The Fire and The Storm - The Nexus of Kellaran #2 novel Chapter 139

Part 21

“Since The Transformation of Hilsith was introduced we have cast it upon three billion of us, and more every day, each of whom is regaining their youth and no longer aging. But more importantly, they all now have the ability to use magic. Now theoretically, every one of the elves already has the use of magic and does not age, but the fact is that many elves have very little magic power. We have found that those elves’ power can be improved by having The Transformation cast upon them, so even the elves are busy casting it. That discovery led us to decide to cast it on every one of the other humanoid wizards who also had very little power, so one-third of all of our wizards will be significantly improved in ability. Those wizards who are already more powerful than the bottom third of human magic users show no improvement in power from having The Transformation cast upon them, but most have previously been unable to end their own aging, though many had slowed it. So almost every humanoid alive wants to have The Transformation of Hilsith cast on them, which requires some organization. I’ve heard the situation is similar among the Selkies and the Mer, for whom The Transformation is equally effective.

“Our researchers are working with those from the non-mammalian races and with Hilsith and her team to adapt The Transformation to all races that could benefit from it, and we think we’ll achieve success with all of them. The Southernmost are showing especially encouraging progress, and expect to have a version of the spell that works for them within thirteen days. Hilsith also plans to return to the Hiliani time-bubble for the remainder of its duration with a mixed-race team, so they should have ample time to solve the problem for every affected race.

“Above and beyond all of those huge and urgent projects is the task of training billions of new wizards in the use of magic. As a matter of practicality, the first things they are trained with is the bare minimum needed to join a Command Link and contribute their power to the Draw spells of battle wizards. Though they are hard lessons for a novice wizard to learn first, rather than the more usual basic spells, it at least makes their power available to our military effort very quickly.

“We humanoids have vast populations, and when the processes of applying The Transformation to all of us and completing the magic training of our new wizards are complete, the power of The Just Alliance will be vastly increased. But until that time we are falling behind many of the other races in other areas of endeavor. Hilia and the nations of Xervia and Serminak are ahead of us in military training and in preparations for warfare in the void.

“To those races we say; press on, continue to advance as quickly as you can. There’s no need for us to duplicate the development of the advances you’re making. When we’re finished developing out new capabilities to the point where it’s practical to do so, we’ll join and adapt to your new systems, and quickly.

“On another matter; the spells known as The Healing of Valentia and Valentia’s Workspell have been cast by Valentia on many billions of beings, all of whom are engaged in full-time military training, at the request of The Assembly of The Just Alliance. Her ability to do so is a wonder of spell automation. No one else has been able to duplicate her ability to cast them. However, most of the remainder of the population feel that it is unjust that they cannot share in the benefits of these spells. After all, almost all of them are fully dedicated to preparing for the war, all of us have too much to do and too little time to do it in, and a few people continue to be injured or killed by occasional accidents and mishaps when they would have been saved by The Healing of Valentia if they had been enrolled in the new training programs. But many cannot enroll in those programs for various reasons, be they parents or children or infirm or needed more elsewhere.

“Therefore, I add my voice to a petition of almost a billion citizens from almost every nation asking that these two crucial spells be universally applied to every citizen of The Just Alliance, at least until the war with the demons is over. It is only just.”

Val and Six appeared on the stage, as did Somonik a second later.

“What says the Assembly?” Six called, and was answered by a wave of approval.

“Let the record show that all have agreed.” Somonik pronounced.

“All right.” Val simply said, and cast.