INT. FRANK IRONWILL’S STARSHIP

Somewhere on Coalition space, the starship of the legendary smuggler Frank Ironwill was moving slowly through space. Frank liked to contemplate the scenery of the cosmos, so sometimes he sat on a couch and watched space through a window. The scenery could change from seeing a beautiful alien planet, to just seeing a space port with many ads.

Frank: “It never gets old.”

Frank was a human man in his thirties, his hair was combed backwards and he was currently wearing a shirt with a logo of a musical group and a pair of shorts. He looked like a really chill dude, though those that know him know he gets serious when innocent people are harmed. His ideals are the reason Flamewing was able to ally with him years ago during the Coalition vs Blitz war. He charged a fee to Flamewing, but he never betrayed his trust and wouldn’t ever.

And this loyalty is the reason Flamewing called him to entrust him with a job.

Frank: “Frank’s speaking… Bro! It has been so long! You haven’t called in months after you returned! Don’t make me wait again, man! My heart can’t take more hits, hermano!”

Flamewing: “I have also missed you, bro!”

These two friends talked for hours about random topics, like families and friends, politics and economics, the best ways to grill meat, new vehicles on the market and what new series Flamewing has to check. After a discussion about a new historical drama series, Flamewing remembered the main reason to call Frank.

Flamewing: “So in summary, this product isn’t patented and can be easily distributed to people living in places like Stardust.”

Frank: “That was the lamest pitch talk I have seen.”

Flamewing: “Are you helping me, or not?”

Frank: “For the right price.”

Flamewing: “Of course.”

Frank: “Hydroponics and transportation are costly. By the way, isn’t the Empress going to get mad if you do this behind her back?”

Flamewing: “People making a profit out of one of her crops is the least of her concerns, and besides, the reason for making this crop was to help people become self-reliant. I am just skipping the bureaucracy.”

Frank: “Says the man that pirated anime from old servers.”

Flamewing: “For historical records.”

Frank: “I have no problem with this plan. You want to help people and I want to make money, and if I make money helping people that is a plus.”

Flamewing: “I knew I could count on your greedy ass.”

Frank: “Question: why Stardust specifically? Is it because of Jen?”

Flamewing: “... Yes.”

Frank: “Maaaan, I am surprised you had a daughter with her. I thought you would end up with Morkana.”

Flamewing: “It’s… It’s complicated.”

Frank: “I am sorry, bro.”

INT. MILITARY BASE OF FAEHEIM - NIGHT

Flamewing finished the conversation and sighed.

Flamewing: “Now to get the money.”

To pay Frank an initial payment he sold him his old ship and whatever technology Victor left on the farm of Stardust. However, for this enterprise Flamewing was planning he decided to open a Pandora Box that was originally his plan B in case Morkana kicked him out of the palace and instead of accepting his oath, and this was a plan that was a big gamble because it required to talk to the person that hates Flamewing the most and isn’t an enemy of him.

INT. SPARROW AND OWL’S APARTMENT - EARLY MORNING

Sparrow didn’t expect to be woken up too early in the morning, and less by Flamewing.

Sparrow (sleepy): “How did you get this number?”

Flamewing: “The same way I have done for years.”

Sparrow was still in her underwear and tried not to wake up her fiancee.

Sparrow: “Don’t be a smartass. This is Owl’s casual phone and now I will be forced to destroy it.”

Flamewing: “Wait! This is about my patents!”

Sparrow’s eyes opened widely.

Flamewing: “I know that the company that manufactures these magecraft gauntlets for the imperial military-”

Sparrow: “You can’t sue me, you buffoon. You have no collateral and-”

Flamewing: “I want to sell my patents!”

Sparrow was speechless.

Sparrow: “What?”

Flamewing: “You want new equipment for the Birds and whatever plans you are doing? I have other fourteen patents under my name besides the gauntlets, and I have the research notes of Victor Karsh.”

Sparrow: “You what?!”

Sparrow shouted so loud that Owl woke up.

Owl (sleepy): “Veri? It’s too early.”

Sparrow: “Your copyrighted designs are small in comparison to the last thing you said. You should have started with that.”

Flamewing: “You want the notes? You can have them. All I want are two things.”

Sparrow gave a dry laugh.

Sparrow: “Ha ha. I forgot I was talking with a devil. What do you want, asshole?”

Flamewing: “First, I want you to invest in a project I am working on.”

Sparrow: “Are you too scared to beg the Empress for help?”

Flamewing: “I don’t want her to be involved in this project.”

Sparrow: “Fair enough. However, you have already harmed my empress once by acting behind her back, so I will make sure you don’t do it again. Don’t try anything funny, asswing.”

The former iron lady of Blitz didn’t hold any punches.

Flamewing: “The second thing I am asking for is to create an account, a trust fund for my children.”

Sparrow: “Prince isn’t your child. You didn’t raise him.”

Flamewing: “I know!”

Sparrow could hear the crying voice of Flamewing. What she told him was cruel, but it was her honest opinion about Flamewing. To her he was an absent father, a liar and deadbeat. She couldn’t understand what Morkana saw in Flamewing.

Flamewing: “I wasn’t there for him and Mork, so I want to make it right.”

Sparrow: “You can’t make it right. You hurt a woman and a child by trying to help someone you shouldn’t have helped.”

Flamewing wanted to scream at her. He was furious about how this woman mocked him. She has always mocked him and he always had a way to counter her, but now he was allowing her to have the satisfaction of being right.

Flamewing: “Are you done?”

Sparrow: “Yes. Now, about those notes…”

To explain what just happened, let me start with this statement: Arther Flamewing is a normal person. Yes, he is a hero, someone extraordinary that has defeated many villains and saved the lives of millions of people, and he also has an hereditary condition that makes him neurodivergent. What I mean when I say he is a normal person is that he wasn’t born with any special powers. His “magical potential”, as some humans call it, was very low, not enough to cast magic and this is the same magical potential most humans have in recent times. As a kid, Arther wanted to be able to use magic like the heroes of the cartoons he watched in old files from before the Cataclysm, and he tried everything he could to use magic, like reading magic books and doing rituals. When that didn’t work, he took too seriously the third law of Arthur C. Clarke and decided to create technological shortcuts to make magic. One shortcut he found was the result of tinkering with magical crystals obtained from abandoned starships in the starship junkyards outside of Nueva Tamaulipas. By scrapping for very small amounts of crystals Flamewing created special orbs that can produce a small magical current, and with that current he could activate carefully crafted runes that cast simple spells, like “fireball”, “fake sound”, “mist”, “strength”, “levitate” and “plasma jet”. To pompous wizards this was amateurish work of the lowest quality, but to the strategists of the armies of the Coalition this was a military advantage, and even Sparrow, who really hates Flamewing, agrees that Flamewing revolutionized warfare. Sparrow just thinks he wasted his skills trying to be a superhero and didn’t see the full picture of what he invented.

As for Victor’s notes, they could save millions of lives, or destroy them. He was one of the top scientists of the Think Tank of Blitz, but before that he was a geneticist working for the Star Defenders, previously known as the Star Fighters. The scientific secrets of the Star Defenders are a treasure from the days before the Cataclysm, secrets that the rebuilding civilizations aren’t ready for yet, at least according to the previous leaders of the Star Defenders. This knowledge is what made Victor Karsh one of the most wanted people of the Known Worlds, and now this knowledge belongs to researchers of the Fafnirian Empire, thanks to a man with an anime haircut. Flamewing changed history again, but this time he did it for his kids, because he wants to be their hero.