"Hello, can anyone hear me? Respond please."
The voice came from one of the rooms in the MiniEx department in Shirekeep. No diplomats were meant to be arriving this today, so the aide assumed it was someone lost.
"Hello, can anyone hear me? Respond please."
There was the voice, again. "In a moment!" the aide yelled, finishing off his report. The MiniEx was demanded efficiency.
"Hello, can anyone hear me? Respond please."
There was the voice, again, exactly the same. "Coming!" the agent said, exasperated. He clicked print, then ran into the room the voice was coming from, to see Andreas the Wise; MiniTrade; and eminent Gralan, say again "Hello, can anyone hear me? Respond please."
"I'm here," the aide said, somewhat surprised to see Andreas here.
"Name and rank," Andreas demanded.
"Er, Scott Novigrad, aide to the Diplocorp Officer for Sporting Affairs ..." the aide spluttered.
"Your rank is not high enough," Andreas stated, calmly. "Please return with the Kaiser/ess, the MiniEx, and/or the MoMA. There is a grave diplomatic communication to be delivered - it is of the utmost importance it is delivered as soon as humanly possible."
"Wake the Khan this early in the morning? He'd roast me alive!" the aide said, terrified.
"I am sorry," Andreas said, "my responses are limited. You will have to ask the right questions."

It was at this moment that the aide realised Andreas' eyes were not looking at him. They were looking straight at the door. They had not moved at all to indicate they had seen the aide. The aide, curious, walked around Andreas, who was now silent, and soon found ... that it was not Andreas, but a flat projection of him. It was a hologram. The Gralans had hologram machines? Ones that could interpret and respond to basic verbal commands? That was a godsend! The Khan might not kill him if he was shown that! But more importantly, he had to find the Kaiser, the Khan, or the Minister, immediately!

An hour or so later, with some confusion and slight protestations, Kaiser Gaelen III and the MoMA, Ardashir Khan, were standing in the room, to see this 'hologram machine'. "This is the Kaiser, and it better be very important," Gaelen said. "I missed breakfast."
"Voice recognised and approved," the hologram stated. "Message follows." For a moment the hologram flickered, and then Andreas stood there again, but much more naturally.
"Welcome," he said. "If you are receiving this message, it means that Q's prototype interactive hologram machine is actually working! That's a miracle in itself. But more importantly, if you are receiving this, it means the Fate Distortion project has been activated, at whatever time this message first appeared."
"A working hologram machine ..." the Khan muttered, bemused.
"Shh," the Kaiser said, listening to the message.
"The Fate Distortion Project was a secret project of MANA's, unknown even to the Triumvirate or the other Lord's of Magic. It was started after the Demon War, and designed as a last defence, to be activated in the event that we faced a foe so terrible we seriously doubted our chances of victory. When activated, it will remove all of Gralus' lands from space and time - we couldn't know in advance where we would be fighting this foe, so we did what we hoped will have removed all traces of it from Micras. Gralus' lands are now in an inescapable time loop, focused on that foe. It will endlessly repeat the events that led up to the Fate Distortion Project being activated. MANA, meanwhile, and all those loyal to it, will be outside, in a separate time/space area. We will be able to enter the time loop, and hopefully this time prevent whatever occurred. We have all of eternity to try and fix it, though we hope we'll do it sooner. Why are we telling you this? Well, a foe that would require the activation of the Fate Distortion project is a magical one so powerful that conventional military will be almost useless against it. It may even find some way to defeat us and break out of the time loop. We are warning you, to give you time to prepare. Keep watch. If ever Gralus' lands reappear, and they are ravaged and destroyed, then it will mean the foe has defeated us and escaped the enchantment. This message is being sent to you and Nelaga; the two other most magically powerful nations on Micras. If it has beaten us, only you two will have any chance of defeating it. If nothing else, polish off the Sword of Vengeance; and warn the Angel Guardian and the Arx-Piscator. They may know what to do. If we should fail, there will only be you and Nelaga left. The fate of the world shall depend on you. Good luck."
The image of Andreas faded.
"I'll take the device, for research purposes ..." the Khan began, when suddenly, the image reappeared.
"Oh, one last thing," Andreas said, with a wink. "Should any clowns at the MCS try and remove our claim just because we aren't on the land at the moment, please stop them. We'd hate to have just defeated the most dangerous foe Micras has ever seen ... only to arrive back and discover we'd crushed some foolish colony which had decided to try and settle our lands while we were saving the world." Then the image was gone, and the room went quiet.

"There's no need to worry about the device, dear Khan. A mere small-scale hologram projector like this is a technological trifle hardly even worth reverse engineering, let alone inventing in the first place. Now, I assume that little that passes on this planet has evaded the attention of your ministry?"
"Well, they could have been more specific about which cosmic horror of the week attacked them this time... not that it wouldn't have been yet another creature or abstract concept that's stubbornly unwilling to follow the rules of physics, or of sanity. But no, unless De Morgan himself got mad at the place and finally made it disappear in a puff of logic, I have no idea. I'll have to consult SHINE."
"Very well then, fifteen minutes, in the war room?"
"Ten should be enough, sir."

Six minutes and twenty-three seconds later, the Khan walked in and handed the Kaiser a folder. "Here, sir, your copy, fresh off the printers."

SHINE report on magical attack in New Province, Gralus on 16 Breizan 3692

At 11:12:52 local time the Sky City of Etruri was witnessed growing intensely bright in the sky by several sources, including crew of the cargo ship Unbounded Profit that was off the Gralan coast at the time, LIDAR satellites, and webcam feeds in and around the city of Lakeheart.

At 11:14:22 the Sky City suddenly began to descend, accelerating as if in approximately half gravity and reaching the terminal velocity of this acceleration. The city kept falling stably, except for a sudden drop apparently in full gravity for about a hundred meters finishing at the height of 70 meters. From there, it settled down in its fall again and set down gently on the lake, apparently without displacing water. Significant bubbling and agitation were witnessed on the water's surface, however.

In the following minutes a single camera that happened to be trained in just the right direction in the right place recorded citizens of the city in magical combat against a foe of an unknown, but apparently non-geometrical nature: All of the creatures appeared as if embedded on a plane always perpendicular to the camera. Face-recognition analysis shows that most or all of the creatures were in fact reflections of the local people.

The Kaiser looked upward in thought for a few seconds, and continued reading. The report went on for several pages, covering every related event that the SHINE had any knowledge of in meticulous detail; The shadow over Gralan lands that it was assumed would look like an unnatural continuation of the recent eclipse, the exact timing and manner of Gralus's disappearance, possibly related anomalies from near Damev, and anything else the long fingers of SHINE had touched.

"Well," said the Kaiser, "I guess I won't have to sack the director this time."

"So, who do we call?"

"Get in the Dukes of... actually, have all of them report to me. Brookshire should know about the fate of the Arx-Piscator, Elwynn's bound to have someone around who knows how to keep an eye on this kind of magic without getting stabbed through the nearest mirror or something, Yardistan has the Angel Guardian, Kildare has the magical academies and the Duke himself, and as for Straylight.... I think I remember a little something that might just give us an edge against reflections. I'll be in my study."

Greg Russell, Duke of Yardistan, was sitting at his desk in his office inside Castle Russell. It was morning, and he was enjoying a terrific Yardistani breakfast of Octocluck eggs, Bacon, and sausage. He finished his glass of milk when he heard his phone ring. "Oh what the Balgurd is it now?" He said, and picked up his phone. Only certain, high-ranking officials had his number. If they were calling directly, it was probably trouble.

"Greg Russell speaking."

"...yes, your Niftiness... what do you mean its GONE?"

"Oh gods, I'll be in Shirekeep by noon. Yes, I'll bring Aggy."

Greg placed the phone back on its hook, and sighed, leaning back in his chair. He didn't know how Gralus could even do that? Just disappear in an endless loop of time? Impossible. But Gralus didn't know when to leave well enough alone, did they? His sister had some dealings with Gralun duel-citizens in Nelaga, but he hadn't had any experience with them at all. Rumor had it they were constantly messing with fate, or time, planes of existence. He was surprised something like this hadn't happened yet, come to think of it. He had always had a firm belief that the gods kept certain aspects of the universe to themselves, and this situation only further confirmed that whatever it was, the gods were right to keep their secrets. Mankind shouldn't be messing with the unknown like that. He picked up the phone again.

“Yes... we're going to Shirekeep...”