“Lord Norman, Commander Eugene is here to see you.”
Norman nodded. “Thank you, Stewart. Please show him in and give us the room.”
With a nod, his assistant left and went to fetch Eugene. It only took a minute for Eugene to appear inside the room. Norman held his hand up to forestall his friend's question until Stewart had left the adjoining hallway.
“So you don’t trust them either?” Eugene asked.
“It’s not that I don’t trust them, I just don’t know them well enough or where their allegiances lay. And this project is too critical for the information to get leaked. Did you get the volunteers I asked for?” Norman asked as he motioned Eugene to follow him to the far side of the chamber.
“Yeah, I got them. Are you going to finally tell me what all this cloak and dagger stuff is about?” Eugene asked, a bit miffed at being left in the dark.
“I’m sorry for leaving you out of the loop, but until recently, I wasn’t even sure this was possible. It also wasn’t a high priority.”
“Until that Wizard Council guy showed up.”
“Precisely.”
Eugene reached into his bag and set twelve soul traps on the table Norman pointed to.
“And they were all without a calling, correct?”
Eugene nodded. “They were, but it wasn’t exactly easy getting them to agree to be a part of something they weren’t allowed to even know about.”
Norman sighed. “I understand. And thank you for doing this. I would have waited until Grobert returned but we can’t put it off any longer. The project is called Operation Peeking Dawn. It will be our intelligence and counterintelligence branch of the military.”
Eugene grunted. “Sounds like more work for me. I thought moving up in the pecking order meant less work.”
Despite the seriousness of this talk, Norman chuckled. “Perhaps if you had an underling to hoist most of your work onto, it would.”
“Fair enough,” Eugene sniffed.
The man might complain but Eugene wasn’t about to trust the security of Ashvale and the kingdom to someone he didn’t fully trust.
“So what makes this project so special and hush-hush?”
Norman smiled. “Do you know what a wraith is?”
Eugene shrugged and scratched his chin. “A sort of ghost.”
“Close enough. I want to weaponize them as spies and let's be real, assassins if the need arises.”
Eugene frowned at this. “You know I don’t like this back alley nonsense. This sounds like something Grobert or his replacement should be in charge of. Why are you assigning them to the military?”
Instead of answering right away, Norman handed Eugene a strange-looking item.
“What is this?” Eugene asked, looking over the metallic piece.
“While Grobert would make a good spymaster. I have a feeling he wants to get out of more responsibility. And his replacements aren’t really up to speed on all the secret stuff. That leaves you.”
“I’m touched,” Eugene responded sarcastically.
Norman chuckled. “Think of it this way. I want all of our forces to be accountable for their actions. And who better to make that happen, than you?” Norman tapped on the item Eugene had asked about. “That little item will ensure your new soldiers comply. It’s not some form of mind control or anything like that. It will just ensure that they are forced into a corporeal form if activated.”
Eugene gave Norman a strange look. “Why create a counter for a weapon you haven’t made yet?”
“Like with every good weapon, your enemies eventually find out about them or find out how to create their own. Then there is also always the possibility of one of them betraying us. This ensures we have a counter for that if it happens.”
“I feel like I already know the answer, but if you fear them so much, why create them?”
“Because we have to if we want to stay ahead of our enemies. Our lack of knowledge keeps biting us in the ass. If it wasn’t for Vincent killing those four Death Knights, we wouldn’t have even known he was coming. I’m sick of being caught with our pants down. This will be our answer to that shortcoming.”
Eugene set the magical device back on the table. “I agree that more information would help. But what are twelve ghosts supposed to accomplish?”
“Not much I’m afraid. But we have to start somewhere. And I didn’t want to ask for more volunteers. It’s hard enough explaining away twelve missing people, let alone more. If the project works out, we can slowly increase it from there.”
“Hmm, fair enough,” Eugene grumbled. “The twelve I chose don’t have any greykin family, so not many should ask about them going missing.”
Norman patted Eugene on his broad shoulder. “Good. Now, let's meet your new elites.”
They stepped over to the already prepared spell circle.
“Seems like such a waste of gold,” Eugene commented.
“That it does.” Norman looked at the permanent spell circle set on the floor. “Thankfully, there isn’t all that much gold in it. It's just a thin layer of gold plating. The ceramic insulator underneath the circle was more expensive.”
Norman had taken the design of the amulet and modified it. He now had prearranged pieces to create any number of spell circles and gold-plated symbols to reproduce most of his large-scale spells. Thanks to their trade deal with the Alacala Merchant Alliance, they had a decent supply of gold, silver, and other metals. He wasn’t lying when he said the insulator had cost more than the gold plating. It had cost an entire brick of platinum to have a single large plate of the insulator produced.
Most of that money had gone to pay for a furnace large enough to produce the massive sheet of ceramic. The rest went toward paying the workers at the pottery shop. Norman felt bad for dropping such a large project in their laps, but they had succeeded. After many failed attempts, of course.
Norman marveled at the dark blue almost black, glazed surface of the ceramic. It was a marvel of engineering. Most developed countries would have had a hard time replicating the feat before the apocalypse. But somehow, his pre-industrial city was able to produce the monolithic piece that measured over twelve feet across.
“The wonders of magic,” he muttered.
Eugene gave a quiet grunt of agreement.
Norman had tried using tiles, which would have been so much cheaper and easier to produce, but they didn’t work. That experiment allowed him to add a new term to his vocabulary the day he tested that theory. Magical arcing. And it was as terrifying as you might imagine. There were still dark burns, in the other corner of the room, caused by those experiments.
Norman began to prep the spell, by activating the first circle and placing the soul trap inside. The soul of the volunteer emerged when Norman cracked it open and gave a crisp salute. “Nick Sha at your service, Sir.”
Norman nodded to the man. “You are aware this assignment is voluntary?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Good. From this point on, you will only ever report directly to me or Eugene. And only if we are alone. When Grobert returns, he will likely be the third person you can report to.”
“I understand, Sir.”
“Now I assume you are curious as to your mission?”
The man slowly nodded.
Norman smiled. He liked this man’s cautious nature. “You are going to be a spy. This project will turn you into a sort of ghost. Your main roles will be to gather intel on targets and eliminate threats. You will also carry out a minor role of protecting high-value people such as myself and Eugene when not on assignment. Do you have any issue with any of those roles?”
“No, Sir. You saved me, I will do whatever it takes to protect our country.”
“Good answer,” Norman commented. He didn’t want someone solely focused on protecting him. But he could respect someone who wanted to protect his country.
“I’ll be honest, Nick. This may hurt.”
The man did hesitate for a moment as Norman saw the man’s eyes harden in resolve. “I’m ready, Sir.”
With that, Norman activated the spell.
He had done more extensive testing with animals before even considering this human trial. There were many tweaks he had made to make the Wraith Guard more formidable and deadly adversaries but this was his first attempt on humans to see the results.
A silence spell prevented Nick’s screaming from escaping the circle. Eventually, the man’s soul started to change. His hands elongated and formed wicked-looking claws. The next big change happened to the man’s body. It started to fray around the edges, making him seem to fade out of existence and look almost torn. The last and most startling change was the eyes. They turned into dark pits that seemed to look into your very soul.
Norman stood there next to Eugene with his hands behind his back, waiting for the man to recover and inspect his new body. Norman noticed the odd twitch moments before the man’s head snapped up and he lunged at them. Eugene stepped in front of Norman to intercept the rabid ghost but it was unnecessary. Norman activated the item he had shown Eugene earlier.
The man’s form fully materialized on this plane and he collapsed under the weight of his own body, unable to move.
“I was afraid of that.”
“You knew he might become deranged?” Eugene asked incredulously, not taking his eyes off the struggling wraith.
“Not exactly, but soul surgery is a delicate balance. It seems I pushed this one too far. Please end his suffering so his soul can heal in the immaterial.”
Eugene didn’t hesitate as he stomped on the man’s head. But once it was over, he did give Norman a disgusted look.
“I know you don’t approve. Do you think I like experimenting on our people? I fucking hate it. It disgusts me. But what choice do we have? This is our best chance at getting ahead. And I would rather hate myself than subject our people to another cleansing.”
Norman could hear Eugene grind his teeth, but the man eventually relaxed and turned around to face the magic circle again.
It took three more attempts before Norman managed to not step over the line that made the wraiths turn into mindless killing machines. His first success turned out to be a woman named Shannon.
Norman and Eugene sat outside the circle while she inspected her new features. “This feels strange, Sir. Like I’m here, but not.”
There was no mention to the woman about the first three failed attempts. It was why Norman had Eugene bring them here in soul traps instead of in their corporeal forms.
“Can you try something for me?” Norman asked Shannon.
The woman nodded.
“Try willing yourself to be invisible.”
Norman watched her close her eyes. For a minute nothing happened, but soon the woman started flickering like a dying lightbulb. Eventually, she faded from view completely.
“Good, now try making yourself visible again.”
Less than a minute later, she flickered into view. There were more tests, but everything else worked as he had hoped. He repeated the process with the remaining eight volunteers. Now that he knew the limit, it was easy.
When they were done going through basic training, the nine lined up in front of him and Eugene, floating above the floor. They weren’t constrained by gravity which allowed them to move or fly at will, much like any ghost he had summoned before. Norman knew, through his lengthy experiments, that what appeared in his spell circle wasn’t the soul. The soul was intangible and invisible. What appeared in the spell circle was kind of like a projected image of it. This is why when he modified this image, it damaged the soul. But not permanently.
Norman assigned each of the wraiths a task so they could test out their newfound abilities. Once he was satisfied they understood their new forms and they had their orders, he bid them farewell.
It was odd watching someone fade from view or see them phase through solid walls. Norman was able to watch all of this happen thanks to a new amulet he was wearing. He would gift one to Eugene and Grobert now that he knew it worked.
“Lord Norman, Commander Eugene is here to see you.”
Norman nodded. “Thank you, Stewart. Please show him in and give us the room.”
With a nod, his assistant left and went to fetch Eugene. It only took a minute for Eugene to appear inside the room. Norman held his hand up to forestall his friend's question until Stewart had left the adjoining hallway.
“So you don’t trust them either?” Eugene asked.
“It’s not that I don’t trust them, I just don’t know them well enough or where their allegiances lay. And this project is too critical for the information to get leaked. Did you get the volunteers I asked for?” Norman asked as he motioned Eugene to follow him to the far side of the chamber.
“Yeah, I got them. Are you going to finally tell me what all this cloak and dagger stuff is about?” Eugene asked, a bit miffed at being left in the dark.
“I’m sorry for leaving you out of the loop, but until recently, I wasn’t even sure this was possible. It also wasn’t a high priority.”
“Until that Wizard Council guy showed up.”
“Precisely.”
Eugene reached into his bag and set twelve soul traps on the table Norman pointed to.
“And they were all without a calling, correct?”
Eugene nodded. “They were, but it wasn’t exactly easy getting them to agree to be a part of something they weren’t allowed to even know about.”
Norman sighed. “I understand. And thank you for doing this. I would have waited until Grobert returned but we can’t put it off any longer. The project is called Operation Peeking Dawn. It will be our intelligence and counterintelligence branch of the military.”
Eugene grunted. “Sounds like more work for me. I thought moving up in the pecking order meant less work.”
Despite the seriousness of this talk, Norman chuckled. “Perhaps if you had an underling to hoist most of your work onto, it would.”
“Fair enough,” Eugene sniffed.
The man might complain but Eugene wasn’t about to trust the security of Ashvale and the kingdom to someone he didn’t fully trust.
“So what makes this project so special and hush-hush?”
Norman smiled. “Do you know what a wraith is?”
Eugene shrugged and scratched his chin. “A sort of ghost.”
“Close enough. I want to weaponize them as spies and let's be real, assassins if the need arises.”
Eugene frowned at this. “You know I don’t like this back alley nonsense. This sounds like something Grobert or his replacement should be in charge of. Why are you assigning them to the military?”
Instead of answering right away, Norman handed Eugene a strange-looking item.
“What is this?” Eugene asked, looking over the metallic piece.
“While Grobert would make a good spymaster. I have a feeling he wants to get out of more responsibility. And his replacements aren’t really up to speed on all the secret stuff. That leaves you.”
“I’m touched,” Eugene responded sarcastically.
Norman chuckled. “Think of it this way. I want all of our forces to be accountable for their actions. And who better to make that happen, than you?” Norman tapped on the item Eugene had asked about. “That little item will ensure your new soldiers comply. It’s not some form of mind control or anything like that. It will just ensure that they are forced into a corporeal form if activated.”
Eugene gave Norman a strange look. “Why create a counter for a weapon you haven’t made yet?”
“Like with every good weapon, your enemies eventually find out about them or find out how to create their own. Then there is also always the possibility of one of them betraying us. This ensures we have a counter for that if it happens.”
“I feel like I already know the answer, but if you fear them so much, why create them?”
“Because we have to if we want to stay ahead of our enemies. Our lack of knowledge keeps biting us in the ass. If it wasn’t for Vincent killing those four Death Knights, we wouldn’t have even known he was coming. I’m sick of being caught with our pants down. This will be our answer to that shortcoming.”
Eugene set the magical device back on the table. “I agree that more information would help. But what are twelve ghosts supposed to accomplish?”
“Not much I’m afraid. But we have to start somewhere. And I didn’t want to ask for more volunteers. It’s hard enough explaining away twelve missing people, let alone more. If the project works out, we can slowly increase it from there.”
“Hmm, fair enough,” Eugene grumbled. “The twelve I chose don’t have any greykin family, so not many should ask about them going missing.”
Norman patted Eugene on his broad shoulder. “Good. Now, let's meet your new elites.”
They stepped over to the already prepared spell circle.
“Seems like such a waste of gold,” Eugene commented.
“That it does.” Norman looked at the permanent spell circle set on the floor. “Thankfully, there isn’t all that much gold in it. It's just a thin layer of gold plating. The ceramic insulator underneath the circle was more expensive.”
Norman had taken the design of the amulet and modified it. He now had prearranged pieces to create any number of spell circles and gold-plated symbols to reproduce most of his large-scale spells. Thanks to their trade deal with the Alacala Merchant Alliance, they had a decent supply of gold, silver, and other metals. He wasn’t lying when he said the insulator had cost more than the gold plating. It had cost an entire brick of platinum to have a single large plate of the insulator produced.
Most of that money had gone to pay for a furnace large enough to produce the massive sheet of ceramic. The rest went toward paying the workers at the pottery shop. Norman felt bad for dropping such a large project in their laps, but they had succeeded. After many failed attempts, of course.
Norman marveled at the dark blue almost black, glazed surface of the ceramic. It was a marvel of engineering. Most developed countries would have had a hard time replicating the feat before the apocalypse. But somehow, his pre-industrial city was able to produce the monolithic piece that measured over twelve feet across.
“The wonders of magic,” he muttered.
Eugene gave a quiet grunt of agreement.
Norman had tried using tiles, which would have been so much cheaper and easier to produce, but they didn’t work. That experiment allowed him to add a new term to his vocabulary the day he tested that theory. Magical arcing. And it was as terrifying as you might imagine. There were still dark burns, in the other corner of the room, caused by those experiments.
Norman began to prep the spell, by activating the first circle and placing the soul trap inside. The soul of the volunteer emerged when Norman cracked it open and gave a crisp salute. “Nick Sha at your service, Sir.”
Norman nodded to the man. “You are aware this assignment is voluntary?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Good. From this point on, you will only ever report directly to me or Eugene. And only if we are alone. When Grobert returns, he will likely be the third person you can report to.”
“I understand, Sir.”
“Now I assume you are curious as to your mission?”
The man slowly nodded.
Norman smiled. He liked this man’s cautious nature. “You are going to be a spy. This project will turn you into a sort of ghost. Your main roles will be to gather intel on targets and eliminate threats. You will also carry out a minor role of protecting high-value people such as myself and Eugene when not on assignment. Do you have any issue with any of those roles?”
“No, Sir. You saved me, I will do whatever it takes to protect our country.”
“Good answer,” Norman commented. He didn’t want someone solely focused on protecting him. But he could respect someone who wanted to protect his country.
“I’ll be honest, Nick. This may hurt.”
The man did hesitate for a moment as Norman saw the man’s eyes harden in resolve. “I’m ready, Sir.”
With that, Norman activated the spell.
He had done more extensive testing with animals before even considering this human trial. There were many tweaks he had made to make the Wraith Guard more formidable and deadly adversaries but this was his first attempt on humans to see the results.
A silence spell prevented Nick’s screaming from escaping the circle. Eventually, the man’s soul started to change. His hands elongated and formed wicked-looking claws. The next big change happened to the man’s body. It started to fray around the edges, making him seem to fade out of existence and look almost torn. The last and most startling change was the eyes. They turned into dark pits that seemed to look into your very soul.
Norman stood there next to Eugene with his hands behind his back, waiting for the man to recover and inspect his new body. Norman noticed the odd twitch moments before the man’s head snapped up and he lunged at them. Eugene stepped in front of Norman to intercept the rabid ghost but it was unnecessary. Norman activated the item he had shown Eugene earlier.
The man’s form fully materialized on this plane and he collapsed under the weight of his own body, unable to move.
“I was afraid of that.”
“You knew he might become deranged?” Eugene asked incredulously, not taking his eyes off the struggling wraith.
“Not exactly, but soul surgery is a delicate balance. It seems I pushed this one too far. Please end his suffering so his soul can heal in the immaterial.”
Eugene didn’t hesitate as he stomped on the man’s head. But once it was over, he did give Norman a disgusted look.
“I know you don’t approve. Do you think I like experimenting on our people? I fucking hate it. It disgusts me. But what choice do we have? This is our best chance at getting ahead. And I would rather hate myself than subject our people to another cleansing.”
Norman could hear Eugene grind his teeth, but the man eventually relaxed and turned around to face the magic circle again.
It took three more attempts before Norman managed to not step over the line that made the wraiths turn into mindless killing machines. His first success turned out to be a woman named Shannon.
Norman and Eugene sat outside the circle while she inspected her new features. “This feels strange, Sir. Like I’m here, but not.”
There was no mention to the woman about the first three failed attempts. It was why Norman had Eugene bring them here in soul traps instead of in their corporeal forms.
“Can you try something for me?” Norman asked Shannon.
The woman nodded.
“Try willing yourself to be invisible.”
Norman watched her close her eyes. For a minute nothing happened, but soon the woman started flickering like a dying lightbulb. Eventually, she faded from view completely.
“Good, now try making yourself visible again.”
Less than a minute later, she flickered into view. There were more tests, but everything else worked as he had hoped. He repeated the process with the remaining eight volunteers. Now that he knew the limit, it was easy.
When they were done going through basic training, the nine lined up in front of him and Eugene, floating above the floor. They weren’t constrained by gravity which allowed them to move or fly at will, much like any ghost he had summoned before. Norman knew, through his lengthy experiments, that what appeared in his spell circle wasn’t the soul. The soul was intangible and invisible. What appeared in the spell circle was kind of like a projected image of it. This is why when he modified this image, it damaged the soul. But not permanently.
Norman assigned each of the wraiths a task so they could test out their newfound abilities. Once he was satisfied they understood their new forms and they had their orders, he bid them farewell.
It was odd watching someone fade from view or see them phase through solid walls. Norman was able to watch all of this happen thanks to a new amulet he was wearing. He would gift one to Eugene and Grobert now that he knew it worked.
