Within the Apple 16 FINAL

*****

“I thought you said that you hadn’t found any traces,” Armsmaster countered him. “Now you claim that you did?”

Xander paused, considering what he’d said, and finally nodded with a shrug, “Fair point. I meant that I couldn’t find any sign of them currently, there is however evidence of their existence in the past.”

“What sort of evidence?”

“Well, the obvious stuff would be the mythology they left behind,” Xander said, “the expected pantheons are there, Norse, Olympus, Hindu, as well as the American Pantheons. However, while I was hunting down some components I needed for my trip home I spent a little time looking into things and found this.”

He reached to one side, startling the others in the room as his hand vanished into mid air, and plucked a small golden ring from seemingly nowhere. He dropped the ring on the table, getting a curious look from Legend, a clearly paranoid one from the Director, and an intense stare from Armsmaster as the Tinker leaned in.

“What is it?”

“Draupnir,” Xander replied. “I went on a quick walkabout after Australia. Grabbed a few odds and ends I needed, then hopped up to Scotland to look for any of my kind.”

“Your kind?” Piggot asked sharply.

“Wizards,” He winked at her with a grin before he settled out, “Didn’t find any, which wasn’t a surprise really. The Endbringers would have scared the piss out of Wizards back home, and that attack on London would have certainlysent them running. I didn’t find any trace that they existed, however, so I’m guessing that they never existed.”

“But this… Draupnir… existed?” Armsmaster asked, one hand half extended to reach for the ring.

Xander nodded, reaching out to cup the ring briefly before sliding it across the table to where Armsmaster caught it and held it up. “Feel free to study it. It’s a crude version of the Philosopher’s Stone, can’t do the Elixer, but it can create gold. Eight new rings, identical to the one your holding, will drip from the original on every ninth day.”

Armsmaster casually hefted the ring, considering the weight that his armor was reporting to him as he accessed the cost of Gold at the moment.

“That’s nearly two thousand dollars in gold every day,” Armsmaster said, shocked.

“All for the low low cost of some of your magic, and a portion of your life,” Xander winked, chuckling as Armsmaster dropped the ring back to the table immediately. “Don’t worry, you can’t initiate it, but there is always a cost to greed. Magic just makes the cost obvious. If you like, I can initiate it for a week for you to study.”

The other three at the table looked at each other uncomfortably.

“That won’t cost you part of your life?” Legend asked hesitantly.

“There are ways to compensate,” Xander said, “but also it’s only one day per ring. Losing eight days off the end of my life isn’t much of a cost to provide you with some evidence. The trap is in the long term.”

“I see,” Armsmaster said hesitantly reaching for the ring again. “The temptation would be great indeed.”

“It’s not meant for humans,” Xander told him. “Gods are eternal, and they gain power with age as well as followers. For them, it’s not a price, it’s the primary benefit. The Gold is just a side bonus.”

“Right… so they were here,” Piggot said, moving the conversation back on track, though she was clearly shaken by what was being revealed. “Supposing that we believe you… where did they go?”

“That’s the question isn’t it?” Xander said, spreading his fingers as he waved his hands, “I don’t know. Maybe they went into hiding, but if they’d done that I would expect some of their braver members to be forming cults, as I said. Ares, Thor, Heracles… a few others here and there, they’d be the vanguard looking to regain strength in order to fight. So maybe they ran? But, again, while many of the Gods are venal cowards, not all of them are. That leaves one option…”

“They were killed.”

Xander nodded to her, “that’s the only thing that makes sense. Which means that whatever we’re dealing with, it’s dangerous.”

“That, I believe we could figure out on our own,” Piggot said dryly. “The question I have is just how do you suggest we proceed?”

“Right now? I don’t.” Xander told her firmly. “We’re in the intelligence gathering stage, Director. We move too soon, get noticed by something that can gank entire pantheons? There’s no victory down that path. There’s nothing we can do until we have better information.”

Piggot grumbled as she settled her corpulent body back into the large office chair, eying him for a moment before she nodded.

“Well, you’re not as stupid as most parahumans, at least.”

Legend and Armsmaster both shot her looks that left Xander struggling to hold in his laughter.

*****

Wards Room

“How does he define Magic?” Taylor repeated the question that Vista had presented her with, “Well Magus actually has a simple definition for it, believe it or not.”

“Really?” Vista said, sounding unconvinced. “How can you have a simple definition for something that doesn’t seem to be… well, definable?”

“Magus told me that the magic isn’t in the spell…”

Vista blinked behind her visor, “Huh? That makes no sense.”

“No, it really does,” Taylor said excitedly, leaning forward eagerly. “Think about it for a moment… what’s the difference between a fireball made by magic and one from, say, a flamethrower?”

“Uh… I don’t know?” Vista shrugged.

“There isn’t a difference,” Taylor told her. “They’re both fire, at their core. Sometimes a magical fireball can have… extras attached to it, but the fire is just fire. Like a taser or a magical lightning bolt… it’s just electricity, right?”

“Right…” Vista drawled slowly. “So?”

“So the magic isn’t in the spell itself, it comes before that,” Taylor said, an eager smile spreading as her expressive lips split her face. “According to Magus, the magic is in the moment when mind… or consciousness… meets the universe, and the universe submits.”

She withdrew a wand from her sleeve, casually flicking it at a chair as she spoke. “Leviosa.”

The chair lifted into the air, slowly rotating in place.

“I don’t know what’s making it float,” She admitted, “There’s dozens of ways you can do it with physics, but whatever method it uses to float isn’t magic. Magic is when I tell the universe how things are going to be, and the universe agreeswith me.”

Vista frowned, “But… isn’t that how Parahuman powers work?”

“Is it?” Taylor asked with a half smile now.

Vista did a double take before glaring at her, “Oh you stinker.”

Taylor’s laughter echoed through the room.

*****

Xander sighed as he rose to his feet, “I’m going to keep looking into this, and I’ll keep you apprised of anything I find.”

Legend got up as well, “Thank you for your help, Magus. I’ll have a PRT Agent escort you to… your Apprentice?”

“Just call her Apprentice,” Xander smirked, “It irritates her.”

“That’s a good thing?” Legend asked, amused, as he came around the table.

“Motivation is a grand thing for the young.”

Legend snorted, “You don’t seem that old yourself, you realize.”

“I’m older than I look,” Xander shrugged, “but really it’s not the years, it’s the mileage.”

Legend sighed, “Isn’t that the truth.”

“Oh, right,” Xander paused on his way out, turning and coming back. He reached across the table and scooped up the ring. A moment in his hand, a glow emerging from between his fingers, and he dropped it back down. “Nine days from now.”

Armsmaster nodded, eyes on the ring, “Thank you.”

Xander nodded to each of them in turn, “I’ll take my leave, but I expect we’ll be seeing each other around.”

“No doubt,” Legend nodded. “thank you for your time.”

*****