@The Psyentist He relaxed again into a tranquil state, and tried to go back to that time.
He was working, trying to use energy waves to manipulate genetic material that was resistant to change. It would be a huge breakthrough, in time it could even lead to reversing so-called permanant curses and effects. "Never tell a madman not to jump," he muttered to himself as he worked. "They always do." He had just begun to slowly move the frequency higher when the door to his workshop slammed open.
As he turned to see who had inturrupted him there was a shrill squal of warping glass from the table. The sample he'd collected for this experiment was ruined. Furious, he turned on the young woman who'd barged in. "I'm sorry for disturbing you sir, but the planetary council needs you." He heard fear in her voice, she must be new. Most of his staff had come to trust him. But with these new bouts of anger, perhaps that would change.
Trying to reign in his temper while working magic was distracting, opening a portal to the council chambers took him longer than usual. The moment he had finished and stepped through the light he was assulted with dozens of voices all straining to catch his attention. Something had riled them up today. "We need to..." "There must be a..." "I certainly think that..."
He sighed. the council of cities had been running the planet for him since he'd built it out of space junk an eon ago, but they still acted like frightened children every time something went wrong. Let him try to amend policy and it was all 'No, we can't do that!' or 'That's unconstitutional!' but if there was an emergengy it was 'Oh help us please!'
"Bah." He mutted to himself, brooding as he listened to the nearly incoherent babbling. Apparently the portal system he had set up for commercial use had ceased to operate correctly, stranding several tons of cargo on Cal'Zin, and he was the only one who could survive the natives to get it back. And fix the portal glitch while he was at it.
All around him the council members were still talking, and he felt anger overtake him. He flung out his hand and a wave of air knocked those closest to him back into the others, sending the lot of them to the ground in a stunned heap. He looked down at them, still seething. "Be silent. I'll take care of it. Now do your damn jobs and make sure the general public stay out of the portals. I don't want to have to rescue them too." He left them on the floor, vanishing into another portal.
"I shouldn't have done that," he said to no one in particular while he was dragging a box of what felt like lead bricks out of a stinking swamp. "Now I'm gonna have to apologise or they'll try and do something foolish." He laughed a little, then. "Like that time they tried to revolt." He'd woken up to an army on his doorstep, and turned them all into chickens for a week. The entire planet had recieved free eggs.
That was when he felt a presence behind him. He turned in time to see a sword wreathed in a sickly green glow coming at his chest. He threw up a shield but the weapon slid through it, and him, with relative ease. It was made for him, he realised. someone had fashioned a sword just for him. It was sort of flattering, actually.
With the sword through his chest he was paralyzed. The man before him was swathed all in black from head to toe but his voice sounded familiar. He turned his attention to the sword as the attacker pulled a syringe from his pocket and drew some of his blood. It would only take a few moments to break the enchantment on the sword and he'd be free.
Unfortunately, the man had finished. He stood and pulled another syringe from his pocket, this one filled with a glowing red substange. His attacker spoke to him, his voice strangely distorted through the black cloth over his face. "We made this just for you, Archleone. You don't remember, but it works like a charm." He couldn't see the man's face,but he got the impression that his attacker was grinning.
Then the masked figure injected the red liquid, and he lost conciousness.
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