”

She stood, a wave of my hand shutting down my workstation. I finally sent my flight suit back, deciding I didn’t care to be so paranoid about making sure every detail had been properly offloaded.

The two of us went to bed, mixed thoughts in our minds. I didn’t intend to pursue this matter further, at least not until I was in the position to do so. These issues would have to wait for me to become stronger and for Wonderland to develop aviation technology further. For now, there were more pressing matters.

……

…

“This news displeases me.”

A large man muttered before taking a sip from the golden chalice in his hand. His body was composed of thick layers of muscle, his height well over 9 feet. Four horns wrapped around his head like a crown, his eyes a bright yellow.

He raised his other hand, a slender thigh raised to his mouth. He bit down on it, ripping muscle and skin clean off the bone.

The source of that thigh lay on the royal table he sat behind, a young woman with wide, listless eyes and tear streaks across her face mixed with blood. Her blood filled the large tray she was lying on, neither of her legs remaining.

Tahg Naughtson noticed a hitch in her breath as the large man polished off the meat from her femur, cracking the bone and licking out the marrow. Once it was dry, he threw it to the side with a contented smile on his face.

He took another sip from the chalice, a single drop escaping down the corner of his mouth.

Bright red blood shimmering with dense Vigor. Such a potent infusion could only come from a Knight who had been tortured and driven to the deepest pit of despair and trauma, causing their body to dump all of its adrenaline into its system. Backed by every ounce of latent Vigor, the blood was made into a potion far more nourishing than any other.

Tahg’s mouth watered at the sight of it. He had drunk of that elixir before. There was no greater delicacy, not to mention its ability to increase power and prolong one’s lifespan.

“How many troops have we given you thus far?”

“Well over five thousand, sir.”

“And you’ve failed to kill even a single one of those soldiers. I believe every target under your protection has died as well.”

“Yes…”

“And you’ve yet to collect any damning evidence?”

The large man eyed Tahg, who nodded.

“Hm, I’m beginning to believe you aren’t fit for your position. You’ve been running the Third Claw for four decades and this is what has become of it?”

“I know who it is.”

“Is that so?”

“John Cooper.”

The large man sighed, downing the last of his blood before placing the chalice on the table with a slam.

Taking that as the cue, a butler moved over to the young woman, who started whimpering as he retrieved a jagged blade.

Tahg remained standing where he was as cries and screams of agony echoed through the dark dining hall.

Soon, the butler carried an upper arm to the large man, exchanging golden plates.

The young woman’s whimpers soon ceased, Tahg noticing her mind going dark. She had finally died.

The large man took a bite and pointed at Tahg with the arm.

“This is the dozenth time you’ve mentioned him. I believe we told you that we have other plans for him.”

“They won’t be enough. His Iron Legion is too powerful, and he’s only pressing harder. He will ruin our plans if we don’t deal with him.”

“Fine, let’s say all of these attacks have been conducted by him and not the Church. All they’ve done is hasten our invasion. Nephilim are saturating the cities and multiplying. We will soon have an entire ten percent of the Kingdom’s population corrupted into Nephilim, and from then on the population will only explode. If he’s truly the one behind all of our trouble, then his apparent stupidity is only helping. There’s no reason to stop him, not even to save those low nobles.”

“There is. I can tell you why. I’ve seen through him.”

“Then you better keep it concise, or you’re going to replace that woman right there for my next meal.”

Tahg felt like his brain tingled, glancing at the dead woman soaking in her own blood.

He looked back at the large man before finally spitting out his words.

“My guess is that he wants to accelerate our growth. He’s striking fear into our Nephilim villages and towns, forcing them to migrate to the cities so they can begin corrupting more, as you’ve said. The issue is that it’s happening too fast.”

“Hah! The faster the better. I expected you of all people to be smart enough to see such simple logic.”

“It’s a matter of normalization, sir.”

Tahg refuted, continuing before he could be rebuted.

“The humans are growing restless. It takes time for them to accept the Nephilim, to be desensitized to them. If they grow too fast, if they’re corrupted too fast, then they’ll start resisting instead.”

“Hardly an issue. Why should we possibly give a damn about resistance?”

“Because it’ll prevent us from corrupting the latter half of the human population. They’ll start panicking, and then start fighting. Especially the Magi. Having fought the Scourge for so long, they’ll see the Nephilim as a disease instead of a higher level of evolution. We won’t be able to mask the rapid increase in hostility. It’ll be easy for the humans to justify fighting against us.”

“And once again, I hardly see an issue. That’s what war is for. By the time the humans start to resist, we’ll have more than enough numbers and strength to wipe them out.”

“Will we?”

Tahg grit his teeth, images of Iron Legion’s battles during their joint missions with Stronghold Echo replaying in his mind.

He had seen the sheer devastation they could muster. Assuming that was a mere fraction of Iron Legion’s power, assuming that John Cooper was hiding far more than he allowed them to show during those missions, he really wouldn’t bet on them being strong enough.

“Sir, it’s a race between our corruption and the Nephilim’s acceptance. If we end up causing a civil war, we may not be able to escape eradication. We haven’t spread enough to do as we please, and it will remain that way for some time. What John Cooper wants is precisely that civil war, because then he’ll have the support of a large portion of humanity. If he gets that, we may not be able to usurp the Kingdom.”

“The Kingdom has already fallen into our hands, civil war or not. And I maintain that a war is only beneficial. I fail to see how they could possibly resist us.”

“Even with John Cooper’s new technology? Including the stuff we have no idea about? He had an entire research facility near the Whetted City. It isn’t possible that he hasn’t built weapons even greater than what we’ve seen or even heard about.”

“Yes, Tahg, even with those plentiful toys he will fall like all others. Not to mention that this is all conjecture on your part. He may be a summoner but even summoners can be idiots like normal people. They just have stupid thoughts faster, and while John Cooper is no doubt above the average considering his inventions, I heavily doubt that he’s willing to indirectly cause the death of many millions, not to mention start a civil war and kill millions more. And to what, keep us from controlling the Kingdom? You think his allegiances lie so deeply? Quite the contrary, he hates the nobility, and I don’t believe he could plan so far ahead. He doesn’t have the power to control the future.”

“I don’t…”

Tahg opened his mouth but couldn’t refute. Not because he agreed, but because he so fundamentally disagreed that he couldn’t formulate the words to rebut.

It was a misunderstanding about who John was. After they had kidnapped John and given him their warning, Tahg had never seen him again. At some point, it became impossible to even pinpoint the region he was in, let alone guess what he was doing. He disappeared, never giving them even the slightest chance of getting their hands on him again.

Even a Sovereign was useless. After all, a Sovereign had to know where their enemy was to kill them.

Tahg knew he was currently facing a war of information, an invisible war fought with the details, or the lack thereof. He also knew he was losing miserably. The six figure death count of Nephilim was proof of that, even if they were mostly low Authority fodder.

It was also proof that John possessed a level of cunning nobody had ever fathomed before. Nobody would guess that the reckless musclehead disguised as a summoner could be so subtle and conniving.

Tahg was on the verge of believing that everything John had done before Iron Legion, every one of his stunts, all of his mannerisms, every little action in and out of the Magisterium, and every smile he ever displayed in front of those who glanced toward Sawn Industries, was all an act.

An act for precisely this purpose. To deceive them into believing he was a small player. An act to make them think that despite his ability to invent, he had no ability to politic or scheme.

John was the most powerful summoner to ever walk the planet. Nobody in known history could wield Psyka as well as him. He was a genius the likes of which would only be seen once in a millennium. He was the kind of person nobody doubted would break the Great Barrier and become a Sovereign.

Even his Aura had developed a unique technique of illusions and mental manipulation based on his sparse battle records from Stronghold Charlie and the Treehouse.

And yet, despite everything about him, his enemies were still doubting his ability.

Tahg stared at the large man across the table. A Sovereign Knight, known as Phero Runneas, one of the pillars of the Kingdom and the true leader of the Scourge’s corruptive force behind human lines.

He wasn’t stupid. He wasn’t supposed to be. Despite being a muscle headed knight, he was diligent in his work and had remained undetected for decades. His influence spread far and wide, and he was the only person Tahg Naughtson answered to.

Now, all Tahg could see was a fool. The complete and utter pride in his strength and that of his plans would normally be acceptable. Encouraged, even. They had all worked before.

Now it blinded him to the truth before him. It was so unobvious as to make itself glaring.

A genius in plain sight so unnaturally intelligent that they could convince others they shouldn’t be treated as one. Tahg wanted to doubt that John should truly be treated with such a high threat level, and yet that thought only fueled the idea that they needed to do precisely that.

Tahg changed his tone, wiping away any hints of desperation or obsession.

“Sir, I’m simply advising a little caution. Iron Legion is one of our more significant threats, and I’d like to place more resistance on them to stop their plans. We do that, and the Kingdom is ours without contest.”

“So, you want more troops than we’ve already given you?”

“No, sir. I want a Broodfather.”

Phero’s eyes widened, his chalice lowering to the table.

“For memory extraction?”

“Yes. Those troops can’t be captured, only killed. I want a Death Shrine so I can take their memories from their corpses. Give me that, and I’ll give you the evidence you want and guarantee that Iron Legion won’t be able to mess with our plans. They will be a non factor, something you’ll no longer have to bother with.”

Phero stared at Tahg silently, sitting there for several seconds before eventually waving.

“Very well. I’ll send word back. They will have to come from the Crossing though, so give it some time.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“No need. After all, if you fail, you’ll be the one pinned to the Shrine. Staking your life on this will certainly help my plans along.”

“Y-Yes sir…”

Tahg went quiet, bowing and leaving the room with a faint tremble.

He knew what he had to do. He knew he could do it. So long as he could prove that John Cooper was a threat, his mission could be considered a success. From then on it would be out of his hands, his words moving the big players who could do something about the chess pieces.

Not that it made the stakes any less agonizing to think about.

He had to succeed, or suffer unfathomable pain and terror for the rest of his life.

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