Prologue

Prologue

Location: Magicon Empire; Valterion Duchy; Valterion System; Nua; Alburgh; Valterion Mansion

It’s a rainy night in the city of Alburgh. Marcus Chandler walks through the quiet hallway of his employers‘ mansion. It’s rather small compared to the status those two enjoy within The Empire, but everything feels comfy and homey. Thunder sounds outside, and Marcus flinches.

How did it come to this? I have to stop! I just can’t, she's so young… But my parents.

Marcus’s thoughts race. He can’t believe what he’s about to do, but he doesn’t stop either. The fear for his parents drives him further. Finally, he reaches his destination: The room of the one person he is responsible for. It’s also the person he’s about to betray the most. Not that she will know, as she’s barely two years old. Opening the door, he lets out a silent sigh of relief.

At least she is asleep.

The young Utility Mage stops right at the threshold, his thoughts race again.

I have to stop. Call the Valterions, they know what to do!

Then his eyes unwantedly slip back to the minimized video message at the top right corner of his vision. A constant reminder on his holographic interface. The message from the pirates! The message where they tell him that they’ve kidnapped his parents, and what he has to do to save them.

The timing of everything… Just when the Duke and Duchess are out to deal with problems at the border.

Thinking of the Duchess, Jasmine Valterion, he suddenly remembers something.

She’s got a magical connection to young Miss Sara! That’s it. I’ll save my parents, then Lady Valterion can swoop in and deal with the pirates.

With a silent nod, and his fears a bit lessened, Marcus walks into the room and lifts the little girl out of her crib. Turning around he notices a glint of silver around her neck and carefully tucks the necklace under her clothes.

Maybe they won’t notice it and let her keep it.

Two-year-old Sara Valterion turns around and snuggles into Marcus’s broad chest. He slowly leaves the room and makes his way back toward the entrance of the Valterion mansion. Cautiously walking along the hallway, he looks left and right. There is no one in sight, as expected. The Valterions are always light on servants, relying fully on Clara, the mansion’s AI. An AI, whose chip he conveniently pulled out of her slot in the house and put into a shielded container before he came even close to Sara’s room.

Marcus reaches the entrance and steps outside. He lifts his hood to protect his face from the pouring rain. Then he glances at the little girl in his arms. She’s not at all clothed for this weather. The twenty-seven-year-old Senior Mage stops and casts two spells in quick succession: A telekinetic field above their heads to keep out the rain and another spell to keep young Sara Valterion warm. Then he steps into the rain. Looking back, a shiver runs down his spine.

I’m ruining my future…

Still, he turns back and continues walking.

They’ll get her back. Who else if not them? Jasmine and Aidan Valterion are the most powerful Mages I know.

Just a few hundred meters away from the mansion, a new message notification appears on his interface. He taps it and the message opens. Keep walking, we will guide you to your destination.

They are watching me! Or at least a spell is.

Following the constant messages, he arrives at a landing pad at the edge of the high-class district of Alburgh. A small shuttle is already waiting and a new message tells him to get in. Sighing, Marcus does so, and the shuttle lifts off. It heads off to the west, right past the giant towers that form the center of the city. Further and further, until it arrives at an older hotel complex at the edge of the city, that has probably been out of service for the last fifty years.

Looks like I reached my destination. Maybe I can take them down?

His musings end up in the negative when he exits the shuttle and feels the magical power blasting out of the hotel.

Shit, Master! And A&D as well.

Marcus slowly starts making his way inside and carefully steps over debris while hoping not to wake up the little girl. His senses tell him where to go and so he makes his way up to the third floor. Steeling his nerves he opens the door which connects the stairway to the attached hallway, he absentmindedly notes that it’s only held in place by the top hinge.

“Welcome Marcus, come in, come in.” A deep voice calls out from further down the hallway. Marcus continues walking and finally enters the room. Just to be greeted by half a dozen people. The almost two-meter-tall man in the center is obviously the leader he felt from outside the building. He has an impressive beard, which contrasts with his baldness.

Powerful. But nowhere near the Valterions. Still way out of my league.

Next to the leader is a smaller man with greasy dark hair. He looks like he is deep in concentration. Next to him stands a blonde woman with just a little bit of tan, also not focused on the surroundings. They feel like Mages as well, but not as strong as the leader.

A Master and two Seniors like me. Hmm looks like another A&D and Space? That’s rare. Are they casting?

The other three people carry laser rifles, but they are directed onto the ground rather than on Marcus. He shrugs inwardly.

Besides their leader, they are pretty much useless anyway.

They all wear slightly older, ill-fitting shipsuits, screaming pirates, but something about their posture feels unsettling in the back of Marcus’s mind. They stand a bit too disciplined.

“Thank you for coming Marcus.” The leader says while gesturing to hand over little Sara to the Space Mage woman.

Marcus complies and starts walking over. “What happens now? Where are my parents and what do you want with her?” He asks in quick succession, indicating young Miss Sara.

“Now, we are going to leave. Thank you for your cooperation. As for your parents, you will find them in the basement, unharmed.” The leader turns to the other A&D Mage and gives a go-ahead sign. Marcus feels a spell originating from him which quickly settles around Marcus’s head, clamping down on something in his mind.

Shit, what is this spell? Feels a lot like Lady Valterion’s secrecy spell.

“What have you done to me?” He asks.

“That spell prevents you from telling what has happened, so that you don’t go running away, calling for the Valterions. It will wear off over time. Once it has, tell them to await our ransom note. Goodbye.” An accented voice answers him, coming from the Mage who had just cast a spell. He nods to the leader, who in turn nods to the Space Mage and they all vanish in a purple flash with a slight pop of displaced air.

Marcus, now alone in the room immediately starts casting a Communication spell to inform Lady Valterion, only to realize that the other Mage spoke the truth as his spell breaks apart before he can activate it. Internally Marcus is screaming bloody murder, but there is nothing he can do besides waiting.

Sighing he turns around and rushes back towards the stairway. With a flick of his wrist, his telekinesis moves the now broken-down door out of the way. He races down the stairs, two at a time until he arrives in the basement below. A thought creates a floating light, which he sends ahead, following close behind.

“Mom? Dad? Can you hear me?” He shouts down the hallway, just to hear an answer a little bit later.

“Marcus? We are here!” The Utility Mage starts running after the voice till he finds his parents bound onto old wooden chairs right in the center of an old storage room. Another burst of his power has their restraints falling to the ground and Marcus rushes in to envelop his parents in a tight hug.

“What happened, why did they take us? Are we safe now?” His mother is asking, but again the words won’t leave his mouth.

“I can’t talk about it, I’m sorry, but yes, the kidnappers are gone.”

“Nonsense, you don’t have to hide anything from us. We know who you work for and we’re incredibly proud of you,” his father starts to talk but before he can go further, Marcus interrupts him.

“No, that’s not it,” he says, “I’m physically unable to speak about it. A fucking spell.”

“Oh,” his father answers. “What now?”

“I must return to the mansion, something happened, I can’t tell you more. I’m sorry, I need to leave. I’m glad you are safe now!”

Without further words, Marcus turns around and sprints out of the basement. He rushes back toward the center of the city and calls another shuttle along the way.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

I have to go back, maybe I can somehow reach Lady Valterion!

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Location: Magicon Empire; Valterion Duchy; Valterion System; Black Tigress

Commander Frank Stilberg of the Black Tiger Mercenary Company lets out a sigh of relief after arriving back on his ship. “Mary, do you think he bought it?” He asks the woman who just transported himself and the others back to their ship the Black Tigress after the successful kidnapping of Sara Valterion.

Mission accomplished. I’ll never do that again. And we’re not even close to being safe.

“I’m not sure,” Lieutenant Mary Baker answers. “He was dumb enough to kidnap the child, but well, we don’t make believable pirates…”

Frank shrugs. “Not that it should matter too much. We have to get out of here. Let’s meet the Doc to finish this. Tigress, please open a shipwide channel.”

The ship’s AI is quick to answer. “Acknowledged Commander, the channel is open.” Frank takes a deep breath.

Frank takes a deep breath. “Attention all crew, the mission was a success, prepare for emergency jumping, I repeat prepare for emergency jumping!”

Frank and Mary continue walking toward the medbay of their mid-sized starship. Tigress automatically opens the door when they arrive and they step in to see a frowning man in his forties. He has dark hair and a slightly hooked nose. Mary lies the girl down on the operating table while Frank speaks to the doctor.

“Hey Doc, you up for this?”

The doctor frowns even deeper. “Is this really necessary? This goes against my oath…”

Frank nods slowly. “Unfortunately, yes. We have to inhibit her power, or the Duchess will find us within seconds. Also, our mysterious contractor promised to remove it once we handed her over.”

The doctor sighs. “Fine, give me the Artifact, I’ll do it…”

Frank opens one of the pockets of his shipsuit and takes out a small square piece made out of an unknown material. It looks like metal, but it isn’t. It’s so much more. He shakes his head.

Just who contracted us? This is a Real Artifact. Those things are rare and expensive as hell! I would have been tempted to sell it instead of doing this mission, but that’s probably something one of a kind and he would have known immediately. And I don’t want to cross him. That one meeting was enough. He’s scary as fuck!

The doctor takes the Artifact and looks it over for a moment. “We’re taking her chance at being a Mage…” He shakes his head as well, then steps over to the operation table and injects a mild anesthetic into the sleeping two-year-old. After a short moment, he makes a small cut with his laser cutter on her lower abdomen, right where the human magic core is located. Grabbing some metal tweezers, he carefully takes the Artifact and inserts it into the cut he just made. The Artifact liquefies and surrounds the tiny core with an almost invisible coating. It fully inhibits any power leaking out from it and she suddenly feels mundane to Frank’s senses.

Seeing the Artifact successfully implanted, Frank sprints to the bridge of the 200-meter ship, while the doctor finishes his work. Just as he arrives, he shouts to the other Space Mage on duty to jump the hell out of the system. He doesn’t hesitate and with a little shudder, the ship moved 35 light years in an instant. The Space Mage lets out a groan and staggers back toward a nearby seat. Mary arrives on the bridge and gets into position. She concentrates, then her power flares up and they move another 80 lightyears and arrive at the edge of a populated system. Frank wipes away a drop of sweat and gives the order to move to the nearest wormhole connection as fast as possible.

We have to keep moving. I hope the double non-wormhole jump drives them off our tail. With the Artifact, the connection should be gone, and we jumped along busy routes. That should make Tracking spells impossible.

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Location: Magicon Empire; Valterion Duchy; Valterion System; Nua; Alburgh; Valterion Mansion

“Come on you stupid spell wear off!” Marcus has sweat running down his face, partially from the running, but also from the fear for the girl he just gave away.

I need to find a way around the spell! Maybe I can write it down? Let’s try it. Where is the pap…

There is a massive flash of magic power inside the mansion. “WHERE IS MY DAUGHTER?” Marcus’s brain shorts out and he finds himself running in the direction of the voice. Tears are running down his cheeks, he tries to speak, but again no sound leaves his mouth.

“Well? Speak Mr. Chandler!” The striking, auburn-haired woman shouts, her piercing green eyes somehow glaring down at him, despite her shorter height.

“I’m sorry my lady, I can’t.”

“Why the hell…, ohh.” She notices the spell around his mind. A flick of her wrist has it dissipating. “Now speak!”

“Lady Valterion, I’m truly sorry, but I had no choice. They had my parents. They took her.” Jasmine Valterion’s eyes blaze with power, but nothing happens to Marcus. He suppresses a sigh of relief.

Taking a deep breath, she speaks. “Tell me everything. But be quick.”

“They looked like pirates, sent me a message with instructions and a video, holding my parents at gunpoint. They knew you were out. So, I took young Miss Sara to the exchange, hoping to contact you right after my parents are safe, so you can track them down through your connection, but they took away my ability to speak about it, so… Wait, how are you here?”

“I…I lost my connection to her; I cannot sense her anymore.”

Marcus blanches and falls to his knees. “Is she…?”

“No, no I would have felt that. She simply vanished. I don’t know how. Do you know where they went to? And you said they looked like pirates, were they?”

“Thank magic! No…I don’t know where they went, they teleported”, Marcus replies. “But they wore shipsuits, unmatched colors, and old, that’s why I thought pirates, but their postures screamed military training.”

Jasmine grimaces “fuck, they probably left the system already. Wait here, we will talk in a moment, I’ll inform my husband. Miranda, please warm up the Sulfira.”

“As you wish Jasmine, the Sulfira is ready in five minutes. May we find your daughter as soon as possible.” Her AI replies in her head just as she vanishes.

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Location: Unknown; very far away from the Magicon Empire; Black Tigress

Two weeks and many more jumps later, Commander Frank Stilberg begins to relax.

I think we lost them. If they haven’t caught up yet, they won’t find us. We did too many jumps. Just a few more days and we can get our payment. We’re almost at Terthia. Then we disappear.

His crew is exhausted, and he also has hardly slept in the past few days. The Black Tigress is currently overtaking an older freighter heading toward the closest wormhole. An announcement sounds from the ceiling-mounted speakers, cautioning the crew to be ready for another jump. Bleary-eyed officers watch their stations and the Space Mage on duty gets ready for navigating through the wormhole. Curse words can be heard coming out of the communication station. The freighter Captain is clearly unhappy with their overtaking, but nobody has the energy to care.

“Three, two, one jump.” He counts down and the ship enters the wormhole. The forward-facing reinforced windows darken to counteract the bright lights of wormhole travel. For the next few hours, the ship’s fate lies in the hands of the Space Mage and his navigational AI.

A while later, Frank readies his crew and himself for the return to normal space. A countdown appears on the forward-facing window. Just as it reaches zero and the Black Tigress exits the wormhole, red lights begin to blink, a siren sounds, and something hits their energy shield.

What the hell? Debris? How? Wormhole exits are always kept clear!

Frank casts a quick ship-enclosing Shield spell, extremely inefficient due to the short casting time. Each hit is a massive blow to his reserves. “Status”, he grunts, a particularly big piece of debris hitting his shield.

“We jumped right into a field of debris Commander”, the sensor officer calls out, “and I’m detecting multiple smaller contacts, no transponder IDs.”

Pirates! But why…? Shit, the freighter! It jumps in here and shatters, all the reinforced cargo containers free for the taking. Damn it, why did we overtake them?

“Everyone prepare for engagement, and shoot down the debris, I can’t hold it much longer!”

“Aye Commander!” The ship's point defense lasers start firing and the crew’s weaker A&D Mages start flinging out spells to destroy the bigger pieces.

The Black Tigress starts moving out of the debris field while gunning everything around her down. Frank recasts the Shield spell, this time properly with a double layer then starts pulling together his power to send out an attack on his own. His target is one of the two bigger pirate ships they found hiding behind a bigger piece of debris. The ship’s energy shield flashes red and shatters, the whole ship is cut in half and explodes shortly after. The older ship and her non-Mage shielding don’t stand a chance before the Master Mage’s power. But the attack doesn’t come without cost, Frank’s reserves are running low. The inefficient shield at the beginning took its toll!

Lots of new signals start appearing on the ship’s screen, emerging from over eighty bigger pieces of debris.

Missiles! Must be their contingency plan, and now they throw them all at us, looks like they hate being fired upon, fuck. Where did they even get so many? That’s a full loadout of a military ship. We can’t stop them… Maybe at full power, but like this? Missiles are the most effective weapons against Mages. Fuck!

Frank curses and his crew looks wide-eyed on the screen. “Tigress, shipwide.”

“Affirmative.”

“All Mages, does anyone have power left?” He only gets negative responses. They could try to shoot down the missiles with their lasers, but Frank notices there are just too many. He makes a decision. “All hands, abandon ship, I repeat, abandon ship. I will tank the missiles. It’s been an honor.”

The bridge crew stands up and salutes. “With all due respect sir, we will stay. Better quick, than a slow death as slaves.” Frank nods and the ship starts moving towards the missiles.

“Tigress, private channel to Lieutenant Baker please.”

“Channel is open.”

“Mary, please take the girl and leave, she doesn’t deserve this. But you can’t tell anyone who she is or everyone surviving today will feel the wrath of The Empire.”

“I will Frank. No one will ever learn the truth. May you be one with magic.”

Shortly after the Black Tigress starts spilling escape pods and continues accelerating towards the missiles.

We should never have taken this job.

The Black Tigress explodes in a giant fireball.

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Location: Estriduros Republic; Acordus System; ERS Davidson

“Report.” Captain Trilduro shouts after entering the bridge of the Davidson, minutes after a rather rough awakening due to the intercom in her room.

“Captain,” her XO, Lieutenant Commander Xetru salutes her, “we’ve located a small pirate flotilla arriving in the system. If we leave now, we can catch them before the next wormhole.”

Finally, something to do, the Acordus System is boring as hell.

“Make it happen, Commander,” she responds, “can we take them alone?”

“Yes, the biggest ship is half our size. There are two smaller gunships and a small, unarmed carrier, likely to carry all ships except the corvette through wormholes.”

“Alright, wake me when we are an hour out, you have the conn.”

Let’s do this.

Captain Trilduro stands up from her seat and addresses the bridge crew. “We all had a few relaxing weeks here in the system, but we need to get back into the swing of things now. Look, sharp everyone! Ensign Jordari, please open a channel.” The Ensign does as ordered and nods to the Captain to start speaking.

“Unknown pirate vessels, this is Captain Trilduro of the Cruiser ERS Davidson you are outgunned, and you can’t run. Power down your drives and prepare for boarding, Trilduro out.”

“Captain, one of the gunships is trying to run.” The officer manning the sensor station says.

“Disable it, Lieutenant Gardner.” The Captain gestures to the tactical officer. Seconds later twin railgun projectiles impact the exhaust of the gunship, disabling its drive. The other ships quickly power down and are preparing to be boarded.

A few hours later, Captain Trilduro gets a ping on her interface. “Captain, the pirate ships are secured, and we found prisoners. They are wearing some uniform, probably mercenaries, including a collared Space Mage. There also is a little girl, without parents. The mercenaries say, she’s the only survivor of a freighter they were hired to protect.”

Mercenaries captured by pirates? Are they incompetent? And a little girl?

“Thank you, Sergeant Sezlo. Secure the former prisoners in the mess hall and put the pirates in the brig. We will deliver the girl and the normal prisoners back to Acordus 3. There should be an orphanage to take care of her and the others can find some jobs or whatever. We will keep the mercenaries and take them to Estriduros. Maybe we get some recruits."

And maybe I finally get my promotion.