Prodigy

What's in a Name?

The flight wasn’t a long one. As they approached the capital complex she felt the fully activated defensive grid. Whoa, impressive. Very few societies have access to such power, and you don’t even have magua…excluding yourself, of course. One of the voices in her head commented. She nodded. From what she could feel, the capital shields could withstand six simultaneous blasts from the most powerful nuclear missiles. She also noted that her house was within the defensive zone. Her gifts told her more than three-hundred-thousand people were within the shields..

She frowned. The wealthiest people in the nation were protected, but most of the middle and lower classes were open to attack. She wasn’t a communist by any stretch of the imagination and she understood the importance of protecting the leaders, but she hated the thought of sacrificing the weak. That’s the magua in you. We serve the weak even though we are strong…Well, the best of us think that way. Some of us are quite jealous of their power. The voice she associated with a prince stated.

Danika was watching her. She said nothing, but the woman could see through her. Kate fidgeted a little, it was strange. She had no doubt that she could obliterate the woman. While Danika was probably her equal or superior in martial combat, Kate knew that her gifts would tear the woman apart. That did not stop the woman from being intimidating.

The flier flew into a tunnel that led to the emergency bunker. It landed in an armored dock. The doors rotated and she stepped out of the vehicle. She looked around, she had never been in the secure administrative sector before. It wasn’t too different from the bunker under her own house.

Nearly a company of soldiers guarded the doors to the inner bunker. They made no attempt to stop them from approaching the doors. She entered an executive suit that was simply lavish. She smiled…she’d be comfortable here and she only took the best.

Her eyes fell on her father. He was watching a holo replay of the events that happened earlier. The moment they walked in the door, he ran to her and wrapped his massive arms around her. She melted into the embrace. “You will always be my girl.” He whispered. “I know we have a lot to talk about, but first his majesty and the Chancellor will want to meet you officially.” He said as he stepped back and held her at arm’s length. “You were magnificent.”

“You can say that again…but I don’t think that we even saw a taste of what your daughter is capable of, did we, Kate?” A deep voice asked from the far side of the room.

Even before she turned she knew three things. His majesty was in the room, he knew about magua, and his brother was a magua. Her eyes fell on the Grand Duke for a moment and she dropped part of her shield. She felt the duke inform his brother of this ability. Kate couldn’t focus on the king or his brother. Another man had entered behind them and he had a different person on his mind. He was thinking about a vampire.

Kate’s attention was once again diverted when the third, major branch of the government walked into the room. The Chancellor was ninety and had served in his post for thirty years. Despite his age, he was still energetic. Age had stooped his shoulders and his hair was completely gray, but that was the only concession he had made to age.

When her eyes met his, he gave her a salute reserved for the Imperial Guard. She bowed her head. “I am not sure that I deserve that honor, your grace,” she said.

“As a formal general in the order, I disagree.” He said as his eyes swept from The king to her father. “It has been a busy morning, and what is this magua business? I haven’t heard anything about this my entire life, now it seems like it’s all you want to discuss.”

The king looked at Kate. “You saw a magua in action today. Let’s let her explain what she is.” The king said.

Kate nodded as she sat in one of the chairs. “Your majesty, today I will speak in general terms. My father deserves to know exactly what and who I am before anyone else.” She paused, waiting for the king to reply.

“ You are a magua aren’t you.” He replied.

“Calling me a magua is like calling me a novice gymnast. I am both magua and priestess, but both are a simplified version of the truth.” She paused again and the king nodded.

“I was born with the knowledge of the powers and magics, but it has taken some time for me to fully embrace this knowledge. There are seven powers; Geo, the ability to manipulate natural forces directly, Leo, the ability to manipulate life, psyche, the ability to manipulate the mind, and Comusa, the ability to manipulate emotion. Then a dimension of other energy is available known as Shrev. There are three ways to access Shrev, each is generally called a power. FeShrev is the ability to access and manipulate this energy by submitting to it. MaShrev conquers the will of this force, and ShuShrev recognizes the force as an equal.” Kate took a breath. “Besides the powers, there are 10 base magics. These are the powers of the gods. People who use the powers are called magua, those who use the magics are called priests or priestesses.”

“That is interesting, but what does it mean. What is a magua or a priest or priestess capable of?” The Chancellor asked.