I don't believe in magic of course, he silently told himself as he slammed open the door, I just want to make sure that they don't do any weird mumbo jumbo to my computer. Like, I don't know, painting a circle around it and chanting stuff.

He skidded to a stop in the den. Rathar was dictating to the computer. Looks like he found the option that let him dictate, his brain told him, and that he was using the built-in microphone.

What built in microphone? Said a small, treacherous part of his brain.

The one I never used because it never worked.

Oh. That one.

There was a pause as his brain re-ran the last three lines of the conversation.

Err…

Shut up, he obviously made it work.

No, it's just that he seems to be arguing against the computer.

Well, nothing wrong with that, I do it all the time.

Okay then, Mr. Cerebellum, tell me this. Why does the computer seem to be arguing back?

Phred drew within view range of the computer and what he saw fused his brain for several seconds.

The computer was arguing back.

Moreover, it was winning.

Sara was flabbergasted. In all her years as a physicist, she had never seen anything like it. Slowly, but surely, the equations that were usually regarded as the mantra of her kind, were going out of scope. It wasn't that they didn't work, it was just that they seemed to no longer match up with obersvations. There seemed to be a fifth force, subtly altering equations, but it never stayed the same! It was maddening. She would think that she had pinned it down, but it would slip away again.

She ran off to get her colleagues. This was something that required more attention.

Lord Haarlien of the Dark Echelon was similarly confused. In his reports from field agents it seemed that the force electric was growing stronger, as well was the force of magnetism. One lodestone that had been enchanted to high power so it would function in a spell that detected metal had been supercharged so much that the resulting feedback caused the armor he was wearing to crumple around it in a small, tight, ball. Thankfully he had shucked it off before being crushed, but this had to be investigated further.

He fired off a short message spell to the other heads of their orders. This would have to be investigated more…