The Inscribed Angle Read online

  The Inscribed Angle

  The Ether World Series

  Andrew Bardsley

  Books by Andrew Bardsley

  The History System Chronicles

  Book 1 in the Series: The First Era

  Book 2 in the Series: The City god

  The Ether World Series

  Book 1 in the Series: Into the Ether

  Book 2 in the Series: The Inscribed Angle

  The Dark Par of the Soul

  Book 1 in the Series: The Unknown god

  See Author’s page

  https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B07LGBBBYD

  Copyright © 2019 by Andrew Bardsley

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Contents

  Chapter 1 Gestation

  Chapter 2 Childhood Training

  Chapter 3 Raid

  Chapter 4 Alone

  Chapter 5 Control of Her Powers

  Chapter 6 Changing Roles

  Chapter 7 The Rescue

  Chapter 8 Setting up the Institute

  Chapter 9 The Life of the Rich

  Chapter 10 Wealth

  Chapter 11 Not the Normal Battle Plan

  Chapter 1 Gestation

  The woman had just arrived at the special clinic secreted away in the mountains. She had been by herself for the journey, besides the driver, in a black covered inscripted van with magical devices. She had entered the van at a previously specified meeting place in the middle of nowhere, in the city she lived in. As the woman entered, her identification had been checked and double checked by various magical inscription devices. On the journey to the hidden clinic, she had been contemplating how she had gotten herself into this.

  It all started in her first year in university. She had been desperate for money to continue with her studies, and a friend had pointed out an advertisement on the farseeing university circuit. She had quickly found the advertisement, containing the farseeing contact details of a small medical centre in her town. There was an opportunity to earn one thousand Drachmas for a morning of medical tests. The woman had quickly jumped at the opportunity and contacted the clinic. After a few intimate questions about her health, an appointment had been set at the centre.

  The young woman had arrived at the clinic early in the morning, and met in the reception, a well-dressed woman who was magical medical doctor. The doctor had been all smiles and very gracious in her treatment of the younger woman. The first part of the morning was spent talking about the younger woman’s family medical history. Following on from the enquires about her medical history, the doctor administered an intelligence test, which had been the toughest the young woman had ever done. The final part of the examination was a full medical examination of her body. This involved the doctor placing, temporary magical tattoos all over the young women's body. She was then subjected to a barrage of tests that were very invasive in nature. To get through the procedures the young woman had kept the idea of earning the much-needed one thousand Drachmas, which were vital to carry on with her degree, in the forefront of her mind. Finally, the tests finished, producing some blood and tissues samples for analysis. The doctor informed her that they would be in contact if she got through to the next phase. The doctor promised the younger woman that this would be an opportunity for her to earn significantly more money.

  For the next week the young woman went back to her usual life of university work. She was busy with a Technical Degree in Magical Device Applications. At the end of the week, the young woman, received an invitation from the clinic to visit again. This time she was promised more money, just for a repeat visit. The same doctor was at the reception to see her again and quickly guided her into a medical examination room. After the doctor had placed a privacy inscription on door, effectively muting all sound to the outside, she sat down with a folder in front of her.

  The doctor said in a cheerful manner, “I would like to congratulate you on being eligible to participate in the next phase of the study. You have excellent heath and have the correct genetic markers we want for the project.”

  “I have in this folder, scrolls that detail a contract. If you decide to continue on to the next phase, then you will need to put your personal magical mark on the contract.” She smiled reassuringly. “I ‘ll now outline the important detail of the contract.”

  “Firstly, everything you are about to hear is confidential, and you will need to promise not to reveal any of the details of the contract.”

  “Secondly, it will take about ten months for all of the medical procedures and tests that need to be carried out. Don’t worry that it will affect your health though. At the end you will be fitter and healthier than you presently are now.” She paused, and, noting the young woman was still listening intently she continued.

  “Thirdly, the money you will receive from the time that you are with us will be over a million Drachmas. The exact amount is contained in the contract. This amount will be paid to you at the end of the ten months. We will also coordinate any breaks in your university course, and pay for the rest of your university course, accommodation and living costs.”

  “Finally, and perhaps most importantly, at the end of the ten months, we will require you to have a memory wipe of the details of the medical procedure and tests. We will provide you with a reasonable story for the ten months of time you were away from university. If anything about this makes you unsure, please discuss it with me now, as this contract is legally binding.”

  “I suggest that you read contract in full while you are here in this office. If you have any questions as you read, please ask me. I will just get you the contract and wait here for any questions.”

  The Doctor handed over the contract to the younger woman and waited quietly for any questions she might have. The young woman spent close an hour reading and re-reading the document. All of conditions were exactly as the doctor had said. It even had a guarantee, set in the contact, about the state of her body after the medical procedures. The upgrade to the younger woman's body, would help her in later life with longevity and enduring health. These enhancements alone would be worth over a million Drachmas. This short-term sacrifice would set the young woman up for life. The only remaining question was what medical procedure her body would undergo.

  The young woman glanced up and said quietly to the doctor, “Can I know the medical procedure that I will be subjected to?”

  The doctor hesitated before replying. “You’ll find out at the clinic, but for now I can only emphasize the guarantee set out in the contract. You will be in much better shape at the end of the ten months, than your present good health. I hope that guarantee will do at the present.”

  The younger woman was still nervous, about the what the medical procedure was, but her need for the money overruled her caution. She pulled some essence out of her mark and imprinted the contract, a replica of her magical mark glowing softly at the bottom.

  The doctor started to pack away the contract. “Thank you. Now that you are on the payroll, so to speak, we will start paying for any of your expenses. We’ll make all the arrangements for the break in your university studies and communicate to you a time for transportation in a few days. Please do not do anything to jeopardize your health in the next short while.”

  --

  Now the young woman was in the private cl
inic. The building was located in a beautiful setting in the mountings with a large forest surrounding it. As she entered the clinic, everybody was being so kind and obliging to the nervous young woman.

  The young woman met with another woman doctor, in a relaxing room, as soon as she entered the clinic. The doctor had approached her and said in a friendly pleasant manner, “Welcome to the, Markwell Institute, I ‘ll be taking care of you while you are here. For the time you are here, we hope you will be happy and have an enjoyable experience. If you have any problems just talk to me or a member of my staff, and we will do our best to resolve any issues. For confidentiality reasons, while you are staying here, we would like to have you go by the name of Jane. Is that okay, Jane?”

  Jane nodded her head shyly in acceptance of the name change. The doctor carried on talking as she escorted Jane to a guest room. “While you are with us, we want you to have a baby. More specifically a baby girl. It will all be done artificially, so you won’t have to be intimate with anybody. As part of your pregnancy, you will be given the best medical care available.” The talkative doctor finally stopped for a second to look at Jane. “So, what are your first reactions?”

  Jane was sitting there, stunned at the confirmation of what she was meant to do. Jane said in a quiet voice, “Well I must say that I’m stunned but not total taken by surprise, as the whole ten-month time period was a bit of a giveaway. What will happened to the baby, when I have given birth?”

  The doctor smiled in what she thought was a soothing manner. “The baby girl will be guided and developed to her full potential. We think that with our help and your genetics she will be very gifted.”

  The rest of the introduction meeting was about the logistics of the time she would spend in the clinic. Jane would have a lot of freedom to walk around the ground and the clinic buildings while she was there. The doctor informed her of some of the treatments she would be receiving while see was here. Jane was given full access to study into the details and found out they were all top of the line and very expensive magical inscriptions.

  Over the next few days, Jane got settled into her rooms for the duration of the stay. She started having regular medical inscription sessions, each day. Some of the medical inscription strengthened her body and fixed up any small medical issues she had. With the other more complex procedures, she did not know what they did to her, but the after effects were amazing. Not only did she feel more health, but her power of concentration went up significantly. As she worked on her university degree, she found that all the different aspects of her course came easier than before. She regularly played sport, and found her endurance, co-ordination and speed increased to level she never would have dreamed of.

  Soon it came time for the pregnancy to begin. The procedure for insemination was very clinical and worked the first time. For the first few weeks of the pregnancy, Jane was able to relax, as the doctors made her take a break from all the intense magical inscriptions. When the doctors were sure that the new embryo, was healthy and strong, the magical inscriptions were back again every day. In addition, there was constant monitoring of the Jane’s and the baby's health.

  --

  Jane was excited today as it was the first time that she had felt the baby kick in her womb. It felt just like hiccups for the first few weeks, and then the movement got stronger, until Jane was eventually able to see the movements. As Jane had gotten bigger, more and more sophisticated magical inscriptions devices were added to her treatment. The amount of elemental energies of earth, fire, air and water; that were being infused into her body and through her, reaching the baby, was higher than anything Jane had felt before now. The only side effect for Jane, was an additional increase in her abilities to study, and play the limited sports that she was allowed to do while pregnant.

  When the time had come for the delivery of Jane’s baby girl, the doctors and Jane were all excited with, the prospect of seeing the baby girl for the first time. With all the best medical equipment, the labour was very easy for the young woman. As the baby was delivered, the little girl was placed on the stomach of Jane, to start breast-feeding. When Jane saw the beautiful baby girl, she fell in love with the child instantly. As normal, the baby cried at first, until it started feeding. While Jane was recovering from the delivery, the doctor checked all the functions of the baby. Everything had gone better than they expected.

  For the next few days Jane was allowed to nurture and feed the baby girl, but soon it was time to give the baby up. This upset her greatly, but the doctors tried to make the transition, as painless as possible for the younger woman. When it came time for the wipe the detail memories of Jane’s time in the clinic, the magical inscriber doing the procedure, only applied the lightest fog over her memories. Jane would still remember the love she had for her child, but it would be more like a sweet dream. In a month's time she was discharged from the clinic and back to university. Not only was her health enhanced but her intellect was increased too. Over the year the doctors in the institute kept track of Jane’s progress. When she graduated from university, she exceeded over everybody's expectations in how successful she was in her chosen field of work.

  Chapter 2 Childhood Training

  The tiny baby girl was named Freya Eos, after two very powerful female goddesses from folklore. After her mother had left the clinic, she was taken into care of by two of the doctors. They were named Bethany and John Smithson. They were married and used a house close to the institute grounds to care for the baby.

  Over the first few weeks of the Freya’s life, she was examined and subjected to an array of tests, with all types of magical inscription devices. The deeper they went in the examination, the more the doctors found that Freya’s body exceeded their expectations. The entirety of the experimental work the institute did was researching into the interface between magical inscriptions and the human body. In this age of magic, it was common for people to have magical inscriptions tattooed or inscribed onto their bodies, to increase some aspect of the physique or mental performance. But often the inscriptions were on the skin or in some cases, inscribed onto inner organs or parts of the body. The institute had been working on imprinting, magical inscriptions and symbolic language into to the living code of a person. This is what they had managed to do with Freya Eos’ little baby body. Each cell contained a living database of magical code, it could call on. The doctors in the institute had made available to Freya a vast library of magical symbols in all the elements of magic: earth, fire, air and water. Freya even had the ability to learn new magical inscriptions and modify and adapt the existing symbols. The power inside each cell was a swirling nucleus of magical ability.

  Freya was the first baby of her kind and the only one planned by the institute. Because of the dubious ethics of the experimental magical work, the institute had done the work in secret. Freya Eos was now the legal adopted child of Bethany and John Smithson, with a back story of her mother having given her up for adoption to the Smithson’s. All the correct scroll work had been marked, and it was all legal and appeared above the board.

  In the first few months of young Freya’s life the Smithson’s found her to be a very contented baby. She did not seem to cry a lot and was very alert even from an early age.

  Often while the Bethany was looking at the small baby lying on her lap and she was talking to her husband, she would say, “Look at Freya! She’s trying to listen to us talking.”

  John would observe for a moment, watching the child, before saying, “Yeah, every time I talk she tries to turn her head and listen to me.”

  This encouraged the couple to increase their integration with Freya. Often while doing chores around the house, each of the adopted parents would go through a running commentary for Freya’s entertainment. She was always interested in anything that was going on around her.

  The first sign that Freya was special appeared when she was only a few months old, when an accident happened in the home. Completely by accident, a sharp paperweight w
as dropped on her hand, producing a deep cut. At first the young baby cried as blood flowed from the small wound. Bethany quickly tried to apply first aid, but before she could do anything the blood stopped flowing from the child's hand. As Bethany was cleaning the small cut, she found that there was no discernible mark on Freya’s hand, and she was already back to being a happy and contented child again. This was one of the many of small early signs of Freya’s hidden magical ability displaying itself. Each time the institute doctors would re-examine the child, to check on the stability of the magical inscription in her cell nuclei. They always found signs of significant development and integration into her body.

  --

  When Freya was about six months old, the small family was taking a day out in the woods surrounding the institute. It was a bright sunny day, as they were eating on a blanket by a small pond. Freya wanted some of the food in John’s hand, but her small hands could not reach it. Freya said her first words, “Freya want daddy food.”

  The couple were amazed with a close to full sentence as her first utterance. As Freya interacted with her parents over the next few days, it was like the flood gates had opened with her commutation. She was able to talk, albeit in a small baby voice, but her composition and vocabulary was well ahead for her age. Bethany and John were both patient and knowledgeable parents, so they tried to answer all her questions: what, why, how and who. After a few days of constant questions, they decided to invest in some magical educational teaching aids. This involved a large magical farseeing screen that Freya would be able to interact with. It had interaction on both a verbal and visual level. The farseeing education worked as a magical encyclopedia and had lessons on a range of different topics. As the farseeing device could be used for home teaching, the devices could theoretically administer tests up to basic university entry level.