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Ginsu Mage

S1E10: Revelations

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I shoved everything back into the safe and pulled out my gun.

I was expecting a Glock-43, or nothing, considering the weirdness of the last couple of days, but what I pulled out was something completely different. Snuggled inside of a western-style gun belt was something that looked like a Colt Peacemaker. But it wasn’t.

The barrel was a solid piece of ebony wood, inscribed with strange patterns and sigils. The cylinder was a deep blue metal with more silvery esoteric runes that glowed faintly. The hammer and frame were composed of a silvery metal engraved with more magic garbage. Three small crystals the size of my thumbnail were embedded on the right side of the grip.

Opening the cylinder I pulled out a shell and discovered that it had no bullet, it was just a solid brass tube with spidery runes on it. The box of ammo inside the safe was filled with similar bulletless brass shells and read “S &H Firearms .45 caliber unprimed ammunition. Expect the best, buy H&S”

Shoving it all back in the now magical safe, I secured it and went to find General Di’nair

* * *

The guards outside my door escorted me across the palace to General Di’nair’s offices. I’m not sure how large the palace is, but I suspect that it contains many different governmental offices and surrounds several different parks and training fields. The hallways through which I was escorted were always luxurious affairs of thick carpet and tapestry with various paintings and busts artfully arranged. Somehow, it felt like we were taking the long way around.

“Magister Johnson,” General Di’nair said, glancing up from his papers to greet me as I was presented to him.

“Call me Harry, please.” I said, taking a seat across from his desk. His office smelled like my grandfathers house, a familiar musty odour that tickled my nose. Large filing cabinets filled the space behind his desk, with shelves above them filled with books and scrolls. The walls to either side were filled with diverse maps. Looking around, I spotted a map that looked somewhat familiar.

Jumping up from the chair, I rushed to the map. It was America.

I looked at it, stunned. Yeah, there were major differences, but I recognised the continent. Even the names of the most cities were the same. This was the map of a flooded earth.

“This is America,” I said, unable to believe my eyes.

“Americus,” General Di’nair corrected, watching me study the map.

“Even most of the names are the same,” I said, pointing. “Pierre, Bismarck, Saint Paul, Madison… Why is everything flooded?”

“Flooded?”

“Yeah. This is a map of my country, my world, but it looks like everything is flooded.” I swore when I noticed a few dots under the blue areas. “You’ve even got cities under water! Memphis, Indianapolis…”

“Those are flooded ruins from before the Aurora. There are hundreds, maybe thousands of ruins covered by the strait. Adventurers sometimes dive and try to retrieve artefacts from them, but there’s not much left after all these centuries.”

I sat back down and digested that information. An uncomfortable suspicion was growing in my mind. “What’s the aurora?”

“You haven’t been out at night, have you?”

I shook my head.

“Visit the north garden tonight and have a look at the sky,” Di’nair said. “Historians say those cities existed before magic, before the aurora, and were covered soon after when the oceans rose.”

“When did that happen?”

“About a thousand years ago, give or take a couple of centuries. Much was lost during the apocalypse, and more in the centuries afterwards. If you want more information, ask the grand vizier.”

“Where are we at on this map?” I asked.

“Gold star in the middle.”

I found it easily. D’ver, Colrada.

Denver, Colorado.

*// NEW DATA OBTAINED. AKASHIC RECORDS UPDATED. LEXICON UPDATED. EXPERIENCE GRANTED. //*

Knowledge flooded into my brain like an ice cream headache, quick and sharp. I brushed the words of the Modus away from my vision.

“But, I didn’t ask you here to give you a history lesson,” Di’nair said, cracking his fingers. “I’m sending you to La Junta as an observer. I’m hoping you’ll be useful in an advisory position.”

That sounded like fighting, and I wanted nothing to do with it. I grabbed at a mask and felt it crumble. All the protections I had built up over the years to keep myself protected were ephemeral, shadows dancing out of my reach. What happened to me? There was just me, my core, and I felt… I felt pretty damn confident in speaking my mind.

“No.”

He smiled, a thin gash across his face. “You don’t have a choice. You have no other value except as a tactical advisor, and that’s yet to be proven in the field. Don’t worry, you’ll be well protected and at a safe distance from any action.”

“I have plenty of value,” I said, mentally reaching into my inventory until I found what I wanted — S&H Mongoose .45 caliber — and felt the tingle as it materialised in my palm. I pointed it at the ceiling. “Ever see one of these?”

The general’s eyes widened, then two similar guns materialised in his hands, pointed at me.

“Is that a Mongoose?” he asked.

I faced down the two wooden barrels of unknown power and began to sweat. “Yeah, it is.”

“Nice. Only the best for the Champion,” he muttered, placing his two guns on the desk. “H&S Ainsworth .38 caliber. It took me years to earn them, and you show up and flash a Mongoose in my face. You know how to use it?”

I shook my head. “This isn’t my gun. This is something the Modus gave me when it brought me over. I’d have to practice before I felt comfortable handling it.”

“Any other surprises you want to reveal?” he growled.

I ran down the list of everything I had discovered over the last few hours.

“Looks like you get some training,” Di’nair said, reaching into his desk for some paper and scribbling on it with a quill. “I’ll make sure you know how to use that gun and your magic before you move out.”

I squirmed in the hard chair and ground my teeth while he scratched away at my future on that damn parchment. Things just aren’t working out the way I wanted.

“I have dinner with the king in two days,” I blurted out.

He didn’t even pause. “So do I. Try not to threaten anyone next time.”

“Princess Navonne has offered to tutor me,” I said, growing desperate. I hated the thought of being so damn powerless, of someone having control over my life. What would happen if I outright refused? Would I be tossed into a dungeon?

He paused, scratched through a sentence then continued to write. “That’s nice. You can learn manners after breakfast, magic until lunch, and report to the training grounds after lunch.”

I pushed my gun back into inventory. Usage (1325/3600)

Sigh. FML.

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[CAST]

Harold (Harry) William Johnson

General Barrit Di’nair

[PLACES]

Aerth

Kingdom of Nigos

Harry’s suite

Harry’s mainmort

Office of General Di’nair

La Junta

[PEOPLE]

[OTHERS]

Nameless guards

[PERSONAL]

Next chappie Friday 11dec20