1 Prologue - The Sparks of War

Royal Air Navy Commander Edmund Adams was distressed.

Edmund Adams was currently aboard the HMS Bellerophon. The airship was on its patrol rounds above the North Sea. At the moment, every officer in the Air Navy was being bombarded by enough paperwork to fill a Dreadnought-class Behemoth. The mass enlistments and production of arms produced the byproduct of hundreds of thousands of papers needing permissions and signatures from commanding officers.

"Ugh. I need a break from this."

Adams lulled about at his desk as he looked out of his window. The night scenery of the North Sea at the low altitude of 100 meters above sea level was calming to the mind, and Adams could certainly use some calm. He looked pass the stack of paperwork on his messy desk and read the headline of the local newspaper.

"TENSIONS INCREASE BETWEEN EMPIRE OF AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND KINGDOM OF SERBIA"

The paper indicated the recent incidents at the border and recently annexed states of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Anyone could see from a map that the Kingdom of Serbia was next on the chopping block, but Serbia wasn't as easy a target as some would believe. The kingdom had just gone through two Balkan wars and had a small but experienced, powerful army. Not to mention, its huge ally of the Kingdom of Russia was a leading state in steam industrialization affairs with powerful allies of their own. The Empire of Britain being one such ally, was currently in the midst of rapid mobilization.

Adams set the paper down and drank some tea to soothe his mind. The New Year's Day of 1914 had passed a week ago, and his men were still disgruntled by the fact that they were not allowed to take leave and visit their families.

"What are those idiots at high command thinking? No. What are the idiots that are the leaders of Europe thinking?"

Adams' 35+ years in service had taught him much. It was not 20 years ago when ships were still on the water and airships were just huge gas-filled toys, only capable of transportation and not fit for military use. The development of the airship could be attributed to the strides in steam industrialization by the recently unified Kingdom of Germany. Then, in 1897, everything changed when that very technology unearthed something that was lost in the legends of old.

"Ironic. For the very technology that the Germans developed to be cast aside and replaced, only to be used against them. What does the media call them? Mage Scientists? Heretics of the Church? Pilgrims of the new age?"

Whatever they were called, one thing was certain. Germany was powerful. Its fellow ally of Austria-Hungary who had adopted magic science with them was also powerful, and the Allied Powers would not, could not, stand for competition in their quest of imperialism and power. War was no longer a question of will, but a question of when.

Countries were mobilizing all over Europe, and the Empire of Britain was certainly not an exception.

"Commander, you are needed at command center," the speaker in the corner of his room said swiftly and efficiently."

Adams frowned for a moment but got up from his desk, picked up his cap, and headed toward command. His cabin was not far from command, only a short walk and elevator ride away. Once Adams got there, he was met with a worrying face of a young man.

"Lieutenant Commander Walter? What is it?"

"Um, sir. The radar had picked up something small... and abnormally fast, but it disappeared quickly"

"How fast Lieutenant?"

"The thing was traveling alone... at around 90km/h..."

"90?"

"Yes, sir."

Adams thought for a moment. The only foreign aircraft that could travel alone around these places were a scout plane, but he had never heard of any scout biplane traveling at 90 km/h, much less this far from a supply line or airship. A sudden thought crossed his mind.

"How small was it?"

"... the size of a small man."

"What!?" Adams face turned white.

"That's why some of us thought that the radar had made a mistake.

But this radar was on the HMS Bellerophon, one of the smaller but more advanced airships of the time. The crew knew this just as much as Adams did.

"No. It didn't make a mistake."

"What was it sir?"

"Did you ever see the Olympic events in Sweden back in 1912 Lieutenant?"

"No, I can't say I have sir."

"That year I had the fortune to visit a friend in Sweden and see the events. I saw the wealth and technology of many different countries. Most of the participants who represented their countries came in magnificent steam or magic stone-powered machines. Do you understand how magic stones work?"

"The magic stones unleash the innate magic power of the user outwards in the form of heat or light, correct? The military academies of today teach this subject in their main curriculum."

"That's correct Lieutenant, and it's what powers most of Germany's technologies from their vehicles to their small arms."

"I see, but what does that have to with this incident, sir?"

"At the Olympic events in Sweden, German athletes came in a magnificent magic-powered airship, that's for sure."

"But many did not see what was flying with them... Whether they were angels or demons, it was definitely people flying around them, wearing oddly shaped metal garments..."

"Mages!?" The Lieutenant's eyes became round and wide-eyed.

Mages were the term for the individual people of society who had a large enough innate magical power to do the works of miracles. However, most people disregarded these rumors, and Germany had certainly never outright confirmed that mages existed. It also did not help that the Church had come forward, saying that miracles of Heaven could never be performed by mere humans. Hence, most people, including the young Lieutenant Walter did not believe in these mages.

"Indeed, mages do exist, and at the very least, they can fly."

"So do you suppose that the thing that the radar detected-"

"Yes. It is almost certain that this thing was a mage."

Adams was silent for a moment. Something that could fly at that speed with the only fuel being human ability and food... In any case, the prospect of a foreign mage scouting out in the middle of the North Sea was alarming at the very least.

"Make a report, but since we can't confirm exactly what it is, just list the properties of the object"

"Yes, sir"

As Lieutenant Commander Walter walked away to make the report, Adams could only stare at the records, worrying for the worst to come.

"The higher-ups won't take the report seriously for sure. They're all too focused on preparing for the imminent conflict," he thought.

"1914 will be a year marked in history. Europe will be put in a steam-powered blast furnace and reforged over and over again."

"How lucky I am to be able to see the raging fire of Europe erupt firsthand." Adams thought sarcastically as he walked back to his cabin.

Over 400 kilometers away from the HMS Bellerophon, in the bustling city of London, Erik Thomas woke up to a day that would change his life forever.