Magical Engineering Chapter 70: Fan & Shit, a Romance

“Dad, you up yet?” I heard as my groggy mind ca awake. John was standing in front of carrying two plates of eggs.

“I am now, what’s up?” I asked, thinking I already knew the answer.

“I figured it was long past ti for a breakfast together, so I made your favorite and kind of just wanted to talk,” he said. I pulled myself out from the blankets and found a couple of chairs and a crate for a makeshift table.

“Your cooking is much better than the first ti,” I said, smiling after eating an egg. It was quite good, even if I had gotten used to my own breakfasts, but just the idea of having eggs in my house again was a nice feeling.

“That tends to happen with years of practice, but I need to talk to you about sothing I haven’t told Alex yet. I don’t think we are going to find Mom. I an, it’s possible, I guess, but she was at the UN when the attack started, and from what I’ve seen and heard, basically every governnt or leadership type of installation was the first targeted. I an, the White House is just gone. There was so footage of that before everything really went down,” John explained. Even after all this ti, that news felt like a gut punch; Laura was likely dead, and John had been keeping that whole burden to himself. I did my best to push down what I felt. Right now, John needed to be clear-headed.

“It’s okay, we can talk to her together. It is possible your Mom is still alive, but I understand what you’re going through. We can talk to her about it,” I said. Now I understood the real thing that had been weighing on him yesterday. It wasn’t just the shock of seeing .

“I really appreciate–” John started to say before the banging on the garage door started.

“Dammit, I know yer in there, Dave; get yer ass here! We don’t got a lot of ti.” The voice belonged to a perpetually grumpy man I knew and had been waiting for. He had followed through on his promise, and while that removed so of the weight, the new additions of my ex-wife’s likely death more than canceled out that relief.

“John, go grab everyone inside. I have a feeling this will be an all-hands-on-deck type of mont,” I said as I opened the garage door to my favorite floating cloud man. While I was glad to see l, he looked incredibly worried, and that wasn’t a good sign.

“I already woke up Timon and the brothers. Now co on, we don’t wanna be inside when they get here,” l said. Timon and so very groggy-looking Twinogs were standing outside the bus.

“When who gets here?” I asked, hearing the front door open and spotting the others out of the corner of my eye.

“Korl, at the very least, but if any of my sches worked, might just have a few more incoming visitors,” l said before turning to my family and eyeing each of them. Was he analyzing them?

“Korl is still alive?” Sanquar said as he landed next to .

“Who the hell are you, and what the fuck happened to yer core?” l asked, looking strangely at the bird.

“Uh, this is Sanquar, l,” I said. For the first ti I had ever seen, l floated backward, away, looking both annoyed and worried. His eyes managed to narrow beyond what I thought he was capable of.

“So yer the damn idiot that started this whole ss! Yer lucky Dave t soone capable of untangling all the shit ya caused!” l said, nearly snarling the words.

“I can apologize for saving Dave’s life if you want,” Sanquar said. Another first, I hadn’t heard any snark from him before.

“No, fine, I get it. Just like this ss, you were suffering from a lack of choices. But yes, Korl’s alive, and he’s got himself a court order involving this world. I don’t know what that order is, but there’s a real chance ain’t no help is coming. If that happens, well, it might be the end. The reason I wanted y’all out here is I need every one of ya to follow my lead, no matter what happens. If it gets to the point I say fight, well, it was great knowing y’all, but ya fight,” l yelled to the assembled group. What the hell was coming on his heels?

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“Are you the weird cloud guy l from the story Dave told us last night? That’s so aweso that you’re real. How do you float like that?” Maud asked, cutting through the tension.

“Ya know what, I like her. Real way of cutting through the bullshit,” l said, which was possibly the biggest shock of the day so far.

“Glad to hear you like soone, l. I wasn’t sure you still had it in you after all these years, and Sanquar, it’s been even longer. I’d ask how you’ve been, but I can’t imagine it was great,” the figure I recognized as Korl said, walking from the forest towards us. I looked to l, who just shook his head at , which I knew well by now was him telling to shut up.

“Korl, what brings ya to Earth?” l asked, his voice had shifted. He seed to be trying to hide any annoyance or anger. I risked a glance back at Timon. The mantis’ eyes were glued to Korl, and his usual smirk had been replaced by what looked like hunger. Did Timon want this fight?

“I think you know exactly what I’m here for, l. I’ve got a court order to take possession of this planet. We can’t have this soon-to-be incorporated world without a leader, after all,” Korl said smugly.

“And just what happens to everyone already on this planet when ya take possession of it?” l asked, a bit of anger seeping back into his voice.

“I’m feeling generous, so I’ll give everyone here, except Sanquar over there, one chance to board that bus there and head back to where you ca from. From there, make whatever you want of yourselves,” Korl said, smiling.

“Correct if I’m wrong here, Korl, not much of a legal guy myself, but seeing as how no faction actually ever took this world, wouldn’t that an that anyone who just happens to be a resident of this here world and is on the System’s path has a right to challenge that there order?” l said. There was only one person he could an, and I had no idea how to challenge a legal order within the Spiral. I opened my mouth and imdiately shut it before a word could escape at the sudden death glare from l.

“That’s a pretty archaic concept there. Has that ever actually happened? When was the last ti there was even soone with a developed core before Spiral incorporation? And seeing as how I have the court order, I’m not really sure what you intend to do anyway,” Korl said. Out of nowhere, a large bubble suddenly appeared in between where l and Korl were standing and the bus was parked. Then it looked like reality itself popped for a split second, and the bubble was gone. In its place were what looked like three black bowling balls stacked on top of each other, and standing next to them were Elody and Pryte.

“And as you can see, your honor, the paperwork I filed is entirely accurate, yet for so reason, this man is here trying to seize a world that is already possessed by a faction,” Elody said. I thought I caught l smiling for a fraction of a second as she said this.

“Hrm, her paperwork does appear to be in order,” the three balls said. I had no idea where their mouth or voice had co from, but they had certainly said it sohow.

“Even if that is true, why is a forr librarian filing paperwork as though she is their legal representative? As far as I know she has gone back to her forr paladin career and does not have a license to practice law,” Korl said, sounding just slightly caught off guard for the first ti.

“Korl is correct, your honor. I do not possess a legal license. I am, though, a mber of the Arena team: The More Heads, the Better. Pryte is here willing to testify to that as well as that Dave is fully registered for the Arena within that sa team and therefore has the right to allow a mber of his team to represent that team in all legal matters, license or not,” Elody said. This ti, I was sure I saw l smile.

“She’s got you there, Korl. You sure you want to go up against a paladin of knowledge here? The world’s mana-barren, do you want to take the ti needed to change that? And before you say it, even if Sanquar is here, who cares? There isn’t anything he can really do anymore,” the three balls said.

“I demand to know what faction has taken possession of this world. Considering who I represent, I find it very hard to believe anyone would be willing,” Korl said, the anger now rising in his voice.

“The Empire of Dave, a newly registered faction. What, ya haven’t heard of them yet, Korl?” l said, this ti not even dropping his smirk after he finished speaking. On the other hand, I just frowned. Had he just said the Empire of Dave? As I opened my mouth to question it, both Elody and l glared at this ti. And for the third ti since this started, I shut myself up. Had they just made emperor of Earth? Fuck, I really didn’t want to rule a planet…

The birth of the Empire of Dave should, for all rights, just be a simple footnote in so history of the lesser-known factions' book. There is no reason at all that a faction with zero political power, no resources, not even a mana flow, and only marginally more channelers should have lasted a year, let alone grown to shake the foundations of the Spiral. And yet here we are, ten thousand years past that day, and there isn’t a being alive who doesn’t know of the planet Earth.

Systems of Change, A Book Not Yet Written by a Man Not Yet Born.