The light of dawn allowed us to see the true devastation with our own eyes. There was something more direct about seeing the damage directly as opposed to seeing it on a screen, as captured by a camera.

The school-yard we had landed on was on a small hill, giving us a sight out, towards the ocean, and, as far as I could see, there was not a single building that had not been damaged or destroyed. I could see a few desolate figures in the ruins and I could see the emergency-camps that had started to spring up on the higher ground, but the sight drove how just what we were up against.

During the night, Galatea had started to collect handles for the people who started to use the communication-system I brought, registering them and marking them on the map, so, after a meagre breakfast and sending Anath and the others off, I settled into the aircraft, watching the surveillance-feeds from my drones and coordinating where to send the boots on the ground.

But at the same time, a part of me kept an eye on Anath, or rather the feed I was getting from her mask, allowing me to see what she saw and hear what she said. She and Hancock had left together with a group of mundane volunteers, who provided additional hands.

From up close, the situation was even worse than from the higher vantage shown by my drones. She and Hancock had regularly wade through thigh, sometimes even waist-high water, clouded with mud. In addition, the debris floating in the water was telling a story of destruction and devastation. Looking closer, I realised that it was not only debris, but even the remains of people. Just seeing that caused me to swallow hard, my stomach feeling suddenly queasy.

I noticed Anath stagger and Hancock steadying her.

“It’s your first disaster, isn’t it?” he asked, sounding concerned.

“Yes, I was part of an anti-scourge operation but it was nothing like that. We managed to keep the fighting contained to the forest but this…” she quieted, as some of the mundane helpers started to check on the floating remains, likely hoping against hope to find one that was still alive, someone to save. Their grim expressions soon made it clear that it was unlikely and the black plastic bags they used explained the rest.

“Don’t worry, kiddo, you are doing good. We are all needed, but while the work is necessary, it’s not glamorous, it’s dirty, smelly and heart-breaking. Yet, it needs to be done.” he assured Anath, his voice sounding sad but proud.

I forced myself to continue watching, even if most of my attention was taken up by coordinating the ever increasing number of people out there, marking areas that had been searched, helping to guide survivors on the easiest routes to shelter, tasks like that.

“Group seventeen, we need some muscle. We hear calls for help but the area is blocked off.” an unknown voice asked, causing me to check who was nearby and what tasks were at hand. Part of me was happy to see that the closest group was the one containing Hancock and Anath, allowing me to call them away from the grim bagging-work they had been engaged in for the last hour.

“Group seventeen, this is Control. I will redirect Powered assistance, stand by.” I told the original voice, while calling up Anath directly.

“Anath, this is Metis. I am sending you a waypoint, Group seventeen needs Powered assistance to rescue some people. Leave your com-device to the group you have been with, you do not need it.” I told her, keeping my voice professional, even if nobody could hear us and I wanted nothing more than to hold her tight, maybe chasing away the images she had seen.

“Control, Group Seventeen. Understood, we are standing by.” the original voice replied, while Sophia replied in the affirmative as well and I could watch her hand the com-device to one of her helpers before she and Hancock started to move off. They would need a few minutes to pass the distance, even with me guiding them around the worst problems.

“Metis, this is Mordred. Fey told me you have some sort of surveillance-system set up?” another voice asked.

“Indeed. Why do you ask?” I wondered, feeling a little irked that he thought he could get anything out of it that I could not.

“I am a mage, part of my power is that I’m able to scry for living beings.” he answered, as if that explained everything. It helped, even if I was not quite sure how that could work.

“Come to the Guild-aircraft, we can figure out what help I can give you.” I replied, hoping to quickly deal with him. Just then, another dark robed figure, dressed just like Fey, even with her symbol, left the school-building and walked over, so I opened the hatch, allowing him to enter the plane and went into the front-area to greet him.

“Ah, good.” the black robed figure said, looking at me with almost confusion in his face. I blinked a little, he had taken off his hood and mask, standing there barefaced and open. I did not bother to hide my smirk, he could not see it anyway but I only knew that he was from Australia and had studied under Fey for the last few years. What I saw made me wonder if he used some sort of Power to appear as stereotypical as possible, blonde, medium length hair, deep blue eyes and a handsome, lightly tanned face made him look as beach-surfer like as anything I had ever seen. While the robe hid most of his figure, what I could see hinted at a toned, if not muscular, physique below.

“What do you want?” I asked, keeping most of my attention on my tasks, not wanting to engage in idle chatter.

“Straight to the point, eh? That surveillance, can I get a live-feed on some screen?” he asked, making me grumble and hand him one of the tablets that would allow him to query my system as long as he was in range.

“Here. You can zoom and everything, if you want I can have it display the known groups we have out there.” I explained, briefly showing him how it worked.

“Thank you. Can I stay in here, you have air-conditioning.” he did not wait for a reply, simply plopping himself down in one of the seats, starting to fiddle with the screen.

Not wanting to deal with him more, I grumbled my acceptance and went back into the restricted parts of the aircraft, locking the door after me. I also closed the outer hatch and locked the door to the cockpit, just to make sure. He would be able to leave the front area, if he wanted, but only going outside. He would not be able to snoop around in my plane.

In Anath’s vision, I could see that she and Hancock were almost there, approaching what was left of a building I barely could identify as a mall. The were quickly guided inside and I saw what they meant. The stairs to the higher levels were blocked by assorted debris, most of it far too large to shift normally. Anath closed in, as if she wanted to simply start tossing stuff aside, but Hancock stopped her.

“Wait, if we do this willy nilly, it’ll all come done on us, maybe causing more damage. Can you get up there?” he asked, pointing to the top of the heaped debris.

“Mhm, I guess.” she agreed before simply leaping up and, if I judged the angle right, wedged herself between a wall and the debris, hilding herself there. I wondered what she planned to do for leverage, when she unsheated the sword I had made for her so long ago and did the unexpected, she simply started hacking away at the debris using nothing but her strength and the khopesh I had made for her. I winced a little, seeing the weapon I had made abused like that, but I could not argue with the results, her strength combined with the sharpness hacked through concrete, metal, wood and whatever else was in that heap, dividing the large, difficult to shift parts quickly into smaller parts that she tossed aside, allowing her to get to more of it.

I had to direct my main-focus to another point, guiding different people, but when I looked back to her after maybe half an hour, the previously insurmountable pile had shrunk drastically, allowing her to get to the upper level, if she so chose.

“I will go and reassure those making noise. You can come up here and shift some more debris, I doubt you fit through the hole I made.” Anath called down to Hancock, before squeezing through the newly made tunnel, activating her night-vision features to navigate the dark mall.