Work Text:
Part 1- Let Us Begin
Suddenly a door opened onto the stage, only letting out a quiet creek. Every mage in the room instantly stopped their conversations and shifted there gaze up to the stage. An uncomfortable silence came over the room as everyone waited for something to happen. After a few moments, a man dressed in a military uniform with many colorful badges pinned to his chest strode out onto the stage. The man walked towards the podium in complete silence. He reached the podium and tapped the microphone sending a thumping sound echoing out through the stadium through the speakers around the room. The man leaned in close to the microphone.
“Ok people, times up. So without any further delay, let's begin.”
Part 2- An Important Job
The enormous crowd of people waited impatiently as the man on stage cleared his throat. He leaned into the microphone and opened his mouth.
“The information you are about to here is strictly confidential, it is not to leave this room under any circumstances,” the man growled in a serious tone. “If any of you think you can't handle that then I suggest you leave now to avoid any consequences later down the line. If you do stay to hear the job we have planned for you and choose not to participate then you will be required to stay in this facility until the job is complete. So if you can't handle that then now is your chance to leave.”
The man took a step away from the podium and looked over the crowd. There was a slight movement amongst the crowd as they considered what to do. Liz turned to look at Alex and Bip.
“What do you guys think?... should we go?” asked Liz.
Alex glanced back across to Liz, a cocky smile stretching its self across his face.
“Huh, yeah right,” Alex replied.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Liz said returning Alex's smile.
The crowd began to settle down once again with not a single mage leaving the room. The man looked out over the crowd before once again leaning into the microphone.
“Very well then. My name Is General Cad, I’m in charge of all military activities. I will be overseeing all of you for the coming mission. As for the mission itself….”
The door at the side of the stage once again came swinging open drawing the audience's attention to it. from the doorway came a group of men dressed in well kept black suits. The man leading the group was elderly with his many grey hairs slicked back across his head. He was followed closely behind by a younger man wearing glasses and carrying a clipboard. The rest of the men all wore blacked-out sunglasses and had earpieces affixed to the sides of there heads. The crowd began to once again stir as they looked at the group. Alex looked on in slight surprise as Liz looked around the room confused.
“What’s happening? Whos that?” Liz asked
“Huh you’re kidding me right, even you must know what the president of our country looks like?” Alex replied.
“You’re kidding me? The presidents here, must be pretty serious if he’s involved.”
Bip nodded in agreeance. The man at the podium turned to face the small group before quickly saluting the man leading the group. The president raised his hand up dismissing the generals salute.
“Please no need to be so formal general. If it’s not to much hassle I would like to take over proceedings from here.” the president said.
The general turned to eye off the man standing next to the president with a mistrusting glare which was reciprocated by the man.
“Certainly sir.” The general said, returning his gaze to the president and stepping away from the podium
The president stood up to the raised his hand to his mouth and cleared his throat and leaned into the podium.
“Thank you all for coming. I am President Deson, although I’m sure all of you already know that.” the president said. “Now let's get down to business. As of last year, the government has been in contact with the Lemnian government in regard to an official peace treaty between our two nations.”
A shocked gasp swept across the crowd as they heard the president's words. Liz's eyes widened and she was frozen in place. Her breathing became short as and uneasiness and slight panic overcame her.
“These talks have gone rather well. A peace treaty has been drafted and is waiting to be signed by the Lamian president and myself to put an end to the constant war between our two nations. The signing is to take place at a Lemian government building and will be recorded and if all goes well be broadcast all across the country. Despite the trust we are trying to build, we still have some concerns about our meeting. To help alleviate some of that, the Lemian government has allowed us to set up a small military outpost slightly in-land on the Lemian coast, the only catch being no magic users are allowed on their land. Despite this, we have decided to use Mages for this operation under the guise of normal soldiers for insurance.”
Several doors around the facility swung open and a large number of soldiers came marching out and scattered around the crowd. Each one carried a sack filled to the brim with small colored pieces of card that they started to hand out to everyone in the crowd.
“You will each receive a piece of card which will represent what part you will take in the operation. Green cards will remain in the base and stand ready to ship out in case things go wrong. Blue cards will join the force traveling to the base on the Lemian mainland.”
One of the soldiers came up to Liz, Alex, and Bip. He reached into his bag and grabbed out a green and red card. He handed the green card to Liz and the red to Alex before continuing about his business. Liz looked down at her card.
“Guess I'm staying here then,” Liz said before turning to look at Alex’s card. “Red huh, what do you think that means?”
“No clue.”
The solider handed out the last of there cards before walking back out of the room.
“Now any of you who wish to take part in the operation will stay on the base and be treated like regular solider’s until it is time for you to be shipped to the forward base in Lemia. As for any of you who wish not to participate, you are free to leave the hall now, however, you will be forced to stay in the military base until the operation is completed” Said president Deson.
The crowd stood steadfast without a single person making the slightest of moves. A slight proud smile stretched across the president's face.
“Good, glad to see so many loyal citizens. That will be all for todays meeting, I look forward to seeing a brighter future alongside all of you.” The president said as he turned to walk off stage. He stopped in his tracks as he had a moment of realization before quickly turning back to the microphone. “Oh yes and I almost forgot. If you happened to receive a red card please make your way directly to my office, as for the rest of you please wait for further instructions, that will be all.”
With that, the president once again turned and began to walk off stage. As he exited the building, General Cad walked back to the podium and leaned in towards the microphone.
“All right if you could all make your way ou…”
The Generals words started to fade out of focus for Liz, Alex, and Bip as they drifted into their own conversation.
“Look’s like you’ve been singled out for some reason,” Bip said, looking down at the red card clutched in Alex’s hand.
“Guess so. I should probably get a move on, don’t want to keep the president waiting.”
“I'll come to, I want to have a word with and see just what the president is thinking,” Liz replied
The group began to walk off towards the nearest exit, eager to get answers for the sill unanswered questions.
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TO BE CONTINUED
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Thanks you for reading Chapter 62 of Mage. If you like what you see please consider dropping a Kudos and maybe checking out the rest of my work. Also for any updates or if you just wanna see my cosplay adventure please consider follwing my tumblr here https://www.tumblr.com/blog/50funny and until next time have a good one.