Text | Private and OTA

[evowhisperer]

Private to Karl:

'There's a farm approximately 30 miles south of Locke that I believe we can use without being disturbed. Please bring a box of metal things you don't mind losing, a panel of bulletproof glass, and a large bag of sand.'

He includes an address and a time.

---

The website says the farm has been abandoned for fifteen years. When Cesar shows up on another day to see if any squatters have moved in, he finds graffiti on the side of the barn, a lot of overgrown grass, and a suitable sense of neglect that he mentally checks 'Find Location' off his to-do-list. The next time Cesar arrives is the Saturday they've agreed upon, and he's an hour early to get started setting up. He pulls his car up to a wide patch of hard-packed earth near the barn, and starts to unload.

By the time he's done he has an array of objects set up for testing use. Some of them make sense, like the metal coat hanger and with a stripped umbrella wire-tied to it. Others don't, like the set of cheap wind-chimes dangling from the back of a fold-out chair.

Unbothered by this, he moves the car further away when he's done and leans against its (somehow still immaculate) trunk to wait. He'll have his cellphone in his hand: why not find some idle way to pass the time?

---

[Phone Text, Open to All]

What's your favorite invention? If you can't think of one, name something you want to see made real.

Comments

[evowhisperer]

Cesar hurries away to the edge of the grass, having to wade through it a few feet before it becomes properly unmanageable. At this point he turns and sends Karl an upheld thumb.

"I'm ready! Go ahead."

He drops the fire extinguisher into the grassy cushioning around him, taking his notepad out again. There's something undeniably freeing about pushing on with this, gathering as much data as he is without the constriction and form of a smothering bureaucracy. These are the first numbers gathered for this spell in their current flaw of knowledge. This is what he loved about science as a kid--discovery, not finding minor flaws in designs that had already been reviewed half a dozen times before ever reaching his desk.

[flamberge]

Karl wastes no time in beginning to cast. A glowing circle appears under him and feathers rise from it vanishing a few feet from the ground. Unlike the others, the concentration needed for this one far surpasses the others. Only after a few seconds of it does he finally begin the incantation. "Sacred powers, cast your purifying light upon these corrupt souls. Rest in peace, sinners! Judgment!"

Then the light show starts. Numerous light pillars shoot down from the sky and strike various spots around the farmhouse. One actually strikes the edge of the building and destroys it. Simply put, the spell looks like true divine judgment from the heavens.

And after a few seconds, it's all over. Karl relaxes and then promptly collapses onto one knee. His breathing is far heavier and faster than before. That had drained his energy just as expected. Driving home still should be doable, but barely. They cut it perfectly close with today's experiments.

[evowhisperer]

It's a localized armageddon. Fury rains down from the sky, and Cesar can feel the tremble in the dirt through his shoes. A stray bolt strikes the farmhouse, and the building bursts like a toy loghouse. It's awe inspiring, and more than a little frightening: one man is capable of this. Through the powers he developed, one man could take down not a tank, but potentially a small battleship, all with nothing but a few words and intent focus.

No wondered the normal people are so afraid. They really are powerful.

The disappearance of the light leaves the farm's remains looking darker than they really are, and Cesar claps loudly as the show finishes. He grabs his extinguisher and strides out of the brush, then runs as soon as he's clear.

"That was amazing! Even with your description, I never imagined what that spell would do." The ground is warm through his shoes where the pillars struck, and Cesar weaves around them. "It's hard to imagine that magic is capable of something on so large a scale. The energies it must store to have reserves capable of this must be massive, and the conversions to make this possible--it's all mindblowing."