Flicker
Author's Note: Search for my other story, "Summoning America", a fan-fiction of Nihonkoku Shoukan aka Summoning Japan!
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——
August 27, 2019
Fort Grenden
General Harding scrolled through several reports on his tablet, sipping Coca Cola as he relaxed for the first time in a long time. Despite the looming fears of Eanish aggression, there was nothing he could currently do; most of the work was up to their surveillance teams and spy networks. Still, an apprehensive feeling in his gut persisted. He then intuitively became alert, right as a subtle popping noise emanated from the direction of the portal.
He swiveled his chair and looked out the window, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. Breathing a sigh of relief, he returned to his reading. A few minutes later, he experienced the same alertness. Immediately after, he heard a knock on the door. "Come in," he said, worried about his coincidental timing.
Dr. Tesla and Dr. Oppenheimer walked in, hair disheveled and clothes wrinkled. They carried a sheet of raw scientific data, waving it around as they spoke over each other.
Harding, already concerned at the fact that two of his best scientists were stressing over something, told them to calm down. "Please, one at a time. What's going on?"
The two scientists looked at each other, seemingly telepathically deciding who would go first. Oppenheimer stepped up, straightening his papers as he gave a summary of the scientific data. He showed Harding a chart of the portal's energy levels compared to time, which declined at a steady rate then suddenly dipped. The declination then returned to expected levels.
"... experienced some sort of flicker, characterized by a significant decrease in energy exhibited by the portal itself, which suggests an artificial disturbance."
Harding clasped his hands and sighed. "So, if I understand this correctly: the portal is unstable, and you think this… flicker… is artificial?"
Dr. Tesla took over, elaborating that the flicker was associated with a significant burst of magical energy, as reported from Site Beta One. "Initially, we had some working theories that the flicker was due to an electromagnetic pulse test conducted on a piece of Homagus equipment, to test their resilience to EMPs. However, the test was concluded minutes before the portal flickered. We highly doubt that it took several minutes for the EMP to cause instability within the portal. Then, we reasoned that it could be some sort of planetary or solar phenomenon, such as a fluctuation in the planet's magnetic field or even a small solar flare, but nothing was detected. With the other theories essentially ruled out, and the magical burst showing high correlation, we reasoned that the two events must be related."
General Harding paused him. "Hold on, so you're saying that some sort of magic spell caused the portal to flicker?"
Right as he asked the question, Kelmithus rushed in, having been requested by Tesla and Oppenheimer.
"I'm sure Kelmithus might be able to explain?" Tesla suggested.
"Right, yes." Kelmithus adjusted his robe. "Essentially, the portal is held open by a stable magical current, infused into what your scientists call the local space-time. Because space-time magic has been long forgotten, I know almost nothing of it. Still, I hypothesize that dispelling magic and interference from other space-time spells may influence the stability of our own portal."
"Is there any way to track these interferences?" General Harding asked.
Oppenheimer tapped his chin. "Hmm, I believe I can recalibrate the sensors in Site Beta One to search for such magic; I'll need Kelmithus to give it an input though, so it knows what to look for."
"Alright. Let me know when you find anything."
——
Site Beta One
The once-derelict halls of Site Beta One had been restored over the past couple of months, almost matching up to its ancient glory. Spyder residue was tediously cleared out and the local maintenance drones were reactivated while American scientists worked to unlock the secrets of the facility. Basic functions were discovered, from artificial intelligence aides to integrated sensor arrays.
Using the Homagus sensors, Oppenheimer and Tesla scanned Kelmithus as he performed a small teleportation spell, effectively registering the signature created whenever a space-time spell is casted. Then, they fed this data into the sensor array, which scoured the continent for anything similar. Almost instantaneously, the machine gave several matches.
Oppenheimer analyzed the hologram, which showed a heat map of the space-time magic on Eanif, with red signifying powerful traces and yellow representing minimal traces. He spoke to the artificial intelligence operating the machine, "Isolate matches by magical level; show me the most energetic match."
All of the dots disappeared from the hologram except for one, which originated from a location in the Eanif Imperium. "Where's that?" Tesla squinted at the dot.
Kelmithus stroked his beard, recalling his geography lessons. "Hmm," he said in deep thought. "I believe that is…" His eyes suddenly grew wide. "That's right next to their capital city, Eana! Those mountains… they must have some sort of facility there!"
"Homagus site?" Tesla wondered.
"I would assume so," Kelmithus said. "Is it possible for this spirit to find an answer to that?"
"Spirit?" Oppenheimer asked. "Oh, the AI. Yes, I'll ask. Beta One, can you overlay a map of all Homagus sites onto the current project?"
The AI did as told, and numerous blue dots appeared where the Homagus sites were located. Sure enough, one of them was right on the fat red hotspot. "Beta One, if there are any more magical signature matches that correspond to facility locations, overlay those as well."
Several more red zones popped up around the Eanif Imperium, each associated with a Homagus facility. "Goodness," Oppenheimer said.
"They're experimenting with space-time magic!" Tesla exclaimed. "But… why?"
Kelmithus thought about the geopolitical atmosphere of the Eanif Imperium. The Eanish, expansionists as they are, were likely interested in generating portals for the purpose of conquering new lands. According to the magical energy readings, most of these new portals were closed almost immediately after they were opened, suggesting hostile environments or beings on the other side. Some of them seemed to spawn simultaneously, suggesting a massive teleportation spell from one point in the Imperium to another, which could revolutionize troop logistics. "I believe they're trying to determine the military applications of the portals, and if they can be used to conquer other worlds. We should report this to General Harding immediately."
"Tesla?" Oppenheimer raised an eyebrow at him.
"On it." Tesla ran off to the communications room to submit the report.
"So," Oppenheimer continued, "Beta One, show us a timescale of magical signatures that have occurred around this region," he pointed to the largest signature, near Eana, "Within the last six hours."
The hologram updated in real time, starting from early in the morning. The map remained neutral until a couple hours later, when the zone began to turn yellow, signifying the beginning of magical experimentation in the facility. Then, just a few minutes later, the zone turned a very deep shade of crimson, maintaining this color for several more minutes before a negative magical signature, represented by blue, engulfed the center of the crimson zone. Afterward, the magical signatures cooled down dramatically before settling into hot red.
"That's… odd," Oppenheimer commented. "The blue… was that some sort of dispellation?"
"I would believe so," Kelmithus nodded sagely. "It seems that one of their experiments got out of control, and they were forced to cast dispelling magic on the portal, or whatever they created. But, for them to still be unable to get rid of all the magical signatures… Just what sort of portal were they generating?"
Oppenheimer noted the deep shade of crimson. "Perhaps they accidentally created a portal to hell?"
Kelmithus shuddered at the prospect. "Oh, dear heavens no. In any case, I'm glad the magic dissipated. You know, there have been prophecies of a coming demon invasion. I'm not quite certain if they are a reference to the ancient evils, the Axons, or an actual demon invasion."
"Maybe both. This reckless utilization of spatio-temporal manipulation could easily get us into deep trouble, especially if they were to accidentally open a portal near a black hole, or on the world of a highly advanced, aggressive alien civilization. Or a dimension with different universal laws compared to ours."
"Indeed. I believe there is also another consideration we can derive from this dispellation," Kelmithus said.
"Hm? And what might that be?"
"If the Eanish have learned how to properly dispel a portal, how do we know if they'll attempt that on the Grenden Portal?"
——
Eana Sot Mountain Range
The Eana Sot Mountain Range, located along the southern outskirts of Eana, separated the capital city and lush forests from harsh deserts. Past the icy peaks of the mountains, hidden between dunes upon dunes of sand, a lone Homagus facility operated. Running on automated protocols, the facility paid no heed to the Eanish personnel inhabiting its quarters.
After the mass Homagus evacuation, this site was one of the few that maintained more than just the basic functions; the refugees had forgotten to shut off some vital programs. Thankfully, whoever they were running from ignored the valuable technology still active in the facility. Unfortunately, this technology was discovered by a primitive civilization that had no clue how to operate it.
The only thing the Eanish wizards knew was that the machinery was mostly scientific and mechanical in nature, and that the large gateway responded well to portal magic, even acting as a conduit for mages to cast space-time magic efficiently.
Sometimes, the spells could become too efficient. Several hours ago, a group of wizards unwittingly surpassed the mana levels required for the experiment; they overwhelmingly exceeded the requested magical input, forming a portal to somewhere far away. It didn't take long until a monstrosity emerged, shrugging off musket fire as it slaughtered the stationed defenders. It was a stroke of incredible luck that one of the wizards knew how to activate the emergency lockdown for the portal room, and thus they were able to contain the beast.
Still, with the portal active, more of the beasts could arrive and perhaps even take down the sturdy walls that stood between the predators and the prey. Realizing the direness of their predicament, the wizards casted dispelling magic of all types, until they eventually found the correct enchantment. The portal immediately dissipated, and the survivors contacted Eana to update them on the presence of a new exotic beast that could likely be tamed, and of a new spell that could potentially be used against the Americans.
——
Eana, Eanif Imperium
Emperor Evalion waited in a meeting room, studying the magical projection of the strange beast that emerged through the Eana Sot Portal. Boasting a physique more intimidating than a tarasque and armed with a volatile secretion more deadly than that of a basilisk, this new creature was of great interest to Evalion. The beast's armor was truly alien, although he found obvious logic in its design. With how fast it moved, he wondered how the survivors were able to get out in time.
He heard a knock on the door and waved away the magical projection, sending blue dust into the air. "Enter."
General Zhukov opened the door. "You wished to see me, Emperor?"
"Correct. Have a seat; I would like to inform you of a new discovery made in this… Homagus facility in the nearby mountains. I must admit, your knowledge of these strange ruins has drastically improved our research capabilities."
Zhukov smiled in satisfaction. "I am happy to hear you are making use of them."
"Still, I sense that your shared knowledge is but a small fraction of what you truly know. Why do you hide this information?"
Zhukov sighed. "I keep this information because your civilization — no offense — is still too primitive to grasp such advanced concepts. If I taught your scholars my knowledge, the balance of power in your empire may be overturned as your subjects make use of dangerous technologies that they don't understand. Even now, with my limited sharing, I can see that a mistake has already been made."
Emperor Evalion wanted to lash out due to Zhukov's insult, but he realized that his words were true. "The Eana Sot Facility was nearly lost to a vile beast." Evalion cast a projection spell to peer into the room in which the alien creature was confined. "Our wizards opened a portal to somewhere unknown, applying too much magical energy into the gateway. This creature emerged, with more likely close behind. Fortunately, one of our high wizards managed to lock the beast in the room and with the help of his comrades, dispel the portal."
Zhukov studied the creature, making impressed faces. "Hm, looks scary; perhaps something like the Americans would create."
Evalion was shocked. "What do you mean?"
"Oh, I mean for their films and fictions. They enjoy dwelling in their own bubbles, detached from reality. And they are quickly spreading this behavior like a plague. Anyway, enough of that. I would say that you certainly are lucky. If this beast is as effective as it is terrifying, then this entire continent, and maybe even the world may have been lost."
"I see… So aside from the appearance of this monster, the other important discovery is that of portal destruction. Do you think we can use this against the Americans?"
General Zhukov pondered on this for a bit. Certainly, this could be used to cut off their supply lines and essentially strand their personnel here. Against only 10,000 men, the Eanif military could easily trample over them, although he did not know how many nukes the Americans brought over. Assuming a conventional war, however, the Eanif Imperium could win a war of attrition, provided that the Divinian Empire and Mekkan don't get involved.
On the other hand, the disappearance of the Grenden Portal would mean that he has no way of returning home. Despite his desire to see the Soviet Union reformed and the United States dissolved, he recognized that he mustn't be too optimistic with his goals. Preventing the United States from empowering itself with magic and alien technology was already a big win in his book, and one that was way more achievable than his primary goals.
Considering the benefits and consequences of losing the Grenden Portal, he gave his answer. "Yes, we can use this against the Americans. We shall make their sacred portal disappear!"