April 6, 1641

Alue, Mu

Fluorescent lights hung on the ceiling of an inconspicuous concrete building, a staunch difference from the electric light bulbs in use by the rest of the city. The hallways and rooms, immaculate as they were, harbored a sinister darkness that conflicted with their professional, clean atmosphere. In one such room, tucked away in the lower levels of the facility, a single man sat strapped to a chair, unmoving and unresponsive.

Towering over him, a man expressed disgust over the bloody stains now present on his blue dress shirt’s cuffs. He looked to a mirror on his left, speaking directly to it, “Looks like our new visitor has quite the capacity for pain. Amelia, fetch the mage for me, will you?”

A voice then responded, coming from an audio system mounted in a corner of the room, “Which one, sir?”

“Ah,” the man smiled, “That elf from Agartha. What’s her name…” he tapped the ground with his foot, thinking to himself before pointing a finger in the air, “Ah! Lady Varica. Yes, I’d quite like to see if her Vulcan mind meld will work on this troublesome individual here.”

“I’ll be right back, sir.”

The man grabbed his water bottle from the table and walked up to the mirror. He saw the stereotypical CIA agent – indifferent from the popular Hollywood depiction – but he didn’t mind. The only thing on his mind while he waited for Amelia to return was wiping the blood from his face. He poured water on his handkerchief and brought it to his right cheek, cleaning the man’s blood from it. He then applied the moist fabric onto his sleeve, scrubbing away at the stain to little effect. Sighing, he returned to his seat across from the unconscious Gra Valkan.

Surrounded by the constant drone of humming machinery and ventilation systems, he felt relief when a knock on the door breathed new life into the room. “Come in,” he said.

Two individuals walked in: a professionally dressed red haired woman and a mystically dressed elf whose wizardly attire looked as if it was picked straight from a high fantasy movie.

“Thank you, Amelia,” the man said. As she left the room, he introduced himself to the elf. “Lady Varica! Your file was my favorite read. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you,” He extended his hand. “I’m Officer Moore, please,” he gestured, “Have a seat.”

Varica shook Moore’s hand, “Salutations to you, Sir Moore. What request do you ask of me?”

“I’ve heard that you practice telepathic magic and have the ability to read minds, to some extent. I’d like you to test your skills on this individual here; he’s a captured Gra Valkan soldier, likely of some special forces division,” Moore pointed his thumb at the unconscious man seated across from Varica.

Varica tilted herhead at the unfamiliar term, “Special forces? Might this man be a product of elite training, perhaps?”

“Right on, Lady Varica,” Moore replied. “Will that be an issue?”

Varica nodded, “It may be. Those of potent will are harder to read than those of weaker minds. Even so, if a weaker mind has been corrupted by the thralls of hypnotization or ‘brainwashing’ as you say, then it would prove most difficult to scan their thoughts. As an elite soldier, he might be of strong will and have unbreakable mental shackles. I guarantee no results.”

Moore frowned as he listened to Varica’s explanation of her abilities. He hoped that magic could be a workaround for the tedious process of interrogation. “That’s fine. This is just an initial test,” Moore said. “We’ll have different experiment conditions later.”

Varica approached the unconscious man and held her arm out, spreading her fingers as she brought the palm of her hand an inch from the man’s face. Then, she began to whisper a recitation. A soft, circular glow began to take form on her palm, seeping into the man’s head. Varica ceased all other movements as her eyes began to glow as well. She stood still, maintaining the same position while she spent time scanning the Gra Valkan’s mind.

Moore waited patiently while Varica stood still. Checking his watch, he decided to sit down, wondering how long this process would take. By the time he touched the chair, the glow around Varica’s eyes and hand disappeared anticlimactically.

“I could not glean much information from the man. His mind was a maze, sealed away under many layers of either fortitude, or indoctrination.”

“What were you able to find?” Moore asked.

“The only information I extracted was his name: Volt Schmidt.”

Moore gave a nod. “Any start is a good start. Your efforts are appreciated, Lady Varica. We’ll have another session after lunch. Care to join?”

“I shall oblige,” Varica said.

——

“So, Lady Varica,” Moore took a gulp from his Muan iced tea, “Have you ever seen any form of American media?”

She answered with little emotion, “If you refer to news, then I have seen the latest CBS broadcasts on the television present within the room you have provided me.”

“Oh, pardon. I meant fiction. Have you seen any shows or movies?”

“No. Agarthan culture has little concept of recreation or fiction. Our society is built on the advancement of individual magic and spellcasting. Much of our time is devoted to physical, mental, and magical training.”

Not wishing to disrespect Varica’s culture, Moore simply nodded.

“Why did you pose that question, Officer Moore?”

Moore shrugged, “I was curious. Ever since our arrival here, we’ve had a lot of fictional concepts suddenly turn true. Among them are the existence of elves and magic.”

“Your people have never encountered elves or magic before?”

“Nope, never. Navigating through all this is new to us, although we do have some pieces to work from. You should watch something on your TV tonight,” Moore suggested, “Maybe Lord of the Rings?”

Varica seemed genuinely intrigued by Moore’s words. “I shall… consider your suggestion.”

“Great!” Moore checked his watch, “Looks like lunch is almost over. Let’s get back. They should have a stack of magic gems for you to use.”

——

When Moore and Varica returned to the interrogation room, they were greeted by a new sight: a gauntlet-like device connected by wire to a sealed, transparent crate of magic gems. The crate had several gauges on top, and the gauntlet had some small knobs built into it. Volt Schmidt was still unconscious and now had electrodes attached to him, hooked up to a machine that showed his brainwave activity. Amelia stood over the setup, watching some technicians finish preparations.

“Well, that’s pretty generous of the Mirishials,” Moore commented. “I was afraid we were going to have to do this manually!”

Varica immediately took interest in the peculiar setup. “What are these devices?”

“Not quite certain myself, actually. Amelia?” Moore redirected the question to his assistant.

Amelia placed her hand on the gauntlet, putting it on. “According to the Mirishials, this device connects you to a magical energy source – this crate over here – and siphons magic energy from that source and into you. The knobs here allow you to set the portion of magical energy that you want to absorb, and this little red button here activates the device under the settings you selected. If you want to adjust the settings, you’ll have to click the red button again to turn the device off and apply your adjustments.”

Varica nodded and equipped the gauntlet.

“Thanks, Amelia,” Moore said as she went back to the observation room. He then gave Varica instructions, “Alright, so for the first experiment you’re going to set the power output of the gauntlet to one percent. Since the crate has a hundred gems, you should feel mana equivalent to a single magic gem.”

Varica turned the knob once, corresponding to a one percent power output. She then activated the device, immediately feeling a connection to the magic energy. “Done.”

“Alright,” Moore continued, “Now I want you to perform the same spell from earlier, but amplify it using the energy from the gauntlet.”

Varica complied and stood over the unconscious man, performing the spell again. She remained steady for a few minutes before terminating the spell and turning the device off. “I managed to acquire more information. The obstacles of his mind were easier to traverse.”

Moore’s expression lightened up. “Oh? That’s good! That’s great news! What did you see this time?”

“He is a member of the Gra Valkas Empire’s Sicarius unit. They specialize in the covert arts, particularly assassinations. His objective in Hinomawari was to track a Leiforian Resistance operation. He… The Gra Valkans traced supplies to Hinomawari.”

Moore looked at the one-way mirror with concern. “Amelia, send word up to Wileman and Chamberlain.” He then turned his attention back to Varica. “Alright, now we’re going to try the five percent setting. If anything feels weird or goes wrong, feel free to pull out of the spell, okay?”

“I shall take precautions,” Varica said before diving right into her casting. A few minutes later, she emerged from her digging. “His thoughts continued to linger on the failure of his mission. Fighting the Leiforian Resistance became a top priority for his superiors, since they posed the greatest threat to… Fall Albus and Fall Caeruleus.”

Moore hummed in thought, recognizing the nomenclature from elsewhere. “Sounds familiar. The Nazis had Fall White, Fall Blue, and other plans. Could these be invasions?”

“I was unable to determine any further details.”

“Alright. Bump the power output up to ten.” Moore pointed at the mirror, “Keep an eye on her. I’ll be right back.” He left the room and dashed to his office, where he began looking for information related to Nazi invasion plans. If Fall Albus and Fall Caeruleus were indeed names for Gra Valkan plans, then this meant that Sonal, Nigrat, and even Mu are susceptible.

After securing the links and documents he needed, he returned to the interrogation room.

“Sir Moore, I was able to gather more information. The binds that have kept this man’s mind away from my spell’s prying eyes are nearly undone,” Varica said.

“What did you find?”

“Fall Albus refers to the invasion of Hinomawari. Fall Caeruleus refers to yet another invasion, but I could not determine their target. There are other bits of information swirling around in his mind, but every time I try to reach out for them, they are whisked away in a brutal storm. I saw numerous references to another ‘Fall’, but lost clarity. If you so wish, I may be able to retrieve this information with more magical energy. Though, attempting to force my way deeper into his mind may cause irreparable damage, I fear.”

Moore debated if it was worth losing this newfound prisoner, but decided this matter to be something that concerned his superiors rather than himself. “Alright, let’s take a break for now. You did good work today,” he patted Varica on the back while she removed the gauntlet. “I’m going to requisition something new tomorrow. It should help you find this Mister Schmidt’s secrets without breaking him entirely.”

“Some sort of new magical device?” Varica asked, hopeful to learn more about the Holy Mirishial Empire’s enigmatic technologies.

“No, something else,” Moore said. “Truth serum. It’s a drug that makes people more… open to suggestion. We’ll be using it on Mister Schmidt here and testing the effect of this on the potency of your magic.”

Having grown up around magic and the belief of magic superiority, Varica felt unconvinced. A part of her was curious, yearning for answers and mystery that her tutors long ago sheltered her from. The other part was suspicious, arrogant and upset over the possibility that something new could shake the core of her beliefs. “If the truth serum is unsatisfactory, what shall be your next course of action?”

“Well, that’s going to be a bit less sophisticated. We’ve had a lot of experience dealing with the stubborn before, and we had to make do without magic,” Moore said, the atmosphere darkening. He put on a reassuring smile, so as to not terrify Varica. “Let’s just say that all it takes is a little bit of water.”