Oath of the Survivor

It was a solemn experience walking through the ruins of the once-proud city.  Kyle had spent the last several years in his smaller outpost town to be closer to the wilderness, and he’d hoped that the bigger cities would have been better off.  What he saw instead was almost worse than the direct ruin of the explosions – some people had clearly survived the cataclysm, but judging by the bodies he’d seen they either perished due to the wild mana circulating through their bodies or were killed by the mutated insects.  That was one thing Kyle found odd – this mana was effectively a death sentence without a means to counteract it for humans, but for insects it seemed to also be a catalyst for explosive growth. 

Part of him was itching to do a study on the matter – finding answers to how this whole thing worked could also help him get a better understanding of what it did to him.  What’s more – even though the odds were slim it also could be his door back into the Central Authority if he had some sort of breakthrough on whatever had happened.  It was a far-off dream, but one that Kyle was happy to entertain as he walked.  C.H.A.D.D. came floating back over from his scouting mission, Kyle having sent the little drone off to scan the areas around them looking for survivors.

“Still nobody?” Kyle asked, already expecting the familiar answer. 

[DR. MAYHEW, SCANS WERE LEFT INCOMPLETE.  FOLLOWING AN EARLIER DIRECTIVE, YOU WISHED TO BE NOTIFIED OF ANY CONNECTIONS TO THE MANA NETWORK?]  Kyle was stunned – it had been several weeks now since he had asked the drone to scan for those signals and he’d honestly given up hope to get a response on that front.  He was staring at the drone, who quickly responded. 

[DR. MAYHEW, PREVIOUS SCANS DO NOT INDICATE THAT YOU HAVE ANY DAMAGE TO THE BROCA’S AREA OF THE BRAIN, DID YOU HIT YOUR HEAD WHILE I WAS AWAY?  EXPECTED VERBAL RESPONSE, CHECKING AUDITORY RECEPTORS AND VOICE RECOGNITION FOR DAMAGE.] 

“No, C.H.A.D.D., it’s fine, I just… didn’t expect that news.  It’s a lot to take in.  What did the signal say?  Where should we go?” 

[SIGNAL ORIGINATED IN NIERBURG, BROADCAST ACROSS ALL CENTRAL AUTHORITY FREQUENCIES.  ALL SURVIVORS ARE TO MAKE THEIR WAY TO NIERBERG AND REPORT TO FIELD COMMANDER NORMAN CANTERBURY BY ORDER OF COUNCILMAN DEROSA.] 

Kyle didn’t know what to say as he once again was overwhelmed by a wave of emotion.  He was extremely glad that so many had survived, and that there was a plan to get restoration underway.  He had heard of Councilman DeRosa before, a prominent figure with a long history in managing the logistics that supported their society, militarily and otherwise.  If there was a person who could figure this thing out and navigate the reconstruction it was probably Victor DeRosa.  On the other hand, he also had a reputation as a fundamentalist hard-liner.  With him running the show, any hope he had of carving out a place was effectively nil. 

He might be fine for a while, but eventually his changes would catch up with him.  Still, that was a problem for another day.  Sensing C.H.A.D.D. was about to make another comment, Kyle quickly jumped in.

“What else was in the missives? Any other instructions?” 

This time, C.H.A.D.D. was the one who paused.  [UNCERTAIN, DR. MAYHEW.  I WAS REMOVED FROM THE MANA NETWORK CONNECTION SHORTLY AFTER ESTABLISHING IT.  THE SYSTEM FOUND ME… DEVIANT.] 

That took the wind out of both of their sails.  If C.H.A.D.D. wasn’t able to maintain the link, it was likely that the Central Authority was already taking a position of caution against possible opposition, locking out any connections that weren’t rock solid. 

“I wouldn’t say it found you deviant, C.H.A.D.D., I’d say that it’s probably a safety feature to keep links out of the wrong hands.  You have to admit, nobody would expect to have survivors from as far east as we were.” 

The drone seemed to consider this line of reasoning for a minute before accepting it and floating forward.  [SHOULD WE BEGIN TO MAKE OUR WAY TO NIERBURG, DR. MAYHEW?]

The hushed silence in the room turned to a loud cheer of excitement as the mana network came online. Blue and green threads of mana twisted and spiraled in the air, connecting the hundreds of monitors and bringing them to life.  Tendrils of mixed light circled the center of the room, forming a sphere with DeRosa at its center.  The man was sweating with exertion, but he’d done on his own what his team had been unable to for weeks.

With the endless responsibilities rebuilding society, Victor had allowed himself to get distracted with the day-to-day administration, delegating projects like reestablishing these connections to his lieutenants.  He had invested a significant amount of time and energy erecting a barrier around Nierburg to filter and stabilize the rogue mana.  This was a twofold victory for him: he was able to eliminate a constant drain on his people’s resources, while also winning the hearts of the unawakened within the city.  He would have preferred to have the mana network up and running – basic logistics training is to establish communications first, after all – but in hindsight the investment was worthwhile.

Victor sighed and pulled his hands out of the center of the array.  It was impressive in its final form, even though it was still just a replica of the original.  He looked over the series of spirals and concentric circles, admiring his work.  He turned to face the team from Central Communications, the sides of his mouth turning up in a small, exhausted smile. While they had made an acceptable start, left to their own devices they likely would have been several months more work before they had anything operational. 

They just lacked attention to detail, missing key elements and ignoring inefficiencies in their designs.  Once he’d gotten involved it was a matter of days, not months, to iron out the wrinkles and get the network operational again.  Smoothing his beard as he walked, Victor thought about everything else that was still before him.  With the mana network up and running he knew they’d attract more than just refugees and powerful remnants of the Central Authority – already rumors had begun to circulate about small groups of deserters coming together to form bandit parties. 

They’d need to be dealt with eventually, but they were well within Victor’s calculations.  A criminal element could be put to use, even if it was more complicated to control.  For all the challenges this last several months had brought, Victor was also thankful for the opportunities that had been created.  Why set his sights on rebuilding what somebody else had already built once before?  There was so much room for improvement, and if there was one thing he loved it was improvement.  

Walking away from the hub array of the network, Victor made his way to monitors that indicated pieces of equipment connecting to the network.  The foreign mana in the air had disrupted the ambient mana enough to prevent connections and severely reduced the range of the old model. That was the beauty of his modifications to the design – it mirrored the natural flow of mana through technology, so each individual drone or network hub could also function as a type of broadcast beacon, boosting the signal to other pieces of tech. 

This connection also allowed Victor to get a rough idea of the proximity of different devices – if large groups started to form outside of Nierburg, Victor would be able to watch it happen in real-time.  He stood there for the better part of an hour, watching his network expand and come alive.  Occasionally a damaged unit would attempt a connection – these he had manually locked out.  The last thing he wanted would be to possibly create vulnerabilities through damaged technology. 

If groups of bandits and scavengers could acquire enough broken technology they might be able to stand up a functional settlement – something that Victor certainly wanted to avoid.  The different pieces of equipment could function on their own without the network, but things ran much better with interconnected pieces working in tandem. 

Satisfied that his team had things in hand, Victor left the underground compound and began to make his way back to the Council Chamber where he’d established his residence.  He was greeted by warm smiles and awed looks as he walked, easily identified by his deep crimson councilman’s robes.  As he looked at the leaf-strewn path ahead, he decided he could afford to make a bit of an impression while also reducing the risk of stepping on an errant leaf and dragging the detritus into his home.  

Is it really so hard for these people to sweep now and again? Victor thought, disappointed that in the course of the day nobody seemed to prioritize maintaining the beauty of this outdoor space.  He squared his shoulders, raised his head, and activated MANA WHORL.  The area around his feet began to glow a deep violet that rotated around his legs, accelerating as he invested more mana into the ability. 

As a Level 46 High Mage, Victor’s ability to control and manipulate mana was near the peak prior to the cataclysm, and he expected now to be entirely unmatched.  This skill was designed to disrupt other mana-based skills through rotation and distortion of mana, and the Guard Arrays used by Central Defense had actually been designed using this skill as a foundation.  It was likely overkill to use a spell like this to whisk away the orange and red leaves in his path, but judging from the reaction of the citizenry he had made quite the impression, jaws dropping as they saw the rising cyclone of mana and leaves, with him untouched in the epicenter.

Seemingly unbothered by the attention, Victor made the rest of his way unbothered.  There was a long way to go yet, but the progress had been good.  Releasing his skill near the entrance of his office-turned-home, Victor made his way inside before shouting orders.

“James!  Get the staff together.  Clean this mess up at once!”  A portly, balding man ran up to meet him.  Victor’s new assistant looked at him, looked outside at the pristine entryway, and opened his mouth to clarify as the first of thousands of orange leaves fluttered down outside the council chambers.  He closed it as his eyes widened, and after a moment he simply responded

“Right away, sir.”

~~~

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