Wearing Power Armor to a Magic School (2/?) Revised Version! (Patreon)

Hello everyone! I've done some revisions to the second chapter because I wanted to put more emphasis on introducing Emma as a character earlier on rather than leaving it to later chapters. As I write Chapter 3, I started to realize that it made more narrative sense this way, so here's a newly revised Chapter 2! I hope you guys enjoy and please feel free to tell me what you think! :D 

10 Months Prior to Arrival

Emma Booker

There was once a time when I liked fantasy. A time when things were simpler and the world just seemed like one big adventure waiting to be undertaken. I’d grown up on newsreels of the first interstellar drives to break the Warp V limit, and films that documented the first landings on habitable worlds not of our own design. I’d spent hours upon hours on the soft carpeted floors of my living room, reading and fantasizing about hidden worlds just beyond the snowy forests that flanked our small, two-story home. Not a weekend was spent without the regaling of tales conjured up between me and my parents of heroes and kingdoms in far off lands. Not a season was spent without a new hyperfixation, a new campaign to be played between schoolwork and chores.

I was once living a fantasy, until one chilly autumn morning, it all came crashing down.

One phone call was all it took, a single conversation was what signaled the end of my childhood. It marked that clearly defined line between what I’d call my idyllic youth and the wakeup call that was my teens.

In the weeks that followed I watched as the world around me was torn piecemeal. Relatives and adults I barely knew barging in and picking apart the warmth and comfort that had been my home. Family photos stored in boxes, shelves emptied and dismantled, the attic where mom and I would go on adventures to kingdoms in faraway lands, cleared out without hesitation. The spaces and places that I had once known, transformed into a hollow shell of themselves as the days and weeks went by. Until they finally took me as well, away from the only place I knew, and then only life I’d known.

I never saw my home again. I never even set foot in my hometown after I was relocated to my distant Aunt’s apartment in the city. Sometimes I even wonder if it was all part of the fantastical stories I’d grown up with, because imagining a world so perfect, so untouched by everything, was almost too fantastical in and of itself.

I eventually came to call the concrete jungle my home. Plaster and wallpapered walls replacing the warm oaks and pines that I had once taken for granted. A skyline soaring hundreds upon hundreds of stories overhead likewise became the norm, as was the finely manicured park that was a 20 minute subway ride away from the apartment I now called home. No longer could I just exit the kitchen to find an expansive open yard, surrounded by a dense patch of conifers, and no longer could I spend hours upon hours staring out the little nook in the front porch’s windowsill, gazing as the seasons shifted from one to the other.

The city was a whole different beast, and it was one that I’d grown to love in a strange sort of way. People here wouldn’t bother you, even if you were in the middle of a crowd of thousands or an apartment complex filled with thousands more. You weren’t disturbed, you weren't bothered, at least not so much that you started to form attachments.

My case workers told me that many people in my situation would prefer to retreat further into fantasy and fiction. But I did the exact opposite.

The illusion of fiction was just too much to bear after having the rug torn from under me. So I focused on what mattered instead: real life. I did everything that I needed to do, running on auto-pilot as some of my friends would say. I got good enough grades at school, volunteered in extracurriculars as decorative pieces for my college application, and did what was expected of me.

I wanted to forget what I’d lost. I wanted to leave that past behind in any way I could.

I found structure and direction in the JROTC, and from what little conversations me and my Aunt would have, it was clear she agreed with me (not surprising given how she was a veteran of the Jovian Uprisings).

Yet I wouldn’t have expected that my journey into the military would lead me to a fate that further entangled me with a past I so desperately wished to move past. Indeed, I wasn’t expecting what was supposed to be the start to my adult life to be a backtrack into fantasy.

=====

The Institute for Anomalous Studies, Earth. 10 Months Prior to Arrival.

Director Elizabeth Weir

Emma was the perfect candidate. A 19 year old college freshman with an impeccable academic record, alongside commendations from her JROTC reports. This alone wouldn’t have made her stand out, if it wasn’t for the fact that she had little in the way of familial or social attachments. This latter factor was especially vital given the sensitive nature of this operation.

An operation that would see the greatest risk ever undertaken by a single human being, second only to the perilous flights of humanity’s first FTL-capable vessels. An operation that would indeed, see her flung into a great, perilous unknown, disconnected and completely cut off from the rest of civilization, just as those brave pioneers had done centuries ago.

Yet whilst the first human flights into the great unknown were preceded and accompanied by much fanfare, this great leap however, would not.

For centuries now we’ve been observing, tracking, analyzing, and studying what is undeniable evidence of a world parallel to our own. A world that lurks just underneath the surface, that served as a source of myths and legends for our ancestors, and that continues to serve as a limitless pool of inspiration to those gifted enough to peer across the veil; inadvertently acting as a source of inspiration for countless works of fantasy and fiction

Indeed this world would’ve been left at that, fiction, if it wasn’t for us.

Shunned and practically excommunicated by the scientific community, our outlandish claims were pushed aside as the march of progress continued ever onwards. Yet as evidence began to stack, and as proof continued to mount, we eventually garnered the attention of the United Nations Science Advisory, who eventually saw fit to incorporate us into what is now the IAS.

What we discovered was irrefutable evidence of what could only be described as a world of magic and sorcery, a fantasy world by every metric; and one that had the potential to upend our own. It was because of this existential threat that every resource was eventually poured into peering deeper into this world, and its non-analogous scientific principles.

Yet the more we tried peering in, the less information we got back. It was a battle of diminishing returns that lasted for centuries before we finally made a breakthrough. Our equivalent of discovering the Rosetta Stone.

We discovered a means of communicating with the powers on the other side of the fence, and indeed, we later discovered that this was intentional. The journey we’d been on for the past few centuries, the discovery of this puzzle as they called it, all of it was a test, a test to determine the “magical potential” for those “gifted” from other worlds. Indeed, it was a test that was considered commonplace, and had been in place for what was described to us as “eons” now.

Mumbles were heard on the other side discussing how we technically weren’t ever expected to pass this test, given how magically deficient our species naturally were. It was later revealed to us that every other civilization in our own galaxy had long since passed, and we were effectively the last to follow suit.

As a result, we would be the last to enter this realm of magic and sorcery.

This perhaps explained why it was that we had detected no other technologically advanced civilizations, even as we developed FTL and roamed the galaxy for intelligent life. Theories abound on how this divergent pathway would have stagnated technological development, but that was a story for another day.

Our correspondences led us to the understanding that upon completion of this test, that a single candidate be sent through the threshold for further evaluation before their host civilization was allowed to fully peer into this great unknown. It called for a candidate roughly of 19 years of age, of any sex and gender, with what they described to us as “a heart of gold and a willingness to accept what is beyond the known, and willing to sacrifice it all should it come to it”.

Yet as we sent our first candidate through the threshold, it was clear that not only were we ‘magically deficient’, but that magic was actively rejecting us. Despite being in full PPE that should have protected against every hazard known to science, our first candidate was returned to us in a near unrecognizable state. An autopsy revealed the signs of a breakdown of cellular matrices at a microscopic level, and what would only be described as near-liquefaction of our first human candidate.

But after some time was allowed for grieving, alongside whatever cover stories were needed to keep this under wraps, we knew we had to try again.

It was decided then, that we would spend however much more time was necessary in order to study, probe, and poke at the dangers that lie beyond this threshold. In order to best counter it using every tool at our disposal.

Decades, and after what we hoped weren’t lethal doses of ‘mana’ radiation later, we finally pulled it off. The ultimate expression of human defiance against an environment that would see us dead without an iota of empathy or compassion. The culmination of centuries of work, of sacrifice and hardship: the Mark I Exoreality and Atypical Radiation Resistant Suit (E-ARRS), or what most in the team now colloquially called the Enchanted Armor.

Based on the framework of modern power armor expressly designed for combat in the vacuum of space, the suit was nothing short of a technological marvel. Layers upon layers of exotic materials protected the wearer from a total of 29 distinct types of magical radiation. A hermetically sealed oversuit and helmet prevented any exposure to the air, and kept any foreign contaminants (be it biological or chemical) from coming into contact with the wearer. Pieces of composite armor were attached almost identically to the original design, with the weight of it all carefully distributed and compensated by an exoskeleton sandwiched between the undersuit and the oversuit, hence the term power armor. Gauntlet-mounted laser and kinetic personal defense weapons were attached to both arms, despite the other side calling for the candidate to be sent unarmed.

Yet despite all this, a candidate was still needed to pilot this through the threshold.

And that’s where Emma comes in.

=====

The Institute for Anomalous Studies, Earth

Emma Booker

To say that the situation being presented to me was nothing short of unreal would be an understatement. Indeed, for a long while I had assumed this was some elaborate psyops recruitment drive targeted at new unsuspecting members of the ROTC. It took hours before I was finally convinced that this entire situation was what the Director claimed it to be. I should’ve guessed as much though. Because I doubt they would just be grabbing college freshmen right out of class and into the backseat of a blacked-out SUV for the sake of it.

The offer presented before me was something that no other human in history had ever been presented with. An offer to travel not just beyond the speed of light, or beyond the galactic quadrant, but to a whole other dimension. It was a world of (as the Director had put it herself) swords and sorcery, of indescribable history and culture, a world that I fundamentally had no interest in. Yet, it was a world that still drew me in despite my desires to escape its allure.

Perhaps this was the real reason why they chose me. Perhaps this was why, out of the countless more candidates they probably had, I was the one to don the encounter suit.

Indeed, I didn’t know why I signed up without hesitation. Perhaps it was because I craved to follow the motions of what was expected of me. Perhaps it was a latent drive to tap into that childhood fantasy. Perhaps it was just that innate human spirit of adventure, of breaking yet another barrier that stood in the way of human progress.

Whatever it was, I knew that by signing I was more than likely never going to see home, family, or friends again for at least a whole year at this ‘academy’ on the other side of the portal.

But that didn’t really bother me. It wasn’t as if I had any tangible attachments anywhere anyways. The military was what gave me more purpose in recent years, and it was the military that would be backing me up in this adventure going forward.

If anything, I would have all to gain and nothing to lose from this venture.

And so, the grueling training began in earnest.

Months of specialized training, of theory but most of all, practical instruction of prolonged life inside of the suit. The only barrier that would be protecting me from a quick, untimely demise. It was described to me as a spacesuit, or rather, it was drilled into me that it would be acting as a spacesuit to the other dimension’s unrepentantly volatile environment. How any native civilization, let alone species, had managed to evolve there naturally I did not know. What I did know however was that an entire year cooped up in the suit would be challenging to say the very least.

Which was also why I was given a sort of inflatable tent. One that had the same “mana”-resistant properties as the suit, but with the downsides of being unbelievably fragile, whereby a single slash of a kitchen knife could tear it. Yet it would be my only respite in the prolonged periods of suiting, and would be required for routine maintenance when the time did call for it.

Weapons, survival, and tactical exercises were all part of the training, all with a heavy emphasis on the suit’s various subsystems. A fine piece of technology that I was beginning to grow fond of, given the lengths the UN’s best and brightest have gone to transform an EVA workhorse into a platoon’s worth of force projection.

Yet training and briefing on the other dimension was worryingly lacking. The Director herself admitted that they were going in half-blind. With far less than they would’ve liked to work off of, it was admittedly up to me to “make up for the lack of intel in situational adaptability and personal initiative”.

I wanted to tell her that would be easier said than done, but given the circumstances, I held back on it.

Eventually however, the time did come for my training, my skills, and my resolve to be put to the ultimate test.

As I stood there in the middle of a lab straight out of a blockbuster science fiction movie, with the administrative staff, military attaches, and leading scientific hotshots all hiding behind a veritable bunker that overlooked a floor full to the brim with monitoring equipment and strange runic markings on the floor.

“Whatever happens, Cadet. Know that you’re making history, and that you’re doing your country, your people, and the entirety of the human race, proud. Out of the 252 billion humans in this galaxy, you will be one of the only two to have stepped through this threshold.” The Director spoke in a rousing speech which elicited a few claps from behind her, but that I only responded with a single thumbs up and a nod.

“Neil Armstrong, Peter Li, Jean Rousseau, and Eleanor Sobeck all had something to say before they did their big leaps forward, didn't they?” I asked, as the portal before me started to grow in increasing size and intensity. “If I can even be compared to any of them that is… I’d like to say something as well.”

“Whatever it is, you better make it quick cadet, the portal’s about to reach criticality.”

“Humanity has always reached for the stars, reaching ever outwards towards the heavens. Today, humanity reaches beyond the stars, beyond the heavens, into the pages of fiction itself.”

=====

The Transgracian Academy for the Magical Arts, Nexus

Emma Booker

It happened almost instantaneously. In fact, it felt as if nothing had happened at all, as all I saw was just saw the concrete and composite walls of the lab suddenly disappear for a moment, being replaced in the next second by what I could only describe as a room straight out of Versailles.

It was the same feeling you’d get when leaving one room and entering another. Except, you never moved at all.

My eyes had barely adjusted to that sudden shift in my surroundings before I was met face to face with what could only be described as three humanoid figures pulled straight from a fantasy novel. They all stared at me with the same shocked expression I was probably giving through the opaque lenses of the helmet. Yet as I noticed their robed figures, and most importantly, the distinct coloration between each of them, it became clear to me that these were more than likely some of the staff in charge.

Different colored robes, denoting different ranks, departments maybe? Clearly some sort of hierarchy, which means, officials, staff, faculty, teachers? I thought to myself as I held up a single, suited hand, and waved.

“Hi. I’m Emma. The new student from Earth?”

My whole body tensed as I spoke those words, realizing what I’d just done…

I gave my speech before I arrived here. Which means… the first words ever spoken by a human in this new reality… oh god what have I done.

It didn’t take long however before the silence in the air was promptly broken by one of the group, what I could only describe as a blue-robed elf, who immediately came to my side, tapping at my armor.

“Emma was it? How are you feeling? I heard you exhaling rather harshly there. Please, if you feel nauseous, light-headed, faint, or anything, please don’t hesitate to inform me immediately so that we may take you to the infirmary to-”

“Whoah whoah whoah” I raised up both hands, careful not to brush the man’s bare arm too roughly given I was hesitant to field-test the suit’s power differentials. “I… I’m fine. I feel fine at least. I erm. If I feel off or anything I’ll be sure to tell you… sir?” I cocked my head, realizing that none of the three had yet to have introduced themselves.

“Ah, yes, the introductions.” The black-robed one spoke next. This one was also elvish… except, darker, almost purple? A purple with a heavy hint of charcoal. Like someone had poured activated charcoal into grape soda. His hair was slick and was formed back into two distinct locks. “I am Council-Appointed Professor Mal’tory, I am in charge of administrative duties relaying matters of academic significance to the Privy Council and His Excellency the King himself. As a Professor I am in charge of the Arts of Perception and Light.” The man refused to acknowledge me in any other way than a piercing stare. I bowed my head all the same though, not wanting to break any social faux pas on my first day.

“And I am Professor Vanavan, assistant to the Dean, and Professor of Mana-field Studies.” The blue-robed elf who had rushed up to me spoke, giving me half nod before turning to the older, clearly winded red-robed professor.

“This is Professor Belnor, she’s in charge of the Potions Department and Professor of Potions crafting.” He spoke, before raising both arms up a welcoming gesture. “We’re happy to have you here, Emma of the Earthrealm.”

Once introductions were firmly out of the way, I gave a firmer, deeper bow as the blue robed professor once more took to the helm gesturing for me to follow.

“We’re going to have some discussions about your uniform and your manner of dress, but let’s get you settled with the academy first before that!” He spoke jovially, as all three professors began to leave the room, with the sole exception of the black-robed one who seemed particularly fixated on a weird slit on a far flung corner of the room.