Above the Atlantic Ocean
It was the second time Yagou had ridden one of these metal dragons—airplanes, as they were called—and even now, they left him in a state of awe. The idea that a metal beast, heavier than any ship or siege engine, could soar through the skies with such grace and speed was a marvel of Earth's ingenuity.
Though the Muan Empire and a few other First Civilization Zone countries had begun developing their own primitive airships and combustion-powered flyers, none came close to the monstrous scale, speed, and quiet power of these aircraft. Even now, cruising above the clouds at heights no wyvern could ever reach, Yagou could feel the subtle tremors in the floor beneath his boots—the thrum of titanic engines pushing them across the sky.
He leaned back in the seat, the soft leather upholstery sinking under his weight. It still felt strange—how much comfort these people had engineered into every part of their lives. A far cry from the polished wood and rough hide of command tents or the stone-carved seats of mountain palaces.
Across the aisle, Hanki sat with a childlike grin on his face, hunched over a book he'd been given by the Americans before departure. The title, embossed in bold letters across the glossy cover, read: "The Illustrated Guide to Modern Earth: Cultures, Cities, and Civilizations."
Hanki's eyes danced across the pages, his lips silently mouthing the strange words in Earth's language. Every now and then, he would chuckle softly or mutter something in their native tongue—half amused, half baffled.
Yagou smiled. For the first time since Hanki's collapse, the boy looked like himself again—curious, animated, and alive.
He let out a long breath, the knot in his chest slowly uncoiling.
He had almost lost him.
And though his mana reserves were still recovering from three straight days of healing, the exhaustion didn't bother him. What mattered was that Hanki had made it.
Yagou turned to the window, watching the ocean shimmer below, a vast sheet of steel-blue stretching beyond the horizon. Somewhere ahead, past clouds and continents, lay their next destination—India.
A nation unlike any other.
They had heard of its might from whispers in the American halls of power. Despite being labeled the "poorest" of the transmigrated nations, India stood unmatched in raw potential. Its cities teemed with more people than entire civilization zones, though a fair few of the American diplomats did warn him on the lack of development in the country, it was apparent there was apprehension and dislike towards the nation from the American perspective though it wasn't possible for Yagou to understand why.
Though it was too early to tell, he assumed the country would be more akin to his own country rather than the rest of the other worlder's.
Yagou leaned forward and activated the touchscreen in front of him—a technology he was still getting used to. A digital map blinked to life, their flight path curving across what remained of the Atlantic Ocean and finally down into the Indian subcontinent.
His fingers brushed over the glowing words: "New Delhi – ETA: 8 hours, 12 minutes."
Beside him, Elara stirred in her seat, finally waking from her light nap. She blinked groggily, then turned toward Yagou.
"Do you think India will be different?" she asked softly.
Yagou didn't answer immediately.
He thought of the briefings from American officials, of India's ancient roots and modern complexities—of a country that had faced conquest, partition, famine, revolution, and yet, survived them all.
Finally, he nodded.
"Yes," he said. "Very different."
…
Seeing that he had ample time left , Yagou yet again opened his diary , to note his journey till now.
16th day of the Third Month of 1639
The American Dream,
The United states of america was true to its claim of a superpower , it truly was something to behold , never had I seen such extravagance being normal , while this held true for the Russians too , the scale and sheer enormity was truly awe-inspiring.
Even when I went to Mu , I hadn't seen such extensive road networks ,they were behemoths in the truest of words , massive swathes of land connected through stretches of sheer industrial might, though surprisingly they didn't use their rail like the Russians did for people but instead relied on the "Planes" while their railways worked for goods transport which was quite odd.
But even amidst all this these people seemed so warm and spirited unlike the straightforward and cold russians though it wasn't uncomfortable either way as the people of these nations seemed more similar to me , than they themselves would like to admit ,as from what I understand there was a big war recently between the nations which ended in a stalemate and they dislike each other quite a bit.
On the other hand, the local populace was really energetic here compared to Russia though , with scribes running around to try and get the tiniest look at us where in russia it was more controlled but that seems to be due to the fact that this country was very free , in that anyone could anything unless they violated rather loose but comprehensive laws.
American cities were still something he had never seen in his entire life with glass towers piercing the skies , massive machines at every glance , it almost seemed to be something built by the Ravernals.
But what had scared me ,to the core, were the weapons these people used , they were unlike anything I had seen from vast warships to massive metal constructs capable of untold destruction. I shudder at the thought of the sheer devastation they could bring onto their foes.
Though I truly look forward to the marvels these people would bring to this world , I also fear what their resentment could do to the world.
May the Goddess bless our souls for prosperity.
Closing the diary Yagou decided to rest as it had been a long week with Hanki's collapse and the constant shocks and threats he had to deal with these people.
…
1530 Hours,
Near Indira Gandhi International Airport,
As the aircraft descended into the National Capital Region, it was soon flanked by a squadron of Indian Dassault Rafales.
Much like the American escort, the Indian fighters took position beside them, guiding the massive aircraft towards the runway below.
Yagou was absolutely wide-eyed as he stared out of the window. While the American metropolises were certainly enormous, the city beneath him was another beast entirely.
Instead of being dominated by endless towers of glass, it stretched out in every direction like a vast grey ocean, broken only by occasional patches of green.
He glanced over at Hanki, who appeared equally awed.
The scale of the city was truly something to behold.
Soon, an announcement came over the intercom.
"On behalf of the Ministry of External Affairs, welcome to the Republic of India. We hope all our guests, especially the esteemed delegates from the New World, have an excellent stay."
The closer the aircraft descended, the more of New Delhi became visible.
It was a bustling city, filled with people from every corner of the country. While clearly not as developed or orderly as the United States, it was still immensely impressive.
"If this is what they classify as poor and underdeveloped in their world, then I fear for our safety!" Yagou thought as he looked towards the distant skyscrapers.
Railways ran through the heart of the city while thousands of vehicles moved across massive roads, seemingly chaotic yet somehow flowing without collapsing into complete disorder. Factories spewed smoke into the sky, aircraft crossed above them in every direction, and endless buildings stretched far beyond what his eyes could properly comprehend.
Their population alone could have created a superpower within the New World.
To describe such a nation as poor seemed absurd.
Even the poorer districts he spotted from above appeared better constructed than many middle-class neighbourhoods within the Second and First Civilization Zones. The buildings were crowded and uneven, yet he could still observe paved roads, electrical lines and sanitation efforts throughout them.
India lacked the polished perfection of America and the stern magnificence of Russia, but there was something else here—something restless and alive.
The aircraft struck the runway with a heavy thud, causing several of the delegates to grip their seats as the engines roared in reverse.
Hanki leaned towards the window, watching the Rafales climb away.
"They certainly enjoy displaying their metal birds," he remarked with a grin.
"As would we, if we possessed such things," Yagou replied.
Once the aircraft came to a complete stop, the doors opened and the delegation was guided towards the exit.
The moment Yagou stepped outside, a wave of dry heat washed over him, a stark contrast to the carefully controlled temperature within the aircraft. Before them stood an Indian ceremonial guard, their uniforms decorated in bright colours, while government officials and security personnel waited beside a long red carpet.
Beyond the barriers, reporters shouted questions and raised their cameras, though unlike in America, the crowd was kept at a considerable distance.
A familiar dark-skinned gentleman stepped forward from the welcoming party.
Yagou recognised him almost immediately.
"Mister Yagou," the man greeted warmly, extending his hand. "It is a pleasure to meet you again. Welcome to India."
Yagou accepted the gesture with a courteous smile.
"Mister Dhruv Rawat. I did not expect that you would personally receive us."
Dhruv laughed lightly. "You are the first official delegation from another world to visit our country. It would be rather embarrassing if we sent an ordinary clerk."
Hanki stepped beside Yagou, gazing past the diplomat towards the enormous airport complex.
"May I ask something?" he questioned. "Is New Delhi your largest city?"
Dhruv paused for a moment before shaking his head.
"No. Not even close."
Hanki's expression froze.
Elara, standing behind him, blinked several times before quietly asking, "Then how many cities like this do you possess?"
Dhruv's smile widened slightly.
"Enough that explaining them all may take the entirety of your visit."
Yagou stared at the diplomat, unsure whether the statement was a boast or merely the truth.
Either possibility was equally concerning.
Soon, they were escorted into a convoy of armoured vehicles. As they departed the airport, Yagou watched the city pass beyond the window.
Modern towers stood beside ancient stone structures. Elevated trains thundered over overcrowded roads, while markets, offices, temples and neighbourhoods seemed to merge into one unending mass of civilisation.
It was nothing like the carefully arranged avenues of Washington or the monumental streets of Moscow.
India felt older.
Not primitive, but layered—as though countless ages had been built directly upon one another without ever fully removing what came before.
For the first time since entering the lands of the otherworlders, Yagou saw something that reminded him of home.
The country was loud, crowded and imperfect. Yet beneath the disorder rested an unmistakable strength, one forged not through comfort or isolation, but through the simple refusal to collapse.
Dhruv turned towards him from the opposite seat.
"The Prime Minister wishes to meet your delegation tomorrow morning," he explained. "Until then, accommodations have been prepared at the government guest house. I trust the journey has been exhausting."
"We are grateful for your consideration," Yagou replied. "Though I suspect rest will be difficult after seeing all this."
Dhruv chuckled.
"You will find that India has that effect on visitors."
Yagou returned his gaze to the window as the convoy continued deeper into the capital.
The Americans had spoken of India as a country forever struggling to reach its potential.
Yet, watching the seemingly endless city before him, Yagou wondered whether they had misunderstood it entirely.
Perhaps India was not a sleeping giant.
Perhaps it was already awake.
…
Rashtrapati Bhavan Guest Wing,
As they settled into their accommodations, Hanki, Elara and Yagou gathered within the spacious sitting room provided to them.
Yagou and Hanki sat beside the large wooden desk near the window, while Elara lounged lazily across the sofa, happily reading through the random magazines and comics she had somehow gotten her grubby hands on.
Hanki watched her for a moment before a mischievous grin spread across his face.
"So," he began, leaning back in his chair, "how goes your tryst with the lad?"
Elara's face instantly turned bright red.
She buried her head into one of the sofa's cushions and mumbled, "It's fine! What do you care about my private affairs?"
Without lifting her face, she grabbed a small pillow and threw it towards him.
Hanki promptly leaned aside, allowing it to sail past his head.
"Ah, so there is something to speak of!" he exclaimed, laughing loudly.
"Shut up!"
Elara grabbed another pillow and hurled it at him. When Hanki dodged that one as well, she began throwing every cushion within reach, forcing the older man to raise his arms in defence.
Now thoroughly annoyed, Yagou slammed both hands against the desk and stood.
"That is enough from both of you!"
The room immediately fell silent.
He turned towards Hanki first, glaring at him sternly.
"You are a seasoned diplomat and a man of considerable age. What are you doing playing such childish games with a young girl?"
Hanki lowered his arms, looking more like a scolded child than a respected general.
Yagou then turned towards Elara, who had already begun quietly retreating towards the far side of the sofa.
"And you! Why are you throwing pillows at someone old enough to be your father?"
Elara froze before slowly placing the final cushion back onto the sofa.
Both of them sat in silence afterwards, moping like children who had just been denied dessert.
Yagou sighed and returned to his chair.
Sometimes, he wondered whether he was truly leading a diplomatic mission or merely supervising an unusually troublesome family.
Turning away from the pair, he resumed studying the books and documents the Indian officials had provided.
The more he learned about India, the more different it appeared from the previous two nations they had visited.
Religion seemed to possess a far greater presence here. During their journey through New Delhi, he had seen temples, mosques and churches scattered throughout the city. Some were ancient stone structures surrounded by modern buildings, while others stood beside crowded roads filled with roaring vehicles and rushing pedestrians.
It was strange.
The Russians and Americans certainly possessed their own religions, but neither nation appeared to display them so openly throughout everyday life.
India, however, seemed to carry its faith upon its very streets.
Reading further, Yagou finally began to understand why the Americans had warned him that the country would be different.
India had been born from strife, famine and division. Its people had endured foreign conquest, internal conflict and suffering on a scale that would have destroyed many nations within the New World. Yet instead of breaking them, such hardship appeared to have hardened them.
In some ways, the country reminded him of his homeland.
India possessed soil rich enough to produce nearly every form of food known to its people. Vast plains, rivers and farmlands stretched across the nation, sustaining a population larger than anything Yagou could properly comprehend.
And they had accomplished all of it without the blessings of Mana.
That fact continued to disturb him.
Something else that confused him was the sheer diversity of its people. He had been told that languages, customs, clothing and even food could change after travelling merely a hundred kilometres in any direction.
To Yagou, such differences should have created dozens of rival kingdoms.
Instead, they had somehow created one nation.
Even more absurdly, India had not held itself together through conquest or the authority of a single emperor. According to the book, every man and woman possessed a voice in deciding who governed them, regardless of birth, wealth or status.
Such a system should have descended into endless arguments and rebellion.
Yet somehow, it endured.
Yagou glanced towards the window, staring at the lights of New Delhi beyond the palace grounds.
Perhaps the chaos he had witnessed on the roads was merely the natural expression of a nation where everyone was permitted to speak.
He returned his attention to the book.
India's modern form was only a few decades old, yet its history stretched thousands of years into the past. Kingdoms, empires and entire civilizations had risen and fallen upon the same land, leaving behind monuments, scriptures and traditions that continued to influence the people living there.
Yagou found the claim almost impossible to comprehend.
Even elves struggled to accurately remember events after three or four generations unless they were preserved within royal archives. Yet the Indians possessed writings and structures older than many nations in his world.
Before he could continue reading, a firm knock sounded against the door.
Elara immediately sat upright and hid the comic she had been reading beneath one of the cushions.
Yagou noticed but decided not to comment.
"Enter," he called.
The door opened, revealing Dhruv Rawat accompanied by an Indian official carrying several folders.
"I hope I am not disturbing you," Dhruv said warmly. "I have brought tomorrow's schedule."
Yagou rose and accepted the documents.
"You are not disturbing us at all."
Dhruv nodded before continuing.
"Tomorrow morning, your delegation will formally meet President Aadharshini Nambiar and Prime Minister Aryan Singh. Afterwards, the Ministry of External Affairs has arranged several cultural and scientific demonstrations."
At the mention of scientific demonstrations, Hanki immediately forgot his earlier humiliation.
"Will we see more of your metal birds?"
Dhruv smiled.
"Among other things."
Hanki's eyes lit up like those of an excited child.
Yagou, however, looked down at the names written upon the schedule.
The President and Prime Minister of a nation containing more people than entire civilization zones would be waiting for them tomorrow.
He closed the folder carefully.
Russia had shown them strength.
America had shown them wealth.
Now, India would show them what could emerge when an ancient civilisation was given the power of the modern world.
…
Meanwhile,
7,Lok Kalyan Marg ,
Prime Minister Aryan paced around his bedroom with a worried look upon his face.
The attack by the Longwang forces had been repelled, but victory had not come without losses. Soldiers and civilians had died in the fighting, entire villages had been damaged, and the Himalayan frontier remained unstable.
What irritated him even further was the complete lack of cooperation from the Chinese government. Beijing continued to deny any involvement and refused to share intelligence regarding how the rogue elements had obtained Chinese military hardware in the first place.
Aryan scoffed before shouting aloud, "Damnit! Those bastards simply refuse to help us at all!"
While he remained lost in thought, a firm knock came from the door.
"Come in!" he called sharply.
A buxom woman dressed in a sharply pressed olive-green uniform entered the room. The severe lines of the uniform were softened only slightly by the way it had been tailored to her frame. She carried a tablet and a thick collection of folders beneath one arm.
Approaching the desk, she placed the documents down and immediately saluted.
"Lieutenant Sanya Qureshi reporting for duty, Sir!"
Aryan gestured towards the chair opposite him.
"Take a seat, Lieutenant."
"Yes, Sir."
Once she had settled, Aryan leaned against the desk and asked, "Do we have any updates regarding the infiltrators?"
Lieutenant Qureshi shook her head.
"No, Sir. We still have no definitive information regarding their affiliation. RAW operatives are working full-time to identify the threat, but aside from the CBI report concerning the attempted bribery of the Minister of Education, we have very little to work with."
She slid several documents towards him before continuing.
"However, intercepted financial records and communications suggest that their suspected point of origin is somewhere near Hong Kong."
Aryan's expression hardened.
"Hong Kong?"
"Yes, Sir. The trail becomes increasingly difficult to follow after reaching the region. Several companies involved appear to be shell organisations, and the accounts were emptied shortly after the bribery attempt failed."
She handed him the tablet.
Aryan unlocked it and began quickly glancing through the information. Bank transfers, blurred surveillance photographs and intelligence summaries passed across the screen until he stopped upon an image of a glowing blue crystal.
He enlarged the photograph.
"What exactly is this?" he asked, confused. "My desk has been flooded with requests concerning these crystals for the past several days."
Lieutenant Qureshi nodded and zoomed in on the object's recorded properties.
"According to information gathered by our operatives in Russia, the crystal possesses a volatile and extremely dense matrix-like structure. Russian researchers believe it acts similarly to an energy cell, capable of storing enormous quantities of compressed chemical energy alongside another form of energy that remains unidentified."
She opened another file.
"The material was first reported by Rosnedra and was later classified for further investigation by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment."
Before she could continue, Aryan rubbed his temple and interrupted her.
"So, in simple terms, it is some sort of power source that did not exist before we arrived in this world?"
"Yes, Sir," Sanya replied. "The mineral has been provisionally named Manatite, though most researchers simply call them Mana crystals. The inhabitants of this world appear to use them to power what they refer to as magic."
Aryan stared at the glowing crystal upon the tablet.
Only a few weeks ago, the very suggestion of magic would have been laughed out of every serious government office in the country. Now, foreign diplomats had healed a dying man using an unknown force, and Russia had discovered minerals capable of storing that same energy.
"And the infiltrators are interested in this material?" he asked.
"We cannot confirm it yet, Sir. However, the attempted bribery involved access to educational exchanges and research programmes connected to the New World. The timing is unlikely to be coincidental."
Aryan slowly lowered the tablet.
If these infiltrators were attempting to gain access to Mana before India had even properly understood it, then this was no longer an ordinary case of corruption or foreign espionage.
Someone already understood the value of the crystals.
Perhaps far better than they did.
He turned towards the lieutenant.
"Gather the necessary operatives. We will be launching an operation in Hong Kong."
Sanya's expression tightened slightly.
"Sir, operating there without Chinese approval carries significant political risk. If the Ministry of State Security discovers our presence—"
"Then they must not discover it," Aryan interrupted.
He stepped closer to the desk, placing both hands upon it.
"Relay my orders to the Chief. Begin preparations for a covert mission and maintain the utmost secrecy. No official military personnel, no diplomatic channels and nothing that can be traced directly back to this office."
Sanya nodded firmly.
"Understood, Sir. RAW will construct a civilian cover and coordinate with our remaining assets in the region."
"Keep the circle small," Aryan added. "Until we understand who these people are, we assume every compromised official could be connected to them."
"Yes, Sir."
She gathered the folders and stood, but paused before leaving.
"There is one more matter."
Aryan raised an eyebrow.
"What is it?"
"The Qua-Toyne delegation is scheduled to meet you and President Nambiar tomorrow morning. The Ministry of External Affairs believes they may possess useful information regarding Mana crystals."
Aryan glanced once more at the blue crystal glowing upon the tablet.
The timing was almost too convenient.
"Do not inform the delegation about the Hong Kong operation," he ordered. "But prepare a separate list of questions regarding Manatite, magical tools and the trade of Mana-based materials."
Sanya saluted.
"At once, Sir."
As the door closed behind her, Aryan remained alone in the room, staring down at the crystal's image.
The Longwang attack had already shown him how quickly the remnants of their old world could turn against one another.
Now, an entirely new source of power had entered the game.
And somewhere within Hong Kong, someone was already moving to seize it.
…
TBC