LOCATION: PORTAL TECHNOLOGY GROUP
AREA: ASHEN CITY, NOCTURNUS
STARDATE: 4205771x257 | TIME: EARLY MORNING
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System Message:
The following events occurred outside the area observed by the System. This historical Record was reconstructed from a memory archive voluntarily released after the subject Trevor Gant’s return.
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When the first bell of the morning rang out across Ashen City, Trevor was already awake. He rose, stretched, and peered out the window.
“Cloudy. Again. What a surprise.”
Tin laughed.
“It’s always like that. What else is there?”
Trevor turned toward her and pulled her into a tight hug. He brushed her long hair aside and whispered into her ear.
“Today is the day. Are you sure you’re ready for this?”
Tin nodded.
“All the pieces are in place. The people will move when they hear the explosions.”
“Good,” Trevor said.
He pulled on his mage’s robes and hid the other two outfits.
This house would be pulled into the implosion he would create at Portal Tech so he wasn’t worried about anyone finding evidence later.
“I wish we could bring a few bottles of the wine with us,” he mused.
“I can carry them if you—”
Trevor laughed.
“No, we will take no unnecessary risks. Especially with your life. I need you focused. You have only one job today, Tin. Never leave my side. The closer you are to me, the safer you will be.”
She nodded and he turned her toward him again.
“There’s one piece of this I have not told you, but I need you to be prepared,” Trevor said.
“What is it?” she asked.
“I will kill Kallus today. Before I set the portal to backfire, that man must die.”
“But if Portal Tech and most of the Upper District… Isn’t it enough?”
Trevor shook his head.
“That man is far too dangerous to be left to chance. He must die by my hand first, then I will kick the rest of the plan off.”
Trevor sighed and looked down at the ground.
“Do not be disturbed by what you see. I will use one of the worst spells of the Varris persona on Kallus. It’s something I have avoided using until now, but as I said: he is too dangerous and I must ensure he is ended.”
“I… I understand,” she said.
They prepared to head out, and when the second bell rang, they were already arriving at Portal Tech.
It was unusual for Varris to bring his servant to the office, but such things were not unheard of. When the Guard asked, he made a quiet comment, telling the Guard his business was his own.
The Guard only laughed it off, the flippant attitude being totally in character for Varris.
Varris brought Tin past security, through the neatly arranged halls, and to the office on the third floor.
His private office was next to Kallus’s, and he was glad to see his boss hadn’t arrived yet.
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
“Get ready,” he whispered. “He’ll be here any time now. And remember, please try to forget what you see today. I would never use this if it wasn’t critical to our success.”
Tin just nodded, wondering what could be so bad. But she did as she was told and stuck by Trevor’s side.
They heard the door open and Kallus entered his own office.
“Here we go,” Trevor whispered.
He knocked on Kallus’s door.
“Come in.”
Varris turned the handle and pushed the door open. Tin, her gaze down at the floor, stood behind him.
“Ah, the happy couple,” Kallus said. “I’m surprised to see you here, Tin. I’ve heard much about you.”
Varris seethed inside. Tin had been reporting on him to Kallus since the beginning. Only reports that Trevor approved, of course.
At first Kallus required reports every ten days, but recently, he’d been demanding that she report to him every two.
Acting as if he was just meeting her for the first time was an insult to Varris’s considerable intelligence.
He gestured for Tin to enter and then turned to close the door behind him.
“What are you doing?” Kallus asked, astounded. “You never close the door without my express permiss—”
“Shut. Your. Mouth.”
“How dare you!” Kallus muttered the words, but they were the last ones to leave his lips.
Varris raised his arm and his eyes glowed red.
He activated the worst of the spells on Varris’s list. It was called Essence Drain. Such a simple phrase for such an insidious spell.
Varris figured it would take around 100,000 mana to drain Kallus completely, but his robe had been absorbing mana for over 220 days now, and it was never full.
“Sit back in your chair,” Varris commanded.
Tin shook from the power in Trevor’s voice, but she stayed behind him.
Varris continued.
“You will not move a muscle as I drain everything from you. I will learn every secret. Every bit of knowledge you have accumulated over your long, pathetic life.”
His voice rose in power, and Tin saw something that shocked her to her core. Fear in Magister Kallus’s eyes.
The most powerful man on Nocturnus, a man thousands of years old, and ranked highly among the geniuses of the Empire, and Trevor was commanding him like a puppet.
During his time on Nocturnus, Trevor had been apart from the System for just long enough that he had been able to clear one of his persona slots without incurring a penalty.
It took him four months of daily meditation, but he eventually was able to purge the Fighter slot from his build to make room for this very day.
He watched through Varris’s glowing red eyes as he drained every morsel of information from Magister Kallus.
Intelligence about the inner workings of the Obsidian Empire.
Calculations for new kinds of portals that could travel farther than anything Kallus had made known to the Empire.
His mind and body burned with the effort. Every synapse, every cell in his body screamed with agony, but Varris did not relent.
More…
He kept pulling it in.
Names, ranks, locations, planets, coordinates, entire sectors of space.
Book after book on multiversal physics flooded his mind, and he pushed it all neatly into the third persona slot.
The process was taking far too long. Trevor knew his colleagues would arrive soon, and he needed to be out of there before he was caught.
But the knowledge!
The power held within this man!
It was too much to pass on, and he continued consuming it all. Storing it away. He would sort it later. But for now, he needed to drain everything.
Tin watched in horror as Kallus’s skin lost what sheen there had been to it. Then as dents began appearing in his skull. The Magister’s hair fell out, and his body crumpled bit by bit.
In the end, all that was left was a desiccated husk that barely held up the black robes it had been wearing.
Varris stepped forward and touched the top of Kallus’s head, and what structure was left collapsed into a pile of dust.
He let out a breath. Leaned forward, resting his hands on his knees.
“Are you okay?” Tin asked, still afraid to touch him.
Trevor turned to her and reached for her shoulder. Tin flinched when he touched her, but he held firm.
“I’m sorry you had to see that,” Trevor said. “It was necessary. But now, we have to move quickly. Follow me. Stay close.”
Trevor and Tin left Kallus’s office. He closed the door behind him.
Two of his colleagues were approaching, tablets in hand. But Trevor held up his hand.
“Magister Kallus asked to be undisturbed until he comes out,” he said.
“Is he working on that project again?” one of them asked.
“It seems so. He didn’t even tell me so it must be important.”
His colleague scoffed and mumbled something about favoritism.
Tin followed Trevor into his office, and he closed the door once again.
He was still catching his breath from filling another persona slot with such an incredibly powerful mind.
“Okay,” he said. “We’re going to have to move quickly once I set this up. We’re not going to talk to anyone on our way out.”
He thought for a minute.
“Well, maybe security. Anyway, we’ll have thirty minutes to get clear of the area.”
“Where are we going?” Tin asked. “I guess I never asked about us.”
Trevor smiled.
“We’re going into the mountains to the north.”
He showed her a device. It was the size and shape of the tablets most administrators carried, but the screen appeared different.
“What is that?” she asked.
“This is our ticket home.”
“Home…” She repeated the word.
“Will it hurt?” Tin asked.
Trevor pulled her into a hug.
He had just enough time for it.
“Tin, I will never hurt you.”
He kissed the top of her head.
“Now, stay close. When I set this off, we’ll need to keep a steady pace to get well clear of the zone by the time it goes off.”