American Gate

Chapter 12: Lord Kushmon

Dark ents

This species of ent has adapted to absorb so much mana so quickly, that it has corrupted them to the point of becoming mere animals. Dark ents are much larger than forest ghouls, but also less aggressive unless provoked. They wield a very powerful combination of life and psionic magic. They are less common than forest ghouls and typically live in dense tropical regions, although they've occasionally been found in temperate forests as well.

Wraith

Wraiths are small quadruped mammals with very wide tooth filled mouths. Their eyes swirl with psionic mana. They have weak arms with boney human-like hands with sharp claws, making them excellent climbers.

Wraiths are known to prey on magi fauna, but they prefer sentient lifeforms. They use psionic magic to mentally stalk their prey from a safe distance for several days. Then, they unleash a powerful psionic attack on its victim's mind. If the wraith is successful, it will subdue its victim's mind and force it into subservience. The wraith then forces its prey to wander out to where it is waiting to devour it. If a wraith's attack is unsuccessful, it will usually flee without ever being seen physically.

Mana ball

Mana balls are swirling clouds of dense mana. It is unknown if there is a physical creature at the center of a mana ball, but they are generally passive and harmless to people. Mana balls come in all varieties of mana and can use their specific type of mana to defend against predators. They will flee if approached, but otherwise don't seem to do much.

Chapter 12: Lord Kushmon

July 3rd 2053

Duremar Plains, Fort Roanoke, 11:00 AM

Because of his leg, Daniel was given light duty for the next few days. He didn't have much to do himself, so he was on his way to the science lab to check on David and Elmot.

They were working on samples of mithril and mithril ore. Elmot had offered his magical expertise, once again, to help study mithril. He was genuinely curious how the Americans would approach studying magic, being completely foreign to the concept of it.

He was also eager to learn more about magicless technology. He was, by trade, a magi-artisan; someone who built magical contraptions. Some of the devices he's seen the Americans use have similar magical equivalents, but he couldn't fathom how they could be built without magic. His curiosity was peaked, to say the least. As was David's, regarding the so-called magical devices Elmot spoke of.

Together they were trying to figure out how mithril was able to kill the demon. To Elmot, it was simple; mithril had both magical and physical properties and thus it could kill demons. David wasn't satisfied with that answer, but Elmot doubted there was more to it than that. Daniel wondered if they'd made any progress.

As he walked past the road that led to the portal, he saw a semi-trailer truck emerge from the portal. As it drove down the road and turned to its right, towards the undeveloped part of the base, he saw that the trailer had the iconic black and yellow radiation symbol on it. It was a portable nuclear fission reactor.

Fort Roanoke was about to become fully self-sufficient in terms of electricity. The reactor onboard the truck would be enough to meet their energy needs without resupply for several years. The truck made one thing clear: The United States was here to stay.

He arrived at the science lab to find that the small triangular building was very crowded. Lieutenant General Reed hadn't appropriated more construction equipment to scientific research yet. The unexpected arrival of thousands of refugees had also set back their construction schedule by several days. The scientists, however, were too impatient to wait for proper facilities to begin their research. They jammed as much equipment as possible into what limited space they had.