RYAN ran over to the mess and had a quick bite to eat, he passed several friends who all either offered congratulations or condolences on his upcoming assignment. After he was done he went to the soda machine, punching the selected button, the machine clattered and whirred, then a can dropped into the receptacle. He popped the top and took a nice long sip, savoring the lemony bite. On his way out, he ran into G who was wearing his usual dark clothes on white bones. Although he was nothing but bones, he somehow managed to fill out his clothes. If it wasn't for the skull, Ryan would have guessed he was just a really skinny guy.
"Ah Ryan!" the skeleton said, "Just the man I wanted to see."
Ryan looked skeptical as he took another sip of his drink, judging if that was a good thing or not, "What's up?"
"I heard that Keeper Stephanie has you going up north on a mission?"
"Yea," Ryan said
"I'll need you to get something for me from a friend in Canada!"
"You have a friend in Canada?" Ryan asked incredulously, surprised the grumpy bag of bones had any friends.
"Yeah, Tess, she owes me quite a bit, but I haven't seen her in almost three centuries." G said, "there's a good chance she's dead now."
"Then what do you want me to do about it?" Ryan asked, "Hold a séance?"
"Find her grave and dig it up," G said, "you've got an affinity for elemental magik right?"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm not digging up some dead lady's grave for you," Ryan recoiled,
"I'd do it myself but I can't leave this goddamned place," G remarked, "I just need you to grab anything of value from her grave and bring it back."
"I can't believe I have to say thing again, but; I'm not going to desecrate a stranger's grave for you." Ryan said with finality.
"Sheesh, if you want to be a little bitch about it." G grumbled, as he walked off. "the dumb kid who brought me back had no problems desecrating my grave."
"That dude is messed up," Ryan commented as he walked off.
Ryan got back to his room and looked around, Christie's closet was open, and her clothes were scattered everywhere, on her bed, a small suitcase laid open.
"Uh, Christie…" Ryan said
From the bathroom her voice came, "Yeah?"
"What's all this?" He asked
"My stuff, I'm packing for the trip!" she came out wearing a red tie-dye shirt with the peace logo.
Ryan walked over to his closet, gesturing to Christie to pay attention. He bought out a black and ash gray scarf, some underwear, and a change of clothes, then he dumped everything in his back pack, then he gave her a look of amazement, "I'm done!" he announced amazed, "and it only took me a minute!"
Christie threw a balled up shirt to him, "Alright wise guy, your way is simpler."
"And lighter!" Ryan added
"But it's also lazy, who knows how long we'll be out there! We could be out there in Thren for days, possibly even weeks!"
"Or!" Ryan said, giving her a pay attention gesture, "It actually turns out to be a boring hour or two in which we go out, do whatever we need to do and come back."
"Well I'm not convinced!" Christie said, crossing her arms
Ryan narrowed his eyes, "Christie, if you bring all this, you're carrying it yourself, in all that snow, with every ravager that we will most definitely have to fight, then go all the way back. Do you really think you can keep hold of all your belongings if they hold you back like that?"
Christie wanted to protest, but Ryan could see her mind running through the scenarios he's set for her, "I hate you!" she said as she went to her suitcase and started removing the clothes she'd already packed.
"If it makes you feel any better, I'll help." Ryan offered
"And have you go through my underwear? No thank you."
"It never even crossed my mind," Ryan said.
… )]≥( …
After Christie was done, she and Ryan rushed from the residential district towards the central plaza. Next to the Main Hall in the plaza was a two story concrete structure, it was long and square with the front wall made of glass panes and a slanted roof. Above the entrance was the ranger crest in red and gold, taking up a great amount of space on the front wall. "Welcome to the Ranger Operations." Christie said as they approached.
At the stairs leading up to the entrance, Jasmine was waiting there, impatiently, with a guy that looked younger than Ryan, possibly sixteen or seventeen. He had dark hair and tanned bronze skin, like he spent a lot of time getting tan. He wore a dark red shirt with slacks and sneakers and had a tool bag over his shoulders. When Jasmine saw Ryan, she gestured for him to hurry up.
When they met, Ryan sized the guy up, "Who's this guy?" He asked Jasmine
"Hi," the guy said shooting out his hand, "I'm Simon Ross!"
Ryan shook his hands, "Simon? yeah, you're..."
"Jasmines' protege,"
Jasmine looked at Ryan, "I hear you're my new protege as well, Ryan?" she said with an exasperated sigh
Ryan grimaced, he had forgotten about that, "Well, if that's what the walls say." Ryan said glumly
"Well, I'll do my best to make sure you don't get yourself killed." Jasmine said, "just follow my instructions and don't get in my way."
Ryan nodded, saluting, "Aye aye, ma'am."
She gave a big grin as she turned towards Christie, "Hey Christie, it's been a while."
Christie nodded, also returning a small smile of her own, "Yeah Jasmine, you look great."
Ryan looked between the two of them, "You guys are friends?"
They both looked at him like he'd just asked the dumbest question in the universe. "Of course," Christie said "We used to be roommates before she became a ranger and changed dorms,"
"The things you learn about a person," Ryan commented,
Jasmine rolled her eyes at him, "C'mon, let's get you geared up before we head out."
They climbed up the steps up to Ranger center, walking past the open entrance, they saw that the inside was massive. In front of the entrance was a stone obelisk, ten feet tall with a cavity in front where a small bonfire sat in a brazier inside, and at the base of the obelisk, The Fallen, was carved in big block letters.
"Welcome to the Nest" Jasmine announced
"Nest?" Ryan asked
"An inside joke; 'where the crows come to rest'." Jasmine explained.
The front of the interior was an open concept area that took up the front half the entire building, with a skylight that bathed that section in in natural light. Around them, rangers moved about, walking to and fro. In the middle of large space was a circular table that had the map of the entire zone on it, with holographic icons dancing on the tabletop, with a collection of monitors that hung above the table broadcasting different information. Along the walls were several monoliths with hologram notices, listing off all the ranger assignments available. Rangers would crowd around these monoliths every once in a while, before walking off.
Walking towards the back wall, they came across a security door with the words, Authorized Personnel Only, written across it. Jasmine placed her silver compact badge against a sensor and the door slid open, letting them inside .
The back section of the building was much more private, it was like a lounge where rangers congregated; sitting and chatting, playing games like pool or cards, stopped for snacks by a variety of vending machines and just relaxed. There were also offices for officers and overhead was a catwalk system with different areas as well, connected to the first floor by stairs along the side walls.
Along one of the walls was a large stone slab, carved at the top were the words Black Notice, with the holographic profiles of hundreds of individuals listed across both sides, the list of criminals and fugitives still at large from Argus, arranged according to threat level.
Since Jasmine was the lead officer for their mission, and the only ranger, so she was team leader. Only she knew which way to go. She took them down a flight of stairs to a dark corridor, illuminated by florescent bulbs along the ceiling. There were metal doors bolted shut on either wall. "Are you sure we're not going to die down here?" Ryan asked as he moved closer to Christie.
"You're supposed to be reassuring me," she hissed at him
Jasmine stopped the group at the end of the corridor. In front of them was a set of metal double doors, written on one was the word 'Armory'. Jasmine placed her badge against the scanner again, the sound of mechanical locks disabling echoed down the corridor. The doors swung open into a large multilevel room, lights on the walls turn on automatically, revealing shelves and shelves and shelves of weapons, tools, gear and other whatnots.
"This is the Armory," Jasmine said, "it should have everything we'll need for a mission to Thren."
Christie had run off to a rack full of musket rifles, they were specially designed to fire enchanted rounds imbued with special combat-grade casts. She briefly inspected a large shotgun, and then looked down the row at several other types of rifles, her eyes gleaming with a sort of twisted joy. Ryan wanted to ask her if she was all right, but the way she looked at the rifles made Ryan back away. Who knew she was a gun enthusiast?
Simon had gone through three different shelves of items, where he found several selections of magikal tools and weapons, he then passed a display case with a rack that held three different swords, each with golden glyphs engraved into their silver blades, "Are these what I think they are?" He asks inspecting them closer
Jasmine gazed at his direction, "Yeah, they're Excalibur series."
"The Excalibur series is second only to the Ten Commandments in fame," Simon said in awe, "Where did you guys get these from?"
"You didn't hear it from me, but apparently they used to be on the previous Keeper's wall, spoils of war and all that," she explained, "but then Stephanie took it down after taking the chair. Technically speaking, the Excalibur series technically belong to the 51st Sanctum in Britain, but she didn't want to give them up, so she locked them up down here."
"I wonder what it'd be like to have one," Simon mused to himself as he moved on.
Ryan was perusing a rack of mystic-gear when he bumped into Jasmine.
"We don't have time for you to admire them all," Jasmine said, "they're all made of top quality sacred steel, they're all good."
"What steel?"
"Sacred steel, also called Damascus steel, we call it pure matter. Its been refined through magikal means," Jasmine explained, "it's perfect for our needs; it can channel magik, and it's fatal to ravagers."
"And my sword?" Ryan asked, feeling Draxonn in his pocket, "I heard someone call it 'Night iron'."
"That's chaos matter, the opposite of pure matter. It naturally has magikal properties, but these properties are chaotic, and taint all magik it channels. As far as I know, the supply of true chaos matter was exhausted a long time ago, so Night iron hasn't been forged in millennia, actually seeing it is a once in a life time rarity."
Ryan wandered if Draxonn was tainting him as well. Was that why he felt such a connection to it.
After thirty minutes of prowling the aisles, they had each picked their own preferred gear. Christie had gone with one of the magik rifles with a selection of different cast ammo and a case of emergency flares. Simon chose a magik scanner, a case of explosives and a magik tarp. Ryan took a golem unit. Jasmine, however, just replenished her stock of crossbow bolts.
"This is standard issue under-armor," Jasmine said, pulling out what looked like a skinny gray bodysuit, "They're insulated, made with environmental shielding to keep you better protected from extreme climate conditions, like the cold, and also offer a decent amount of protection from attacks. You're all getting one." She had arranged four bodysuits with the Argus emblem on the left breast, they were the usual Argus gray and black, but had different trimmings; one was red, one was yellow and two were white. Christie explained that the white color designated civilians and initiates. Unsurprisingly, the under armor was one-size-fits-all, and was almost sculpted to their bodies, it was very breathable and was thin enough that they could wear it under their normal clothes without any discomfort.
Once everyone had gotten their equipment, they also received a Ranger's field kit; a small first aid pack, some scrolls and writing material, a roll of binding tape, a small bottle of supplement pills, and a short-range communicator called a vox device.
Ryan stuffed the field kit into his backpack then, they all went to the Main Hall, proceeding right to Stephanie's office.
The four of them stood in Stephanie's office, sitting on a chair facing them was G, whose tinted sunglasses seemed to be focused on Ryan.
"You'll use a waypoint to get into Canada, from there you'll use a shortcut to Thren. Remember, you'll be out of our jurisdiction, so try to keep yourselves out of trouble." Stephanie handed Jasmine a map, "This map should help you get to the shortcut safely. Remember, try not to get noticed by the 46th, this mission is unofficial, hence the roundabout route. Should they learn that you are trying to cross over into Thren, there's not much I can do to get you out of trouble."
"What's the bid deal about this place?" Ryan asked
"Thren is neutral territory," Stephanie admitted, "no singular sanctum is allowed to conduct official business within its borders without express permission from at least five other Keepers."
"Yeah, if you're caught inside, you'll be lucky if you just die from hypothermia!" G said
"What?" Christie said alarmed.
"Well, anyway, we've held you here long enough, Jasmine, here's a dedicated sage box, it has the necessary instructions and master key to get you in." Stephanie said as she got up and handed Jasmine a small brick, it was gray black and covered in blue circuits [A sage box is like a magik super hard-drive. Not only is it used to record and transmit information, including magik, but it is also be telepathic. It's another one of those revolutionary magik tech of the last century].
After wishing them well, G led them out of the office. When she was alone, the sat back in her chair and wandered what trouble they would find in that godforsaken wasteland.
G led them out of the Main Hall, going out of the plaza and far towards the eastern woods of the camp.
They followed the path until it came to a fork, in front of them was a signpost with arrows pointing both ways, one said: Docks, while the other said: Waypoint Bay. They followed the path that led to a large pavilion with several thick archways -known as gateways- arranged in a loose circle. There was a symbol on the side of each arch.
G went to one of the gateways and tapped the glyph, it glowed to life, projecting a series of characters that arranged themselves to form a code; ZK-046/C-144-TOR/NE772-01.
The arch hummed with power, as a swirling multicolored vortex flashed into existence inside the archway,
[Waypoints are portals that connecting two points of space through the Naexis. Travel between planes is possible through the use of waypoints, and any arch-like structure can be used as a waypoint receiver, which is why established gateways are heavily regulated.]
"Okay, good luck" G said, "try not to get lost in the void forever,"
Jasmine walked up to the vortex and stepped inside, immediately being sucked in and swept up by the vortex, the others did the same and disappeared until it was just Ryan, "I guess it's too late to change my mind?" Ryan guessed
"Yeah," G said as he pushed Ryan through the waypoint and the vortex closes after him.
… )]≥( …
As Ryan went through the waypoint, he felt like he was drowning, feeling the air being sucked out of his lungs. The current of the vortex was insanely strong pulling him apart and hurled him through uncontrollably, all he saw was a kaleidoscope of swirling lights.
Ahead was a single point of blinding white light and Ryan felt himself being dragged into the event horizon. He then found himself come back together as he was deposited onto hard pavement, on his hands and knees, breathing hard. Soft raindrops hitting his face brought his senses back into focus, he looked around, he was in some park, by a gazebo. He shivered as the cold rain drizzled down on him. A hand from Christie offering to help him up suddenly took his attention.
"Sorry, I guess we should've warned you what to expect going through a waypoint for the first time." she apologized, "it helps to close your eyes and release your breath jump through,"
"You've gone through one before?" Ryan asked
"A while ago," she shrugged, "don't worry, that buzzing in your ear and the disorientation wear off quickly after a while. But if you smell or taste cotton candy tell us immediately."
Ryan looked at her confused, but followed Christie into the gazebo, where Jasmine and Simon where waiting, "Where are we?"
"Toronto, or somewhere close." Jasmine surmised, checking her badge, "we need to move, the 46th would have pinged this waypoint."
"So, how do we get to the arctic from here?" Simon asked
Jasmine looked out at the rain, "C'mon," she said, "We should get moving."
They walked out of the park to a bus stop, where they took the next bus as far north as it went. While on the bus, Ryan sat between Christie and Simon, Christie was taking a short nap, and she was resting her head on Ryan's shoulder, he didn't mind though, she looked kind of cute sleeping like that, with a small drop of drool at the side of her mouth.
Simon was fiddling with a device, it took Ryan a moment to tell it had once been a smartphone, but now it was something else entirely, "Dude, what did you do to that phone?"
Simon smiled, "I turned it into a wand!"
"How did you do that?" Ryan asked genuinely interested, having seen how wands were born.
"Well I'm actually a pretty good artificer."
"You mean like Mas?"
Simon nodded, "I love knowing how things work, ever since I was a kid, I wanted to be an engineer, to build and design stuff."
"So you turned your phone into a wand?"
"Yeah, I could've gotten a normal one, but I wanted a challenge, so I got this old phone and MacGyver-ed the hell out of it. It was more fun to build that way."
"Dude, that's awesome!" Ryan said, "You're awesome!"
"Me? No, you are awesome, you're a Reins."
"Yeah, for all that's worth." Ryan replied
"The Reins are one of the most influential families in Argus, even to this day."
"I'm the sole remainder of all that's left of the family, and I have a net worth of about a hundred bucks."
Simon chuckled, "Hey, did you know that we can link up our wands?"
Ryan smiled, "Really?"
Simon nodded, "That way, I can always find your worthless hide if I need to."
He put in some commands on his wand, then his wand started beeping, then he tapped it against Ryan's wand and the gemstones blinked in unison before Ryan's wands started beeping also.
"That is so cool," Ryan said,
"Yeah, so now, you can call my wand by activating the beep, and when your wand starts beeping, it means my wand is close by."
"You really known your tech," Ryan commented
"Yeah, my dream is to go and work at the Foundry, they're at the forefront of magik technology." Simon said, "It was founded by one of your ancestors, Tomar Reins."
"So this Tomar guy founded the Foundry?" Ryan quipped
"It's one of the Reins' biggest contribution towards magus society." Simon said, looking down at his wand, "The Foundry made it possible for things like wands to exist. There's no magik engineer, architect or artificer alive right now who doesn't aim for a Foundry certification."
Ryan remembered the plaque he saw when he entered the workshop, "Mas' workshop is certified by the Foundry?"
"Argus is one of their biggest clients, they get big business from us; wands, golems, airships, magik tools. You name it, they make it."
"Sounds like they have a monopoly," Ryan had paid just enough attention in economics to know a monopoly when he heard one, and from what he learned it was usually not all that great for customers.
"Well, you could always outsource, but if you want the best quality then you go to the Foundry. Plus, they're a guild not a centralized corporation, there are lots of moving part that make up the whole thing."
"Oh," Ryan said
They continued the ride syncing their wands and talking as Simon shared apps and data with Ryan.
They got off at the farthest bus stop from where they started, after being on that bus for so long, Ryan was starting to feel his legs falling asleep. They walked into a McDonald's and had a quick bite to eat. As they ate, Jasmine checked her badge and Ryan took a moment to actually look at it. It looked like a round silver compact, it fit in her hand and had the ranger crest engraved on its face.
"That's a badge?" he found himself asking,
"It's more than just a badge" Simon explained, "that is a Ranger ID and field support unit. It has a compass, communicator, a recording device, and a bunch of other features."
"Cool," Ryan commented
"Yeah, it is." Simon nodded,
"Anyway," Jasmine interrupted as she held out her badge and the crest glowed before projecting a map of the area. "We should be here, and we need to find a way to get to this shortcut Stephanie mentioned, somewhere up here, around Quebec"
"How do we get there?" Simon asked, "Do we drive?"
"But do any of us have a Canadian driver's license?" Christie pointed out
She was right, Ryan's license had been lost when his house blew up, and it was probably only valid in the US anyway.
"What about another waypoint?" Simon ventured
"Yeah, a waypoint," Ryan said
"No." Jasmine refused, "There are no official gateways there. Whatever this shortcut is it'll only get us as close to Thren as possible, we then need to make the rest of the trip on our own."
"Maybe we could take another bus?" Ryan suggested
Christie looked out the window, wandering what to do when she saw a homeless person with a cardboard sign, written on it were golden words: Naiverto's Magik Courier Service! For magi, necreans and all such on the move!
"Maybe we can take a taxi?" she pointed at the homeless guy
Jasmine nodded, "Convenient, and private."
"Good things do happen," Ryan noted
Simon and Christie nodded in agreement, Jasmine sighed, "C'mon, let's go get a taxi!"