Kaede was aghast as she trekked into the wasteland north of town.

She had seen the mushroom cloud on her way back. Its dispersing smoke had clouded out the afternoon sun. She had requested to scout ahead with her rangers. Yet despite her desperate pleas — or perhaps because of it — Ranger Commander Lynette had denied her the privilege and gave the mission to another.

It had taken every bit of Kaede’s willpower to stay with the detachment returning from Lysardh Point, to not rush ahead and verify with her own eyes just what Pascal had done this time.

She had no doubt it was Pascal, likely with help from that jewelry box of his. She hadn’t forgotten his burnt hair and disheveled image from three days ago when he returned after testing some ‘Wunderwaffe’ spell. Given the audacity he had already shown with experimental magic when summoning her, this created a dangerous situation where a prodigious mage could unleash devastation far beyond his control or understanding.

Kaede had to remind herself that any sufficiently large explosion could produce a mushroom cloud. Apart from a handful of utility spells passed down by the Dragonlords, Hyperion magic was largely limited to either natural phenomena that they could visualize, or science based on Newtonian physics which they actually understood. They could channel the elements and synthesize chemicals for powerful fuel-air explosions. But to cross the realm into quantum mechanics?

The thought was absurd.

Surely, not even Pascal could mimic a thermonuclear weapon. She had thought, until she saw the battleground for herself.

Her first shock came as she met the moving trees that patrolled the woods like elephant herds. Even the latest dispatches from Glywysing could not prepare her for their nonsensical sight. They crawled across the land on four sturdy ‘legs’ that seemed too short for their massive body. These animated plants paid no attention to the stunned men and women of Battlegroup Vivienne as they entered the town from the south.

Yet, as they lumbered off into the distance, Kaede heard terrified screams just before several trees slammed their limbs onto the ground to silence them. It soon dawned upon her that somehow, these moving trees could discern friend from foe as they cleaned up stragglers retreating from the battlefield.

But even that wasn’t as alien as when the forest abruptly ended, leaving the town of Glywysing with almost a five kilopace radius of cleared ground. Large pits surrounded by uprooted earth displayed where those walking trees had come from. It was as though an entire forest of thousands had suddenly decided to migrate.

There was, however, one exception…

A field of broken trees laid to the northeast of town. Thousands of branchless, burned out husks lay swept to one side as though blown by a hurricane of flames. The damage grew steadily worse to the northwest, with stumps vanishing into the ground until there was only a blackened, lifeless landscape.

Kaede was still unable to contact Pascal through telepathy. She handed off command to Sergeant Gaspard and swiftly made her way north, around the edge of the town. The streets were awash with corpses left by the vicious urban combat. The air was saturated by the nauseous smell of blood and guts. Soldiers and residents alike worked nonstop to cart the dead off to mass burial pits dug just outside the town. However, as the skies glowed with the reddish-orange tinge of dusk, Kaede doubted they would even come close to finishing today.

Then, as she stepped beyond Glywysing’s northern perimeter, her sight beheld an apocalyptic wasteland.

A roughly conical swath of scorched earth stretched across the battlefield, with blackened strips of death splitting off before crashing into allied positions. The trees that once stood here had been reduced to charred stumps. The occasional building lay in ruins, identifiable only by rubble, debris, and hints of tumbled walls. Even the air was warm and permeated with the smell of burning dirt and flesh. Yet within this nauseating atmosphere, several banners of soldiers accompanied by medics worked tirelessly to look for survivors while bringing the dead to wagons.

One of these wagons was nearby, and one look upon its contents left Kaede almost retching. A tangle of blackened limbs stiffened by rigor mortis protruded from the mass of burned out husks. The corpses were so disfigured that they hardly even looked ‘human’.

But even that wasn’t the worst sight. In the distance, her familiar-boosted vision could spot rows of deep shadows etched across what were once dirt roads. These haunting images marked the final positions of marching army columns — hundreds, perhaps even thousands of men, who were instantly vaporized by an intense fireball.

Pascal… just what have you done?

Kaede’s lips were ajar. Her mouth and eyes quivered nonstop. Her arms and fingers trembled without end. She felt her stiff legs carry her across the land in a zombie-like fashion, while a slow trickle of tears pooled into her gaze.

Three years ago, Kaede couldn’t sleep for two days after visiting the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. Now, she wasn’t sure if she would ever sleep again.

Just what have I told you to ‘inspire’ this…?

Try as she might, Kaede couldn’t remember saying anything that would have led down this horrifying path. Sure, she had mentioned the atomic bombs to Pascal. She even gave him a shorthand description of the thermonuclear chain reaction in passing conversation. But she couldn’t have given him any details about the physics of an atomic bomb!

Kaede had learned enough Social Constructionism to know that imparting technology upon a society not ready for it was an action fraught with dangers. Technological growth was often a double-edged sword, as while new developments offered solutions, they also created new problems. A society that used technology without grasping its full implications could often lead to disasters — such as the role unregulated social media like Facebook played in stoking racial prejudice, tribal violence, and even ethnic cleansings in the modern world.

It was part of why many of her conversations with Pascal were purely conceptual, which she considered ‘safe’ to share even without forethought. However, even if she had a moment of loose lips and thought it would be a good idea to tell Pascal how to build a weapon of mass destruction, it was simply impossible when she herself didn’t understand the quantum mechanics necessary to produce the results.

Yet the reality was undeniable. Somehow Pascal had not only made it work, but also released the explosion in a mostly conical blast. Now, Kaede stood overlooking the result — a land of death rippling out from ‘ground zero’ of what was clearly a multi-kiloton detonation.

A painful cry to the southwest fell into a gurgling sound. Kaede turned to the line of aid tents marked by crucifixes in Samaran-blood-pink. She could hear the endless groaning of injured troops. Meanwhile a breeze carried over not the smell of bloody surgery, but the pungent odor of vomit.

How could I have forgotten!? Cold sweat broke out across her trembling body as a horrifying realization dawned.

Kaede almost tripped as she dashed forward. Her legs stumbled as she ran. However, she didn’t care as she made her way to the nearest tent.

Rows of Lotharin soldiers laid on the stretchers and blankets that covered the ground. Some of them vomited to the side as blood dripped from their noses. Others sported what seemed like an intense sunburn on their faces, except with chunks of skin already sloughing off. Batches of human hair could be seen scattered across the ground. And the nauseating smell of diarrhea wafted across the air as some soldiers, too exhausted to stay conscious, simply soiled themselves.

Kaede didn’t recognize all of the symptoms, but some of them were definitely signs of acute radiation poisoning.

The medical staff could only analyze and care for the soldiers as best as they could. Kaede could hear the casting phrases of Invigorate spells. It was clear as day that the healers were baffled by the symptoms and had no idea what they were dealing with.

“Healer!” Kaede accosted the nearest one she could find. She grabbed him by the shirt as her frantic words spilled out: “You have to move these people, these tents further away from the battlefield! Otherwise the radiation will…!”

“Ho-sha-sen?” The man replied, hardly even pronouncing the word that Kaede spilled forth in plain Japanese.

Kaede’s eyes went wide as she realized the implication. It was a possibility that she should have considered from the start. Just like physicists before Marie Curie — who died as a result of her research into radioactivity — Hyperion had no concept of what ‘radiation’ even was.

“You there!” An unfamiliar voice came from behind. Kaede turned to face a Lotharin noblewoman flanked by armigers.

“You’re the familiar of that Weichsen Landgrave, correct?” The Lady asked again, before receiving a slight nod. “Her Highness sent word that if you returned, you are to immediately report to her in the main camp.”

There was something about her scowl that expressed a clear disapproval for the Samaran girl.

“Are you the commander here?” Kaede inquired.

“I am in charge of these few tents, yes.”

“Then please, you have to move them further away from the battlefield!”

The noblewoman stared back. For a moment she seemed nonplussed. But as the seconds dragged on, a simmering ire returned to her gaze:

“Look, I don’t know what you think you know, but your master’s stunt today has already killed many of my countrymen, including a cousin of mine. Many of these men simply cannot afford to be moved until they recover some.”

“But–!”

“Carole,” The lady turned impatiently to one of her subordinates. “Take this girl to Her Highness.”

“Yes, Milady,” the female armiger bowed lightly before seizing Kaede’s arm.

“Wait… please, Milady!” Kaede was almost yelling as she was being dragged off. “You have to move them further away or even more lives will be put at risk!”

It didn’t please Kaede at all that she was somehow the one being sent to safety. In her opinion, there was no one more deserving of the radiation than herself for revealing what should never have been told to Pascal.