Chapter 9-285: The World in Motion (1/2)

The Hologram fell away, and President Havier looked around at the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

There were some very depressed, borderline frightened men there.

It was no wonder. Heavenbound Hall had released some videos of what had gone on in Yellowstone, above and beyond what so many of the men there had witnessed. They still hadn’t issued anything about the final confrontation at the middle of the place, and there hadn’t been any scouts within miles, of course.

The biggest thing to the President had been the acute sense of relief, radiating from the Spirit of the Land, as if something annoying had been wiped away.

General Mallory took a deep breath as Havier looked around the room at the soldiers here. The Army, the Air Force, the Navy, the Arcane Guard, and the Marines were all represented here. It was significant that every single one of the people in the room was Powered, aside from the President himself.

The President was, however, a Landbound Warlock, as powerful as any on the continent, save perhaps a few from Heavenbound Hall and that woman from Chicago. If they could look down at him in certain ways, his tie to the continent itself had gained their respect.

It was hard to call yourself a loyal American if you were pissing off the people sworn to Her, right?

“This woman is a strategic-level threat of extraordinary concern,” General Mallory stated firmly. While the armed forces were more integrated on many levels, the upper ranks were still dominated by humans. Terms of service and forced retirement dates had also insured that longer-lived races could not continue in posts of seniority, nor the longer-lived Powered, making sure that younger people still had something to look forwards to.

That had been a reform mandated by many Churches, although some Imprusar and more grasping faiths had either been opposed or neutral on the prospect. Anyone with a term of military service long enough to trip the requirements was definitely a true loyalist of the country, however, and the terms of their retirement meant they could be called up in case of an emergency.

There was also a basic mandate that you had to have Levels, and you had to be competent. Again, this had come first from Heavenbound Hall, and had been proven over and over in command situations. Experienced troops simply would not respond well to commanders who either had no aptitude at command, or were lower in Level than themselves. Elite troops had to be commanded by people whose prowess they respected and trusted, or efficiency and troop morale instantly dropped like a rock.

As a result, the process of rising through the ranks had become both more ruthless and more open. Men who rose to the rank of General were now basically still in their prime, and if they had to, they could still strap on their gear and walk out into a fight with the best of them. If they couldn’t, their men would know it, and watchers throughout the service would see and hear the grumbling start to rise instantly... magically, as it were.

It was one of the ways that Havier had become President, actually. Finding a Seven (no, a Faux Seven, Mallory corrected himself) actually willing to run for public office had been difficult for all the major parties. Career politicians who could not Level never got past the municipal level, now, and if you weren’t at the top of the curve, you couldn’t be a sitting President. Congress would just ignore you, the media would treat you even more mercilessly than normal, and the electorate basically whine and complain about you from all sides. You’d get nothing done, and the only reason people would vote for you was because there was no one else.

Voter apathy reached ridiculous proportions if you didn’t have the Levels.

Landbound Warlocks had a massive advantage since they represented the Spirit of the Land, and they had a Warlock’s impetus to Level. Sure, they had to deal with Priests and Druids who also represented major powers, Bards and Minstrels who loved the social conflict and scheming, politically-minded Rogues who excelled at political games, and other Warlocks scheming to advance the agendas of their Patrons while staying outside the realm of martial conflict.

In addition, getting the major powers to actually pay attention to the government was quite a challenge. Heavenbound Hall, for instance, was a perpetual thorn in the side, as its people went out and did Good Deeds, regardless of how disruptive or unwanted those deeds would be to certain people involved. While rarely as open as the Hall, other players routinely worked around anything the government did, and often had such immense influence and personal power that doing anything about it was the equivalent of starting a war.

It was noteworthy that the Evil Warlocks who got into positions of power where they could ply words, temptations, and lies to sow discord and gather personal power tended to be self-correcting, as Heavenbound would walk right in, regardless of the laws protecting such terribly important people, and put them right to the sword.

Their political rivals would be utterly happy to tip the Hall off, too.

“Nor is this woman an American,” the General went on, as if that was a damning fact, a point Havier noted. His own parents were from Mexico, and as the child of immigrants, he was very aware of how they’d been looked down on when they fled north to escape the warlords and constant strife that engulfed their homeland. “She’s of French birth, arriving here less than two years ago, possibly to avoid her civil service.”

Which would basically mean she couldn’t return home once she came of age, unless she promptly did her civil service. She was halvyr; the two years of her life was nothing, and given the magical power she showed, she’d be fawned all over in the service. That was an idiot’s excuse, especially given what she had done since!

“A point, General Mallory,” General Elise Haerkon of the Arcane Guard spoke up, and received a nod. “This young woman, named Elrii, showed absolutely no indication or ability with magic growing up, a rather exceptional set of circumstances for a halvyr. Her school records indicated she definitely had the mental chops, but she was unable to master even the slightest Cantrip.”

President Havier frowned. He knew the rules for Powered were different, but that did sound very unusual. He glanced at where the Holo showing her slaughtering fire Elementals in massive numbers had been. “And what changed?” he asked.

“We don’t know,” General Mallory admitted. “Apparently, she was pregnant and kidnapped by some Sinbound Warlocks, and abandoned in the New York Shroudzone after they stole her child. She survived the Shroudzone and made it out alive, and had her magic.” The old warrior waved his hand dismissively. “The reports on the matter chalk it up to being suddenly attuned as a Shroudborn. However, no other Shroudborn Caster we have on record ever experienced such phenomenal growth in ability over such a short period of time.”

The President glanced around at the room of uncomfortable men and women, only one halvyr among all of them, but Air Force General Tomawild was considered as loyal an American as anyone here. “You do not buy this explanation, General Mallory?” he asked shortly.

“With all respect to her accomplishments, Mister President, there has been no independent verification of whether that fact is true or not. The report noted that such justification came from Traveler herself, and there was no way to disprove it.”