NABC 63. A Tale of The Past
63. A Tale of The Past
63. A Tale of The Past
Aurora sat down again, opposite Gareth who was still in a state of shock, mindlessly sipping at his drink. She decided to wait till he was a little more responsive to her words, taking the time to sip on her cocktail as she waited for him to recover.
After a minute, a semblance of clarity had returned to his eyes as he looked back at her, moistening his lips as he started to speak.
“So... you are really Chester? And time travelled...? It would at least explain some of the questionable decisions you had made. Say I buy all this, tell me, what happened to cause the destruction in that.. illusion?”
Aurora let out a slight sigh of relief as she crossed her legs, resting her elbows on the table with her hands clasped.
“So, as you are aware, I have put a lot of resources into Caelus Online. Caelus is the catalyst for everything. As recent revelations that have come to light have shown, the Roman gods, as it is understood, created a link for us, those on earth, to travel to another world, Caelus. For the next three months, those from Earth will interact with Caelus like it is a game, until the 27th of December, when everything goes to shit.”
Gareth seemed to be closely paying attention, appearing to be calming down from the earlier scare as he listened to her words.
“On the 27th, at around ten in the morning, the world will be hit with a sudden increase in mana levels, mana being the energy I use to do magic, and it will become accessible to everyone. But it doesn't just stop with mana, those who entered Caelus will pass out for a short period as they transform into their avatars, for lack of a better term. And yes, I mean as their bodies of whatever race along with the power gained. It was believed that it all had to do with the soul which was what entered the other world, but all humanity had was conjecture.”
Letting out a sigh, Aurora took a sip of her drink as she continued speaking.
“The how aside, mass panic was the immediate result, as you could imagine, with people starting to transform and everyone able to feel mana. Some people hid, others took to the streets to find out what was going on, and others, like the imbeciles they are, started to loot and steal. Within an hour of the first signs of mana, we found the first waves of monsters. Nothing too major to begin with, but more than the peaceful and inexperienced world could handle. Goblins, wolves, bears, the occasional orks, you get the idea. They all started to appear everywhere, urban and rural.”
The colour Gareth had managed to recover on his face once again vanished as the weight of her words weighed upon his mind, as the realisation of the untold amount of lives that could be lost dawned upon him.
“It is as you imagine, scenes of monsters roaming the streets of London occurring worldwide, slaughtering and much worse. The military moved quickly, but imagine what would happen when after the first few shots their weapons ended up overheating their guns, causing them to explode as the heat spread to their ammunition? Why you might ask? Simple, mana. It impacts everything in the world. Metals become slightly stronger as they are reinforced by the energy, life forms gain more power as the mana floods their cells, and the gunpowder in their weapons? More reactive. Vastly so.”
Seeing Gareth give a slight smile at the image of the politicians in an uproar, Aurora glanced over her shoulder at the street as she spoke.
“Anyway, with monsters, magic and internal instability, many opportunities presented themselves. Weapons manufacturing, construction, magical research, defence contracting, and the list goes on.”
For the first time during her speech, the light in Gareth's eyes changed and a glint of realisation washed over his face as he slapped the table.
“That's why you had Sasha working on acquiring those companies! The private military company confused me, especially when I heard you had asked them to play Caelus, but it all makes sense. So, what's the play?”
Aurora let an overjoyed grin play on her face as she leaned back, her hands supporting her on the windowsill.
“Well, I need an organised force of soldiers for both sides, Caelus and Earth. On Caelus to gain power within one of the major nations which would give us access to many things such as land, resources, power over the other players and so on. On Earth, initially, it will be to protect Branford group assets and locations, while also aiding the local population and preventing particularly nasty events that I can remember. And after that? Having a force under us will give us a massive advantage when we are at the negotiating table with the government.”
Gareth leaned back in his chair having become pale again, his face a mix of awe and horror.
“A power play? You can't seriously think that will work, do you? You're not trying to take over the country or something insane like that, right?”
Aurora chuckled as she dismissively waved her hand at his concerns.
“God, taking over the country? Way too much work. No, the idea is to become indispensable to the country with enough sway to force certain things to happen. And yes. I do think it will work, and quite well at that.”
Aurora walked back to her seat and grabbed her bag hanging on the back of her chair, pulling out her earlier drawing from earlier and passing it over to Gareth who eyed it with scrutiny.