Chapter 34: Chapter 32: Life Will Change

Elenoa tapped the desk in front of her impatiently. Kali had called an emergency meeting, and now everyone was waiting for her to show up so they could start. She was of half a mind to just start the meeting now, but the issue was that the airhead hadn’t actually told any of them what it was about.

Finally, the door opened, and Kali walked in, taking her seat. “Sorry!” She said. “I was prepping for this and it took longer than I expected.”

“And would you care to tell us what is so important that you tore us aware from our work? Some of us are busy.” Elenoa said, not bothering to hide the distaste in her voice.

“Of course.” Kali replied, standing up. “I’m here to announce a large change in the way things will be going from here on out. You see–”

“And what right do you have to make this change?” Baern interrupted. “We’ll listen, and then vote, as always. Don’t get ahead of yourself.”

Kali smirked. “You misunderstand. The Council has no choice in this matter.” Elenoa moved to speak but was silenced by an overwhelming pressure coming from Kali. It was as if she had suddenly been transported to the bottom of the sea – it was a struggle to move a muscle, let alone speak. So, she did the only thing she could do, and stared daggers at Kali as the woman spoke.

“I am what you might call the system administrator for this universe. I’m the one in charge of magic and how it all works. Since the system I designed was awful, I’ve made a much improved one, which will be rolling out…” She raised her hand and poked the air. “Now.”

A window popped up in front of Elenoa, showing her a status screen, which she began to read. “For a couple of months, you’re going to be weaker than you were before all this. I’ve made sure everyone’s growth is accelerated until they reach the level they were previously at, and by that time you should actually be significantly stronger than you were. For most people, I’ve given them a simple window explaining everything, but for the world leaders I’m holding a special conference tomorrow.”

She dropped a piece of paper on the table in front of here. “Here’s the details. Lilith will be my enforcer and mouthpiece, so to get you used to dealing with her, she’ll be running everything tomorrow. If you have anything you want to say, then you can say it then. Oh, and you can take this as my official resignation. So, have fun!”

She vanished, and Elenoa was once again able to move. As she read off the paper with the details, she thought. Lilith. She had completely forgotten about the girl, no doubt thanks to Kali. But, better her than anyone else. After all, she had hostages.

“I’m declaring a state of emergency.” Elenoa said. “Baern, get Isa and Winston immediately. We’ll be taking them to the meeting tomorrow. Gabriel, gather Carmen, her family, and her friends. We need leverage, so take them somewhere safe.”

“As soon as you’re all done, focus on getting your level up. We need to be as tough as possible going into this. Dismissed.” Elenoa didn’t wait to get a response from the others. They’d probably drag their feet, but there was nothing they could really do. The angels had the right to declare a state of emergency should something come up, and by exercising that the other’s hands were tied. There was finally a chance to break the deadlock she was in, and she wasn’t going to waste it.

---

Yamato grabbed Gabriel on his way out. “Gabriel.” He said, looking the angel in the eyes. “I know you don’t like how Elenoa runs things.”

Gabriel looked around conspiratorially before nodding.

“Do you want to get the Council out from under her thumb?”

Gabriel gave another hesitant nod.

“This is our chance. Given how turbulent the next while is going to be, I don’t think she’ll be willing to remove you from the Council. It would just make an already difficult time worse.”

Gabriel perked up at this. “You think?”

“Absolutely. Now, Elenoa wasn’t specific enough with how she told you to move the hostages.” He spat the last word, trying to make his disdain for the practice evident. “She just wants them somewhere “safe”. And, what’s safer than the presence of all the Council members and both of our Perfect Chimeras?”

Gabriel’s face broke into a smile. “Take her pieces off of the board, I like it. Alright, I’ll do it. Make sure to put a good word in for me with Kali, alright?”

Yamato clapped the man on the back. “Good. If we can get the backing of Kali and Lilith, we’ll have a strong case for making a change. And I’m sure Kali will be more than happy with your help.”

---

Carmen was jolted from her sleep by Alex slamming the door open.

“I remember!” She panted. “Everyone remembers! When we got the message about the new system, the seal on our memories came undone! You remember too, right!”

You are reading story The New Chimera at novel35.com

“Ah, good. That’ll make explaining things easier, then.” Carmen said, standing up.

Alex stopped. “Wait…you know about this?! For how long?! Why didn’t you tell us?!”

Carmen shrugged. “Yes, the whole time, and we agreed there was less chance of things getting out this way.”

“What? Less chance of what getting out? This new system or whatever?”

“Go gather everyone in the living room, it’ll be easier to explain all at once.” Carmen said. “I don’t want to have to repeat things.”

Alex hesitated, then nodded and left. Carmen took a moment to get dressed before walking out into the living room, where her parents, Judy, Alex, and Vithi were waiting.

“You know something about this?” Vithi said, narrowing her eyes. “Explain yourself.”

“Simple.” Carmen said. “Kali wanted our help getting this new system up and running. And, at the same time, we’re reintroducing Earth to magic. So, we’re acting as enforcers to make sure no one like Elenoa tries to make huge power grabs.”

She shot a look at her parents. “And Siph’s with them, don’t worry. They’re all perfectly safe.”

Jessica let out a sigh of relief. “That’s good.” She said. “We were getting really worried. I–”

She was cut off by the door opening, and Gabriel striding in, Emily in tow. “I’m sorry about this,” he said, “but I’m going to have to take all of you into,” he grimaced, “protective custody.” He held up a hand, forestalling any comments. “I know, it’s awful, but Elenoa wants you all as hostages. But I’m not going to stand for it. So, I’m taking you to the safest place I can think of; later today we’ll be at a meeting with Lilith, Kali, the entire Council, and both the other Perfect Chimeras that are with the Protectorate.”

Gabriel waved a hand. “I’ve got a pocket space that I can keep you guys in that’s anchored on me. It’s not very large, but it should do the trick.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a scroll, which he handed to Carmen. “Go ahead and read this. This is the array you use to open the portal to it, I’ll let you handle transport in and out, so you know I’m not trying to trick you.”

Carmen quickly memorized the Array using Decipher, then turned her attention back to Gabriel. “What’s your assurance that this’ll work from inside of your little area?” Kali hadn’t contacted her about a change in the plans, so she assumed this was probably fine, but it couldn’t hurt to make sure.

This time, Alex spoke up. “It doesn’t work like that. I…think. It didn’t used to. Everything worked the same everywhere, and you would have to use some sort of anti-magic field to prevent it. He’d have to ward the entire space against magic to prevent an array, and if he did that the space would collapse, so we should be safe.”

Good enough. She trusted Kali would have said something if this was something she should avoid, so she drew and activated the array. “Alright, everyone in, we can talk more in there.”

Gabriel shot her a grateful look. “Thanks. I know it’s sketchy, but it’s the best I can do for you right now. I hope this will help to patch up the negative image of my race that you surely had, given how…poorly Elenoa treated you.”

Carmen raised an eyebrow. “We’ll see. If you can get me to Lilith, then you’ll have something going. If you’re lying to me…You can kiss any promise of future cooperation goodbye.”

Gabriel nodded. “I understand. I won’t disappoint you.”

---

Elenoa stood with the five other members of the Council and the two Perfect Chimeras, waiting for the teleport. They had been instructed to convene again in their regular meeting place at noon, and they would be teleported to where they would actually be holding the meeting. She was insulted that they wouldn’t just hold it in the Council’s meeting room, but unfortunately there wasn’t much she could do about it.

The teleport came at exactly noon, and the eight people found themselves in a wide area made to look like a courtroom. They were at a row of desks that had been set up towards the front of the room, in front of the benches. There were other people around, but Elenoa was too busy reading the window in front of her to pay much attention.

---