John woke up to someone frantically shaking him. His mana surged instinctively, but he reeled his strength back in before he injured someone. The rude wakeup still ticked John off, so he shoved his assailant away from him. The near-loss of control disquieted John, but clearly someone needed him. John’s assailant’s features were silhouetted by the early afternoon sun streaming in through the tent flap.

  John blinked the crust from his eyes and recognized Case before he spoke, “Case, what’s going on?”

  “Lots of things. If we’re talking about what you care about there’s news from the military, apparently the base where your brother’s stationed was attacked by traitorous mages. There’s a planning meeting to discuss what to do going forward.”

  John blanched. “Shit. I’ve been worrying about him all day. Why do they need us?”

  Case shrugged, “I’m not sure, the Commissioner wasn’t clear about what was going on. He says there’s been some sort of communication blackout on that patch of the coast, but nobody knows if it’s coincidental.”

  John moved past Case and spoke as he pulled a shirt on, “Well, we best get going then.”

  Case studied John’s scarring. The bullet mulched a lot as it passed through his friend, but he could barely see the scar left over from the exit wound. John’s healing was prodigious and a little frightening. Case was thankful for his powers but John’s resilience was beyond belief.

  The camp was abuzz with activity as they rushed through the streets. The National Guard presence had increased dramatically while John was asleep, and he saw a large group of servicemembers firing mana projectiles from the top of a building to get used to their newfound powers. Several mages that felt extremely strange to John’s magical senses stood around as people wearing lab coats under flak jackets ran around with samples of different substances. Guess a state of emergency makes shit like that fair game.

  John pointed to that group, “Any idea what’s going on there?”

  Case grinned, “Those are national guard mages, plus a couple deputized adolescents like you and I, who have weird mana types. So far, they haven’t felt any matter in their magical senses, so that group of scientists is trying to figure out what type of magic they have! I think they’re basically pulling exotic elements and chemicals out of the labs over at NC State, but a couple have been bringing out seed collections and stuff like that. They found one guy who’s a fluorine mage, apparently. He got bundled away immediately, then showed back up with a two-man escort.”

  John shook his head, “They need to trust their people more.”

  Case agreed, “You’re not wrong, but I saw him ignite concrete, John. Even you’d have a tough time surviving that.”

  “Maybe you’re right, but they need to treat their people with more respect than that.”

  “Talk with the commissioner, he’s been quite vocal about not locking us up. Apparently, there’s a couple politicians who are getting twitchy,” Case frowned while he relayed the lack of faith from their leaders.

  That puzzled John, “Surely, they don’t have a say in all this. Shouldn’t responsibility fall to the Commissioner or the commanding officer of the Guardsmen, whoever they are?”

  Case shrugged, “That’s what I thought too, but the whispers from the gate guards sound like there’s been trouble.”

  John rolled his eyes, “Can’t believe they’d add to the chaos. We’ll just have to work around it. Do you have any plans for what you want to do?”

  Case shook his head, “Honestly, I think it’s best for us to sit and wait. We don’t know enough, and we have the commissioner’s respect but no real authority. I think they’re pulling us into the conversation because we were the first people to be officially deputized.”

  John stumbled, “Do you mean nationally, or just in Raleigh?”

  Case laughed, “Yeah, just here. Nationally, people were deputized the minute the presidential address went out. The commissioner was just hesitant here. Riley doesn’t count, turns out his cousin is a Sergeant with the PD or something and snuck him into the guard rotation.”

  At that point, they had arrived at the command tent where the commissioner and other officials were holding court. Case waved to a guard, who pulled a flap back and let them in. The first thing John did was catalogue all the mages in the room. Jen stood out, both to his magical senses and appearance. She perched on a seat of woven mana vines. John was a little envious of the display, her vines looked very comfortable. I should be thankful, but instant chair magic would be awesome.

  Thankfully, the ostentation did not offend anyone else in the room. Or if it did, nobody voiced their displeasure. John noticed five mages in the room beside his friends. A tall sailor who felt like the wind itself stood near the head of the table with the Commissioner and a group of military officers. John could read military insignia well enough to identify the man as enlisted and wondered why he deserved a place at the table’s head. The answer came as fast as the question arose, when the man’s eyes flicked to survey the new arrivals. Twin purple sparks sat inside the man’s eyes, which meant he was a member of the Groupmind. John’s shock at meeting a Groupmind member briefly halted his gaze, but his eyes resumed panning around the room before he was overtly staring.

  Two of the military officers were mages. An Asian Air Force officer stood behind the commissioner. She was heavy in John’s senses, like a loaded barbell. The man to her right wore an Army uniform and gave off the magical impression of a bear. John had never felt a mage with animal-type magic but figured anything was possible. The two officers were young, probably freshly commissioned. John would bet money that they had been traveling to Raleigh from the nearby bases at Goldsboro and Fayetteville and wound up folded into the command structure somehow.

  The other two mages were civilians and stood separately from the commissioner and two military mages. One was a young policeman who John thought he’d met at the Kenderson’s house before. His magic felt like a beam of sunlight, and his eyes shone with gentle internal light. Next to him, a young woman wearing a NC State sweatshirt and hat idly played with a ball of what looked to be tar. Her aura felt fascinating, John figured she was a petroleum mage or something similar.

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  When John and his friends joined the crowd around a table covered in laptops and physical maps of the area, a woman wearing a dress shirt stepped forward.

  Her voice cut through the hubbub, “Now that everyone’s here, I think we’re ready to start. For the newcomers, I’m Leslie Carlile, head of the city’s emergency planning department. All of you know Commissioner DeFranco. He is joined by Colonel McGuire of the Army National Guard, who is in charge of the National Guard’s response in this region,” she indicated a severe woman in uniform before continuing, “and they will lead head up this planning meeting.”

  Leslie continued, “If everyone else would introduce themselves as they go, that would be fantastic. We have assembled you all to discuss how to manage the current crisis. Our objectives are to keep infrastructure facilities operational and maintain the peace as much as possible.”

  Commissioner DeFranco spoke up, “Obviously, our biggest problem is asocial, violent mages. Some of them are just teenaged troublemakers. We’re most concerned about people with personal grudges and motives. The world is changing in a big way. Our job is to keep people safe for long enough to adapt.”

  Colonel McGuire followed up, “So far, we estimate that ten to fifteen percent of the population between thirteen and twenty-five are manifesting these new paracausal, or magical, powers. Obviously, this is a massive threat if even a moderate fraction of that population decides they’re tired of society as it stands and try to kick us back to feudalism. In the past twelve hours, we’ve seen breakdowns in social order around the globe. Places that enjoy a given level of security have been spared, but nobody knows how long we can expect peace to last.”

  “Locally, our worst-case scenario is that a group of radicalized mages shows up and tries to roll over the state seat of government. We don’t expect that will happen in America, there’s little by way of simmering ethnic or religious conflicts here, but teenagers and young adults are hardly known for their good decision making. This meeting is to establish our plan going forward to prevent any further breakdown in the social fabric and forestall any potential tragedies. With that, who’s got ideas?”

  The Air Force officer spoke, “If we’re operating under the assumption that teenagers are going to make poor decisions, why are three of them standing in this room?”

  John hid a sneer. How dare she.

  Commissioner DeFranco barked at her before John could retort, “Lieutenant Long, you are insulting some of the first people in this camp to fight down and restrain a mage on the loose. They’ve displayed incredible character and bravery, and you will not besmirch them or their place at this table. Am I clear?”

  Lieutenant Long nodded stiffly, “Yes, sir.”

  The policeman with the glowing eyes stepped forward, “I think it would be best if we had the latest information about the situation around us. It’s my understanding that no enormously powerful mages like the one in Moscow are anywhere near us, is that accurate?”

  Colonel McGuire made a noncommittal gesture, “There’s nobody quite that powerful near us, but that duo in Charlotte is a cause for concern. Nobody knows where they went or why they were fighting at the very beginning of things, but they stopped. I believe we can assume there aren’t any mages beyond the baseline … power level, for lack of a better word.”

  The Groupmind liaison reassured the group, “The Groupmind has a decent idea of what happened with those two. Our working theory is that when two mages awaken with diametrically opposed types of magic awaken in close proximity, their magical power explodes and find themselves compelled to fight by instinct. They’ve stopped and are helping out in their city. The chances of a similar event here are miniscule.”

  The woman with the ball of tar orbiting her head raised a hand, “Hi everyone! I’m Debbie, a student at NC State. It’s relieving that there’s no super-mages nearby, but I think we should be worried about what happens if someone has some super-destructive type of magic.”

  Case’s eyes widened, “Like the fluorine mage running around outside?

  Debbie nodded, “Yeah. What if all mages start with the same tank of gas, but someone’s gas makes… I dunno, antimatter, or sarin gas? Hell, even some kid with magnetism magic could screw power and data infrastructure, maybe that’s what’s been tearing up the communications gear.”

  Colonel McGuire and Commissioner DeFranco looked ill. John was right there with them. There could be a WMD walking around and nobody would be the wiser until the poor bastard leveled his city. Though honestly, there’s nothing we can really do other than feel for scary auras.

  The Army lieutenant laughed, “Well, then I’m glad my magic is just bear themed. Takes a lot of pressure off me, ya know. I won’t accidentally break anything.”

  Colonel McGuire spoke up, “Beyond keeping an eye out with our magical senses, I don’t think it’s worth worrying about. If someone manifests a ball of antimatter, they’ll instantly destroy the city they’re standing in. It’s not something we can concern ourselves with.”

  Everyone standing around the table grimaced.

  A silent moment passed before Colonel McGuire restarted the discussion, “Moving on. As far as we can tell, mage density does not vary with population density, so it’s possible bad actors in rural areas will go unopposed. Our current goal is to get the situation in the city and suburbs reasonably under control, then send out groups to help in rural communities if they need it.”

  A silent moment passed before Colonel McGuire spoke again, “Moving on. As far as we can tell, mage density tracks to population density, so theoretically it’s possible bad actors in rural areas will go unopposed. Our current goal is to get the situation in the city and suburbs reasonably under control, to free up manpower to help in rural polities if they need it.”

  Murmurs spread around the room. John glanced at Jen and Case. This was their chance to go relieve his brother! They just had to keep a city of half a million safe and civil. Crap.

  Commissioner Defranco grabbed a binder off the table before he got going, “You may be wondering, where are we getting the manpower from? Raleigh and the surrounding area are quite populous, as you all know.”

  John was confused. Bullets were faster than magic. He didn’t know how many National Guardsmen or cops were running around though. It can’t be that many. It’d be rude to pull out my phone and, so I assume they know what’s up.

  Defranco continued, “Our plan is to enlist the help of as many mages as we can. We are in communication with surrounding universities and high schools to get a handle on institutions that are likely to have high mage concentrations.”

  John interrupted, “I’m not sure what your tactical plans look like, but so far all the magic we’ve faced is a LOT slower than a bullet. It either takes forever to prepare or the projectile travels slowly through the air.”

  The Colonel nodded, “You’re right. The problem is that we’re lacking manpower to actually sling bullets. There’s only so many national guardsmen and police available. Furthermore, they’re much more susceptible to attacks by mages. Y’all are durable as hell. The bodycam footage of John recovering from that GSW is all over.”

  John gasped. Rock squealed and tore as Case lost control of the quartz he was playing with. Jen’s vines writhed. Debbie’s small tar orb bristled like a disturbed lake. There were no physical tells for any of the other mages in the room, but John noticed their auras fluctuating a little bit. Lieutenant Long’s stayed stable, and her face was suspiciously placid.

  Jen exclaimed, “Excuse me? Y’all aren’t going to conscript any minors, right? I’m helping because I want to be, but it’s fucked to force some kid to go out and be a human shield. Y’all didn’t invite us here hoping that we’d stay quiet and give tacit approval, did you?”

  Conversation ground to a halt around the tent again. John tensed, along with everyone else in the tent. He realized he could actually feel people’s heartrate spiking, which he thought was pretty neat. Aides and lieutenants around the periphery glanced at each other and grimaced. The Colonel and the Commissioner started speaking over each other, stopped, and tried to start again simultaneously. The Colonel glared at DeFranco before she waved a hand and huffed to indicate he could speak.

  Defranco sounded timid, “Well, we aren’t planning to outright conscript anyone. But anyone who can contribute will have to. We don’t really know how much combat there’s going to be, but we’re the decision makers right now. We have to be prepared for anything.”

  Oh shit.