[ WP ] In a parallel dimension to ours where magic rules the land , World War Two begins .

As the countdown began, I remember that first conversation. 
 
 -- -- 
 `` The Disk is a myth.'' Enrico said. 
 
 `` I know that.'' I replied. `` Do you really think I'd have asked you to look this over if I was chasing fool's gold?'' 
 
 Enrico shrugged. `` This whole project is chasing fool's gold, Robert. Everyone's trying to dig up some magic weapon that wins them the war.'' 
 
 `` Right - rather than try to find a Disk, I'm suggesting building one.'' 
 
 Enrico frowned. `` You know that's not possible. That's the reason that the Disk is a myth, nobody's ever been able to actually create one.'' 
 
 I'd already sketched on the chalkboard I kept for these purposes. `` Right, because of the null zone problem.'' I indicated the board. I'd drawn the Disk in the center, and a circle around it. `` The Disk's purpose is to use up all available magic in an area, and it does that by converting the magic into angular momentum.'' 
 
 `` Right, it spins.'' Enrico said. `` But, as you're no doubt about to point out to me, it ca n't keep spinning, because once the anti-magic area it creates grows too big, there's no connection between it and a source of magic. The magic outside the null zone ca n't cross into it, and so the Disk ca n't get any more power. It stops, the bubble collapses, and the superweapon's a dud.'' 
 
 `` The null zone problem.'' I said. `` I think I have a solution.'' 
 
 Enrico had, thus far, been humoring me. Now, though, he seemed somewhat interested. `` Oh? Well, this I have to see.'' 
 
 He may have still been humoring me. I led him into the other room, my office, where I'd set up a few exhibits. 
 
 `` My first attempt was this.'' I said, gesturing to a ring I'd placed on a pedestal. `` It was my hope that a toroidal shape would produce a differently-shaped null zone. Like that of a magnetic field.'' I gestured to a drawing I'd attached to the pedestal, showing a null zone that looked like two circles touching. `` These non-null areas at the top and bottom would allow magic to cross and continue to feed the device.'' 
 
 `` I take it,'' Enrico said, `` that this was not a success?'' 
 
 `` It certainly would n't be stored in my house if it was.'' I said. `` The field is circular no matter the shape or properties of the generator; it's less about the generator itself and more about the fields of surrounding magic. They're what force it into shape.'' 
 
 `` I assume there's more than this.'' He replied. 
 
 I nodded, gesturing to my desk and its many papers. `` Hold on,'' I said, taking another. `` This was a successor attempt, which attempted to use magic to shape the null zone.'' 
 
 `` Ah,'' Enrico said, `` but you ca n't use magic to shape a null zone, for the same reason that the magic ca n't cross it in the first place: That's what makes it a null zone. It's anti-magic.'' 
 
 `` You could have saved me a lot of time by telling me that beforehand.'' I said, only somewhat joking. 
 
 Enrico shrugged. `` Classified experiments. Though if I'd known you were heading in this direction I would have found some way to warn you off.'' 
 
 `` Well, something did come of it eventually.'' I said. I dug for another paper and handed it over. `` This is another Disk, though it does n't spin as much.'' 
 
 Enrico examined my writing, hardly an easy task even when I had n't been scribbling like a madman. `` This formula... are you transmuting?'' 
 
 `` Exactly. The entire concept of the Disk is that it uses up all the magic in an area by spinning up, but it does n't have to *spin*. It can do anything with that magic.'' I said. 
 
 Enrico nodded, still examining the paper. `` We already knew that, to an extent. It has to float, for instance, it has to be frictionless otherwise it'd set the air on fire, it needs reinforcing spells to not fall apart.'' 
 
 `` The amount of magic that would be fueling this thing would be immense. We can cast pretty much anything we want, provided we can put it on the Disk. So, rather than generate a null zone, I'm generating a conductive field. It still uses up the magic, but it avoids all the problems a null zone would create.'' 
 
 `` Ah!'' Enrico said. `` I knew this section looked familiar. This is my work on conductive aether!'' 
 
 I nodded. `` Hence why I wanted your advice. Transmuting air into conductive aether is mana-hungry, but that's exactly what we want for this.'' 
 
 `` This...'' Enrico frowned. `` I can find no fault with it - no technical fault, at least. Morally, though... this would be a weapon of immense power. The theoretical range on this alone... you could de-power entire countries.'' 
 
 `` It's worse than that, I'm afraid.'' I said. `` Believe me. The only theoretical limit on this weapon is magic. All of it. And it would n't just take away magic. Magic does n't just give powers, it enables life! It's what fundamentally holds everything together. Tearing it apart on this level, removing magic to this degree... done incorrectly, it'd disintegrate the planet.'' 
 
 `` We ca n't do this.'' Enrico said firmly. `` If you came over here to get my blessing to destroy this work, consider it given. This must never see the light of day.'' 
 
 `` I've sat on this for two months.'' I said, slowly. `` On one hand, I agree with you. This is too terrible a device to ever be left in the hands of mere men. On the other, the only reason this device has not yet been created, the reason we believe it to be a myth, is because it requires your work to complete.'' 
 
 Enrico still looked horrified. `` And my work has been compromised.'' He said. `` I've known for some time, but I did n't think it would have applications... like this.'' 
 
 `` This is a mistake.'' I said. `` A terrible, awful mistake. And it's one we must make before our enemies do, or we will be destroyed utterly.'' 
 
 -- -- 
 
 *Three* 
 
 *Two* 
 
 *One* 
 
 For a moment, nothing seemed to happen. Then, suddenly, the tiny mock-city that had been created to test the yield of the device vanished. In its place was a crater the exact size we'd designed. Within that crater, only ash remained. 
 
 There was a subdued cheering in the room - the test was successful. We had our artifact that would win the war. But that much destruction, that much waste. We would win the war, but what kind of world would remain? And for how long? 
 
 As I looked into the crater that once was a city, a quote from an old religious text came through my mind: 
 
 `` Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.''
