In Medias Res (5)

I really should've tried harder. The captain knew what I was doing the moment I said it was an accident. He knows I could've contained it. So why did he let me get away with this? The chasm below me twinkled, as if taunting the inner workings of that damned king's mind. I willed the muted sphere back into its compressed form. The grains of sand, one by one, snapped into my hand. These kids seemed to get along. 'What was that girl's name? Hannah?' I reach into a pocket and pull out a sleeve of crackers, snapping one delicately in my mouth. Caramel. Another bite, this one smaller and slower. I take my time to enjoy the crackers, thinking about what to do next. The roar of the river below guides my thoughts. 'Hopefully the kids don't get too greedy. I'm offering them the world, and more, on a silver platter. The last thing I want is a few centuries of boredom. Maybe they'll avoid the avarice. I didn't.' I let out a long sigh. The air tasted sweet. 'I've spent too much time on the rig.' The air here is normal, I know it is. But to me, it's far sweeter than the tart and metal taste of the barracks. I grab the last cracker in the sleeve. Captain said that I shouldn't influence them too much. They should have limitations based purely on their own actions and mind. Though, I might add my rules to their wishes. "Anyone have ideas?" A soft humming from below the river responds to my question. A smile creeps across my face as I turn back toward the bookstore.

I do wonder what they'll do. It doesn't seem like the kids will ask for material wealth. Maybe they'll go for more fun things, like your standard superpowers; flight, teleportation, etc. Less likely, though still on the table are more abstract wishes: temporal alteration, pasaclor atrophy, pseudo-mind replication. My tangent tumbles on.

It was about thirty meters from the door when I heard it. Laughter, cheerful and careless. I took my seat just out of their view and began to eavesdrop on the friends. "-come on, imagine how fun it would be, to just dictate the weight of anything you touch." That sounded like Thalia, glad she's in brighter spirits. "Would it only work on skin-to-item contact though? 'Cause if so then you wouldn't be able to touch more 'exciting' things, like molten metal." Argo had an enchanted perspective for this conversation. "Why would you want to mess with the weight of molten metal?" "Heavier metal flows faster, and lighter metal can be thrown." "Sure, but you can just do that to anything else." "Let me have my flaming goop!" Laughter that I envy curls into my ear. But I remain an observer. "Anything else that could be done with such a weird power?" "Could you make something weigh a negative amount?" "Good question, but that now brings some physics problems." "Only now?" "Shut it." "Sure, sure." Their banter goes on for a while. They discuss what different doors have opened for them now. When you hear people converse about infinite power it's often petty and selfish, others it's honorable and satisfying. For these children, it's just benign fun. 'I wish them the best of days.'

"Oh!" Hannah gasped when she saw me. She was wadding through the thicket when she had. I guess she went to explore more of this place. Oh, that reminds me. "Hannah, what do you think this place should be called?" Her eyes looked eager. "This place. As in this forest. Right?" "Yup." "I saw a massive bird flying overhead. Maybe it could be named after that." The Roc? Maybe, but those things are just pretty, and nothing more. Eh, it doesn't matter. "That bird is called a Roc. A species that feeds on livestock like popcorn." Hannah looked more eager than before, clearly disregarding the latter half of that sentence. "A Roc? So maybe... Roc's Rest." "Roc's Rest, I like it." I reach my hand onto the stone I had perched upon. A pulse is sent through the boulder, through the layers of rock and dirt, until it reaches the center of this space, and I carve the name into the core of the pocket dimension. Hannah's muscles tensed, detecting the change in atmosphere. "What was that?" "Nothing to worry about. I was just engraving the name into this forest." "What does that mean." "It means that if you say, 'Roc's Rest' out loud anywhere in the world, a door will appear before you that will open to here." "No way." "Yes way." Hannah rushed to the door, exclaiming how she had to try this. "Where are you going in such rush?" I hear Kendal remark, just before the door closes. 'Right, I forgot to mention. When you close the door, it disappears.'

The path warps to recover itself, reaching away from the tree that the door had been linked to. After a few minutes the path reacts again, this time extending toward my comfortable eavesdropping rock. A sound akin to foil being torn emits from the rock, and a new door manifests on the surface. With a click, it opens. "See. Magic door." Hannah triumphantly declares from across the threshold. "So, you just call out the name of the forest; 'Roc's Rest' And it opens?" Julian sounded skeptical. Hannah responded with glee. "Yup. But it looks like the door opened to a different part of the forest" I hop down from the top of the rock, landing in front of the six friends. "I designed it, so the door appears near me whenever you don't have a set destination." "So, we can control where it opens to?" Harrison asked, his mind was distracted by the implications. "Correct, just imagine the location when you call out for the door and 'Presto!' Hannah, why not try to visit that ravine again?" I gave them a little smile and turned away, walking back to the rope bridge. "Meet you there." The door clicked shut behind me.

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I punched the wall with all my might. The point of impact was expunged, leaving cracks in the thin layer of space that I privately owned. Discontent mumblings could be heard through the fissure and the sound of workers beginning to repair the hole reverberates within my quarters. That kid is going to get himself killed. One of the workers handed me a bill, charging me for the repair. I signed it messily and quickly: "Midas, Captain" And handed it back. The worker nodded farewell to me and excused themselves. I tried to calm down. 'He knows what he is doing. Maybe he'll get lucky and have his appeal on one of higher courts.' Grabbing the hilt of my hammer, I open a door to an empty planet.

The familiar stagnant air and perforating dust fills my lungs. I look out at rocky and torn landscape. Light from a nearby star bounces off of the floating debris, illuminating portions of the ravines and chasms that litter the planet. I jump across a few. Looking for a good place to vent my frustrations. After a few minutes of searching and traveling about a third way around the planet I found a clear stretch of land. The air here was warmer, closer to the equator. I began to relax. 'If he somehow survives. I'll make sure that Nezha never tries anything like this again. Maybe a few centuries with the first corps. That would do wonders for his insubordination.' I punched the ground. 'If he doesn't break from that, maybe I'll send him to the Wilters. They'd love to have someone like him in their reach.' I kicked the ground. 'Even Madame Ortheon would agree with me; That kid needs to be taught a lesson. Sycorax often scolded him when he was training, maybe she could help me make his time stuck on that rock miserable.' I split the ground. 'First though, I let him learn to enjoy his position there. It's of no consequence to take away something you don't care for.' I look down at my work. A disappointed feeling reaches me. Opening a door, I leave the riven planet behind.