Wearing Power Armor to a Magic School (156/?) WiP 1

(Author’s Note: Hey everyone! Here is the Work in Progress for Chapter 156 I hope you guys enjoy! :D)

Dragon’s Lair. Main Cavern. Local Time: 2245 Hours.

Emma

The cavern echoed with the raspy words of a dead man, his staggered ‘breaths’, and the stillness in his eyes contrasted against the sheer turmoil that had taken hold of his puppeteer’s features.

Fundamental systemic incongruency had just gripped the dragon.

And it was clear we needed an off-ramp, and quick.

“I apologize if my explanations had contributed to any unintended implications or accidental misunderstandings.” I began, as diplomatic de-escelation training subsumed the otherwise adrenaline-ridden brain that was still just grappling with the battle’s… repercussions. “So allow me to set the record straight.” I continued, maintaining eye contact all the while. “My kind are not part of a ‘crystalline legacy’. We are beings of flesh and blood, and while we do not possess magic, or draconic heritage, we do possess the capacity to breathe life into… rocks, so to speak.”

This more or less caused Thalmin’s already-worn features to evolve into an all-out look of incredulity, as he seemed completely taken out by the one-two punch that was: A. The dragon’s bold and confident proclamations of humanity’s draconic ancestry, and B. The basic preemptive explanation of electronics. However, only a second later did he seem to ‘get it’, his hand reaching towards his earpiece, and the conversation we had weeks ago on this very topic.

The dragon however, wasn’t so receptive, as her pupils narrowed even further into a strained look of distrust.

At which point, I decided to cut through the song and dance, unlatching my datatab, and gesturing towards it in one swift motion.

A single button-press later, and I soon realized my mistake.

ROOAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRR!!

I’d just flashbanged a dragon at near point-blank range.

Kaelthyr was quick to jump back to her haunches, her whole form recoiling while her cries resonated with the shatorealmer’s hoarse screams.

This lasted for scarcely a second, with the next second seemingly played up for theatrics before she finally recovered.

But instead of swift retribution, or a burning rage arriving in the form of dragonflame, she once more knelt down. 

Her expressions were now… unreadable, as a sort of reptilian poker-face took hold. Every ounce of attention was instead diverted to the handheld tablet, and the small animated login screen with a rotating symbol of the IAS, transitioning in true gov-style to the GUN’s emblem.

“I apologize if that was in any way—”

“I know you meant no harm.” Kaelthyr interjected. “You wished to prove a point.” She continued, closing her eyes, and once more letting loose a series of mana radiation spikes; all focused towards the tablet, if the WAND sensors were to be believed. “Your tactless but admittedly curt bluntness is a breath of fresh air.” A series of wing flutters followed, as Kaelthyr now began pacing around me. “I now see. I now feel. I now… fathom… your impossible claims. So now—” The dragon came to a halt, now sitting on her haunches. “—I wish to know how. Tell me how this is possible. Show me how you breathed life into ‘rock’. And explain to me how it is a race of manaless beings, composed of flesh and blood, was able to animate life through crystal and sand.”

“It is precisely our inability to harness magic, and our inherent lack of inherent advantages in heritage — be that draconic, elemental, or otherwise — that led us down this path.” I began with a confident smile. “While I am not at liberty to divulge the specifics, as there are limits to my diplomatic catalogue of good-will info-packages, I am happy to impart the basics.” My eyes soon shifted to one of the notifications on the EVI’s list of endless updates, towards a report of unauthorized interactions with the missing SUR drone — specifically at the third-party charging events in its logs. “And I believe you to already know part of how this works.” I pondered openly, causing the dragon to tilt its head, if just barely by a degree.

“It begins with rocks and stone.” I opened with an excitable flourish. “Relatively common minerals, harvested, refined, and then cut until they are pure enough for our purposes. From there, we carve and print what you can call… manaless runes — paths so small that you’d be able to put a city map into the space smaller than a speck of dust.” 

I maintained eye contact, never breaking the dragon’s gaze.

“Then it’s a matter of harnessing lightning. We leash it, constrain it, forcing it to choose between paths of our design, again and again, at speeds beyond mortal perception.” 

Kaelthyr, for her part, never flinched as well; instead looking more engrossed the more and more I spoke.

“By observing which paths the lightning is permitted to take, and which is forbidden, we derive patterns and formulate meaning. And from meaning, comes decision, memory, and a form of basic ‘thought’.” I soon gestured to my tablet, and the drones docked in my backpack. “In a way, my opening statements were a bit too reductive in nature. Because we do not breathe life into stone per se. We instead dictate the way in which the stones should not act. We restrict it, imposing limits unto it, carving rulesets into matter, and from those restraints a form of thinking emerges. We call this… computation.”

Kaelthyr’s features never once shifted. 

Though her eyes conveyed all I needed to know. 

Incredulity hit first. A sort of dismay that shifted naturally into disbelief, and subsequently into an unwilling acceptance that all culminated in a sooty huff, and a sharp glance up towards the ceiling of the cave.

“Yours is a mockery of Resonance.” The dragon spoke dourly. “A dark harmony. A twisted symphony of shackled bards forced into an unnatural chorus.” She raised a clawed finger, pointing at both my docked drones and my tablet. “Your crystals scream, crying out in forced emergence.” 

Kaelthyr halted, causing my breath to hitch and Thalmin’s nervous gaze to darken.

“A fitting facsimile, and a testament to the darkness from which you hail.” She finally grinned. “I expect nothing less.”