Kingdom Of The Weak

"Still no Beast Waves?" Remian asked, when the weekend finally arrived.

"Three weeks, and still no Beast Wave." Lisa confirmed. "I think it"s true. It really is all over. At least until the count reaches zero and another Beast Tide hits."

"Great." Remian said, and closed his eyes.

For the past two days, he"d been basically in bed all day. Soul-boosted magic took its toll sooner or later; in this case, it happened roughly ten minutes out from Dragon Lake. Remian had been laid completely flat out, unable to so much as sit up without feeling dizzy.

"Another spoon?" Lisa sat by his bedside, a bowl of porridge in her hand, spoonfeeding him bit by bit like she used to back when he was younger and they were ordinary citizens in the Rain Sultanate. Despite everything, Remian"s mother had taken time out from her busy schedule to care for her sickly son.

Actually, she wasn"t the only one. Mindy did too, but right now Mindy was away on patrol, seeing as this was a Beast Wave day and all. Thankfully, so far, there had really been no sign of another Beast Wave.

Two soft knocks sounded on the door.

"It"s me." The voice belonged to Father Petrov.

"Come in." Remian invited.

Father Petrov stepped in, laying a hand on Remian"s head. Soft yellow light glowed. "Hmm. You seem to be quite a bit better today. I think you should be able to get up by tonight."

"Great. How is everyone else?" Remian stretched slowly, feeling twinges in his muscles that almost developed into cramps on the spot.

"On edge. They"ve been picking up your local habits."

"What does that mean, exactly?"

"They"ve been buying up scrolls for quick spellcasting like the locals do." Father Petrov specified. "This isn"t college any more, and I think they"ve all taken that lesson to heart. They"re also practicing joint casting Tier 4 spells in formation. Alexei is even trying to enchant a quick-casting wand."

"Excellent. We could definitely use a wand-maker around here." Remian fought a yawn. "We should be in fine fettle for this weekend"s adventures."

"Really, now…" Father Petrov cleared his throat.

Loud footsteps sounded thumping down the corridor, and then Mindy burst into the room. "Remian! Are you all right?!"

"Wha…?" Remian blinked. "What"s wrong?"

"Oh. Nothing, I just heard Father Petrov had come here…" Mindy trailed off.

Father Petrov explained. "It"s just for a check-up. He"s fine. Well, not "fine", exactly, but better. On the way to being "fine". Half-fine?"

"Hey, Mindy. How are things?" Remian asked.

"What things? Nothing"s happening. No Beast Wave. No Source of Magic. No Darian. Nothing." Mindy flounced down. "How long do we have to wait?"

"Until Darian shows up and we can ask him to ask Har"es-dras about the Source. Or ask Har"es-dras to ask his parents and friends in turn if necessary."

"And then what?"

"Then we go find the Source and use it and the world will have unlimited mana." Father Petrov said. "Or something like that. I"m not entirely sure as to how it works."

"That"s exactly the point. Doom said it was evil. Are you sure we should even let it work?" Mindy asked.

"Doom said mankind was evil too. That doesn"t mean we ask everybody to stop working." Father Petrov pointed out.

"Really? A vacation kind of sounds nice." Remian yawned.

"I"m serious! We could be doing something really, really bad if we mess around with the Source." Mindy sat down. "Doom might be a pain in the tailroot, but he"s no idiot. Despite his rudeness, he really does seem to care about the world and everyone, in his own dark, twisted way."

"Might not be that dark or twisted. Darian seems to think highly of him." Lisa Vin added.

"Right! And Darian"s no idiot either." Mindy nodded.

"I"m not so sure about that." Remian mused.

Lisa shot him a sharp look. "You"re just saying that because you"re accustomed to the likes of Mindy, George and Tim. Most children their age aren"t like those three. The things you"ve been teaching them…"

"I haven"t actually taught them that much. Mostly, they figured it out on their own. They"ve been traveling their own roads on their own two feet; I just got them some shoes."

"More than that, I think. Much, much more."

"Back to the topic. What do you think, Remian?" Mindy asked.

"About what?"

"About the Source of Magic. About finding it. About what Doom said. About the argument he had with Alexei. Everything."

Remian shook his head. "About that argument, I"m not going to pick sides or say who is right or who is wrong. All I can say is, I don"t think we"re going to be able to stop them from arguing."

"But surely you do have opinions on the matter." Even Father Petrov looked a bit interested now.

"What can I say? I"m human. Naturally, I want to save my own kind. If I have to hunt down Wilds for meat and furs to feed and clothe my people, I would. But at the same time, destroying the world is destroying ourselves just as surely. We need the world." Remian sighed. "This argument had to happen, and it needs to happen, and it needs to keep happening. Both sides need to be heard, and both sides need to fight, and they need to keep fighting until they settle on something in between. Very likely something that neither side likes, but that both sides could live with."

"Unless one side pulls out a dozen dragons. It"s rather hard to fight that." Father Petrov observed.

"Use of force to decide the issue would definitely bring about a quicker conclusion. It"s a shortcut, in it"s own way. That would be quicker."

"It may be quick, but would it be right?" Father Petrov asked. "Is that really the best way to decide things? If might is right, there is no justice in the world."

"Justice is made by people. There may be none even if there"s no might involved." Remian pointed out.

"There"s something profound right there, and I"d love to get back to that topic one day, but right now we"re talking about how things should be decided if force was not a factor. All else being equal, looking at the sheer logic of the situation, what do we use to determine an outcome?"

"Looking at business principles, cost and benefit, most likely. But we"d need to consider the cost to everyone, everywhere, the whole world, not just ourselves."

Lisa cut in. "And how do we put a value to nature? To the air we breathe and the land we walk on? How much value do these things have before a price tag big enough warrants destroying them?"

"Uh… I think I"ll go run a maintenance check on the airship…" Mindy stepped back.

"Stay, Mindy, and listen. You, of all the people here, need to hear and think about these things." Remian cut in. "In fact, it is for your benefit that this discussion is even taking place. Without you learning from it, there is no point in having this conversation. Sit down and listen. Better yet, say what"s on your mind."

"What"s on my mind is, I"m actually rather lost as to what any of you mean, at this point." Mindy admitted. "I"m still trying to understand what Father Petrov said several sentences ago about might and justice, and haven"t even begun to understand what you mean about the cost to everyone. You guys have gone clear over my head, left me in the dust, and I haven"t a clue as to how I"m going to catch up."

"Well, then, let"s explain it to you bit by bit. What happens if n.o.body cares about right and wrong, and all that matters is who is stronger? What happens to a society, a culture, a world that functions that way?"

"I don"t know. What happens?" Mindy asked.

Father Petro ventured an answer. "Abject tyranny. Nothing would ever be fair. People stop trusting each other. Civilization devolves into barbarism bit by bit."

Lisa asked, "Doesn"t religion balance that out? Spiritual beliefs, faith, and moral code outside of the judicial system?"

"Sometimes. a.s.suming religion itself isn"t corrupt." Father Petrov nodded.

"Are you speaking from experience?"

"No, no. I"m just saying… there"s a lot to what Remian"s words, "justice is made by man"."

Knocking sounded on the door. "Remian? Mom? Are you in there?"

"Darian! Come in!" Mindy leapt up and ran to the door as if salvation had come. As soon as he stepped in, she asked, "Where"s the Source of Magic?!"

"Uh… I have no idea. I don"t even know what it is." Darian said, flat out. "Also, I"m supposed to tell you to back off and quit the whole idea before someone gets hurt."

"Can we ask Har"es-dras…"

"No." Darian said flat out. "Doom"s flat out refusing you any information. The dragons will follow his lead."

"Well, forget dragons and magic. How have you been? How"s Vigil?" Lisa said, taking Darian away.

Mindy went with them, happy to take an excuse to flee.

Left behind, Father Petrov and Remian exchanged glances.

"It seems force has played a factor in this argument in the end." Father Petrov sighed. "It"s such a pity everyone came all this way for nothing."

Remian paused. "Maybe not. After all, we already know where the Source of Magic is."

"We do?" Petrov blinked.

"Well, not exactly, but we have an overall direction." Remian told him. He pointed to the south. "Mana density, remember? If mana is thicker THAT way, then…"

"We just have to follow the mana." Father Petrov"s eyes widened. Then, he hesitated. "Are you… are you sure about this, Remian? Finding the Source? I thought you might be against us using it."

"I might be." Remian agreed. "But the fact is, I don"t know, yet. I don"t even know what it is, or what could happen either way. How would it even affect anything? Until I know, or at least have a better clue, how can I figure it out? I need more information. I need to find it, and see what it is for myself, first."

"So… we"re really going to look for it?"

"Yes, we are. Even if we never use it, at the very least, we should go find it."