The Sentinels

Chapter 2- The Airship

C A L L U M

Maddox looked to Callum,"So, do you have any suggestions for a team?"

Callum instinctively took out a paper, the only one he knew in the folder of potential sentinels. She happened to be one of his oldest friends.

Maddox gave a curious look,"The Black Swan? You want Agent Markova on the team? As in the deadliest spy in the world?"

Callum gave a confident nod,"She is the bravest person I know."

Maddox lifted a brow,"Most lethal too. The only problem is, Agent Markova has been off the grid since 1945. I have no idea where she is."

Callum grinned,"If you have a ride, I think I know how to find her."

Maddox cracked a grin, looking to the driver,"Warren, can you take us up to the ship please?"

The driver nodded silently, and before Callum could ask what Maddox was meaning, the SUV swerved into an alley, and lurched into the air. The wheels spun sideways, and propulsion technology kicked in, propelling the vehicle into the air. They promptly began to fly upward.

Callum looked at Maddox in amazement,"A flying car?"

The SUV darted through the air, and Maddox clicked his watch, which opened to reveal a communication device. "Drop the cloaking shield. I'm boarding," he instructed.

The air rippled, and suddenly a figure appeared in the sky, shimmering into view like a materializing mirage. Waves of multicolored light began flashing over the massive object, and the thing hidden by multiple layers of magic and cloaking technology began to appear. Callum soon saw the largest machine he had ever seen come into focus.

Abruptly, an immense aircraft-carrier-like ship was revealed. A flying ship complete with missile launchers and watch towers loomed into view.

Callum smiled wide,"What is that?"

Maddox smiled proudly,"The Zephyr 13, largest aerial and naval craft in the world. It serves as a headquarters of Aegis."

Callum had been around the organization known as Aegis for over seventy years. After being awakened by agents, he learned the modern world had been secretly guarded by an ancient organization for centuries. Aegis, alternatively standing for Agency of Extramundane Guardianship, Investigation, and Security, not only kept mortals safe from the otherworldly; they also helped maintain the secret of magic, hiding the mystical from the mundane.

But this was a new level. Aegis always had possessed highly advanced technology that gave Callum's out-of-time brain headaches, but the Zephyr 13 had raised his admiration for Aegis as high as they were now.

Callum shook his head as they flew toward the ship,"How do people not see this thing anywhere? Something this massive must be hard to hide, even in plain sight."

"The Veil hides the Zephyr when we can't", Maddox answered,"the same way it hides anything magical."

Callum did know what the Veil was. That was a modern thing his medieval mind could grasp with ease. 

The Veil was the mystical force that hid magic from mortals. Before Callum was turned to stone, the world knew of magic. But after he awoke, he found he was in a new world where the otherworldly was believed to not exist due to a spell casted by his mentor, Merlin. The Veil acted as an unseen filter which warped the minds of mortals, twisting their perception to see a normal reality. Aegis could even harness and manipulate the Veil to such a degree that Maddox was able to place Callum in a Veil-induced blind spot, where he was rarely seen unless he wanted to be.