ULTRAMagic Interval - Chapter 17

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        “Well now what do we do?” Will groaned as he slouched in his chair.

“You asked that already, Boyo,” Sam replied with a giggle.

Will shifted a little bit. “We can’t go anywhere now…” He glanced over to the clock, which felt like it was trudging along slowly. “And everyone is busy.”

“And it doesn’t seem like Olivia and Buster are going to be done with those interviews anytime soon… So how did that little session with Sirius go yesterday?”

“It went alright. We found out that the fireball I created wasn’t a spell, but rather an emotional response. I probably could do something like that again, it’s just that that instance wasn’t a spell…” Will then felt a chill run down his spine. Glancing over, he saw Umuka emerge from the wall.

“Pardon my interruption, but how do you feel about Valentin now, Will?”

Will rubbed his face. “I have no idea. I get that Milan wants us to spare him, but that last encounter…” He went silent, indicating he did not want to say anymore.

Umuka waited a second, then nodded in understanding. “I don’t expect you to have an answer at the moment. My mind has been just as clouded, so I have a good idea on how you feel…”

“Hold up, aren’t you a ghost? What do you have to worry about?”

“Well yes, kind of. I’m still concerned about you though.”

“Fair enough.” Will then had a realization. “Hey, wait, where were you the other day?”

“I was going to get Zoltan, but he was already on it, so I went and told Sam what was going on.”

Sam nodded as Will looked at her. “Alright then,” he conceded. “Sam, I owe you one.”

She chuckled. “Oh stop, you’d do the same for me…”

“Oh, by the way, Aelia should be here soon,” Umuka pointed out.

“Really?” Sam said as she stood up. “Boyo, up and at’em!”

Will was a little sluggish, but got up with a yawn. “Jeez, I need some lunch.”

Sam then began straightening him out, brushing him off when she did not need to. “Be on your best behaviour, Will. Aelia is a proper lady after all.”

After a quick shake of his head, Will stretched a little and cleared his throat. “Alright, let’s go.”

Trumna and Reynard were waiting in the staff lobby for Aelia. Things were calm as various employees passed through the quite spacious room. Eventually one of the glass doors at the entrance changed colors. It had become a cloudy pink, like that of a beautiful flower, while light shone through the margins. A woman dressed in a formal, yet modest blouse and dress stepped through. She had long, brown hair and icy blue eyes that were like the morning sky. Carrying a wicker basket under her arm, she made her way across the lobby with a proud, yet humble stride.

“Trumna, Reynard, salve et salutationes.”

“Glad you could make it, Lady Aelia,” Trumna said with a modest bow.

Reynard shook her hand. “Good to see you again, Aelia. Shame I couldn’t get Erika here. I trust getting here was without incident? Intel suggests Sebastian and his cronies are up to no good at the moment.”

“Things were a bit hectic at the coven’s hall, but other than that everything else is fine. Now, where are Samantha and William?”

“If you’ll follow me, Aelia, they should be at the conference room by now,” Reynard answered as he started to lead the two in that direction.

Over at Conference Room A1, Zoltan was tapping his fingers on the table. “Where are those two?”

“Who, Zoltan?” Will inquired.

“Vlastimir and Eka. They said they would be here by now…”

“Don’t worry, Zoltan,” Antares announced. “I found them while I was on my way here.” He was followed by Adrien, Vlastimir, and Ekaterina.

“Excellent. Son, where were you? You’re thirty minutes late.”

Vlastimir chuckled, feeling a bit of innocent guilt. “Sorry, dad. The scientists wanted to see our abilities in action again,” he answered as the four sat down.

“Just the usual ‘your abilities are so fascinating’ and whatnot,” Ekaterina said with a giggle.

Antares took a seat next to Will. “Private…”

“Captain Briggs, sir!”

“At ease, Will.”

“Sam, Will, how are you two doing?” Adrien asked. “Hanging in there?”

Will nodded. “Yeah. I was able to get some actual sleep last night, despite my dreams acting up again.”

“They were a bit surreal, from what he described,” Sam added. “We ended up calling Ellen to talk about them.”

Antares was a bit concerned by that. “Private, if you’re ever feeling overwhelmed, I can connect you with some mental health experts that specialize in combat trauma. Don’t be afraid to speak up.”

“Thank you, Captain. I’m fine, for now…”

“Alright, everyone, look lively” Trumna stated as he entered. “Milan is running late, but Lady Aelia is here.”

“Hello, everyone,” she said as she stepped into the room.

Sam immediately got up. “Aelia!”

“Samantha, my dear,” she replied as she accepted a hug from her. “That dreadful Valentin hasn’t caused you too much strife, has he?”

“Well he nearly tried to kill Will, so there’s that…”

“How awful. William?”

Will stood up, then froze before he could speak. He then turned to Antares. “Captain, help, please…”

He chuckled and shook his head. “Relax, Private. Start with a simple bow and refer to Miss Albus with dignity.”

“How do I do that…?”

“Refer to her as ‘Lady Aelia,’ Will,” Adrien added.

“Right, right…” Will gave a bow, then cleared his throat. “Lady Aelia…”

Aelia could not help but smile a little. He was not the most refined individual, but she could sense his sincerity. “It is a pleasure to meet you, William,” she said as she shook his hand. “Do not worry any further, I shall make sure that all of you stay safe.”

After a round of greetings from the others, Trumna got to work explaining to Aelia what had happened on their end thus far. He also used the opportunity to sneak in some criticisms of Will’s brashness here and there, as to be expected. Aelia took a few things away from the summarization of events. First was that Will was a bit of a wild card, making her a little concerned for Sam. Second was that things were way more chaotic than she had initially thought. And third was that she was amazed that Will was about to achieve ULTRAMagic.

“...Trumna, Reynard, Antares, and I are all in agreement that we need to go on the attack,” Zoltan declared. “The fact that Valentin has a steady supply of shadow constructs is of great concern.”

“How strange,” Aelia remarked. “You would need a fairly powerful shadow orb to create that many stable constructs in such a short period of time like that.”

“It’s becoming obvious that Sebastian is getting ready for something and we’re going to need more than just the boys in the security division,” Reynard put forth. “The presence of GRENADIER is going to be a hassle for public relations and the city folk, but I don’t want us caught with our pants down.”

“Such things are unavoidable, Doctor,” Antares conceded. “Colonel Aalders knows how you feel.”

Trumna sighed. “Trying to keep all of this under wraps has been something else, construction sites notwithstanding…” Will and Sam knew exactly what he was referring to and averted their gazes.

“If it’s any consolation, Trumna, father may be willing to compensate you,” Zoltan stated. “Albeit he might want to use the building for one of his charities in return.”

“Thank you, Zoltan. It’s certainly tempting… Hey, where’s Milan? Do we have an ETA on his tardiness?” The others chuckled at that jab.

“Oh he probably got caught up studying the Dark Void frequencies again,” Aelia deduced.

Just as she said that, noise could be heard coming from the supply closet. “Speak of the devil…” Reynard said with a smile.

“Not another security breach…” Trumna quietly lamented with a groan.

Emerging from the closet was a man dressed in sharp, black robes with red stripes. He had crimson eyes and silver hair with a blonde tint to it. From his complaints, his need to untangle himself from the cleaning supplies was the result of a misplaced dimensional gateway. It was something he needed to work on. “Blast it all, I should’ve taken the left at Albuquerque…” The man then noticed everyone was looking at him as he corrected the placement of a mop. “Ladies and gentlemen, sorry I’m late.”

“Better late than never, Milan,” Reynard replied.

“A broom closet entrance?” Aelia critiqued. “Fairly unorthodox, I must say…”

“Miss Aelia Albus!” Milan said as the two approached each other. Aelia held out her hand and Milan bent the knee to kiss it. In one of the slickest moves possible, he magically produced a gorgeous, dethorned rose from his sleeve and presented it to her. “How are you doing, my sweeting?”

She giggled and blushed a little. “Oh Milan, a charmer as always.” She accepted the rose, then conjured a pot of flowers for it to rest in at the center of the table. “You’re late, but just in time.”

He gave a guilty chuckle. “The Dark Void frequencies were quite active today. I am so close to a breakthrough with them…”

“By the way, dear, two of your former students are here.”

Milan then looked over her shoulder. “Will! Vlastimir!”

“Professor!” Vlastimir said as he got up and received a bear hug from him.

“Hey, Professor Milan,” Will welcomed as he got his bear hug.

“Will, I am so happy to see you again, you and Vlastimir,” Milan stated with joy in his voice. “I am so sorry that I was late to the graduation ceremony that day and I’ve been worried sick ever since. Will, have you noticed a strange, fairy-like entity in recent times?”

He thought about it for a second. “Yeah, I’ve been noticing a purple light out of the corner of my eyes now that you mention it…”

Milan clapped. “Excellent. That means Yale has been doing his job.”

“Yale?” Aelia questioned.

“Yes. He’s a dire fairy I had tasked with looking after Will and he’s been reporting to me ever since. Surprisingly he’s a little behind on the stuff going on here.”

“Indeed. Before we get to the rest of the formalities, and since you brought it up; why weren’t you on time on that fateful day?”

Vlastimir nodded. “Was something happening in Ertheval, professor?”

Milan gave a regretful sigh. “Valentin picked the worst possible time to cause trouble in the main city. Thankfully it was independent of Morana unleashing Akaya, but in hindsight I should have ignored Valentin and been at the academy.”

“It’s alright, professor,” Will assured him. He then took a moment to process that it was all partially Valentin’s fault.

“Are you okay, Will?” Milan asked.

“Yeah, yeah…” He then lifted his head off to let out a small plume of gray smoke.

“Oh, Will, how are your memories doing?”

“Fine. I think most of them are back by now…”

“Pop quiz! What years did Hellenistic, Arabic, and Latin alchemy start and end?”

Will was caught off guard and froze again. “It…um… well Hellenistic alchemy started in 200 B.C. and ended in… Hold up, how does any of this relate to the academy?”

Milan gave a bit of a mischievous cackle, with the others chuckling a little. “Don’t worry, I just wanted to make sure you’re not creating false memories. As an aside, it wouldn’t hurt to refresh your knowledge of alchemy.”

After another round of greetings, Trumna gave Milan a brief rundown of the events that had been occurring in Red River. Milan was glad Reynard had called him in as the situation was demanding his attention. He needed to confront Valentin for what he had done to Will and there was a sneaking suspicion that Anne Vozenilek was involved somehow. While things did not seem too out of hand at first glance, the issue was flying off the rails from Milan’s perspective. He needed to get everything under control quickly, as he feared the worst case scenario could easily occur with how volatile things were becoming.

Next: Chapter 18

ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)