Chapter 24
Distress Call

Erza had taken to the espresso machine like a fly to honey, and she made regular trips downstairs. Not that she took more than she was offered, of course. At first, she’d limited herself to only eating and drinking food that was literally put in front of her, without complaint, until it had been pointed out to her that water came freely out of the tap. Even then, she’d stuck to mostly that, much as she clearly appreciated Earth food and drink. That had, eventually, changed. 

Most of those first few days, she had spent in the guest bedroom, researching things on the Internet as she’d been shown, and discussing plans with the family over dinners. Then things had started arriving at the house. First it had been a custom keyboard, with larger keys. When asked about it, Erza had simply smiled and told them it had been an experiment. To be on the safe side, Jenny had double checked to see if any of their credit card information had been left on the laptop, and if any money had come out of their accounts, but they’d come up empty on both accounts. The next day, an extensive variety of coffee, a new laptop — “So I will not have to use yours anymore,” Erza had said — and a small truck full of books on history and politics. 

“Okay,” Lisa said as Erza refilled her cup. She’d almost attempted to carry the large crates inside on her own, but Hayden and Daniel had insisted on helping. “You’ll have to tell me where you found…” She waved at the boxes. 

Erza sipped her coffee. “SQL injection,” she said, as if that was supposed to mean something. She saw Lisa staring. “You aren’t familiar with web vulnerabilities?” 

“How are you? Familiar, I mean.”

“I’m not,” Erza shrugged. “Not particularly, at the very least. Enough to make use of one. But it didn’t take me too long to familiarize myself with them. I found an online forum where vulnerabilities were being shared, and I feel little guilt for taking from what appears to be one of the most predatory entities on the planet.”

“You… Wh—” Lisa started, and then stopped. “You would’ve destroyed me, back then, wouldn’t you?” She chuckled. The corner of Erza’s mouth moved almost imperceptibly. 

“Only if you’d left me no other choice, Lisa. I like to think I’m reasonable,” she said.

“I wasn’t,” Lisa said candidly. “Not back then.”

Erza walked over to the box and cracked open the lid with one hand. It had been hammered down, Lisa noted. “Then yes,” she said. “I would have. Does that bother you?”

“Not anymore,” Lisa said. “It would have, but no, definitely not anymore. Why do you do what you do, Erza?” She leaned against the kitchen counter. “You could’ve ruled kingdoms. Owned anything you desired. You could have had anything you wanted.”

Erza picked a book out of the box, glancing at the back cover, then smiled at Lisa. “Who’s to say I didn’t?” Lisa didn’t know what to say to that. 

Four more days passed. Lisa had been back to her room. Lisa had been given back her laptop. The printer was active almost all day and night. Meetings with Lisa increased to thrice daily. Despite her clear vision and ability to absorb information, Erza requested Lisa’s input often, and the two of them drafted up plans, often to discard them the next day. 

Daniel asked Lisa several times if it bothered her, and when it was just the two of them, in the middle of the night, staring at the ceiling in the darkness, she could admit to herself, and to him, that it didn’t. That she enjoyed this, that she enjoyed, to an extent, the scheming, the politics of it. Not to dominate, of course. But while writing was a good way to get all of that bastardry out of her system, this scratched an itch she didn’t even know she’d had. “Does that make me a bad person?” she’d asked, Daniel’s arm around her. 

“What is it you’re actually doing?” 

“Trying to find the best way to ask for help without the government treating us as a hostile invader and destroying us with extreme prejudice.”

“Now answer your own question.”

“Yes, fine, you monster. But… we’re essentially trying to find a way to skew global perceptions in our favour. Manipulation,” she sighed, “especially on this scale… it’s villainous, isn’t it?” Daniel kissed her forehead. 

“Skewing perception towards the truth, Lisa,” he said. You’re not deceiving, you’re revealing. You’re just being careful about how you are presenting that truth. Trying to minimize damage and harm, being aware of the fact that the words you use will provoke some emotional response… that’s allowed. It doesn’t make you…” He smirked, that bastard. “Some kind of Demon Queen.” Lisa scrunched up her nose and softly bit his arm. “Ow.”

“What would I do without you, blight of my life?”

“Worry a lot more,” Daniel said. “Make worse tea.”

“Thank you,” she mumbled. “I know what we’re doing is right. And I don’t think either of us really knows how to do it any way other than to stand in dimly lit rooms, peering over maps and documents detailing relationships between rulers and regents.”

“I believe in you,” Daniel said. “You’ll do marvellously. When are you making your move?” 

“Soon,” Lisa said. “We ended up hearing from Liz. Things in Wydonia are getting worse fast. There’s been another eclipse. Apparently it rained some liquid metal the other day, although they assured us that things are okay.” She took a deep breath. “We can’t afford to wait much longer. I think maybe a day or two.”

Daniel kissed her again, softer and more deliberate this time. “Then I’ll make sure all of us are close by. You will not be doing this alone, Lisa. Not now, not ever.”

“It’s… Thank you.” She kissed him back. “It’ll be okay.”

“It’ll be okay.” 

The next day, it took only a look from Erza to know they were ready. Well, as good a time as any, Lisa figured. It was the weekend, and the family, even the kids, were home. Five, six weeks since Liz had shown up at her door. Everything was about to get so much bigger again. Myffic. 

They’d cleared out the living room, put down some sheets. Samuel and Tiffany were both seated on the living room couch, wrapped in blankets and holding a cup of hot chocolate. They were allowed to be present, if they’d promised to be quiet and behave. Getting to see their mom do magic had not been a particularly hard sell. Daniel and Hayden sat next to them, their hands clasped together, fingers intertwined, both clearly nervous. While Daniel was more familiar with Lisa’s ability than Hayden and despite his reassurances the night before, he was still fretting over her. The two of them offering each other strength was endearing, and Lisa couldn’t help but smile.

In the middle of the room she sat, in a circle they’d drawn on the ground. Lisa had remembered the basic structures, but Erza had refined the various runes and symbols, adding personal touches and flourishes Lisa hadn’t known what to make of. Even with her explaining the theory behind them, it had taken Erza dumbing things down a bit for Lisa to understand what they were for. 

“Remember,” Erza said. “The third arc is for translation. Without it, the majority of the planet won’t understand you.” 

“And the fourth is for shape coherency,” Lisa said. “I understand.” She breathed in through her nose. Jenny reached forward and took her hand, sitting down on her knees in front of her. 

“You can do this,” she said. “I’ll be right here with you.” She looked at Erza, and then skeptically at the circle. “You’re sure that’s okay, right? I don’t wanna, like, accidentally blow up the house or anything.”

“The circle is a focus. It has no actual power on its own. As long as you don’t distract her during her casting,” Erza said, “you will not be a problem.” The Orc went around the circle one more time, looking for imperfections, although Lisa doubted she’d find any. The woman was exceptionally thorough. 

“Okay, good. Um, thank you, I think,” Jenny said, and then turned back to Lisa. “You can do this. I’m here. Deep breath. Feel it in your lungs. Inhale. Exhale.” She took deep breaths, and Lisa forced herself to follow her lead. Once upon a time, she’d been a powerful mage. The most powerful, in fact. But now she was also a mother and a partner and she was anxious. What Jenny had picked up on — her shortness of breath, the sweating or the shivering — Lisa didn’t know, but it had been enough for her to insist on helping out. 

And damn her, it was helping. It was calming her down. “Thank you,” she said softly. “Erza, are we good to go?” Erza gave a short, curt nod, and then stepped away. 

“You remember the text we prepared?” she asked. 

“I do,” Lisa said, but for emphasis she also raised the printed text that was on the ground next to her. “I have it here, just in case.”

“Then you are free to begin when you are ready. It is currently mid-morning in North America — obviously — early afternoon in Europe, and evening in East Asia. It is now, or we wait another day.” Erza sat down on the ground outside the circle. Despite her calm demeanor, Lisa could tell she was nervous. Something about the way her jaw didn’t unclench. 

“Okay,” Lisa said. “Let’s do this.” 

She took one more deep breath, then withdrew her hands from Jenny’s. Felt the power run through her. Weeks ago, she had been an empty well of power, and the portal’s energies had flowed into her. Now, if she focused, she could feel its waves eddy beyond the walls of the house, into the wider world. It would be a time before magic was not only discovered but usable by the majority of the population, but one day, the air would be as thick with it as it was in Wydonia. For now, she used those waves. 

The first part of the spell they had prepared would extend her consciousness and, most importantly, her intentions, carrying them to the largest cities in the world. There was an excited sound from the couch, quickly shushed, when she allowed the magic to flow through her. Her hands and eyes would have started to glow, a dark violet. And then she let herself be carried off in a thousand directions at once, her perception splitting.

She could only pick up vague images, scents, sounds, but that was okay. She wasn’t interested in anything like farsight. After she finished the first arc, she took a moment, then produced a small globe in one hand, with little white lights on it. It was a quick little spell Erza had woven into the whole, something she had never considered to do on her own. Erza referred to it as a ‘breakpoint’, to make sure everything had gone as planned. 

“Looks good,” Erza said. “You’ve hit every location we intended to. Feel free to go to the next one.” Lisa nodded, but didn’t open her eyes. She didn’t want to let herself be distracted. 

The second line was the one that would project her. Now that they were certain her perception was in place, that needed to go both ways. She mouthed the words quietly. From now on, she’d have to whisper. She didn’t want to risk revealing herself before the spell was complete. Some ominous whispering might even play in their favour. 

Another breakpoint later, and Erza just whispered a quiet “continue.”

Line three was the new one. Translating to other languages was something she’d never have had to do, and they had originally considered just… distributing their message in several different languages, repeating it for different regions, but that would have allowed for errors, perhaps created feelings of preferential treatment. With this, anyone who listened would hear Lisa speak in their language, intentions rather than exact words. Neither Lisa nor Erza knew exactly what that would do to digital recordings, but, well, they’d find out. Worst case scenario, it would be recorded as English. 

“Four. Red. Water. Food,” Lisa whispered. 

“Clear for me,” Erza said quietly. “Jenny?”

“Yes,” Jenny said.

“Good. Continue.”

The last arc. The big one. Lisa took one last big breath, and mouthed the last few words that would project her, if slightly modified, around the world. In every major city, in the most publicly visible place, some fifty feet high, would appear a translucent woman, from the collarbones up. They had decided against something more tangible or visibly coloured. It had to look a certain way. Lisa opened her eyes, and saw a thousand different places, a million faces, looking up at her, all overlaid on each other. She focused, and saw Jenny in front of her. Her family on the couch to the side. Then she spoke. 

“People of Earth. This is not a hoax. This is not a fiction. This is not a threat. I am not from your world. On behalf of the one I come from, I am here to ask for your help. The world I come from is dying. Two days from now, we will contact various governments and press agencies. A public statement that you wish to speak to us is enough. You will have many questions, and we will answer them as best we can. We have only the one request.”

Lisa took one more breath.

“Help us. You’re our only hope.”

Elamimax

Took a day off from posting for sleepy reasons, so I'm making up for it with a Star Wars reference :)