Mana sight revealed a lot more than he had been expecting. When he looked above The Mother into the canopy, he expected to see some runed plates. Perhaps a ballista trained at the riese’s goddess. What he actually saw was much worse.

Based on the bobbing bits of mana in the grove tree’s canopy, there were people up there. About a dozen of them, all hiding behind camouflage high in the tree. He could see four major sources of mana as well. They were stationary and pointed down towards the mother. Magical weapons of some sort.

They didn’t have automated defenses up there, they had a whole battalion. The nox got regular shipments from the riese because they held The Mother hostage here. They took the threat much more seriously than Hugo could have ever guessed. To make matters worse, it looked like one of the magic weapons was now pointed directly at his Raven. They had seen him.

While he tried to think of what he should do now, Hugo sent his Raven in a circle around the nearest grove tree. He wasn’t sure if the misdirection would work, but he would rather have the nox behind the camouflage confused instead of suspicious.

He sent the Raven in a circle around two more grove trees and piloted it back to his house. As he packed it away, he started to panic again. How was he going to take a whole camouflaged battalion of nox? He saw twelve of the soul cores, there could be even more mundane nox up in that tree. He had been hoping he could use a few Hornets to take out a weapon or two on a single branch.

Not anymore. He would have to be here in person if he was going to have a chance of saving the mother from the nox mages in the canopy. They had a whole building strung between two enormous branches. They were perfectly positioned to annihilate The Mother and anyone that tried to rescue her.

Hugo spent the rest of the day trying to come up with a plan with a chance of success. There were too many unknowns, he just couldn’t plan out an effective attack without knowing more about his enemy. He couldn’t learn more without tipping them off. He started to get down in the dumps. Why was he even doing this? Even if he managed to save all eight shimmer veins this year, what was he going to do next year when they tried to destroy the veins again? He didn’t have any answers and went to bed exhausted.

He woke up exhausted as well. That prompted him to take a mana stone. As it dissolved in his mouth, Hugo perked up. The mana might be thicker this time of year, but it still wasn’t up to the level he needed to sustain himself. Now that he was energized, he decided to leave town. He didn’t need to solve every problem right now, he still had three months. He would take everything one step at a time.

He decided to head over to Tallinn for now. He had an idea about how to save that city. While he was headed that way, he stopped off at Reval and checked for letters. He got one from Rebane, thanking him for the gold. That was nice. He also got one from Mia. He tore it open and read it right away.

Hey Hugo,

I was glad to see your letter. I meant to talk to you before I left, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to work at the Einang Runic Temple. They are fantastic, truly at the forefront of the magical research community. I even get to work with Elder Futhark on my rotating stator engine. Come visit me and I can tell you all about it.

I am sure we can solve your problem you wanted to talk about when you come visit me. I have included a portal ticket, keep it safe. Those things are expensive. I hope to see you soon!

Mia

Included with the letter was a thick paper ticket, it looked like it had been embossed with gold. How much had she spent so that he could come to her instead of her visiting Reval?

Hugo grumbled to himself. He was trying to save thousands of lives and obey literal gods. She wanted him to drop all of that and visit her just because she was excited about her stator engine. He sighed. He was still going to visit her. She might have some insights into solving his problems. Besides, he was really curious about the portal ticket. Did it mean what he thought it did?

...

It did!

Hugo had taken a trip from Mthatha out to the border of Pretoria, a town called Midrand. It was a major transportation hub. The grain shipments would continue on via train, but Hugo was skipping the three week trip to his destination. He was traveling via portal. There were a dozen mages working a complex machine that opened paired portals and sent people through. Each portal had a large sign above it. Safi, Rasheed, Asilah, Meknes, and Einang. One portal for each of the largest cities in Pretoria. Hugo made a mental note to visit the capital city of Rasheed after this.

Apparently the portals were very expensive to maintain, so they had to send people through quickly. They had created a specialized transport to work around that limitation. Hugo had been watching it for a little while and now it was his turn. He passed his ticket over to the attendant and said, “One to Einang.”

“One golden ticket to Einang,” the attendant said and took the ticket, “Please follow me to the red station.” She led him to a small cart sitting on railway tracks. It didn’t have any sides or top, which was fine because they were inside a building. She motioned to the seats bolted to the metal frame and said, “Please take a seat and buckle in. Your portal opens in twenty minutes.”

Hugo nodded to her and took a seat next to a pair of nox. He stowed his bag under the seat. He saw several buckles and straps. He didn’t know how to use them, but he assumed he could figure it out. After glancing at his neighbors, he was secured to the seat. There was a strap across his waist, over both shoulders, and across his chest. They weren’t taking any chances.

Five minutes before their turn, the attendants came by. They verified the destination and checked everyone’s buckles. They tightened Hugo’s straps. A riese came by and slowly pushed their kart back. It compressed the enormous springs behind the cart until they clicked into place.

When it was time, a perfectly sized portal to Einang opened. Less than a second later, the cart was rocketing forward. Hugo didn’t see it, but he knew the portal winked out a moment after they passed through. His cart slowly came to a stop, a hundred feet from the portal. Everyone pressed the release on their straps and clamored out. It was amazing to think that he was literally hundreds of miles away from where he started.

With his small bag over his shoulder, Hugo slowly wandered the town. He loved this part. The excitement of travel, the discovery of new sights and experiences. The city was high up in the mountains. The city was carved into the side of the mountain, a slanted city of stone. The majority of the housing lay below him since the portal station was on the upper part of the town.

As he headed down the stairs throughout the city, he noticed a common element in the stone construction around him. The buildings were half mortared stone, and half excavated caves. Everything was heavily decorated as well. Some stone was painted, some carved, some both. No matter what, there wasn’t a bit of unadorned stone. Even the steps below him had simple designs carved into them for traction.

Just as interesting as the city was the view beyond it. The inclined nature of the city meant that he could easily see past the city walls below him. A panoramic vista revealed itself as he looked past the city. A mountain range continued on to his left. A verdant green valley lay before him. In the distance were rolling hills of green and chartreuse. It was beautiful.

He stopped and stared until he was jostled by a passer by. Hugo moved out of the street and looked around for a better vantage point. He rarely got to see something this beautiful. He found an outdoor café and spent hours sipping chai and staring at the landscape.

Long after lunchtime, he convinced himself it was time to find the runic temple. The design of the city showed that the nicer buildings were built higher up the mountain, so he started climbing stairs. The street turned and headed west towards one of the main thoroughfares. He found a pleasant surprise there.

The street was smooth with dozens of sleds making their way up and down the city. Anyone could just step onto a stone sled and slowly make their way up or down the city. The sleds were all connected to each other with a set of enormous chains. Hugo suspected they were being pulled up by some mechanism near the top of the boulevard.

He hopped onto one of the sleds heading up and enjoyed a leisurely tour of the city. He hopped off near the top when he saw something that screamed temple at him. The pagoda style construction was one clue. The fact that every surface was covered in active runes was another.

He walked up to the guards at the front gates and said, “Excuse me, I was hoping to talk to one of my good friends. I believe she is a student here?”

The nox nodded and said, “We don’t have students, but we do have initiates. I am sure that is what you meant. Come with me and we will get you sorted out.” He led Hugo inside the temple.

The nox said, “Who are you looking for?”

“A human named Mia. She got here about a month ago or so?” Hugo said

“Ah, smart friend you have there,” the nox said and walked up to a golem sweeping the floors. He said, “Golem number five. Lead this human to experiment room two.”

The golem set down the broom and motioned for Hugo to follow it. Hugo marveled at its construction and fluid gait. It was a much more advanced golem than he was used to seeing.

It led him down a hallway and to the furthest section of the temple. It was much nicer and ornate here. The runes on the wall were mithril covered in gold.

The golem stopped just inside a large room. There was a machine dominating the center of the room with scaffolding surrounding it. Hugo recognized Mia standing near the top discussing something with an older nox and a Fey. A half dozen golems walked around the scaffolding, adding or removing parts. Hugo walked up to the machine and examined it while he waited for Mia to end her conversation.

It was a round funnel with a fan in the center. The fan blades were slowly turning. The bottom of the machine had wires leading to an array of lights that were pulsing in sync. He had no idea what this was.

Once he heard their conversation end, Hugo loudly said, “Mia! Do you have time for an old friend?”

She looked down at him and smiled. “Hugo, great to see you. I am busy right now, but I will carve out some time soon.” She turned and said, “Golem number two, lead this human to the closest meditation room. Provide hot tea and a tray of biscuits.”

The golem closest to Hugo bowed to Mia slightly and motioned for him to follow it. Hugo was impressed. The complexity of the commands they could give their golems was impressive.

Hugo was led to a small room strewn with comfortable pillows. Golem number two returned after a few minutes with a full tea set and a large tray of cookies. When Mia didn’t appear after fifteen minutes, he helped himself to the tea and snacks. Both were excellent.

The tea was cold by the time Mia arrived.

“Hugo! Glad you didn’t give up on me. Sorry, that took longer than expected. The grandmasters keep wanting to take over my work, but none of them really understand it. I have to keep fixing their mistakes and explaining where they went wrong,” Mia said and plopped down on the pillows nearby.

“What are you working on anyway? These people seem rather impressed with you,” Hugo said and gestured with a cookie to the temple around them.

“Of course they are impressed, I got my project to work. Once we get the kinks out, it’s going to revolutionize modern life,” Mia said and took a sip of the tea. She made a face and put it back down. “Thanks for the mithril by the way. It would have taken years to save up enough for my converter.”

“What do you convert? What does this thing do exactly?” Hugo said.

“It’s a two stage converter, it converts mana into motion and magnetic power, then that gets converted into electric power. It’s almost a one to one conversion, but not yet. We have been working on fully optimizing it, we will get there in a month or two, I am sure of it. Once it’s perfected, the machine can draw in ambient mana and convert it into electricity,” Mia said excitedly.

“Ok, I assume this would be useful for large weapons or something?” Hugo said.

“No! Well, yes, but no. Don’t you see, Hugo! This can be a replacement for shimmer! It would make lighting, indoor plumbing, manufacturing, everything cheap enough so that the masses could take advantage of it,” Mia said. “That kind of thing is reserved for the rich out here beyond the wheel. If we can get the kinks worked out, we can bring modern life to everyone, not just the nobility. That would make everyone’s life better, and would pour a few plats into my pocket at the same time,” Mia said with a wink.

Hugo’s eyes widened. This was amazing. No wonder Mia was their new wunderkind. This kind of invention was worth millions. He stared through the walls in the direction of her machine.

“Enough about me, you said you had a problem you can’t write about?” Mia said and grabbed a cookie. “What can I do for you?”