Adamant Blood

Mark left at 10 am to get back to Mage Society, to start working on book 2 of his Sigaldry lessons with Quark in the Sigaldry House, before the big event today on Magic Street. Eliot and Sally would come by later.

Isoko showed up at the Sigaldry house at 11:30, and it was already hopping. She found Mark on the third floor in his room, studying by himself, and she thumbed back toward the house, saying, "There's, like, 300 people here already, and I think I outpaced everything I was able to read last night by being here for 2 minutes."

Mark smiled as he signed at her, 'From-the-heart: I-self, happy-joy, you-other, here-now-in-this-place."

He felt no backlash at all as he did that.

Isoko grinned, her eyes a little joyful as she said, "I have no idea what the heck that was, especially that last complicated sign." She pointed at her own chest, saying, "This one is 'I-self', yeah?"

"Yup! And this one is 'happy-joy'."

"… How the fuck are you making your hands bend that way."

Mark laughed. "There are a whole set of hand stretches…"

Soon, Isoko was learning, and Whaler came up to introduce himself and inform Mark that the powers-that-be wanted to know if he wanted to move to Magic Street yet. Mark did want that. So Whaler sent out a large-volume message to the entire House, and the street outside.

Soon, Mark was sitting on one of several stages sitting on the grassy middle of Magic Street.

The day was hopping, with vendors selling food, professors happily leading lessons, some people really mad that this was happening at all because it was a flagrant disregard for safety measures, and also inquisitors walking around and checking everyone out.

There was a ritual casting class at one end, where people joined hands and chained together a hundred sigils and made small glowing lights in the air. There were remedial places at the other end where people were paired up by the professors at the arcanaeum, and with each other, for conversation prompts on screens. There were friend groups everywhere, talking with each other about their days and their lives, in ways that they usually never communicated.

There were accidents here and there with people making bad signs and having epileptic fits, or heart palpitations, or sudden gut expulsions, or any number of accidents. But a lot of paladins were around, and not just the Inquisitors, and they helped people to recover from this or that accident.

Lola showed up and happily said to Mark, "You're making quite a splash, Mark."

Mark grinned. "Do you know how to do Sigaldry?"

Lola signed, 'Acknowledge-but, I-self, knowledge-capability, action-words."

"Ah! But you do!"

"Completely fluent but it hurts the hands, and it's considered something of an attack to use magical languages in polite settings, so I never use it."

Mark grinned. "I think I heard— 'read' some instructors saying that down the way, too."

Lola did a small, polite curtsy, and then said, "I must return to my rounds, Mister Careed. I would appreciate an after-action meeting, if it pleases you."

Mark almost wanted to tease her about her complete politeness, but he schooled his grin away and politely bowed, saying, "I believe Grand Mage Solari wishes an after-action report as well. I hope you will join us in his meeting room. I believe it is beside his office."

Lola did another polite bow, nodded, and walked away, back straight, guillotines in her gaze as she continued her prowl, down the street.

- - - -

It was 2 AM and the day of Sigaldry was done.

There would be more. A lot more.

But for now, Mark was in a secured medium-sized conference room in the arcanaeum alongside his team, Tartu's team, Lola and some paladins, and quite a few professors of the arcanaeum and people of Mage Society. Aurora's mother and Isoko's 'master' Elaria Valen was there, as well as Yoro Windrunner. It was a medium-sized meeting, and most everyone non-paladin had arrived exhausted, but the paladins and Mark had invigorated everyone. A few people continued to trickle in for the last 10 minutes, and soon there were a good 50 people in the meeting, most of them in the back and mostly unknown to Mark. Whaler, the Sigaldry guy, was back there, along with several other professors and otherwise that Mark had met, and which only Quark remembered in any detail.

Some of the people in the audience did not like what was happening here, or what had happened out there, at all. Mark had met with some of those people out there, on Magic Street, in the middle of the whole event. Lola mostly dealt with those people, though, and not how any of them thought she would have dealt with them.

People walked up to Lola, expecting to hear her agree with them, that this place should be shut down. It was a 'blatant disregard for safety!' according to many, but the Inquisitors stood with Mark and his goals, instead. That ticked people off.

Rekaro, Lola, and Yoro had already had a small pre-meeting meeting with Mark before all of this. Just a 5 minute thing, to clear up a few things before the actual meeting, so that they'd know Mark's answers beforehand. No one wanted to look like a fool before they even started. The foolish actions would happen later, after the big stuff was publicly sorted.

Everywhere, people talked and worried.

Grand Mage Rekaro Solari cleared his throat. Conversations ceased. Attentions focused.

Rekaro opened the meeting with, "The Aluathan Imperial Society formally thanks apprentice Mark Careed for his central support of today's event. Without him it could not have been possible. We thank him again, and ask for him to replicate today's event tomorrow, which would be in 10 hours, at noon today."

Some people openly scoffed at that. A few people almost spoke up, but a few muttered, 'Again?! You cannot be serious.' Someone even brought up having to heal third degree burns off of four people today. Those voices were quiet, though.

Mark stood tall as all eyes fell on him, and said, "I would be honored to do this again in 10 hours, but does it need to be another 12 hours long of an event? It was a long day."

"No, it does not need to be that long," Rekaro said. "How about 10 hours? Starting at 12 or 2 PM, and ending at 10 PM or 12?"

Mark bowed and said, "Thank you. 2 pm to 12 midnight, please and thank you."

Rekaro returned Mark's bow with one of his own, then said, "We'll replicate this tomorrow starting at 2 pm, and continuing on until midnight. That should give both the daytime people and the night squad ample opportunity to participate in this once-in-a-lifetime event. We expect many similar once-in-a-lifetime events to take place here at Mage Society, in the near future, due to the terms of Mark's Agreement. Many of you have expressed concerns about rampant magical progress and dangerous understandings, though, so we will get to that, but first we will go over a few facts.

"Fact 1: This is happening. The Aluathan Imperial Society is taking charge of this event, and we know this is dangerous, but I REMIND EVERYONE HERE that we are in the wilds now, and most of you are guests in this location. We're only supposed to be a settlement town of 10,000 people. But we're pushing 150,000 right now. None of those 140,000 should be here without expecting danger, and that is specifically true when it comes to the dangers of magery.

"Not a single person here, in this settlement, should expect full safety. If that is what you expect, then you need to leave right now. This might look like a real city, but that's only because of people like Mister Eliot Cybersong, Mister Mark Careed, General Aurora Valen, and the entire, very vested, city of Memphi and the entire Aluatha Empire.

"This is a settlement. This is a settlement project. This is not a city.

"Fact 2: How these Understandings happen is up to us, in this room, right now. I was made aware of several people who broke through the cordons in the area to partake of Sigaldry learning and some of them actually started learning. That is something that cannot be allowed to happen again. That is on us. We cannot expect Mister Careed to care for every single individual person that comes through the area. He juggled 7,500 people today. So we need to figure out security measures.

"And finally, Fact 3: We greatly benefit from this, so we're not stopping. Sigaldry is the basis of much of magic, and the fact that some people almost killed themselves today is a good thing. We were here, we protected and healed, and if those people had tried that outside of that event, then they would have simply died."

Several professors openly scoffed at that.

One older woman with a flowing red gown stepped forward, and Mark did not know of her, but he felt the vectors of many people in the room focus on her. She was popular. She was well-liked. She liked everyone there, too, but most of all she had a great, impossible-to-hide fondness for Mark, and for everyone of the people in the room who were below 30. She was a teacher, and she loved being a teacher.

Her words were very true as she said, "You cannot be serious Rekaro. To suggest it was okay for students to hurt themselves because they have a safety net! This is too much, too fast, and even you know this to be true. We must honor the desires of the Second Princess, but we do not need to go all out with this gross negligence and corruption of what Mage Society is. Yes, we raise people who are dangers to themselves and others, but it is our job to ensure those dangers are as small as possible, and today was too much. Way, way too much. Comprehension magic should never be used in this way, Rekaro, because you know just as well as I that regulations are written in the blood of the dead." She looked at Mark and said, "You do not have to follow Walaria's demands. We can work to do this honorably and safely, but today was too much. Please understand that."

Some professors clapped at that.

Mark did not. It wasn't that he didn't understand, or that he was callous himself. In fact, when Rekaro brought up in the pre-meeting that this was going to happen, Mark was eager to solve the problems that these people had with him. But Rekaro asked Mark to let him solve the problems, and for him to focus on learning as fast as he could, and damn the small problems that arose. That was because Walaria had charged Rekaro with making sure Mark learned as fast as possible, and Rekaro was not going to let anyone stand in the way of that, including Mark himself.

Redline seemed like a good person, and she didn't even mind that Mark was playing a role right now. From the depth of her vector as she looked at Mark, Mark was pretty sure she was an actual fan. Like, for the Hero/Villain Program, Blackvein-persona. She actually seemed happier when Mark ignored her plea.

The professors who clapped for Redline noticed that Mark did not clap for her at all. A lot of them instantly turned against Mark in their minds.

Rekaro said to Redline, "Your concerns are noted, Professor Redline, but this is not a gross negligence at all. What this is, is an example of why this is a settlement, and not a city. In a city this would be intolerable. This is not a city. This is a wartime settlement, deep inside the War for Life, and you need to get with the program."

Oh, wow, Mark thought, That had been rather strong language, actually. 'Get with the program'! Huh.

A lot of people had similar thoughts.

Redline was stunned. She did not expect this from Rekaro at all. Disbelieving, she asked, "Are you serious, Rekaro?"

"Let's talk about how to make this work, and not how this did not work in certain ways, because yes, I am serious, Professor Redline," Rekaro said.

Redline seemed to be the center of opposition to Rekaro, and her people expected her to confront his excesses more, but none of them expected this sort of answer from him. Redline said, "I'm aware we're in the wilds. I knew what I signed up for when I came out here. But when I pleaded with you to shut down the tram into Society, to limit the damage of the Sigaldry Understanding, you just opened the tram wider. Are you not concerned with safety at all, Rekaro?"

Another bit of strong language. 'Not concerned with safety at all'.

Rekaro said, "I am just as conservative as you, Redline. The old ways of Magic Society work because they work. But in certain times, bounty comes along that must be utilized, and this is one of those times, and Sigaldry is the basis for a great many magics, and I believe that the more people who know Sigaldry the better their future casting might be.

"So, if you want to talk about tightening belts and moving more buildings currently inside Society to the outside, then we can do that. Like pushing out all of the Class D people who have recently moved in here? Otherwise they have just as much of a right to walk into Society at any point in time, like they did during the event."

Mark blinked, wondering at the abrupt change in topic. He was not the only one who didn't understand what was happening. But all of the professors and even some shopkeepers were right there with Rekaro, hanging on every word.

Mark didn't know what Class D people were, but Quark was there, responding to Mark's curious eyes, populating his vision with an answer. Soon Mark was looking at a representative diagram of the segregation of magical tech and sundries, with regard to what existed inside the walls of Mage Society, and what was outside.

Rank A was everything normally associated with magery. The arcanaeum and everything associated with that. Books and book binders, and runecrafters and all language-users.

Rank B was all magical products that were adjustable, meaning open-language crafts. Focuses belonged in this group, too, though Mark had no idea what those were and he was rapidly flailing out of his depth of understanding. Individual societies and master housing belonged in Rank B, too.

Rank C was all apprentice learning institutions.

Rank D was all finished products that did not need to be behind Mage Society walls, but which were nice to have inside the walls sometimes. Like alchemy shops and raw supplies that one needed actual understanding to use.

A, B, and C were usually inside the walls, but D could be outside, and usually was.

Mark could only imagine that Rank D being inside the walls was a thing that happened because some people bought property early…

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

Nope. Not necessary to know.

Mark realized he didn't need to be here for this discussion at all, actually.

Mark stood up, in the middle of the building discussion, and all eyes turned toward him. Mark bowed, and said, "It appears we are entering a period of politics as opposed to solving the needs of the event. I will be taking my leave. I do apologize, Professor Redline, for enabling danger. I do hope you can help mitigate the danger coming our way, though, because everyone who learns here will learn fast, and the Mage Society of this settlement will be the strongest one in living history, if we can all work to make that happen. Thank you for your time. See you all tomorrow."

Redline rapidly spoke up, "At the very least, we must vet and cap every single one of your group Understandings to maybe, at the most, 10 people. 10 people is not a great disruption, and that might be fine. But even for you, Mark, to proceed with this type of learning is dangerous to you, personally."

"I'm no stranger to danger, Professor Redline, and surely there are more than 10 people with enough good credentials to be allowed to learn basic magical languages. How about a thousand?"

Redline grinned, and her vector practically beamed. "I know you are very competent, Mister Careed, but not everyone can walk the path you're walking. I do believe that we can make the strongest mage society in recent history, though. I do like the sound of that." She did a curtsy.

Mark bowed.

Someone else tried to say something behind Redline, but Redline hummed and shook her head at the guy. The guy said nothing.

Mark left the room alongside his team.

Lola remained behind. A lot of people remained behind.

Some left, though, including several professors and Tartu and his team, who caught up to Mark rather quickly.

Tartu walked beside him, saying, "You want to make the strongest Mage Society in living history, huh?"

"A small exaggeration, of course," Mark said, "But not much of one. Do you have any idea how many people at the event were talking about getting people in from the capital to show up? Redline's stance is the normal one, but it's like a pebble standing before a flood. If I didn't feel the conviction in her vector and the vectors of the others, I would have thought them putting up a false front… for some sort of reason."

"False Flag operation," Isoko commented.

"Yes, that," Mark said.

"Redline isn't like that," Lenny said. "She hates the Grand Mage a lot."

"They're old rivals; not enemies," Tartu said, almost offhanded. And then he said, "People are going to die because they'll get overconfident with their magery, Mark."

Mark decided to play the bad guy, for everyone who might be watching, and for the truth of it all. "We're going into a goblin war and we're already in the middle of the War for Life, Tartu. The more mages here who know what they're doing, the more people who can truly fight on the front lines. We need those people on the front lines, because these are the front lines, like your father said. I'm grateful to all the strangers coming here to the settlement and making homes, and bringing things, and making life worth living out here in the middle of nowhere, but this is still a warzone."

Tartu smirked, and asked, "And what happens when all the monsters are dead?"

"Ahhh! Then it's rainbows and hugs and beef steaks and never-ending beer for everyone, forever, and we'll probably have different problems to solve, like the ones they used to have before the Reveal on Earth. Social issues, and whatever."

Isoko grinned softly. Sally merely felt content, and Eliot snorted.

Mark and his team parted ways with Tartu and his.

They walked through the remains of the party on Magic Street, under the aurora sky, and Mark saw people already setting up for tomorrow's probably-bigger day.

Isoko commented, "This is a big deal, isn't it. This Understanding-thing happening here."

"Oh yeah," Mark said.

Sally asked, "You're really not worried?"

Mark scrunched his lips and looked around.

There was an old squad of grandmas and grandpas hanging out at a cafe, excited to be with each other once again. Mark could tell they hadn't seen each other in ages, but they were here to 'help these kids learn real magic!'. The others laughed happily at that idea.

On the other side of the road were four people in a study group still furiously signing at each other, having a big debate about if they wanted to stay here for the whole event, because finally one of their members could actually understand them well. That other member was still kinda confused about what everyone was saying, but it clicked for him when they pointed at him, and suddenly he knew that they were hinging the decision on him. He clumsily signed back to them, from-the-heart, that he wanted to be here and learn how to talk better. The conversation paused as vectors turned deep and thoughtful. And then the guys continued to silently, furiously, talk about how this was a settlement and not a city, and therefore they were in danger.

Past those guys was a group of girls Mark's own age in long dresses, signing alongside an older woman who wore bright magenta, and all of them were excited as the girl in the yellow dress and the girl in the green dress were finally able to keep up with the other ones. The older woman softly, happily, said words of encouragement to the two lagging girls, as they all focused on the ritual between them, and lights glittered into existence, transforming into little glowing butterflies, to float in the air like the auroras overhead—

And then one of the girls spotted Mark, and all of them suddenly spotted him, and he realized that all 6 of the girls were sextuplets, and the mother was their mother, and they bowed his way, deeply and strongly. Their butterflies dissipated overhead, but all of them were very happy, thankful, and at least two of them were excited to finally get out there and kill some monsters with the other ones.

Mark did a little nod at them as he passed.

They reached the tram.

As they stood in front of the trams, Mark said, "To answer the question, Sally… I am worried. Bad things are gonna happen. But this happening is not much more dangerous, or worrying, than warriors going beyond the wall and finding monsters they can't handle. Learning magery is only different because the 'monsters' here are 'monsters' we make and use to kill other monsters. So… I agree with Professor Redline that we need to make it safe for people, but I wholly support Rekaro. And thinking about it… I think Walaria's main goal in supporting me was partially this, right here. She and the Aluatha Imperial Society are coming out in force to make this happen, now that it's actually happening. She wants people loyal to her, and everyone knows that she's the one who is making this Union of Understanding happen, and probably because we need it to survive what's coming."

Everyone in the nearby area, all the spies and snoops, and even Eliot and Sally were thinking deep thoughts as they got into the tram. Isoko was the exception. She eyed Mark, grinning a little bit and trying not to show it. Mark gave her a side-eye, and she knew not to break the moment, or Mark's mystique.

Eventually they got home.

Once the doors were shut and before Eliot or Sally had the chance to let their own Big Thoughts out—

"You cheesy liar!" Isoko said, grinning.

"I wasn't lying at all!" Mark said.

Sally and Eliot were lost.

Isoko thumbed at Mark, saying, "So all that was true back there on the tram stop, BUT! Mark really hopes that all the bad shit that's possible with magery simply won't happen at all, because he's pretty sure it won't."

"Oh no absolutely not," Mark said. "That's not my true feelings at all!"

Isoko scoffed. "I can read you like a book, boy!"

Mark scoffed right back at her, saying, "I am 99% sure that all the bad shit everyone is worrying about, from changelings to people fucking up on magic, simply won't happen at all." Mark told Sally and Eliot, "I was looking all night long! I probably saw 10,000 plots out there, all about getting ahead and fucking other people over and all of that, and sure, some of it was Too Much, but I read the room— the entire street! There wasn't a single person in that entire event that wanted to actually harm anyone there, and I had Quark notify the Inquisitors every time I saw something that needed looking at. And now? With Rekaro working with Redline and all the rest, whatever events that come next are gonna be High Mage Society events. The security starting tomorrow is going to be beyond belief." Mark said, "Nothing bad is gonna happen except for the Aluatha Empire coming in with a whole squad of archmages to make sure nothing bad happens."

Sally winced. "That seems like a worst-case scenario to me."

Mark Eyed Sally, and simply said, "Sally."

Sally paused. "… Okay. Yeah. I'm paranoid. But they were actually out to get you for a while there, Mark."

"She has a point," Isoko said.

Mark said. "I'm sure that with any amount of normalcy at all, we'll be learning languages and figuring shit out, and killing monsters! And that's it."

Eliot said, "Hopefully! And now I have to shower, sleep, and I have about 20 meetings tomorrow—"

Lights blared in the walls, in the city.

They flashed red.

They warned loudly.

Monsters at the gates.

"Ah," Mark said, as the alerts started coming through, and he loosened up his body, already stripping his clothes and transforming his adamantium backpack into scales. "Of course life needed to throw monsters at us."

Isoko was already halfway up the stairs like a platinum streak, running for her armor, as she yelled back, "YUP!"

Sally was right behind her, stomping hard, her vector flashing in the walls of the house as she moved, practically bouncing off of the walls to get upstairs faster. She had learned that bouncing trick from Shawn, but she was too big to do it herself that well. What did she have to get, anyway? She was already wearing her armor. She wouldn't walk into Mage Society without it. She was going after something, though.

Mark felt Eliot's vector turn deeply concerned, even as Quark flashed visions in Mark's sight of video from outside the settlement. Mark flashed a Union of Wakefulness and Sleepiness throughout the nearest few kilometers of space, waking everyone who could possibly be sleeping, because he saw green tides on the horizon, and a flickering rainbow-white kaiju goblin, about 600 meters tall, caught on camera as he flashed around the horizon of the settlement.

The images were a minute old and enhanced a lot to make the Lightbody goblin, Grax, visible.

Eliot's eyes were half-lidded as he looked away, his senses inside the city and also here. He was a little freaked out as he said, "Goblin tide."

"Yup," Mark said, finishing off his wakeful union with a Union of Good and Bad, to get everyone nearby in slightly better fighting shape. Though, from what Mark was seeing out there, if anyone was on the front line they were dead. Maybe they'd have Mark fly over them all? Probably. And yet… "Where's the multiman Derek?"

Eliot's eyes were distant. The hoverspidercar rumbled off of the roof, onto the front lawn just outside the open front door, as Eliot said, "Already on it. I've got a few irons in the fire that are getting tagged early, too. Have you met Will Birch? I hired him the other day, too."

Will Birch. Will Birch… Mark couldn't place him. But that didn't matter. Isoko had finished getting ready and she was coming back down.

Sally slid down the pole first, holding a small box. "Got it!"

"Thanks, Sally," Eliot said, taking the box.

Mark asked, "What's in the box?"

"Prototype gun," Sally said, as she looked up the sliding pole, wondering where Isoko was. Eliot was focused elsewhere. Sally turned back toward Eliot. "There's this guy who can copy simple items and Eliot talked to him the other day about doing that for him, for money. Derek is gonna be using the guns—"

Isoko landed on the ground near the sliding pole, and then she was running outside like an armor-wearing platinum streak, saying, "What are our marching orders!"

Sally rushed after her, saying, "Don't know, but Mark is probably not with us."

"Yeah probably," Mark said, as he walked outside, to stare at the lights in the night sky. Hovercars were already taking off and filling the air.

Isoko sped into the hoverspider and Eliot and Sally were right behind her—

Quark spoke up in Mark's vision, "Your orders have come through. Proceed in a quick manner to East North Rivergate.'

Mark spun up his flight and zoomed into the air, headed east, as his team headed west, toward the castles. All below the city was half awake, and what wasn't awake was waking fast. Quark's flight path was laid out before Mark, so Mark flew that way, asking, "Who is the guy who can copy guns? What was all that back there? I didn't catch it."

"Name of Will Birch, Natural Power of Item Foundry. Eliot has had dealings with him before, but the guy asks for too much money each time. He can make more than guns, though. Eliot has not finalized anything with the man, but he hopes to finalize some things today, in time for Derek to use the guns to flood the field and begin acting as soldiery against the goblin tide."

" 'Too much money'?" Mark asked, disbelieving. "How much?"

"125-200% of the retail cost of anything he makes."

Like a bolt of lightning, flashing overhead, Mark suddenly remembered Will Birch. "Oh! That guy. I remember now. The one who wants a big payday and then to get the fuck out," Mark said, remembering the guy now. "His sister is alright. She makes healing potions at 10% cost for warriors. She's always sold out, though."