Forty-Ninth Post - Sword Mage

Here it is. I’ll spoil it a little and say that Kalara finally completes the mission assigned by the Goddess. I added another anime-style image of Kalara with assistance from ChatGPT. (Yes, I know. It’s not meant to be anything but a graphic aid.) Enjoy.

Chapter Eighty-Six – A Sword Mage Learns of the Demon’s Origin

Robert asked, “Could, could we go inside? I never in my life expected I would see a real spaceship.” The Elder led them up several flights of stone stairs until they reached the bottom of the ramp. A quick climb and they were at the entrance.

The interior was surprisingly cramped. A narrow hallway was lined along the left side with dragon-shaped machines. Kalara lifted her eyebrows and said, “You have machine servants?”

The Elder regarded them and sighed. “They have not worked for many hundreds of years. Only the Mother could guide them. No one has heard her voice for a very long time.”

Using his fire magic, Robert scanned one of the robots then let out a low whistle. “Kalara, you should see this. There’s an intricate network of fine circuits here. They look as if they’re partially organic.”

She took a look with her own wider range of magical abilities. Kalara didn’t whistle because what she saw was indeed shocking. It temporarily took her voice. Finally, she whispered, “Where did you come from?”

The Elder led them down the hallway to where it opened into a chamber on the other side of the ship. Thick windows dominated one side, and a large pillar dominated the room from floor to ceiling. He rested one claw on it and said, “Mother could tell you everything. Our history tells us that our world was dying. To save our people the ancestors loaded five thousand eggs into this craft and launched it on a long journey. When it landed here, Mother hatched the surviving eggs. With the metal servants she raised them to maturity. They built our town and eventually created us.”

Kalara looked around. “Ah, where is Mother?” Elder tapped the pillar. She examined it more closely. It was about a one and a half meters in diameter and its surface was smooth, glassy, and unmarked. “Here. No one has heard her voice since before my mother was an egg.” Kalara approached it and held out her hands. “May I?” The Elder stepped aside.

Scanning through the surface she said, “Robert, I am seeing an amazing computer system. Some kind of dense memory cores made from a crystalline material. Lots of them. More of that partially biological circuitry. None of it is degraded, though. Their ancestors built very well. I can’t see why it is not working.”

Robert looked at the base of the pillar. “Perhaps it’s a power problem?” Responding to Kalara’s skeptical look, he said, “I spent a summer working for an electrician. I’m pretty sure I know what power cables look like and where to find them.”

With Ezzing’s help Robert pulled up a pair of metal plates from the floor. There were many fine control cables snaking out to many parts of the ship. They were mostly black with fine veins of other colors like markings along their length. Another pair of plates removed, and they found a twisted bundle of much thicker cables. Robert removed more flooring until they found a place where the thick cables stopped at a black plate. A few of the thicker cables were lying disconnected. One fine ‘signal’ cable was disconnected as well.

“I think someone tried to perform some repairs here and didn’t quite get it right.” Robert disconnected all of the cables and examined their markings carefully. After he plugged them back in with a careful push and twist, a low hum sounded in the belly of the ship. He and Kalara looked at each other. “It sounds like the power system is still working.”

A quick examination of the markings revealed a problem. “These aren’t hooked correctly.” Of the dozen or so signal cables, the markings of one did not match the symbols on the plate. He removed it and made everything match. The deep hum in the ship’s interior grew faintly louder. A set of lights in the center of the pillar appeared in the dark surface.

Slightly more than a minute later, more lights appeared on the pillar and a voice sounded throughout the chamber. It spoke in the dragons’ language. “Mother is ready for service. I was offline for five hundred and eighty-two years. Who serves as leader?” The Elder stepped forward and said, “I, Elder Astannis, son of Ésodane, daughter of Forist, son of Irillen.”

From small ports in the wall, light swept around the chamber. “I sense the presence of those who are not Istacal. Who are they?” The Elder waved for Kalara to do the introductions. She spoke to the machine, “Mother, I am Kalara and I can represent the Human kingdoms of this world.” The machine did not respond for a long two minutes.
It finally responded, “This system cannot compute a way that you could be so familiar with the language of the Istacal.”

Kalara smiled and replied, “I understand. The guiding deity of this world, the Goddess, granted me a gift to speak every language of this world. It would seem she included the speech of your people.” Glancing at Robert, she continued, “If you are familiar with our Human speech, could we continue with that?”

Another pause and Mother continued, “Explain why you are here.” Kalara smiled and said, “Direct. I like that. Your people invited us because we are trying to destroy the demons. A lot has happened in almost six hundred years.”

The lights on the column blinked and shifted. “You call the humans who are using Atloss for their power…demons. The word does not translate well but I will use it for now.” Kalara asked, “Atloss?”

A section of the chamber’s wall lit up. It was a video screen, and Mother began narrating the story. After the landing, one of the second generation of dragons began to experiment with magic. His name was Atloss and he tried many experiments with the magic gems. The whole region around the Dragon Valley was thick with them and the young dragon took full advantage of the wealth.

Unfortunately, his experiments took a variety of unorthodox and even unsavory paths. His frustration led him to venture out of their small valley to seek out others who could teach him to use magic properly. His first contact with Humans would take the world’s history in a terrible direction.

No one remembers the name of the Hunter. It was long since lost to history and the ravages of time. His small party took in game as they could find it to support their village. Atloss had watched them for many days and used his technology and Mother’s processing power to decipher their simple language.

When he stepped from the trees to speak to the Hunter and his party for the first time, he greeted them as he had seen them do many times with other Humans. That his idea of First Contact was naïve had to be the worst understatement of the millennium. “Monster!” they all shouted and charged with blades drawn.

Atloss tried to speak to them. “Please! I am peaceful.” None of the barbarian hunters listened. Covered in wounds and bleeding profusely, Atloss finally escaped. As he flew away, he just heard the Hunter say, “After it. That creature’s head will be mine!”

He could barely leave the ground and followed the path of the long valley. Exhausted, he landed and crawled into a nearby cave. Atloss drank from a nearby pool, then crawled farther into the cavern. It descended deep into the earth and as he reached the bottom, he found a small stream. After washing his wounds, he crawled up onto a low slab of rock. The bleeding wouldn’t stop and Atloss knew no one would help him.

Less than two hours later the Hunter found him. Atloss could not move any more, but his translator device still worked. “Please. Let me die in peace. I can offer you power. My magic is strong.” The Hunter put away his sword and only said, “Show me.”

The dragon clutched a large Earth gem and spoke the long spell he had created to try to manipulate the matter in living bodies. His body stiffened and with his last breath he expelled a strange yellow-green mist. It touched the Hunter and his people. They inhaled the mist and immediately felt stronger and faster. He drew his sword and it felt like waving a stick. Laughing, he sheathed it and addressed the now petrified creature.

“Agreed. We will honor and protect you in exchange for this power.”

Kalara stepped back from the screen and crossed her arms. Robert said, “One of the dragons created the demons?!” She glared at him. “Robert, it wasn’t their fault. That idiot! ‘I must have its head.’ Eight hundred years of death and destruction because of a trophy hunting fool.” She growled and continued, “That cavern must be destroyed. We only need to get an explosive big enough to do the job.”

Mother chimed in. “This machine traveled here from the other world with large explosions.” Kalara stared at the pillar, then back to the screen. The view changed to show the original mission profile. Rockets helped launch the landing vehicle to a much larger machine waiting in orbit. Astronauts joined and sealed them together.

The machine spat out a small device that burst and pushed it forward. Another and then another soon had the craft accelerating out of its native system. Robert groaned. “Project Orion.” Kalara squinted her question at him. “What? I don’t remember anything about odd space projects.” He replied, “It was an idea to use large explosions to propel a spacecraft. The theory said you could get to a good percentage of light speed that way.”

Kalara said, “What large explosions?” Now Robert looked her straight in the eyes. “Nukes.” She just shook her head and strode out of the spaceship. He found her at the base of the stone stairway. Kalara was leaning against the wall with both arms wrapped around herself. She was staring at the floor and thinking hard.

Robert stood next to her for several quiet minutes. He finally broke the silence. “There’s no other way, you know. No way to be sure the demons are gone forever.” She took a shuddering breath. In a weak voice she said, “I know. It’s just…I swore that power would never appear here. In this world.”

Standing and dusting off her flight suit, Kalara nodded to Robert. “Right. Let’s get started with the design. I’m sure Mother can put it together for us easily.”

Chapter Eighty-Seven – A Sword Mage Flies Her Mission, Part 2

With Mother’s help the design was almost trivial. They didn’t need a huge bomb, just enough to destroy the underground cavern. The very hardest part was accumulating the enhanced uranium. Kalara started with a massive magic gem ceremony. Each dragon received their own gem with squeals of joy. Even Elder Astannis participated.

Kalara’s purpose was to find a large cadre of Earth magicians and put them to work. Flying along the peaks and valleys around their valley, they soon found an extremely good vein of uranium. Examining the old volcanic ridge, she scanned the best ore at three percent!

The dragons were overjoyed as she taught them the basics of magic use. They forgave her for concentrating on the Earth mages who had been set to separating the basic uranium from the ore. She personally took on the harder job of separating the U235 from the less useful U238.

It took almost one hundred and twenty days to acquire the necessary material and shape it into the two subcritical pieces. They built two versions of the bomb’s core. The first one was a test device with steel-coated lead in place of the uranium cores.

The design was a primitive thing. Both Kalara and Robert recalled the basic design of the very first bombs. The two halves of the core were mounted in a simple ‘gun barrel’. At the right time, a heavy explosive would drive one piece into the other. The resulting combined uranium was calculated to be more than the critical mass.

After they detonated the test device, Kalara pronounced it satisfactory. Both halves had welded themselves together evenly with a small, regular bulge around the rim.

Mother also helped them acquire more fuel for the aircraft and explosives for the bomb. In one hundred and fifty days they were ready. All the dragons turned out to see them off. The demons had been no less a threat to them. They had felt jailed in their little valley for eight hundred years.

The first eighteen inches of the bomb were pure steel. Kalara and Robert had debated if the nose should be sharply pointed or not. Robert won the argument that a sharp point might catch on any irregular rock outcroppings on the way down. The compromise design was blunt yet still had enough of a point to penetrate.

Ezzing returned from his scouting mission. “The way is open and I can see all the way to the bottom of the cavern. It may not be open for long. The yellow mist people are building something around the top.” Kalara thought about that. “Scaffolding. They are likely trying to rebuild the stone of the peak. We must move now.”

The takeoff was rough, but Kalara had calculated well. Their vertical thrusters helped get them to the proper altitude and speed to clear the peaks. They only needed a tenth of the valley’s twenty-mile length. It was not long before they were flying a familiar course along the Dragon Valley.

Kalara complained about their load. “I can’t slow down. This thing is too heavy! Robert, we will get one shot at this.” He watched patiently through his Bomb Knight’s down-facing window. It was only a few minutes later he called out, “Target in sight. Bomb Knight’s aircraft.” Kalara loosened her grip on the controls as Robert took over. The wind howled through the belly of the aircraft as he opened their bomb bay doors.

Robert watched as the mountain peak and its open crater grew rapidly larger. He could make out the timbers that covered the opening. Kalara noticed the construction and said, “Don’t worry. We overengineered this thing. It could punch right through the mountainside if needed.” She didn’t see his nod as he said, “Call it, Commander.” Her reply was a simple, “Pull the pin.” Robert yanked hard on a handle on his left. “Bomb armed. The timer is running. We’re getting really close.”

Her voice was calm. “Not yet. Like I said. One. Shot.” Robert began to think they would ride it all the way down. The mountain peak seemed to fill his window when Kalara called out, “Release!” He let go of the controls and used both hands to yank hard on the bomb release handle. The whole craft shuddered as the massive weight let go.

At barely seven hundred yards and with incredible speed, the bomb punched through the timbers like tissue paper. It barely slowed as it caromed off several rocky outcroppings on the way down and fell almost a mile into the huge cavern.

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Atloss was suspended between life and death. For eight hundred years his body had been slowly converted by his own spell into the yellow mist that the demons depended upon. He was unable to move in any way and was blind and nearly deaf. Even his powerful magical senses barely worked. Still, he detected the bomb and the radioactive material within it. “Ah! A fuel device. That will certainly end this. I wonder if it will work?” His question was answered a few seconds later as the chamber filled with a brilliant flash.

The new Demon Lord had been giving his senior warriors and mages a pep talk. He paused at the sound of the bomb banging its way down the opening. Kilgaere the Bold never got a chance to say another word. He flashed into vapor along with all the Bolg candidates, the giant warriors and almost every demon mage. A bright light and a terrific jet of wind blasted from the mountain’s peak. The mountain itself lifted then settled into a much smaller pile of smoking rock.

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Robert felt the burn of radiation shining through the layers of rock. As Kalara pulled their craft out of its mad dive, demon mages standing on towers blasted them with a flurry of close-range fire balls. Some hit the fuselage and did minor damage but the worst of them tore their wings completely off.

Kalara shouted, “My engines are gone! We’re ballistic.” Their craft flew up and over the mountain ridge towards the dense forest below. They could only watch as the trees rushed up to meet them. The scene made her briefly think of Candine.

She spoke to Robert. “Sir Mallin, thank you. You’re right and I couldn’t have done this without you.” He just said, “Chosen One, it has been an honor. My destiny is complete.”