ã€ŠThe Fire and The Storm - The Nexus of Kellaran #2ã€‹


 Chapter 1

    Chapter 1

    The Fire and The Storm ¨C Book Two of The Nexus of Keran

    (please read Book One first; Blessings of a Curse)

    Part 1

    This book begins at the exact same time and ce that Book One ends.

    (If you are reading this ount in anguage other than Grand High Draconian, you might consider

    making a contribution to the Trantion section of your local Magic Users Guild. XVD)

    ¡°Have you noticed exactly who is here today?¡± Quewanak asked Mark while throwing a two meter white

    cross to circle the young man. Theparatively tiny green dragon was looking astoundingly healthy

    since he had be Draconian God of Dreaming.

    Mark looked around again, then shrugged. ¡°Just our usual friends and aplices.¡± he grinned, and

    threw his cross to circle his green friend at the same time.

    ¡°Think a moment. This is not the first time that this exact group has been together in this ce.¡±

    It took a moment, then realization came.

    ¡°Ah.¡± Mark nodded. ¡°Right after I Healed Dalia and Bezedil. When we found out that all of us except

    Gran were candidates for divinity.¡±

    Quewanak nodded, and made another toss while calmly meeting Mark¡¯s eye. ¡°It¡¯s an incredibly

    beautiful experience, you know. And it¡¯s as easy to set godhood aside and ignore it as it is to do so with

    the magic you already know. Sure, it changes you profoundly, but you can simply enjoy time as a

    mortal whenever you want, just as being a great wizard and warlock isn¡¯t impeding your enjoyment of

    ying with toys like a child right now.¡±

    Mark nodded thoughtfully. ¡°You¡¯re saying you think I should take the big step?¡±

    Quewanak raised an eyebrow. ¡°Don¡¯t you?¡±

    Mark paused and looked around, noticing that everyone was now following their conversation intently.

    ¡°What do you think, my love?¡± he silently asked Talia psionically.

    ¡°I follow your lead in this, my husband.¡± she replied. ¡°I wee you to take the step, so long as you

    can take me with you. I couldn¡¯t bear not sharing something so profound with you. But the thought of

    achieving divinity is both joyous and terrifying. I would dly wait a millennium or three, if you so

    choose.¡±

    There was a long silence as they waited for his decision. Eventually he gave it.

    ¡°No.¡± Mark stated decisively. ¡°I¡¯m not giving up my humanity until after we¡¯ve had at least a couple of

    kids and raised them till they¡¯re grown.¡±

    ¡°Impossible!¡± Amirgath growled, seeming more than a bit irritated. ¡°The demons approach, and you are

    key to the nexus, which is due in two years! It is your responsibility to gain every advantage and ability

    you can, since the fate of this world may depend on your performance in theing conflict!¡±

    Everyone stopped what they were doing and gathered in arge loose circle to follow the discussion.

    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me it¡¯s impossible, Amirgath!¡± Mark returned with determination. ¡°I¡¯m still a free being, and

    none of the many responsibilities I¡¯m fulfilling requires me to give up my humanity! We want to have

    children, normal children, damn it! I don¡¯t know if gods can even have children, and if they can, it¡¯s sure

    to be apletely different experience from having and raising children as mortals do!¡±

    ¡°Once you be a god,¡± Heklivmalgiso patiently exined, ¡°You will lose the urge to have children,

    and begin to share our feeling that every mortal member of your race are your children. Or perhaps, as

    you have advocated, you will feel that the mortals of all the races are your children. For we as gods are

    responsible for them, and for their racial survival.

    ¡°You know that the nexus and theing war with the demons threaten every life on Keran. We will

    need every advantage that we can get, and if only your own divinity were in question, perhaps we could

    do with one less god.

    ¡°But you know that the divinities of almost all of these Candidates are dependent on yours, to one

    extent or another. So the question is not whether we will have one more god when we face the

    demons, the question is whether we will have at least twelve more gods, perhaps fifteen. And perhaps

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    thousands, or millions, for I believe that once you have joined us in divinity; you may be able to teach

    the secret of achieving it to other mortals who have the potential to utilize it.

    ¡°Know that every god has found a different way to achieve it, and none of us have been capable of

    achieved it in a very intuitive process that defies rational analysis. Only two have achieved it by

    processes that were arrived at through intellectual cognition, and theyck the ability tomunicate

    their methods to a mortal without spending thousands of years in educating that mortal.

    ¡°The method you have devised, from what you have let us know of it, is far more basic and

    understandable. The study of the achievement of divinity that your group undertook was the first to

    summarize the process so sinctly; gain power to increase understanding, gain understanding to

    increase power, continue until divinity is achieved. Never before has the Ascendance been reduced to

    such simple concepts, and that led to the method that you discovered.

    ¡°Furthermore, your ability to transferplex and immediately usable spells into the minds of other

    mortals is supreme among all beings, with the possible exception of Quewanak here. If you allow him

    to observe the process via a psionic Link while you achieve divinity, I believe that he could teach it to

    mortals in a dream. But only you have the psionic ability to simply ce it in the mind of another mortal

    so quickly and easily. In this one way, you already surpass the gods. After you have be a god, you

    will almost certainly be able to make any suitable Candidate a god, simply by showing them how it is

    done.¡±

    ¡°Hey, we still don¡¯t even know if my method will work!¡± Mark protested. ¡°And even if it does, I might not

    be the best person to try it first! Look, I¡¯ll give you my Reading of everything I thought and experienced

    during the battle with Zarkog, and the moments after when I still held all the power, and held all the

    crucial thoughts in mind. Take it, all of you.

    ¡°There. Now it¡¯s not just my problem anymore. You can give that to all of your magic researchers, both

    mortal and divine, and I¡¯m sure someone else can figure it all out! Meanwhile, I¡¯ll keep working on it

    from that angle, being able to teach how to do it without having to do it myself for at least the next

    twenty years, because that¡¯s how long it¡¯ll take to have a couple of half-elven kids and raise them up to

    adults. And I don¡¯t even want to start until the nexus is over.¡±

    ¡°Bah! You are ignoring the dependencies!¡± Heklivmalgiso insisted. ¡°Those dependencies were

    discerned by our power as divine seers, for we see the shadows of the future, andbine it with

    supreme intellectual chain-of-events analysis in a way that is not understandable by a mortal mind, not

    even one such as yours. Consider it fact; Talia cannot be divine unless you do, and no amount of

    analysis of what you have understood so far will be of any use. You cannot teach her how to do it until

    you have done it. The same can be said of the rest of these candidates.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps not.¡± Yazadril said as he rubbed his chin and considered Mark¡¯s Reading. ¡°You said my

    Ascendancy and Alilia¡¯s were only partly dependent on Mark¡¯s. That has been fulfilled, since I wouldn¡¯t

    have thought of this on my own, and I doubt she would have either. However, with what Mark¡¯s given

    us, and some time to study it and make a few careful experiments, we might be able to do it.¡±

 Chapter 2

    Chapter 2

    Part 1

    ¡°You will not be able to raise normal children, even if you stay mortal.¡± Ne pointed out to Mark. ¡°They

    will be half elven and half human, and with your unique properties, they might just be the first of a new

    race. Furthermore, they will be the sons and daughters of the Prince and Princess of Hilia, Keys to The

    Just Alliance, keys to the nexus, two of the most powerful spell casters on the, and two of the

    wealthiest and most famous people alive. Those circumstances will prevent your children from having

    anything like what you would consider to be a normal childhood, and you may as well face that right

    now. But that does not mean that their childhood will be any less wonderful and healthy, simply

    because their parents and their lives are exceptional. The same will be true if you be divine.

    ¡°The mortals here right now are the only ones that know that Quewanak is now a god. The same can

    be true of yourselves.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right.¡± Mark nodded. ¡°There¡¯s no way we can give our kids a normal childhood while living the

    way we are now. So after the nexus ispletely over and dealt with, we¡¯ll retire from all this royalty

    and government for at least twenty years while we move somewhere simple and raise some kids. Then

    after thest of ¡®em get married, then I might consider bing a god, and not before.

    ¡°As for all those dependencies, after you revealed them I did stuff that you said ¡®left your visions of the

    future in tatters¡¯. And you said that all our Candidacies would wax and wane with time and events. So

    there¡¯s a good chance that none of that is valid anymore anyway.¡±

    He turned to Amirgath. ¡°It seemed you were the quickest at evaluating someone¡¯s Candidacyst time,

    and I don¡¯t see that having it done by our own patron god matters. Why don¡¯t you give us all another

    quick scan right now, and see what you think.¡±

    Amirgath did so with a quick nce at all the mortals present, then sat back on his haunches in

    surprise, before grinning in satisfaction. ¡°All of your Candidacies are absolutely assured, including

    yours, Grakonexikaldoron! All of you will Ascend within the next two years! It is so absolutely certain

    that the dependencies can no longer be discerned. I am certain that this indicates that we will win this

    argument, and convince you to do your duty as you should!¡±

    ¡°Well you¡¯re wrong then, because I¡¯m still just as convinced that I won¡¯t do it! Besides, it could just as

    easily show that someone else will figure out how to do it and to teach it. And besides all that, I¡¯m still

    improving so quickly as a mage and a wizard and a warlock, I might be able to find another way to

    assure our victory over the demons.¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Falgaroth chuckled. ¡°Your candidacy is assured; you will Ascend within two years. I think that

    what the new findings show is that the solution Visinniria, Glup, and myself have thought of will work,

    and that it will please all of you. A solution we thought of by working together while the rest of you were

    arguing, I might point out.

    ¡°Amirgath, would you and your faction be satisfied if Mark took two monthspletely off, including

    being out of contact with everyone, and then made his attempt to be divine, and to teach it to

    these other Candidates?¡±

    ¡°We would be well pleased with that.¡± Amirgath nodded.

    ¡°Excellent.¡± Falgaroth said as he turned to Mark, and swished his long blue tail with a graceful motion.

    ¡°Mark, if you can retire from government and politics for twenty-four years, will you promise to then

    resume your duties and do your best to be divine, and to teach it or otherwise effect it in these

    others, and as many others as you can?¡±

    Mark quickly checked with Talia via their Link, and received her enthusiastic agreement before he

    responded. ¡°Sure, I¡¯d be willing tomit us to that.¡±

    ¡°Excellent.¡± Falgaroth nodded, and tossed his mane a bit. ¡°Then gather those people who you wish to

    be part of themunity your children will grow up with. Choose an isted ce for thatmunity,

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    and go there with those you have chosen, who will agree to live there with you in istion for the full

    twenty-four years.

    ¡°We will then cast a time-bubble upon that ce. While twenty-four years will pass within the bubble,

    only two months will pass outside it. That should give you ample time to raise your children.

    ¡°Remember that yourmunity will bepletely isted, so the area in the bubble must berge

    and bountiful enough to provide all of yourmunity¡¯s needs. Though I suppose you are already

    capable of providing anything you could need with spellcraft.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good thinking.¡± Quewanak offered, scratching his chin with a w-tip. ¡°I can think of a few ways

    to deal with simting the normal timing of sunrise and the change of seasons.¡±

    ¡°You should do it for all our researchers too.¡± Mark suddenly suggested. ¡°Everyone who¡¯s working

    desperately on important research, hoping to get it done before the demons get here, can all have

    extra decades to figure it out. For that matter, do it for as many as you can, everyone who¡¯s building

    defenses, or having and raising children, increasing the food supply, teaching spells, building weapons.

    The more time we have to prepare for the demons, the better off we¡¯ll be, right? There can be more of

    us, and be better trained and equipped and prepared in every way!¡±

    ¡°Damn, child, that is good thinking.¡± Falgaroth neighed and nodded as he considered it ¡°But there are

    limits to how much we can do that way. It¡¯s not a simple thing, and will require a constant portion of the

    attention and power of at least three gods for the full two months in order to do it. But I will see how

    many of us are willing tomit to the task, and we will do what we can. We will take a week to

    prepare, then we¡¯ll cast all the istions simultaneously. It will be simpler that way. In two months time,

    we will see how much we have achieved in the way of results, and consider repeating and expanding

    the program. We may do it at least ten times over the next year.

    ¡°Most of us agree that we should try to eliminate the demons then; about thirteen months from now,

    actually. The distance between us and them at that time will be an optimumpromise. The closer

    they are, the easier it is to attack them, but allowing them closer also increases the possibility that

    Keran will be within their attack range. We have consulted with the gods of The Triax, and we doubt

    that even DemonLords could Translocate to Keran from that distance.¡±

    ¡°All right, that¡¯s a n then.¡± Mark nodded. ¡°We¡¯ll be ready in a week. I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll have no trouble

    finding friends to join us. Who wouldn¡¯t want an extra twenty-four years before we fight the demons?¡±

    ¡°A week is not long, to prepare for such a withdrawal.¡± Talia mused as she wrapped an arm around

    Mark¡¯s thigh and hugged it. ¡°So I suppose we should begin as soon as we can, which is right now. I¡¯ll

    inform First Minister Sheramiv and have her prepare the world and our schedule for our absence. And

    then, my love, we need to have a serious and private discussion about how we will raise our children.¡±

    ¡°Agreed.¡± Mark said as he picked her up and cuddled her. ¡°I have a few more questions to ask here,

    while you¡¯re talking to Sheramiv.¡±

    As Talia cast Speaking to their First Minister, Mark inquired of Falgaroth; ¡°Time will be passing a

    hundred and forty-four times faster outside the time-bubble, so does that mean that thend inside it

    will get less heat and light and magic power from the sun by that ratio?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯llpensate for that, either with our power, or by storing power to be gradually released within

    the time-bubble.¡± Visinniria exined. ¡°You might not have your full power, but you should not be so

    diminished as to inconvenience you.¡±

 Chapter 3

    Chapter 3

    Part 1

    ¡°Okay. What will the border look like, from inside and from outside? And what¡¯ll happen to people and

    animals that try to cross it? And will those of you who are casting it be able to follow what¡¯s happening

    inside it, ormunicate into it?¡±

    ¡°The border will not be detectable to any mortal or animal.¡± Falgaroth answered. ¡°The area of the time-

    bubble should have the same conditions on all sides surrounding it. It can be surrounded by forest or

    grasnd or desert, so long as the terrain is simr on all sides. An ind would be perfect. Those who

    look into the time-bubble from outside it will see what is on the opposite side. Those who try to cross

    the border will be undetectably transported to the opposite side.

    Those who look over the border from inside will see a convincing illusion of what is outside, adjusted

    for time of day and season. Any who try to pass over the border from inside will meet an invisible and

    imprable barrier.

    ¡°Truly, it will be aplex working to maintain it for the two month period. We will have to affect the

    mind of any who are transported across it, to hide the geographical inconsistency, and there are many

    otherpensations to be taken care of.

    ¡°And, while it is theoretically possible that we who are casting the time-bubble could indeed observe

    andmunicate with those within, it is very doubtful that we will. Either task would require a

    considerable expenditure of concentration that is better used elsewhere.¡±

    ¡°So you¡¯re saying we¡¯d better be damned sure we¡¯ve got everything we could possibly need, because

    we won¡¯t be able to get any help or resupply for twenty-four years.¡± Mark said, partly pre-upied as

    he considered the preparations they would have to make.

    ¡°That is correct.¡± Falgaroth confirmed.

    ¡°Sheramiv is adjusting our schedule and preparing for our absence.¡± Talia reported. ¡°She¡¯s not terribly

    happy about it,rgely because she knows how many others are going to be unhappy about it, but we

    can¡¯t please everyone all the time, I suppose.¡±

    ¡°No, but you can please me by inviting us to be part of your isted littlemunity.¡± Dalia giggled as

    she hugged Bezedil with one arm.

    ¡°Certainly sister. It would be hard to be apart from you for twenty-four years.¡± Talia told her with a smile,

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    then looked to her parents. ¡°I hope you can join us as well, though I understand if you cannot, due to

    your duties.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t see why not.¡± Yazadril stated as he rubbed his chin and considered the question. ¡°The

    conspiracy is dealt with, we won¡¯t be dealing with the demons for at least a year, and things have

    stabilized nicely in Serminak,rgely due to the efforts of Povon and Kragorram. And as I¡¯ve said

    before, The High People require very little governing.¡±

    ¡°Of course we¡¯ll join you!¡± Nemiaughed as she hugged Yazadril with her right arm and Hilsith with her

    left. ¡°I am certainly not going to miss my grandchildren¡¯s childhood!¡±

    ¡°Kragorram and I will join you as well, if we may?¡± Povon inquired. ¡°We¡¯ve already rebuilt and improved

    Zarkog¡¯s system in Serminak, and if Zarkog could take months off at a time for astronomy, we can

    certainly take two months to have some children, and to enjoy more of Karzog¡¯s childhood.¡±

    ¡°You certainly may!¡± Mark chuckled.

    ¡°Of course we muste too!¡± Equemev dered. ¡°We have already nned that our children should

    be friends in their childhood years, and I think it will be wonderful!¡±

    ¡°I would very much appreciate being included as well.¡± Alilia added.

    ¡°All right. Who else should we ask?¡± Talia asked Mark.

    ¡°The Hilian volunteers will all want toe, I¡¯m sure, and some of The Atoned will too.¡± Mark

    thoughtfully replied. ¡°And I¡¯d like to invite other elf and human mixed couples, like maybe Dulyamil and

    Meri, so our kids aren¡¯t the only half-elven, half-human kids around. And I¡¯d like to invite any of my

    family from Finitra that want toe, and your family from The Nine Valleys. And some of our buddies

    from Norka¡¯s in Latrel.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d like to invite Theramin and Yzell.¡± Talia mused. ¡°We¡¯ll be amunity dedicated to having children,

    and she¡¯s the world¡¯s finest midwife. And Theramin is a wonderful elf in all respects, as well as being

    one of the finest horticultural wizards and a premier shape-shifter.¡±

    ¡°We should just invite everyone we know on a personal basis. Including all of you here today.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, but I believe I speak for Tithian when I say that our duties would not allow such a sudden

    and prolonged absence.¡± Somonik said, and Tithian added her psionic agreement.

    ¡°And I would join you, but my romance with Somonik here is really getting quite good now, so I will also

    decline.¡± Grakonexikaldoron exined.

    ¡°Thank you for the offer.¡± Amirgath chuckled. ¡°But for a god, being limited to the interior of a small time-

    bubble for twenty-four years would be more than a bit restricting.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I don¡¯t know about that.¡± Quewanak thoughtfully stated. ¡°I think I¡¯ll ept.¡±

 Chapter 4

    Chapter 4

    Part 1

    The other gods there declined. Then Falgaroth and Visinniria were the first to take their leave, and the

    rest quickly departed, most to prepare for their extended absence from the rest of the world.

    Soon Mark and Talia were alone. Mark sat on the sand and leaned back on a sitting log, and Talia

    curled up in hisp.

    ¡°So, what are your thoughts on the raising of children, my love?¡± Talia asked as she kissed him under

    his chin.

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure.¡± Mark replied as he absent-mindedly caressed her. ¡°On the one hand, I¡¯d like to raise

    them as much like I was raised as we can. But on the other hand, I won¡¯t lie to them, so they¡¯re gonna

    know about our regr life here, even if they¡¯re not living it at the time. Knowing that they¡¯re really

    wealthy princes and princesses might make them less appreciative of a basic life than I was.¡±

    ¡°True. I also want to raise them much as I was raised, including as much training in wizardry and

    magecraft as they¡¯ll ept. They¡¯ll have an idyllic twenty-four years with us in the time-bubble, I hope,

    but after that, they¡¯ll be out in the world with us during the war with the demons. I hope very much to

    keep them out ofbatpletely, but in case we can¡¯t and they have to fight, I want them as

    prepared as we can possibly make them.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s some serious truth.¡± he nodded.

    ¡°So.¡± she said as she turned to face him, then caressed his chest. ¡°How many shall we have?¡±

    ¡°Well, I¡¯d like to have at least one boy and one girl. And I¡¯d have been satisfied with having sixteen

    years to raise them. I think I¡¯m proof that we can raise kids to be fully mature and self-sufficient adults

    by the time they¡¯re sixteen. So that gives us at least eight tries to have a boy and a girl. If we get a boy

    and a girl on the first two tries, we can wait a couple of years and see how it goes with them before we

    decide if we¡¯ll have any more.¡±

    ¡°That sounds good. Except that I don¡¯t want to have more than four young children at once, and then

    only if we can devote ourselves to parenting full-time. If I had to work at a full time upation, I would

    not want to have more than two young children at once. Don¡¯t misunderstand; I n to have dozens of

    children with you over the centuries, but the first few years of a child¡¯s life are so critical, and there are

    only so many hours in a day. I once wondered how humans who haverge families avoid attention-

    starvation and neglect in their youngest, so I researched it. And the answer is; when a couple have

    more than five children, the oldest ones do much of the child-rearing work with the younger ones.

    Which I think is unfair to both groups, and less healthy for them as well.

    ¡°Almost all elven children are the only child in their household when they¡¯re growing up. Elven couples

    will usually wait until a child ispletely grown and has left their parental home before they decide to

    have another one. At least one parent is avable to every child at every minute of the day or night,

    always. When Dalia and I were born, Mother and Father gave up or delegated every duty but raising us

    until we were fourteen, and only then did they gradually begin to add other responsibilities to their

    schedules.

    ¡°As long as both of us devote ourselves to parenting as our only upation, I¡¯m fine with having four

    young children at once. If they¡¯re all boys or all girls, we¡¯ll just have to try again after the nexus. Or

    perhaps we¡¯ll have time for another score of years in another time-bubble before then.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯m fine with that.¡± Mark grinned and gave her a kiss. ¡°And since much of our raising of children

    will involve the teaching of magic, and the Alliance wants us to get better at that, everyone should be

    fine with giving us another two months off in the real world over the next year. Particrly if our kids

    turn out to be exceptionally capable.¡±

    ¡°Mmhm.¡± she agreed as she returned his kiss, kneeling up on his thighs forfortable positioning.

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    She drew back a little and grinned.

    ¡°I''m going to be pregnant in less than three minutes from now.¡± she announced, and Translocated their

    clothes two meters in the air and two meters to her right, where they flopped and fluttered to the ground

    as she reached down to adjust him.

    ¡°Oh, I think it¡¯ll take at least fifteen minutes longer than that!¡± he chuckled.

    ¡°It will not. I¡¯ve learned your responses well enough to assure it, if I so choose. We can y some more

    after I¡¯m pregnant, to celebrate the asion.¡±

    As it turned out, she was right.

 Chapter 5

    Chapter 5

    PART 2

    Ny minutester, after they had swum in thegoon and repaired their appearances, they were still

    grinning like fools with joy at what they had done.

    ¡°Well, we need to contact everyone we¡¯re inviting and exin what we¡¯re doing, and see if they want to

    going to live for the next twenty-four years. Once we¡¯ve got those done, we should start getting it ready

    for us right away. Everyone else is going to want to prepare their homes there too, and be done with it

    by the time the time-bubble goes up.¡±

    Talia was drawing a dress on over her head, and at that moment she stopped and held absolutely still

    for a second, then hurriedly finished pulling it on andid her hands on her belly. Her face lit up with

    vibrant joy as she blurted; ¡°I¡¯m pregnant!¡±

    ¡°I know, my love, we¡¯ve been celebrating it for over an hour!¡± Markughed as he swept her up and

    hugged her.

    ¡°No, you great silly oaf, I mean I¡¯m pregnant again! On the other side this time! We¡¯re going to have

    twins!¡± she informed him, her hands still pressed to her tummy.

    Mark stopped and stared at her in surprise for a moment, then couldn¡¯t help but hold her away from him

    and stare at her tummy, like he could see the life growing there.

    ¡°Great gods! That¡¯s amazing!¡± he finally eximed.

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    ¡°It is!¡± she giggled. ¡°The very first time we¡¯ve made love without the contraceptive spell, and we¡¯ll have

    two babies! It¡¯s so very unusual in every way! As Yzell said, we should barely be fertile with each other

    at all, let alone be able to produce twins on our first attempt! And it¡¯s rare for a pregnancy to begin so

    long after our lovemaking! It was over thirty-six minutes after youst fertilized me when it happened!

    One twin will be almost an hour older than the other!¡±

    ¡°Can you tell if they¡¯re boys or girls?¡± he asked, his grin so wide it was hurting his face a bit.

    ¡°No, not for weeks yet. Though Yzell might well be able to.¡±

    ¡°Okay, we¡¯ll invite her and Theramin first then!¡± heughed. ¡°We¡¯ll have them all meet us at the cottage

    so we can do the nning.¡±

    And with that, he Translocated them to their patio. They quickly reviewed their tentative list of invitees,

    added a few more to it, them Mark cast Battalion Command to call them all at once.

    ¡°Hi, it¡¯s Mark and Talia! We¡¯ve called you all to invite you to spend some time with us¡­¡±

    He quickly exined what they were going to do and why, and invited them all to join him and Talia at

    Hilia to talk about it that evening. He asked those who needed help with the Translocation to give the

    time they wished toe, so they could be transported when they were ready. They asked Yazadril,

    Nemia, Theramin, Yzell, and Quewanak to arrive at their earliest possible convenience, to help with the

    nning and research.

    Almost everyone they¡¯d invited to join them agreed toe, and many of their families and friends also

    asked toe, not wanting to miss so many years of their loved-ones¡¯ lives.

    When thest guest arrived for the meeting at Hilia that night, the attendees included 261 humans, 225

    elves, 12 unicorns, and 4 dragons including Quewanak, who also represented the gods.

    ¡°This is going to be interesting.¡± Mark chuckled as he surveyed the gathering. ¡°We have almost all of

    my family from Finitra out to second cousins and some of their friends, and their friends¡¯ families, one

    hundred and sixty-six Finitrans all together. It¡¯ll be challenging learning to tell all the Longstrider men

    and boys apart from each other. We have newlyweds Nek and Reen and six more of our friends from

    Norka¡¯s in Sming, and their families and friends, for a total of fifty-five Smingans. And we have sixteen

    human-elven mixed couples, and their families and friends. Among the other elves we have all of the

    original Hilian Volunteers and twenty-one of The Atoned and some of their families and friends, a bunch

    of your family from The Nine Valleys, and a few of Alilia and Bezedil¡¯s family and friends from The

    People of Life. Sran and Equemev have ten of their family and friends. Kragorram and Povon just

    have little Karzog.

    ¡°I notice that those we invited from long-lived races have far fewer other friends and family with them

    than the humans we invited, but that makes sense I guess. I suppose a dragon isn¡¯t missing much of

    another dragon¡¯s life in twenty-four years.¡±

    ¡°All in all, they should provide all our children with a good variety of neighbors!¡± Taliaughed.

    When everyone was settled Mark stood at the edge of the patio overlooking thewns, augmented his

    voice to be heard by all, and spoke;

    ¡°Wee, everyone, and thank you for joining us! We hope that our time apart from the world with you

    will be a beautiful respite from our troubled times.

    ¡°The first question to be decided was; where would we spend it?

    ¡°After an hour of research in the Hilian Library, and after consulting with Falgaroth, we¡¯ve chosen an

    isted archipgo called The Evergreen Inds some five thousand two hundred kilometers west of

    southern Membitra.¡±

    He then cast a dwarven Revealing showing what he was describing.

    ¡°It¡¯s a dense cluster of inds on the t top of a huge and isted ancient volcanic seamount, in an

    area of the ocean known as The West Debivinian Abyss. The area around the seamount and in the

    shallow and narrow channels between the inds is a bountiful oasis of sea life in the midst of a

    gigantic expanse of ocean that¡¯s almost lifeless, due to its extreme depth and theck of any major

    currents through the area. Most of the life on the inds is simr to the flora and fauna of southern

    Membitra, having been seeded from there by a dominant east wind and the general flow of the sea to

    the west, which is due to the world¡¯s rotation and the pull of the moons. Much of the inds are

    covered with big hills or small mountains, and as their name suggests, many of those are covered in

    pine forest. They¡¯re quite simr to the forests around Shinosa Valley and The Nine Valleys, but

    simpler. Most of the trees are a variety of fir that reaches about fifty-five meters in its natural state, so

    they¡¯re already big enough for Nine Valleys-style tree homes.

    ¡°The cluster of twenty seven inds form an oval two hundred and four kilometers long and a hundred

    and thirty-eight kilometers wide. Only narrow channels averaging a third of a kilometer in width and

    about twelve meters deep separate the inds, so as this map of the archipgo shows, it¡¯s an

    almost-solid oval ofnd. It¡¯s ringed by a barrier reef, which protects the beaches from the worst of the

    great swells that roll across the deep ocean.

    ¡°It has very mild weather most of the time. The heat of summer should never be unbearable, and it¡¯s

    only likely to have snow on the ground for a few hours on two or three asions each winter. In the

    spring it tends to warm rains every night. Only the early autumn brings the chance of extreme weather

    in the form of the asional hurricane sweeping up from the south-east, which range from

    inconvenient to catastrophic in intensity, particrly on the south side of the archipgo.

    ¡°The inds were legally part of The Kingdom of Membitra, though they¡¯repletely uninhabited,

    undeveloped, and pristine. A spell that Yazadril cast revealed that they hadn¡¯t been visited for over one

    hundred and seventy-two years, when they¡¯d been surveyed by a floti of elves of The Sea People of

    Debivin. The elves had subsequently sold their im to a king of Membitra who wanted to build a

    vacation residence there, but had never gotten around to doing so. Though the record remained in the

    Membitran archives, no living Membitran was even aware of the archipgo¡¯s existence.

    ¡°So, when we dropped in on him, King Raznoran of Membitra was delighted to learn that he owned

    those inds, and doubly delighted to learn in the same minute that The Principality of Hilia was

    offering him ten thousand one-ounce gold Hilian Crowns for all ownership, sovereignty, and rights to

    them!¡±

    He paused while a chuckle went around among those listening.

 Chapter 6

    Chapter 6

    Part 2

    ¡°The purchase wasplete a minuteter; the payment made, and the papers signed. We spent a

    while chatting with King Raznoran and his family and retinue, and they wished us well in this fine

    enterprise we¡¯re embarking on.

    ¡°We¡¯re renaming the ind group Hiliani, which means New Hilia in Elvish. It¡¯s now part of the

    Principality of Hilia for all purposes of government andw. We chose it because it¡¯s extremely isted,

    which makes casting the time-bubble easier, and because it¡¯s bountiful enough to support many times

    more people than we¡¯ll have living there, even if we didn¡¯t have magic to help. And because it¡¯s a lot

    like where me and Talia are from, to be honest. But with better weather.

    ¡°We have a week to do most of the building of our new homes and other buildings before the time-

    bubble goes up. During that week we¡¯ll also have to bring in everything else we need. We can finish

    construction after we¡¯re cut off as long as we have all the materials we need, but we might have less

    power avable for our spells after that, so we¡¯ll be spending a lot of power to get as much done as we

    can before then.

    ¡°There are a lot of big healthy trees, and Theramin says we should be able to grow most of our

    buildings in them in the next week, using his elven horticultural techniques and a big expenditure of

    power.

    ¡°Given the resources there, we figure our diet should have plenty of variety. There¡¯s a big assortment of

    edible nt life whose growth we can elerate, and we can grow some garden crops to make up the

    rest of our fruits and vegetables. Our meat will be about two-thirds fish and sea life, about one-sixth

    birds and animals that we¡¯ll hunt on the inds, and about one-sixth domesticated livestock.

    ¡°We think the best ce for a settlement should be here; on the second biggest ind, beside this

    joining of four channels, almost in the middle of the archipgo. There¡¯s this nice big t area with

    scattered trees and minimal undergrowth between the beach and this semi-circle of small mountains.

    It¡¯s well sheltered from storms, there¡¯s good fishing ess, and there¡¯s four streams that run through it

    from the surrounding mountains.

    ¡°Talia and I will be making our home here, north of the ts, in these three trees across this little pass to

    this little valley behind it, and we¡¯re iming the little valley as our back yard.

    ¡°We¡¯ll build a gathering hall here in the center of the vige for get-togethers and celebrations, and we¡¯ll

    build a few floating docks along the water¡¯s edge here at the south end of the ts, where it¡¯s too rocky

    to really enjoy the beach anyway.

    ¡°Over the next hour or so we¡¯ll finish nning the rest of the vige. Since we¡¯ll be building with elven

    methods by growing our constructions out of the existing trees, Theramin here will be in charge of

    construction andmunity systems, and he¡¯ll be approving all your ns to make sure that no one

    gets in anyone else¡¯s way, and that everyone has a water supply to their property, and so on. He, along

    with Yazadril, Nemia, myself, Talia, and Alilia, are going to cast a better scaled model Illusion of the

    vige site than this Revealing, and as you all tell us where you¡¯d like to build and how much room

    you¡¯ll need, we¡¯ll add it to the model. Even with all the garden space we could need, there¡¯s enough

    room on the ts for ten times our number to live there, so there shouldn¡¯t be any real disagreements

    over any one spot. You can have your rooms up in the trees like the elves do, or we can grow human-

    style buildings on the ground, like they did with The Living Pce.

    ¡°West of the vige here there¡¯s this higher valley almost eight kilometers long, filled with lush

    meadows, and the pass between it and the vige is only a half kilometer long and pretty easily

    passable, though it is steep. Since it¡¯s the only good grasnd around, and unicorns prefer living on

    open grass to dwelling in buildings, we¡¯ll be reserving that for our unicorn friends.

    ¡°There¡¯s only four good caves suitable for dragonirs in the archipgo, and none of them are big

    enough for more than one small Dragon. Kragorram and Povon, since I assume that you and Karzog

    would prefer to share air, we¡¯ll be d to help you erge one of these if you wish. And Quewanak,

    if you¡¯d like some help altering a cave, we¡¯d be d to help with that too.¡±

    ¡°That will not be necessary, thank you.¡± Quewanak replied. ¡°I find none of those caves to be suitable,

    and all of them are too far from the vige to truly share in the life of themunity, as I n to do.

    With all of your permissions, I will excavate a new cave for myir in this rock face here, facing the

    vige from the south-west.¡±

    ¡°We would be d to help with that, and Kragorram knows a thing or two about working stone.¡± Povon

    told him. ¡°If you don¡¯t mind, we¡¯ll also excavate air in that face, about three hundred meters south of

    you, halfway between yourir and the docks here.¡±

    ¡°That would be fine, and I would be d to help you with it as well.¡± Quewanak nodded. ¡°If any of the

    rest of you would like some shaped stones to use in your constructions for fireces and whatnot, we

    can be quite specific in shaping the pieces of stone we are removing as we excavate, including uniform

    blocks of any size.¡±

    ¡°Thank you Quewanak, I for one will take you up on that.¡± Mark chuckled. ¡°I think some well-ced

    stonework could add some nice variety to the uniform wood of our new homes.

    ¡°Is there anything else anyone wants to add before we get started on that? No?

    ¡°All right, we¡¯ll cast the Illusion on the biggestwn, so if we could get you there to please step back a

    bit... Okay, there we go. We¡¯ve already got our ce, Yazadril¡¯s, and Theramin¡¯s shown. Everyone who

    already knows what they want can step up and tell us, and we¡¯ll put it in. We¡¯ll add the rest as you

    Property of N?)(velDr(a)ma.Org.

    decide what you want.¡±

    ¡°I like the look of your new home, actually.¡± Mark¡¯s grandfathermented. ¡°It seems very practical.¡±

    ¡°And pretty!¡± his wife Sana added.

    ¡°Thanks.¡± Taliaughed. ¡°It¡¯s apromise between human and elven designs, of course.¡±

    At first nce, it looked like two fairly normal human-style small wooden houses with peaked roofs and

    windows built between three great fir trees, each tree about five meters thick. The trees were almost in

    a row but not quite, giving a slight angle between the two buildings that filled the spaces between them,

    one eight meters in length, the other a meter shorter. A closer look revealed that the houses were

    grown from the wood of the trees they adjoined, and elven-style windows in the trunks of the trees

    revealed the presence of more rooms, reaching three stories high in the bottom of the trees, with

    another small isted room equipped with a balcony about twenty-five meters high in each.

    The front of the house faced toward the center of themunity, while at the rear there was a strip of

    mossy open ground about twelve meters wide between the home and a steep rock face, with a narrow

    pass about four meters wide directly behind the center of the house, that led to the tiny valley they¡¯d

    imed as their back yard.

    ¡°We¡¯ll have something simr to that here.¡± Sana decided as she pointed out her choice. ¡°Between

    these two trees beside themunity center, facing toward the beach.

    ¡°Exactly. That¡¯s beautiful.¡± she nodded as the building appeared in the Illusion.

    ¡°I don¡¯t see that we¡¯ll need any high lookout rooms in the trees though.¡± Markhan the senior chuckled. ¡°I

    can¡¯t see me climbing that many stairs. Though I suppose one would be nice for the grandchildren.¡±

    ¡°Well then, we might as well build in the same style as well, to give the neighborhood some visual

    cohesiveness.¡± Dalia decided. ¡°We¡¯ll build in and around this tree here, west of Talia¡¯s ce, with one

    of those little houses on each side of the trunk.¡±

 Chapter 7

    Chapter 7

    Part 2

    Soon the locations and exterior appearances of one hundred and seventy-three buildings had been

    decided. The homes were scattered throughout the site, with a greater concentration around the

    where it emerged from the surrounding rock slope north-west of the vige center, a marina of boat

    sheds was nned next to the docks, and Nek and Reen proposed a pub at the end of a short dead-

    end canyon near the docks, where the surrounding rock walls would insure that the vige was never

    disturbed by anyte-night revelry there. Finally, following Nine Valleys tradition, an area was set aside

    beside the beach near the docks for an open market, and two small restaurants were nned in a

    great tree near there; at over nine meters thick it was the stoutest on the ind. Sana¡¯s Kitchen would

    be built in the base and specialize in quick and hearty human fare, and Elven Delights would provide

    fine dining in the tradition of The People of Life, in a five story facility built in the trunk and on the

    branches between eighteen and thirty-four meters from the ground.

    They spent a few minutes gazing with satisfaction at thepleted model, then Mark spoke again.

    ¡°All right, we might as well go there now. It¡¯s early morning at Hiliani right now, seeing as how it¡¯s

    almost directly on the other side of the world from here, so it¡¯s a good time to n interior rooms and

    get started on building. We¡¯ll be bringing food and drink, so don¡¯t worry about that. Talia and I will take

    care of everyone¡¯s Translocation.

    ¡°Is everyone ready? Yes? Okay, here we go!¡±

    It took Mark and Talia a moment to gather the power and prepare for such a mighty Translocation, then

    there was a sh and a brief moment of cold, and all five hundred and two of them appeared on the

    beach beside the settlement site at Hiliani.

    It was a bit cooler here, which took a moment to get used to, but the light was about the same; the sun

    was rising at Hiliani just as it was setting at Hilia.

    ¡°This is so beautiful, my love!¡± Talia enthused as she slowly turned around, enjoying the entire

    panorama, as did most of the rest.

    ¡°It is, isn¡¯t it?¡± Mark chuckled as he caressed her between her shoulder des.

    ¡°That was a remarkable Translocation!¡± Theraminmented as he realized what they¡¯d done. ¡°That

    was the most I¡¯ve seen moved in a single casting, and the distance could not have been farther!¡±

    ¡°Thanks.¡± Talia nodded with a smile. ¡°It took both of us to do it, but we¡¯ll be ready for work in a couple of

    minutes.¡±

    ¡°Excellent.¡± Theramin nodded in return as he re-cast the model Illusion on the beach beside them. ¡°All

    right, I¡¯m assigning at least one person who can cast a good Illusion to every nned building. The

    building¡¯s proprietors will work with them to finalize their interior designs, while we of the construction

    teams will start on the gathering hall. By the time we¡¯re done with that, everyone on the construction

    teams should be steady with the spells, and we can divide into ten building teams to hurry the work

    along.¡±

    With that he set out for the site of the hall, his Illusion moving along the ground beside him. The

    dragons and many of the elves took to the air while the unicorns ran ahead, and everyone else strolled

    along in a big loose group.

    They gathered around the circle of fourteen great trees that would be the gathering hall.

    ¡°All right,¡± Theramin called, ¡°Quewanak haspiled a list of those of you who are qualified to cast this

    spell, and he will now call you within these trees where we will form a circle.¡±

    Mark and Talia ¡®heard¡¯ Quewanak psionicly call their names, and stepped forward with the rest. Only

    nine humans including Mark were called, but all the elves except twelve stepped up. The unicorns and

    dragons took part except Karzog, the infant ck dragon that Povon and Kragorram had adopted. And

    interestingly, Quewanak.

    Text content ? N?velDrama.Org.

    ¡°You will not be casting with us, Eldest?¡± Talia asked as she went past him.

    ¡°I think not. You are well capable of doing it without me, so I will observe.¡± he responded, and psionicly

    added; ¡°Which is the way of the gods, after all.¡±

    ¡°Mark, would you cast the Link?¡± Yazadril asked when the casters stood in a great circle just inside the

    ring of trees. ¡°And would the rest of you either hold hands, or stand close enough together to touch the

    person on each side? Thank you.¡±

    There was a bit of shuffling and the circle closed up a bit, as Mark cast the Link and drew them all into

    it.

    ¡°Now then, Yazadril has the design of the building, while I will direct the horticultural aspects of the

    spell.¡± Theramin psionicly instructed. ¡°We will use a song to co-ordinate and unify our efforts in time

    and frequency. Mark, could you make sure everyone has everything?¡±

    Mark took the song, the spell, and the design, made sure that he was certain of them, and ced them

    in the minds of those who weren¡¯t capable of grasping it themselves so quickly. That took almost three

    minutes.

    ¡°Source above, but it is wondrous how you can do that!¡± Theramin remarked with a smile and a metal

    chuckle, and most in the Link added their heartfelt agreement to the sentiment.

    Povon and Kragorram were well used to casting with Mark and Talia, as were Sran and Equemev,

    who had to ¡®trante¡¯ the elven wizardry spell into the nguage¡¯ of unicorn sorcerers for their eight

    They all followed Theramin as his awareness epassed the fourteen huge fir trees they would be

    working on, and examined them in fine detail down to each individual fiber of root, wood, bark, or leaf.

    Some in the circle were incapable of holding such a huge mass of information in mind all at once, and

    were told by Yazadril through the Link; ¡°You¡¯ll have to work as assistants for now, I¡¯m afraid.¡±

    Theramin then superimposed his mental pictures of the trees as they were over Yazadril¡¯s finished

    design, considered the changes they wished to make, and nned the flow of material from it¡¯s present

    shape to it¡¯s finished form.

    It was actually far more difficult to change the shape of the existing trees than it was to grow new

    material in a desired shape, so the existing trees would be modified first to form the rooms, windows,

    and doorways in the trunks. After that the walls and the roof of the structure that would connect the

    trees would be grown.

    Having finalized his procedure, Theramin mentally rehearsed it again as the rest followed his thoughts,

    then he asked Yazadril; ¡°Is everyone ready?¡±

    Yazadril checked. ¡°They are.¡± he reported.

    ¡°Then we begin.¡± Theramin stated with satisfaction. ¡°Four, three, two, one.¡±

    They all began to sing as Theramin and Yazadril cast the spell, while the rest observed and supplied

    power.

    Mark had never cast in this traditional elven way before, and it was wondrous to feel how the notes of

    the wordless song resonated perfectly with the frequencies of the energy of the spell, though the notes

    of the song were many octaves lower in frequency.

    Apanied by the song, there began a long series of deep and muffled cracking and snapping

    sounds from deep within the wood of the trees. That diminished as the openings were established and

    began to erge. There was so much power avable to the spell that it only took just over four

    minutes before the rooms in the trees were fully formed. As transparent nt matter began to grow

    over the windows from the bottom sills upward, and the doors separated themselves from their frames

    with more loud cracking sounds, the new walls began to grow between the trunks. These were formed

    as the living pce had been; sprouts appeared in neat straight lines that grew into saplings in only

    moments, then each young tree grew together with the ones beside it, and they all joined their wood

    with the trunks of the existing trees at each end of the wall. The leafy branches at the top arched over

    toward the center of the clearing until they joined in a great domed roof with neat concentric rings of

    leaves from the center to the rim, only interrupted by six huge round skylights. Finally the many big

    windows and three huge pairs of doors formed in the new walls, the three entranceways spaced evenly

    around the perimeter.

 Chapter 8

    Chapter 8

    Part 2

    Then Nemia took control of the spell. She considered nine of the wildflower nt species that grew

    next to the walls, grew them up the walls in tiny tendrils within the bark of the wood, and had them

    produce white, blue, and orange flowers in artistic rows and swirls along the building¡¯s window frames,

    doorframes, and eaves. Inside the walls, wondrous tapestries of beautifulndscapes done in living

    flowers grew on the walls between therge windows.

    The song ended, there was a long silence, and all the doors and windows slowly opened wide. The

    entire construction had taken less than eleven minutes.

    Then Mark¡¯s grandfather called; ¡°Well done!¡± and began to p his hands. Those observing the spell

    joined him in this apuse, and Mark saw when he nced over that his grandmother Sana had tears

    in her smiling eyes, so moved was she by the beauty and wonder of what she had seen. And she was

    certainly not the only one so affected. Even many of those who''d helped cast the spell were struck

    dumb with emotion by the beauty and scale of what they¡¯d done. The hall was almost ny-two

    meters wide and forty meters high. It¡¯s main entrance doors were over twelve meters high and just as

    wide.

    Everyone took a few minutes to look the new building over, both inside and out. It was so huge that all

    couldfortably gather inside at once, including Kragorram and Povon. It had a strange asymmetry,

    since it was nearly round, but not quite. The fourteen great trees that grew in its walls were not in a

    perfect circle, nor were they evenly spaced, and to move even one of them a few meters would have

    been more work than all the rest of the construction.

    Yazadril cast Speaking and called them all to order. ¡°All right then everyone, pay attention now. I¡¯ve

    reconsidered your talents and capabilities, and I think this would go fastest if we formed sixteen teams

    for construction, rather that the ten we originally nned. Collectively, you¡¯re a bit more capable than

    we had realized. Complete your own homes first, to hone yourpetence with the spells, then work

    on the rest of the buildings. You thirty wizards will be assigned as Illusionists to help finalize the

    nning of all the buildings, and I¡¯ve divided the rest of the buildings between you. You¡¯ll work with the

    proprietors of those buildings while the first sixteen are being constructed. When each building is

    move on to the next.¡±

    ¡°We will begin to have shaped stones avable in a quarter-hour.¡± Kragorram announced, needing no

    augmentation of his mighty voice to be heard by all. ¡°We will cast a partial Levitate on each one,

    removing most of the weight, so those of you who are not engaged in constructing wood can easily

    ce them. Once we are done with our dens, we will visit each of your stoneworks and fuse them with

    spells and fire, so no mortar will be needed. You can simply stack them in ce until we get to you.¡±

    ¡°Excellent, that gives us something practical to do.¡± Markhan the senior said with a grin as he pped

    his hands together and rubbed them. ¡°Everyone who¡¯s not casting spells and has tradesman or

    crafter¡¯s skills gather to me, and we¡¯ll get you sorted out. We¡¯ll follow behind the construction teams,

    doing stonework, interior finishing, and making any needed furniture that we won¡¯t be bringing from our

    present homes.

    ¡°Mark, can you assign us a Translocator to fetch our tools and materials?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d be d to do it myself, Grandfather. Talia and I will get our house done while you get organized,

    then bring most of what you need. Then we¡¯ll do the next house, and check with you again as soon as

    we¡¯re finished it, and so on.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fine. And one more thing; when all you spell casters are done, we¡¯d appreciate your not offering

    to help us with what we¡¯re doing. I think it¡¯s better for ourmunity if a fair share of the work gets

    done by muscles and hands. I want my new grandchildren to appreciate that kind of work as much as

    they do the magic that gets done here.¡±

    ¡°I agree whole-heartedly, Grandfather.¡± Mark chuckled.

    ¡°All right then, wizards, here are your assignments.¡± Yazadril called as he psionicly passed out

    instructions with unthinking ease. ¡°Proprietors, here are the Illusionists assigned to your projects. Let¡¯s

    get to it, shall we?¡±

    Everyone separated to go to their first projects.

    Mark and Talia were the only two on their construction team, and she ran offughing toward their new

    homesite while Mark yfully chased after her. Faster and faster they raced through the deep grass

    and wildflowers that grew between the widely-spaced trees, until Talia let him catch her just as they

    arrived at their destination.

    ¡°Damn you¡¯re quick! But I¡¯ve got you now!¡± heughed as he scooped her tiny form up in his huge

    arms.

    ¡°Mmm, you sure do!¡± she giggled as she hugged him around his neck, then turned in his arms to

    consider the three great trees they would work with. ¡°This is going to be so fun!¡± sheughed.

    ¡°It is! We don¡¯t really have to sing for this, do we? It¡¯ll go faster if we don¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°It would, but we¡¯ll sing anyway.¡± she insisted with a smile. ¡°The act of creation seems more¡­ More

    spiritual, I guess you¡¯d say, when done in the traditional way with the apanying song. Besides, it¡¯ll

    still only take us a few minutes, and we can spare the time, and I just love hearing your voice!

    Especially when you sing.¡± she giggled.

    ¡°All right, you¡¯ve convinced me!¡± heughed.

    Far to his left, they faintly heard Dalia and Bezedil¡¯s team begin their song as they started on their new

    home.

    ¡°Let¡¯s get started.¡± she prompted. ¡°I want to see if we can do more constructions today than the other

    teams!¡±

    ¡°All right, my beautiful little love. I¡¯ll follow your lead on this one.¡±

    They deepened their Link, closed their eyes, reviewed the spell, considered the trees, began their

    song, and cast.

    They went too fast and almost caused a split in one of the trees, but Talia detected the strain building

    up just in time, and relieved it before the tree could lose it¡¯s structural integrity.

    They fell silent and opened their eyes upon their new home.

    ¡°Beautiful.¡± Mark softly remarked. ¡°Bigger than we need, even if we have four kids here, but we¡¯ll have

    room for a few guests to stay over if they want.¡±

    ¡°Yes, and Dalia¡¯s team is only a quarter finished.¡± Talia said with a nasty little giggle. ¡°Lets get our next

    assignment and do another one!¡±

    With that she psionicly checked for the nearest site that was waiting for a construction team, and

    Translocated them there with hardly a thought.

    Original content from N?velDrama.Org.

    Herpetitive fire was fully aze now, and Mark let himself get swept up in it. By the time another

    three hours had passed, all the construction spells were finished. Talia and Mark had done twenty-three

    of them, including the secondrgest construction in the settlement; that being Nek and Reen¡¯s pub. It

    wasrge enough tofortably amodate most of their neighbors at once, or all of them when the

    outdoor ¡®seating¡¯ was utilized. Its most distinguishing feature was that its entire front wall was hinged at

    the top so that it could be swungpletely up and open in nice weather, making the indoor and

    outdoor areas into one big party space.

    Havingpleted their work, Mark and Talia strolled around, looking at the new buildings and chatting

    with others who were also finished. They had indeed done far more than any other construction team,

    even though they¡¯d had to pause several times to Translocate in tools and materials for the tradesmen.

    Having ascertained this fact, they kept it and their smug satisfaction to themselves, seeing no need to

    boast about it.

    Everywhere now there were improbably huge stacks of ck and dark gray stones being slowly carried

    from the sites of the dragon¡¯s dens to everywhere else. That was a tricky task for strong men, since the

    stones retained all of their mass, and thus their inertia or momentum, even though the partial

    Levitations cast on them reduced their weight to only a few grams each.

 Chapter 9

    Chapter 9

    Part 2

    ¡°That¡¯s what it¡¯ll be like working in the void, or on the moons.¡± Yazadril thoughtfully pointed out.

    ¡°Everything will have all its momentum, without its weight.¡±

    ¡°Yup.¡± Mark agreed. ¡°That¡¯s what it was like in Quewanak¡¯s cavern on Blenda, when we took our

    training with him. It was pretty awkward just trying to stand up straight without bouncing around. At

    least here, these men have their own weight, so they at least have some traction.¡±

    ¡°I notice those men are using mortar between the stones, though Kragorram said they wouldn¡¯t have

    to.¡± Nemia pointed out, indicating a firece that was going up near them.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Mark nodded. ¡°Some want the rustic look of roughly shaped stones and mortar. And the mortar

    does give a nice color contrast to the stone. Almost all of those who chose smooth squared blocks are

    having them fused, and the fusing is being done by elves with a spell Alilia had, since it looks like our

    dragons are going to be hollowing out that mountain for another couple of hours at least. Quewanak¡¯s

    den is done, but Kragorram and Povon¡¯s is barely half finished. No need to make Kragorram do a

    bunch of stone fusing after all of that.¡±

    ¡°I wonder what they¡¯ll do with all the extra stone?¡± Nemia said as they moved along. ¡°All these that are

    being used by the rest of us are only a tiny fraction of what they¡¯re taking out of the mountain. There¡¯s a

    huge pile of it between their dens.¡±

    ¡°Kragorram says he¡¯ll use it to build an astronomical observatory on the top of the highest mountain in

    Hiliani.¡± Povon psionicly reported. ¡°He says that such serene contemtions as astronomy shouldn¡¯t be

    interrupted by distracting weather, even for those of us who¡¯re immune to difort from such things.

    The observatory will be more thanrge enough for us to teach Karzog of astronomy there, so a great

    number of you smaller folk will be able to observe there at once, if any are inclined to such things. I¡¯m

    not, particrly, but I do wish to share in the experience as Kragorram teaches our son about the sky,

    and what¡¯s up there. Besides, at this point, astronomy is also scouting the enemy, and the battlefield for

    theing conflict. And I wish to know that battlefield very well when the timees.¡±

    ¡°Thank you Povon, that¡¯s good to know.¡± Yazadril told her with a smile. ¡°And some wise thinking on

    your part, as well.¡±

    ¡°Thank you. I¡¯m really not assisting with this den-building in any way, except by contributing power, and

    my thoughts on the design of our home. So I¡¯ve been using my spare attention to follow the activities in

    the rest of the settlement. And of course I couldn¡¯t help but notice when you thought of us.¡±

    ¡°Ah. What¡¯s little Karzog doing?¡± Nemia asked.

    ¡°He¡¯s watching the excavation. He loves us both, but he really idolizes Kragorram, and takes him as his

    role model. He watches all that Kragorram does, and imitates what he can. Of course, though he¡¯s

    fourteen years old, his mind is equivalent to that of a four-year-old human, or perhaps a five-year-old

    elf. Dragons develop slowly, but then we have more development to do, and more lifespan to do it in.

    So there¡¯s not really a lot he can do to help right now. But he memorizes everything he sees with fierce

    concentration. He will be much like his blood-father in size and ability, if not in personality.¡±

    ¡°Who is his blood mother?¡± Talia asked.

    ¡°Tekritimaki, formerly First me of Serminak, second in power under Zarkog when he was Dragon

    Lord. Our adopted son has a strong bloodline, there is no doubt. Tekritimaki had a brood of one

    hundred and thirty-one surviving young from six different clutches, thest three of which were

    Zarkog¡¯s. Since Zarkog fell she¡¯s given all but eighteen out to adoption, keeping nine boys and nine

    girls from herst clutch, and she¡¯s given up all duties to devote herself to raising them full-time.

    ¡°Zarkog fertilized three or four females every night, when he wasn¡¯t engaged in astronomy. Not even

    counting the many young he fathered in his very long life before he took over Serminak, he had over

    forty thousand children as Dragon Lord. About one-third of living dragons can find him in their bloodline

    somewhere. And of all the children he had, Karzog was the only one who came out ck. Karzog also

    had thergest egg and the heaviest hatching weight of any dragon in history, and was the only child

    that Zarkog allowed to be named after himself in any way.

    ¡°After the war, no one wanted to adopt him but us, because they feared that he might be difficult to

    raise. It¡¯s suspected that Zarkog may have magically altered him in some way during the fertilization.

    That¡¯s part of the reason why The Ny-Nine asked us to adopt only him, when Kragorram and I had

    nned on adopting nine young after the war, as many Xervian Draconians have done. The other part

    of the reason being that they wanted us to concentrate most of our energies on re-building and running

    Serminak, as Dragon Lord Regent and Prince of Serminaki Draconia. I know I didn¡¯t have to point that

    ¡°You deserve to be, as you deserve to be very proud of the job you two have done there.¡± Mark told her

    as they made their way over to the site of the dragon¡¯s constructions. They heard it before they saw it;

    a continuous cacophony of breaking rock apanied by an intermittent roar of fire.

    They came within sight of it; an arched opening in the rock face over fifteen meters high with a stream

    of rock dust rising out of the top like hot smoke that didn¡¯t dissipate. The stream of dust rose up the

    steep rock face and disappeared from sight over the mountain. A constant stream of rocks ranging

    from pebbles to boulders floated out of the middle of the cave¡¯s entrance and along the rock face to the

    huge pile that was growing almost a hundred meters away. Looking inside revealed an already huge

    cavern, Karzog crouched in the center of it and watching intently, Povon lounging behind him with her

    tail toward the door.

    Povon turned her head on her sinuous neck and gave them a smile before turning back to watch the

    excavation.

    Kragorram and Quewanak worked together on excavating the back wall further into the mountain.

    Kragorram sted the rock face with a huge stream of blue-hot fire, then Quewanak cast Cold on it.

    Then fire again, then Cold. This cracked the rock, making it easy to tear the rock out of the face, with

    ws in Kragorram¡¯s case, and with Movement spells in Quewanak¡¯s. Kragorram constantly felt ahead

    in the rock face with his psionic awareness and guided the positioning of the fire and the cold, while

    Quewanak dealt with the dust and the rubble. They removed a vertical strip of rock from the ceiling to

    This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.

    the floor, then started at the top again beside thest strip. They slowed when they were removing rock

    near the floor, and exercised the extra care needed to leave the floor perfectly smooth and t.

    ¡°They¡¯re going a lot faster now, since they finished making all the shaped stones that were requested.¡±

    Povon reported, still speaking psionicly since the noise of the excavation made normal conversation

    impossible. ¡°Just ripping the rock away is much quicker. Kragorram will smooth the rest of the wall and

    ceiling when most of the excavation is finished.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re keeping this dome shape?¡± Equemev asked.

    ¡°Yes. It¡¯s the strongest shape, Kragorram says. This will be our main room, with another domed room in

    the back for private activities and sleeping. He says there¡¯s a spring running through the rock deeper in,

    and we¡¯ll have a bathing pool in the back room.¡±

    ¡°Nice!¡± Talia told her.

    Then they all received Dalia¡¯s broadcasted Speaking. ¡°Could we have all the avable Translocators

    we can have all our new homes ready to move into by nightfall.¡±

    Mark and Talia waved goodbye to Povon, and went to join the effort.

 Chapter 10

    Chapter 10

    Part 2

    Much of that work was indeed finished by nightfall, and though all were tired and many had not slept for

    many hours, they still found the energy to gather for a celebratory founding dance in the hall. They

    were joined by seventy-three children who had not been brought along for the constructions to keep

    them out from underfoot. All the new children were human except for three elves and one unicorn,

    none of whom were allowed to y with young Karzog. As Povon exined, the young dragon only ate

    once per week and was due to eat the next day. Until he had eaten, it was unwise to trust him with

    other children since he was already almost seven meters long. And after all, he was still an infant.

    Karzog didn¡¯t mind. He stuck to Kragorram and Povon like a burr on a sheep, observing everything

    carefully. asionally one of his adoptive parents leaned down and quietly spoke with him in

    Draconian, as discretely as that snarling and growlingnguage allowed.

    Mark and Talia took their turns leading the dance; choosing a song and singing it as Mark yed the

    harp and Talia yed a lute, or sometimes a flute. Tables covered with dishes of delicious foods were

    arranged near the entrance to the kitchen, and everyone ate their fill.

    Almost everyone there stayed in their new homes on Hiliani that night, since exhaustion, magic

    depletion, and intoxicating drink and herbs ensured that few were willing to trust their Translocations.

    Most went back to their old homes the next morning, to continue with saying farewells and preparing

    Original content from N?velDrama.Org.

    their affairs for their extended absence.

    PART 3

    Mark and Talia went back to their routine for the next five days, and concentrated their visits on those

    they knew who would not be joining them on Hiliani. It was only a little sad for them to say such

    farewells, since everyone they were emotionally close to would being with them, with the

    exceptions of Tithian, Somonik, and Grakonexikaldoron.

    Those three joined them in Hiliani on theirst morning in contact with the rest of the world. Many

    others were visiting the settlement that morning as well, taking advantage of thest chance to see

    loved ones who would not see them for a score of years. All were gathered on the beach, enjoying a

    warm and sunny day.

    ¡°It¡¯s a strange thing, knowing I will see you in two months, but I will have missed twenty-four years of

    your life.¡± Tithian said as she nuzzled with her daughter and gently rubbed their horns together. Her

    deep emotion was well conveyed in her psionic voice. ¡°How much more strange it must be for these

    human visitors, who will miss a third of the lives of those they visit.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m hoping that won¡¯t be the case, actually.¡± Mark told her. ¡°We¡¯ll be working with Hilsith the Healer and

    the other senior wizards while we¡¯re here, to try to extend the youth and lifespans of our human

    citizens. We¡¯re hoping we can end the aging process altogether, as is the case with the elves and you

    People of Morning. I¡¯m pretty sure we can at least eliminate the aging they¡¯d normally experience in our

    score of years here, so the adults shouldn¡¯t be much older physically when we leave than they are right

    now.¡±

    He paused and shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s just so unfair that some races are long-lived, and others have such

    short lifespans. If we can end aging in humans, we should be able to do it for the rest of the short-lived

    races too, once we¡¯re out of here again.¡±

    ¡°A noble goal, to be sure.¡± Tithian nodded. ¡°I wish you the best of luck in it. As a seer, I have no

    indication whether you will seed or not, more¡¯s the pity. It would be nice to be able to give these

    people that assurance.¡±

    ¡°It would, but we can¡¯t have everything, I suppose.¡± Markmented as he looked around, and noticed

    the arrival of Falgaroth and Visinniria.

    ¡°The gods arrive, our time together grows short.¡± Tithian noted.

    ¡°Greetings. I trust that all is ready?¡± Visinniria asked as they approached.

    ¡°It is.¡± Talia told her. ¡°Except to send our visitors home a minute before the time-bubble is cast. And

    good day to you both.¡±

    Falgaroth nodded and shook his long blue mane, waving his horn as he did so. ¡°We will be

    Translocating all visitors home in fourteen minutes.¡± he announced, and was ¡®heard¡¯ by everyone there.

    ¡°It is much more upied here than it was.¡± Somonik observed.

    ¡°Yup.¡± Mark nodded. ¡°We¡¯ve added over a hundred new human citizens, some seventy elves, and three

    more unicorns since the first day of building here, and built all their homes. And of course the livestock

    pens and shelters and the gardens have helped fill in some of the empty spaces. It¡¯s still a very spread-

    out little vige,pared to most. I think only the elves build theirmunities so sparsely, and even

    they don¡¯t when the town has more than a few thousand in it.¡±

    ¡°Mind you, it¡¯s still only a bit less than three kilometers from one end of the ts to the other, so no-one

    really has to walk very far to get anywhere.¡± Talia added. ¡°And we brought our yacht for fishing and

    getting away from it all. I imagine there¡¯ll be times when such a smallmunity starts to feel a little

    close.¡±

    ¡°I love what you¡¯ve done with the streams.¡± Grakonexikaldoronmented as she looked around. The

    four streams that flowed through the ts now meandered around so that they passed through every

    household¡¯s property, bordered by banks of lush green shortwn. Artistic and delicate-seeming elven

    wooden bridges crossed them every thirty meters or so.

    ¡°Thanks. Bezedil directed that, actually, and they grew a lot of underground piping to bring water to

    every building. Every building also has an indoor privy, equipped with an elven spell that takes the

    water out of the waste so both can be used in the gardens without smelling up the ce.

    ¡°We¡¯ve made a good study of the needs of istedmunities, and we¡¯re pretty sure we¡¯ve got

    everything we could need, including enough books that it would take me the whole score of years to

    read them all.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve done well, young ones.¡± Visinniria told him with a smile. ¡°We are proud of you.¡±

    ¡°We will Translocate your visitors home as we leave and cast the time-bubble.¡± Falgaroth informed

    them. ¡°To your senses, all three events will happen simultaneously.

    ¡°At the same moment, twenty-six more time-bubbles will be cast by the gods in other locations, as you

    suggested. All within are tasked with having children, and with performing research, training, and

    construction during their years of istion. Along with your other tasks here, we charge you with

    building the defenses, shelters, and offensive emcements that will be necessary for Hiliani to prove

    its worth in theing confrontation with the demons.¡±

    ¡°Ah. That¡¯s a good point, if I¡¯ve ever heard one.¡± Mark nodded. ¡°There¡¯s no use building a wonderful

    little outpost of civilization here if it¡¯s just going to be helpless against destruction by the demons.¡±

    ¡°Just so.¡± Falgaroth nodded in return.

    All too soon, the time came. All the farewells had been said, and the visitors gathered together with the

    departing gods. They were still waving good-bye to those who were staying when they disappeared.

    ¡°The time-bubble is cast.¡± Quewanak calmly announced, which was useful since there was no

    discernable effect of the casting. Nothing seemed different, save that their visitors were gone.

    There was a long moment of silence, then Mark shrugged and spoke. ¡°Well that¡¯s that. I guess it¡¯s time

    to start settling into our new lives here. We¡¯re going to work on our garden for a while before supper.

    ¡°We¡¯ll probably see you all again before Sixthday, but if not, we¡¯ll see you at the dance then.¡±

    With that, he and Talia set off, strolling hand in hand.

    He paused to consider their new home as they came close to it, then gently picked her up and cuddled

    her as he shared his thoughts.

    ¡°You know, this is going be a long vacation from our normal life, but it sure doesn¡¯t feel like it. It feels

    like we¡¯ve been on a long vacation for months, and we¡¯re finallying home.¡±

    ¡°I feel that, a bit.¡± she revealed with a smile. ¡°Not so much like I¡¯ming home, but that I¡¯m returning

    to the simple life of my childhood, just as my life as an adult is truly beginning.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s sweet.¡± he chuckled.

    ¡°Thanks. We have just enough time to get the potatoes nted before we have to milk the cow and the

    goat. You get the cow.¡± she told him with a tickle.

    Heughed as he carried her inside.

 Chapter 11

    Chapter 11

    Part 3

    The next few months were a series of long,fortable days, filled with pleasant work done at a

    gone by so quickly that it was most surprising.

    Mark and Talia spent their time fishing, gathering, hunting, making warm clothes for theing winter,

    and maintaining their household, gardens, and livestock. They spent time with Hilsith and Yzell, who

    gave Talia periodic examinations, and under whom they studied their role as parents, as well as doing

    what they could toward helping to solve what became known as ¡®the fertility problem¡¯. There were

    eleven mixed human and elven couples in the settlement, many of whom had been together for some

    years, and of them, only Mark and Talia had been able to achieve a pregnancy. The elven Healer and

    Midwife spent the majority of their time working on this problem.

    Within two months, Yzell was able to determine the gender of Talia¡¯s unborn twins with certainty. The

    smaller twin was female, and seemed to be developing at the normal elven pace. Therger was male,

    and seemed to be developing as quickly as human fetuses generally did. This caused Talia some

    concern as she feared a difficult birthing, but Hilsith and Yzell assured her that all would be well.

    The three households who were their closest neighbors were also their most frequent visitors; those

    being Dalia, Bezedil, and Alilia; Yazadril, Nemia, and Hilsith; and Mark¡¯s cousin Dren and his wife

    Mandri, whose wedding they had attended in Belinhome Finitra some four weeks before the n for

    Hiliani was decided. Mark had grown close to many of his extended family, but More so with Dren and

    Mandri since they were almost the same age as Mark and Talia, and shared most of the same

    interests.

    They shared in themunity activities of military training, magical research, and building hidden

    emcements on the tops of many of the mountains on the inds. The natural caves in the inds

    were prepared as bunkers to be used as shelters in case of attack. They were stocked with supplies,

    and their entrances were fortified and hidden. The majority of their training wasbat exercises

    against simted demons, that were cast and directed by Quewanak and Ria; the spirit of Talia¡¯s

    sword, who was a copy of the personality of Visinniria in her youth, recorded long before she became a

    goddess.

    Quewanak and Ria became the most unlikely of close friends. Quewanak, no longer the eldest mortal

    since he was now secretly the new Draconian God of Dreaming, was the only friend that the spirit of

    the sword chose for her own sake, as her affection for Talia and Mark was duty-bound and spelled. Of

    course it helped that Quewanak was the only being in the settlement besides Talia whose touch was

    able to invoke Ria from the sword. Having two people who could do so afforded Ria many more hours

    of consciousness than she would normally have enjoyed, since Talia could not hold her sword for every

    hour of the day, and Quewanak did not need to sleep.

    Sometimes Markmanded their little militia, sometimes Yazadril did, or Alilia, but they all learned

    from every experience, and their skills increased rapidly.

    There came a day in their third month on Hiliani when Mark and Talia were visitedte in the evening

    by Hilsith, Yzell, and Alilia.

    ¡°Be wee.¡± Talia said as she waved them in with a smile.

    ¡°I hope we¡¯re not interrupting?¡± Yzell asked as they were seated in the living room.

    ¡°No, we¡¯re just studying Somonik¡¯s history of the first demon war, as tranted and transcribed by

    Quewanak.¡± Mark exined, showing them the twenty-seventh volume of the one hundred and thirty

    that detailed that ancient conflict.

    ¡°Good. I know it¡¯ste, so I¡¯ll exin why we¡¯vee.¡± Yzell said as she epted a cup of herbal tea

    from Talia.

    ¡°Alilia is conflicted because she desires something very much, yet she does not wish to desire it. She

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    confided in Hilsith as her Healer, who counseled her, and rmended that they ask me about

    aspects of her problem, which they did.

    ¡°Alilia has told us of the breakup of her marriage to Gorsh, her vow of restitution and service to you

    both, and the times when you have shared your bed with her. There are things you may not be aware

    of. Talia, Alilia loves you very much, in addition to the many other emotions she feels about you. And

    Mark, Alilia is desperately in love with you, along with all else she feels for you. Furthermore, since the

    time when she thought her son Bezedil was lost to her, she has strongly desired to have another child.

    Yet she has low fertility, and Bezedil is the only child she bore in over four thousand years of marriage.

    ¡°Mark, either your fertility is astounding, or your fertility with Talia only is astounding, or it was an

    incredible fluke that she managed to be pregnant by you the very first time you made love. That

    pregnancy was ended by the curse, and then you began using a contraceptive spell, and then she

    became pregnant again on your first try when she stopped using the spell. That eliminates the

    possibility that her first pregnancy was a fluke. You are incredibly fertile, either with Talia alone, or with

    any female elf, or possibly with any female humanoid, including giants, dwarves, gnomes, and sylvan.

    As a researching midwife engaged in the study of inter-racial fertility and elven fertility in general, I am

    of course very interested in the possibility that I might be able to iste the property of your sperm that

    allows an elven female to be pregnant so easily, without decades of devoted mated love.

    ¡°I¡¯m asking this on my behalf as a researcher, and I¡¯m asking this on Alilia¡¯s behalf because she doesn¡¯t

    feelfortable with asking it herself.

    ¡°She asks that the two of you will allow her to be pregnant by you, Mark. They asked me if she

    could be pregnant by you, and I think she could. And I ask that I be allowed to observe and record

    the conception with every diagnostic spell that we can bring to bear.¡±

    There was a long silence.

    Alilia, who had been sitting staring down at her cup of tea with disciplined calm, softly spoke.

    ¡°I know that neither of you love me, though you do like me well enough, which is amazing, considering

    all that¡¯s transpired between us. I know you do find me to be attractive, and I think I can be confident

    that you¡¯ve both enjoyed the erotic times we have asionally shared.

    ¡°If you do this for me, I¡¯ll live within your house, or not, as you wish. You can spend as much time with

    our child as you wish, or as little. You can take whatever role you wish in the child¡¯s upbringing, so long

    as I¡¯m the primary mother and parent.

    ¡°If you do this for me, there¡¯s nothing I could do to repay you. Already I am your ve, if you wish it,

    and I would do anything you asked if it was within my power to aplish, yet you ask nothing of me.

    There¡¯s no repaying such a gift as I am asking for, and I would be even further indebted to you for the

    rest of my life, yet I desire it so strongly, I am still asking it. If I thought it would do any good to ask

    another instead, I would, but it seems you are the only practical hope for me to have another child.¡±

    ¡°Give us a minute to think about it?¡± Mark asked.

    ¡°Of course.¡± Alilia replied with a little nod.

    ¡°What do you think, my love?¡± Talia inquired after she and Mark had deepened their Link to speed their

    ¡°In this matter, my thoughts are of no importance, and I have no real preference for one side of the

    question or the other at any rate.¡± Mark told her. ¡°This is your decision, and I will dly abide by

    whatever you decide. You¡¯re the one who would have another woman intruding in our marriage, and

    you¡¯re more likely to have to deal withpetitiveness and jealousy from Alilia, and in yourself.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Talia responded, and considered a minute.

 Chapter 12

    Chapter 12

    Part 3

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    ¡°Hilsith,¡± she thoughtfully asked, ¡°What are your thoughts on your rtionship with my parents?¡±

    Hilsith smiled. ¡°It¡¯s wonderful, but I know it¡¯s temporary. I am more than Yazadril and Nemia¡¯s girlfriend,

    but less than their wife. I know their love for each other will always be primary for them, and I¡¯m quite

    sure that I cannot be pregnant by Yazadril, since he doesn¡¯t love me in that way. We all know that

    eventually, I¡¯ll fall in love with the elf who will be my husband, and then my rtionship as it is with

    Yazadril and Nemia will end. And we¡¯re fullyfortable with that. But until that happens, be it only

    another day away or a millennium, we will cherish the love and happiness we give each other.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Talia nodded.

    ¡°Alilia, if we choose to ede to your request; you would live in our home so that Mark can truly be a

    father to his child. Your position in our rtionship would be very simr to Hilsith¡¯s position in my

    parents¡¯ rtionship. You would definitely be junior to me in that rtionship, and in Mark¡¯s affections.

    Furthermore, you¡¯ve been known to be somewhat abrasive at times, and I¡¯m still a young elf, and I still

    asionally feel emotional responses that are somewhat immature. There may be times when I

    be irritated or jealous with you, and I may choose to take advantage of your vow of service to

    ¡°I understand. I stand by my vow.¡± Alilia quietly responded.

    There was a long pause in the conversation.

    ¡°Alilia, look at me.¡± Talia quietlymanded. ¡°Do you love me?¡±

    ¡°I do love you, Talia. I began to feel this way when we first met Mark in the South Pass of The Nine

    Valleys. After I realized how horribly I had wronged you, and you gave me your forgiveness.¡±

    ¡°Mmm. Kiss me. Show me that you love me.¡±

    Alilia smoothly stood as Talia did, and they embraced for a moment, before Alilia slowly moved to kiss

    the younger elfess with deep and sensuous affection. As the kiss ended, Alilia¡¯s discipline cracked, and

    she hugged Talia with desperate emotion. ¡°Oh please Talia, please¡­¡± she softly begged, her tears

    flowing into Talia¡¯s hair.

    ¡°We must love you, Alilia, for this to work.¡± Talia murmured. ¡°And as you say, we do not love you now,

    but then we¡¯ve spent very little time with you. Stay with us for a while, earn our love, and let us learn to

    love you. Especially Mark. You can¡¯t expect him to have a child with a woman he doesn¡¯t love. You¡¯re

    incredibly beautiful, intelligent, and capable, and your personality has been improved by the ordeals of

    thest few months, so it shouldn¡¯t take too long. If you can earn our love, you can bear Mark¡¯s child.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, thank you so much¡­¡± Alilia sobbed as she lost controlpletely and broke down crying.

    Mark gently reached out from his seat on the big sofa and gently picked them both up, and slowly set

    them on hisp. He wrapped his huge arms around both the tiny elven women and nuzzled the tops of

    their heads.

    ¡°A wise choice, I think.¡± Hilsith nodded, as she and Yzell stood and smiled. ¡°And we will take our leave.

    I see no further need for our services here this evening, as things seem well in hand, and you will not

    be attempting a conception tonight.¡±

    Talia started to get up to see them off.

    ¡°No no, you shouldn¡¯t interrupt your embrace, we¡¯ll see ourselves out.¡± Yzell chuckled. ¡°We¡¯ll see you

    again soon.¡±

    ¡°Oh, one more thing.¡± Hilsith said as she turned and cast a quick spell on Mark, who was stunned with

    surprise at the sudden sensation. ¡°I had Yazadril work on that with me, so that it would be tuned to your

    unique frequencies. The spells I cast that Talia uses on herself and Alilia to ensure that your

    lovemaking will be harmless, despite the disparity in you sizes, those spells have their limitations where

    her pregnancy is concerned. What I just cast on you will ensure that as her pregnancy progresses, your

    coitus will not be as deep, nor will you desire it to be. The same will be true of Alilia, should she bear

    your child. For the consideration of the children.

    ¡°Good evening then, we¡¯ll see you again soon.¡±

    With that, she and Yzell let themselves out.

    Mark gave them a wave, choosing not to try to speak around the lump of emotion in his throat, and

    having no response to what she¡¯d said at any rate.

    After another ten minutes of cuddling, he thought he could trust his voice again. ¡°I¡¯m a very lucky man.¡±

    he rumbled, which drew a titter from Talia, who began to caress him more intimately.

    Suddenly he stood up and dered; ¡°Well what do you know! I think it¡¯s bedtime already!¡± Then he

    effortlessly carried both girls to their bedroom in a cloud of feminine giggles.

    They sleptte and had a leisurely brunch.

    As they were cleaning up the dishes, Alilia announced; ¡°I¡¯d like to go visit Yazadril for a few minutes.

    He¡¯s still my best friend. Though he¡¯s your father, I¡¯d like to be the one to tell him and Nemia of our new

    arrangement. That is, if Hilsith hasn¡¯t told them already.¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± Talia smiled. ¡°We¡¯ve got a few chores to do, but we haven¡¯t seen them for a couple of days.

    Shall we join you there in an hour or so?¡±

    ¡°That would be nice.¡± Alilia said as she returned the smile. She gave them both a quick kiss, and was

    gone.

    ¡°This is going to be very interesting.¡± Mark chuckled as he cast a Preserve on the leftovers and put

    them in the cupboard.

    ¡°True, but ifst night was any indication, we can at least be sure that Alilia will be a very pleasurable

    ymate!¡± Taliaughed. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen anyone so determined to pleasure two others to the point of

    ¡°That¡¯s for certain! And she seems determined to make sure that it doesn¡¯t look like she¡¯s trying to

    reason. I¡¯m still pretty nervous about the whole thing, but this just might work out okay.¡±

    Meanwhile, Alilia had been greeted by Yazadril and Nemia, and they¡¯d exchanged a few pleasantries

    before she got around to telling them what had urred. Hilsith was out at Yzell¡¯s, and had not spoken

    a word of it, which was not surprising since she was Alilia¡¯s Healer, and the matter was a patient

    confidentiality.

    To Alilia¡¯s surprise, Yazadril and Nemia waited patiently while she told her tale, then burst outughing.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry Alilia, we mean no disrespect!¡± Nemia managed to get out after a moment. ¡°But Yazadril

    predicted everything you¡¯ve just told us almost word for word weeks ago, based on nothing more than

    your behavior! And while you were telling us that, you seemed like you were afraid we were about to

    y you with our disapproval!¡±

    ¡°My behavior?!¡± Alilia asked in consternation. ¡°Have I really been that transparent?¡±

    ¡°Oh, not to anyone else perhaps, but to us, certainly.¡± Yazadril chuckled as he controlled hisughter.

    ¡°You¡¯ve hardly visited them for fear your feelings would burst out of you and they¡¯d reject you. But

    whenever we speak, you ask about them, and whenever they are spoken of by others, your expression

    lights up like the dawn! And whenever children are spoken of, your face wears such a look of longing

    that it tugs at my heart.

    ¡°You needn¡¯t fear we¡¯ll disapprove, since I considered the whole thing to be rather inevitable. I only

    hope they won¡¯t break your heart. I know with certainty that you won¡¯t break theirs, since theirs is one

    of the strongest loves I¡¯ve seen in all my long years of life.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Well, thank you. Thank you both.¡± Alilia told them as she re-gathered herposure. ¡°There¡¯s a

    favor I would like to ask of you, as well. I¡¯d like two spells cast into an object, thergest pearl in this

    ne specifically. I don¡¯t want to raise the subject of my conception with them again until I¡¯m certain

    that they both genuinely love me.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡± Yazadril smiled. ¡°You¡¯re perfectly capable of casting such a specified Love Detection into the

    ne yourself, but you want there to be no doubt as to the objectivity of the spell.¡±

    ¡°Just so.¡± Alilia nodded.

 Chapter 13

    Chapter 13

    Part 3

    ¡°All right, I¡¯ll have the pearl turn red as their love for you grows¡­¡±

    ¡°No, I couldn¡¯t bear the suspense of a gradual transition.¡± Alilia interrupted with a shake of her head.

    ¡°Just have it turn red suddenly, once they both truly love me.¡±

    ¡°Ah. All right, it¡¯s done.¡± Yazadril stated as he handed the ne back.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Alilia said as she put the ne back on and tucked it under the neckline of her dress.

    ¡°And if I may say, it would be awkward if they know of this before it turns red¡­¡±

    ¡°We understand.¡± Nemia chuckled. ¡°It¡¯s a harmless thing, and we¡¯ll keep your confidence about it.¡±

    ¡°Thank you. Now about our next military exercise; I have a few ideas¡­¡±

    PART 4

    At the end of her fourth month of pregnancy, Talia was examined by Hilsith, and then by Yzell, who

    both saved a Reading of their diagnostics. Hilsith pronounced that Talia and her unborn children were

    closed as she concentrated on her spells.

    Finally she sat back and wiped her brow with a puzzled air. ¡°They are developing significantly more

    quickly than is normal for human or elven babes.¡±

    ¡°Oh? I saw no sign of that.¡± Hilsith pointed out.

    ¡°You were judging by their size.¡± Yzell exined. ¡°And by that measure, the boy is a bit bigger than

    normal for a human, or very big for an elf, while the girl is very small for a human, or on the small side

    of normal for an elf. Both are within what I would have to consider to be the normal size range for half-

    human babes at four months of pregnancy.

    ¡°But I tell you, aside from that, they¡¯re developing very quickly. Already, it¡¯s like they were conceived at

    least a month earlier than they actually were, perhaps two. If they continue like this and they are carried

    to full-term I expect them to be born with full heads of hair and their eyes open and focused. And

    perhaps with a tooth or two. I expect they¡¯ll be born in the ninth month, like human babies, rather than

    in the eleventh. They may seem like they¡¯re six months old but small for their age on the day they¡¯re

    born.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to start conducting a thorough examination every week. This is too strange to ignore.¡±

    Ten weeks and two dayster, Talia woke suddenly from a sound sleep, and sat up with a jerk and a

    yelp.

    Alilia was awake a momentter, and in an instant she psionicly checked with Stripe and Scout for

    external threats and conducted her own scan of the region. She found nothing untoward, but cast a

    Battle Shield around the entire home anyway.

    Mark was slower toe awake. ¡°Huh? What?¡± he stammered as he blearily looked around, then

    rubbed his eyes and shook his head to clear it.

    ¡°Shh. Calm. Loving.¡± Talia softly said in response with her eyes closed and her hands held before her

    like she was about to conduct an orchestra. A warm smile slowly grew on her face.

    ¡°All right, I¡¯m calm and loving.¡± Mark softly chuckled as he sat up and hugged her. ¡°What is it?¡±

    Alilia hugged Talia from the other side, and caressed her swollen belly in concern, but detected no

    signs of distress.

    Talia¡¯s hands slowly descended, and she slid them beneath those of her lovers to caress her swollen

    belly. ¡°I¡¯ve been psionicly contacted by our children.¡± she proudly announced. ¡°They¡¯re very deeply

    Linked with each other, so much so that they¡¯re almost one mind. That¡¯s given them the ability to begin

    to explore their psionic neighborhood a little, even at this early stage of their development. As far as I

    know, the youngest that any child has been able to psionicly contact someone else of their own ord

    was six years of age, so this is very special, and unprecedented. I don¡¯t want them to be overwhelmed,

    and I¡¯m unsure of the repercussions of this on their development, so for now I¡¯m blocking you both.

    Sorry.¡±

    ¡°Wow.¡± Markmented as his eyebrows rose. ¡°What are they saying?¡±

    ¡°Well they¡¯re not really saying anything, love!¡± Talia softly giggled, her eyes still closed. ¡°It¡¯s all just

    emotions for now; mostly curiosity. This is the psionic equivalent of feeling them kicking in the womb for

    exercise. They¡¯re aware of me now, and aware of my emotions, but they don¡¯t realize that the mind

    they¡¯ve contacted has anything to do with the physical environment they live in. I¡¯m not sure that they¡¯re

    even capable of forming memories yet. They¡¯re sure enjoying the love I¡¯m sending them though, that¡¯s

    in and certain.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d sure love to join you in that, my love.¡±

    ¡°Well, all right. I can¡¯t see any harm in it, so long as we all keep our thoughts pleasant and calm and

    loving. They might be very vulnerable to the slightest emotional unpleasantness, so we must be

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    careful. And I don¡¯t want them in contact with any of us unless we¡¯re sitting or lying down, and rxed.

    If they share our thoughts while we¡¯re running, they might decide to try it, and that could be unpleasant

    for them and for me.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good thinking.¡± Alilia murmured. ¡°We should call Yzell. She¡¯ll definitely want to know of this for

    her research.¡±

    ¡°True. But I don¡¯t want us to be disturbed right now. I¡¯ll give her my Reading of the experience in the

    morning.¡±

    ¡°I can cast the diagnostics she uses, I¡¯ve watched it done enough to be sure of them.¡± Alilia

    volunteered. ¡°I can¡¯t interpret the results, but I can give them to her.¡±

    ¡°All right. Mark can go first with the babies while you do that.¡± Talia decided, and lowered her psionic

    shields to Mark.

    ¡°Wow. That¡¯s just amazing.¡± Mark quietly dered a momentter. ¡°We have to name them now, so I

    can talk to them by their names.¡±

    ¡°Well, in elven tradition, we usually try to think of a new name for each child, or use one that hasn¡¯t

    been used for many centuries; sometimes a revered ancestor.¡± Talia mused. ¡°While humans usually

    name their children after a family member or a close friend, or a famous person they admire. So I

    propose that we name our daughter Helemia, which would be the elven pronunciation of your mother¡¯s

    name. That gives our daughter a new name while also naming her after your mother. And I expect that

    we¡¯ll follow your family¡¯s tradition for naming firstborn sons, so our son will be Markhan Reginus

    Longstrider The Sixth. And with you and your grandfather both here with the same name, our son will

    need a nickname, so I propose we call him Reggie.

    ¡°Helemia and Reggie. I like that!¡± heughed. ¡°Hello Helemia. Hello Reggie. I¡¯m your father. I love you

    both very much.¡±

    ¡°I have them now.¡± Alilia softly announced, her eyes closed in concentration. Her face slowly gained an

    expression of wonder, and she snuggled down a bit so she could touch the side of her face to Talia¡¯s

    tummy.

    ¡°Ahhh, by all the gods, this is the most beautiful experience I have ever had.¡± she murmured. ¡°They are

    so pure and new; the essence of innocence and youth. And the love in this link is breath-taking.¡±

    ¡°Hey.¡± Mark softlymented a momentter. ¡°I just felt something sudden, and I couldn¡¯t help looking

    at it. Alilia, one of the pearls in your ne just turned red.¡±

    Alilia giggled without moving or opening her eyes. ¡°It¡¯s nothing to worry about. I¡¯ll tell you about it

    tomorrow. I don¡¯t want to interrupt this now.¡±

    A few minutester Mark slowly shifted so he was lying on his side, and Talia and Alilia curled up

    together against his front, sheltered in his huge and gentle embrace. They spent hours silently

    five of them still lightly psionicly joined.

    The next day they slept till almost noon before enjoying a slow awakening and some gentle morning

    lovemaking.

    They made a hearty brunch together, all threeughing and giggling like children, or like those newly in

    love.

    They took their tables and chairs outside to eat, though that meant casting a Weather Shield against

    the drizzle that had been falling for a few days. Then they invited a few over to visit, including Yzell,

    Hilsith, Yazadril, Nemia, and Quewanak. A minuteter they all arrived within seconds of each other.

    They found Mark and Alilia sitting with their chairs close on either side of Talia¡¯s so the three could

    snuggle while they ate.

 Chapter 14

    Chapter 14

    Part 4

    ¡°Good day! Please, make yourselvesfortable, and serve up if you¡¯re hungry.¡± Talia told them as

    she indicated the avable chairs and the open mossy ground beside the table.

    Mark and Alilia continued eating with their eyes closed, which was a little uncanny, and their faces were

    aglow with loving smiles.

    ¡°We¡¯ve invited you by to share and discuss thetest development,¡± Talia continued, ¡°Which is this; for

    most of thest ten hours, all three of us have been Linked with our unborn twins. They contacted me

    first, which they were capable of doing because they were already deeply Linked with each other

    before that, and were able tobine their meager psionic strength to reach me. I brought Mark and

    Alilia in shortly after that. Right now Mark¡¯s trying to teach them to understand Trade Common. I think

    it¡¯s too early for his efforts to be productive in the short term, but I think he¡¯ll seed before they¡¯re

    born.¡±

    ¡°By all the missing gods!¡± Yzell gasped.

    ¡°I began casting the diagnostics you use right after we began.¡± Alilia told her with a smile, then closed

    her eyes again. ¡°And we¡¯ve all saved a Reading of the experience, which is wonderful beyond words.

    I¡¯ll pass them to you now.¡±

    ¡°May we share in that? The Readings and diagnostics that is?¡± Yazadril asked, his eager curiosity in

    in his voice. ¡°I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s wise to allow any more to have psionic contact with the babes at this

    stage of their development, but other than that I want to know all I can of this! You do realize how

    incredibly unprecedented this is, I¡¯m sure!¡±

    ¡°We do.¡± Talia assured him. ¡°And of course, we share your trepidations. There¡¯s no way to know how

    this will affect them, and perhaps it wasn¡¯t that wise for all three of us to share in the Link with the

    children. But they contacted me first, and it was so beautiful that I couldn¡¯t exclude Mark and Alilia, so

    here we are.¡±

    She gave the visitors a few minutes to digest the Readings and diagnostics up to that point, then

    brought them up to the moment in her ongoing Reading. For over an hour they all silently shared in the

    experience; the visitors getting it second-hand from Talia via the ongoing Reading, so that the babes

    were kept unaware of them.

    Finally Yzell broke the silence. ¡°You¡¯re right about Mark¡¯s teaching efforts.¡± she told Talia. ¡°The babies¡¯

    brains are still changing and growing so fast, and are still so unformed, that they¡¯re incapable of

    retaining any long term memories. Anything they learn is almostpletely lost a few momentster.¡±

    ¡°Almostpletely lost, but not quite.¡± Mark quietly rumbled. ¡°Besides, it¡¯s fun, so I don¡¯t mind

    repeating the lessons as many times as it takes.¡±

    ¡°There is no doubt that they will be persons of unique capability.¡± Quewanak stated. ¡°If they retain their

    sanity, that is. Their minds will never be normal by any standard. We can only hope that they will at

    least be functional.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re an empty vessel, and we¡¯re filling it a little early.¡± Mark nodded. ¡°But so long as the thoughts

    we¡¯re sharing with them are loving and healthy, I can¡¯t see any harm in it.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s the danger that they will be unable to form their own individuality, Linked so closely with each

    other as they are.¡± Quewanak pointed out. ¡°Being unable to get someone else out of one¡¯s mind has

    often led to serious mental problems, including insanity. And there¡¯s the risk that they won¡¯t form their

    own personalities, they¡¯ll just absorb yours sopletely that their minds may be no more than

    copies of yours.¡±

    ¡°Mm. That¡¯s truth.¡± Mark nodded.

    ¡°I can¡¯t break contact with them without actually Shielding against them, and I refuse to do that, since I

    think that being forcibly cut off from me would be more harmful than continuing the contact." Talia

    mused. "But perhaps it would be best if Mark and Alilia took a break from it once in a while.¡±

    ¡°Ah. You¡¯re probably right.¡± Alilia agreed. ¡°But they¡¯re so beautiful, I dread having to end it.

    ¡°Mark, we should withdraw after supper tonight.

    ¡°I have something to tell you and Talia. The pearl in my ne has a spell I had Yazadril cast to tell

    me when both of you truly love me, and its new red color tells me that you do. So, I ask you both now

    that I be allowed to be pregnant by Mark tonight. All of these here will want to record my

    conception for further study, should it prove sessful.¡±

    Mark and Talia opened their eyes and grinned at her, then they both softly told her in unison; ¡°I love you

    Alilia.¡±

    ¡°And I love you.¡± Alilia giggled as Mark moved his chair back, then reached out and ced Talia, then

    Alilia, on hisp, and kissed and cuddled with them.

    ¡°Thesest few months have changed you, Alilia.¡± Yazadril chuckled as he cuddled with Nemia and

    Hilsith. ¡°And you¡¯re a better person for it.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Alilia smiled. ¡°I know you¡¯re right.

    ¡°When our time here is over, I¡¯m going to give up being Princess of The People of Life. I¡¯ll nominate

    Bezedil to take my ce. He has the capability, the power, and the poprity to be confirmed in short

    order, and to do a fine job of it. I¡¯ll make Hilian my primary citizenship for the foreseeable future, at least

    until these two grow tired of having me around.

    ¡°Gods, if you¡¯d have told me a year ago that I was to soon be the junior wife of a seventeen-year-

    old human, I¡¯d have thought you were insane! I sometimes can¡¯t believe how much has changed for

    me, and how quickly!¡±

    ¡°Dalia will certainly be d for Bezedil¡¯s ascension!¡± Talia giggled. ¡°She¡¯s hidden it well, but I know she

    feels a bit jealous of my higher social standing since she was restored to us. Being both Princess-

    Daughter of The High People and Princess-Consort of The People of Life will give her a status almost

    as great as mine, which should make her quite satisfied indeed! And a bit easier to get along with!¡±

    ¡°And I will be immensely proud of you both!¡± Nemiaughed, leaning over to kiss her daughter¡¯s cheek.

    ¡°Bezedil¡¯s marriage to Dalia will raise his stature in my people¡¯s eyes quite considerably.¡± Alilia told

    them. ¡°Both because of her fine qualities and her stature as Princess-Daughter of The High People,

    and because their engagement has ended his reputation as a somewhat wild and irresponsible youth.

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    She¡¯s given him stability in their minds, and without their pending marriage I wouldn¡¯t have considered

    him for Prince yet. But with assurance of a session, we might just form a dynasty.¡± she proudly

    concluded.

    ¡°Well, I¡¯ll take my leave.¡± Yzell smiled as she stood. ¡°I need to store these Readings and prepare for

    tonight, and besides, Theramin¡¯s been left with the children long enough. He¡¯ll be starting to run short

    of patience soon, so it¡¯s best I was back there.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll be going as well.¡± Yazadril told them as they all stood and exchanged hugs. ¡°Call us when you¡¯re

    ready for the conception. Nemia and I will be helping Hilsith and Yzell capture as much of the fine detail

    of the event as possible at the smallest scales of time and size. We¡¯ll have the best possible chance of

    finding the solution to the fertility problem, if it¡¯s there to be found.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll call you then.¡± Talia assured them, and the small gathering broke up as the visitors took their

    leave.

    Alilia did indeed conceive that night. After all the various recording spells cast of the event were

    finalized, and their visitors had left with many loving congrattions, the happy trio celebrated long into

    the night.

 Chapter 15

    Chapter 15

    Part 4

    Late on a night near the end of Talia¡¯s seventh month of pregnancy, while she was deeply asleep, her

    unborn children were bored and restless. For the first time, they projected their psionic awareness

    outside Talia¡¯s body, and went exploring for something interesting. The boy sent his mind questing

    toward the settlement, lightly sampling the sleeping thoughts he encountered, but drawn to the stronger

    minds on the far side of the ts. One was too basic to be interesting, and two were so bright they were

    frightening, so they were avoided. But one was just right, and the unborn boy was drawn to that mind,

    to which he felt an affinity. But he found the mind was hidden behind strong barriers, so he began

    feeling around, trying to get past to the shining mind that so fascinated him.

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    His sister had been following along as he did this, her thoughts always deeply entwined with those of

    her brother. But then a bright spark of thought seemed to capture her attention, and her awareness

    went out to find it, behind the house, behind their backyard valley, deep in the mountains near the

    center of the ind.

    She found what she was seeking, but the mind detected her, resisted her, hurt her. She reacted

    instinctively, and made the mind stop hurting her. Then, with her tiny heart pounding with the

    excitement, she broke past the mind¡¯s barriers to see what it was like inside.

    Her brother observed this and copied what she¡¯d done, and a momentter he was through the barriers

    around the mind he was considering.

    Talia, Mark, and Alilia were sted awake by Povon¡¯s psionic shriek. ¡°MIND YOUR CHILDREN!¡± she

    angrily demanded. ¡°They just broke Kragorram¡¯s psionic shields, and they weren¡¯t gentle about it! He

    has the god of all headaches, and we cannot bar them from his mind without destroying them! Which I

    almost did, before I realized who was doing it!¡±

    ¡°By the source!¡± Talia gasped as she checked her children. ¡°He has Kragorram, and she has¡­ A

    Sylvan! Out in the mountains somewhere! Missing gods, she¡¯s almost killed him! If he isn¡¯t helped

    quickly, he¡¯ll spend the rest of his days as a babbling idiot, if he survives at all!

    ¡°Mark, help with Reggie, and Alilia help me with Helemia!¡±

    ¡°Let the nice dragon go now Reggie, that¡¯s a good boy, just let the nice dragon go.¡± Mark gently

    instructed, but his brow was furrowed with the effort and concentration of what he was doing. His effort

    was about half coaxing and half controlling his son as he desperately tried to ease the boy out of

    Kragorram¡¯s mind as quickly and as gently as possible. The unborn babe was being stubborn about it.

    Mark would have thought Reggie would have fled from Kragorram¡¯s anguish, frustration, and pain, not

    to mention Povon¡¯s seething hostility, but the baby was uncowed. He was too ignorant of the meaning

    of others¡¯ emotions and too fascinated by Kragorram to be intimidated. Finally, Mark realized that his

    methods weren¡¯t working, and let some anger show through in the Link. ¡°NOW, dammit!¡± he growled,

    and forcefully pulled his son¡¯s mind from Kragorram¡¯s with an improvised technique that was so intuitive

    that he had no way to describe it. For want of another way to hold his son¡¯s attention, Mark began

    singing to him as loudly as he could, both physically and psionicly.

    Alilia and Talia, meanwhile, simply started building Shields around the remainder of the Sylvan¡¯s mind

    until Helemia was forced out. Mark was already singing loudly by then, having finished with Reggie,

    and the three adults cast a psionic shield around the three of them with enough power to contain the

    two young and inquisitive minds still forming inside Talia. Then Talia carefully cast Sleep on her

    children; which didn¡¯t take much. Though still excited by their adventure, the two unborn babes were

    also close to exhaustion from their efforts, and were asleep even before the spell hadpletely taken

    effect.

    Alilia instantly Translocated the Sylvan to a spare bedroom in Yazadril¡¯s house and informed Hilsith of

    what had happened with a quick burst of thought. Hilsith was awake instantly, and was already

    psionicly examining the Sylvan even as she woke Yazadril and Nemia by suddenly jumping out of bed

    naked and running out of the room. They quickly followed her, and did what they could to assist her

    with her patient.

    ¡°Quewanak!¡± Mark yelled, both physically and psionicly. ¡°Where the hell did that Sylvane from?!¡±

    ¡°I already know that.¡± Talia told him, her eyes closed in concentration and both hands on her belly. ¡°It¡¯s

    in the Reading I just took of Helemia, which included what she took from the Sylvan¡¯s mind.¡±

    Quewanak appeared as a small Projection only a meter long, crouching on the bed beside them with

    his eyes tightly closed and his finger held to his lips for silence.

    A minuteter he looked to Talia with an inquisitively raised eyebrow.

    ¡°There are a few thousand of them here.¡± Talia tensely rted. ¡°Sylvan in Hiliani, that is. A Sylvan god

    brought them here a few hundred years ago, when Zarkog started taking over Serminak, and he¡¯s been

    hiding them here ever since.¡±

    ¡°Huh. It must be the Sylvan God of Hiding, for him to have hidden them from the other gods¡¯ notice.¡±

    Markmented.

    ¡°Not quite their god of hiding, though I wish he were.¡± Quewanak¡¯s Projection told them, his voice

    taking a very serious tone indeed. ¡°Rather, he is the Sylvan God of Stealth. The difference being that

    his choice of stealth rather than hiding as his mandate indicates that he is as skilled at avoiding notice

    for offensive purposes as for defensive.

    ¡°How skilled is he, you might ask? Skilled enough that he became a god a few thousand years ago,

    chose his mandate, gathered followers, and established his religion among them, all without any of the

    other gods even noticing his existence. This is the first time anyone has be aware that there was

    a Sylvan God of Stealth without his permission. And still, I only know this because it was known by the

    injured Sylvan, whose mind and Helemia¡¯s I have Read. Though I am now a god myself, and my

    awareness and psionic skills are as good as any other¡¯s, I cannot find a single one of the thousands of

    Sylvan who are on Hiliani beyond the one that Hilsith is treating, or the slightest trace of their God of

    Stealth who hides them. Or even any evidence of their presence or workings here.¡±

    ¡°Dammit, Helemia found one, and she¡¯s not even born yet!¡± Mark growled. ¡°Are you really saying that

    the Dragon God of Dreaming can¡¯t match the psionic sensitivity of an unborn child?!¡±

    Quewanak met his eyes for three long seconds before simply replying; ¡°Yes.¡±

    The Projection disappeared.

    The three expectant parents took a moment to consider the implications of that. Then Mark¡¯s irritation

    and worry burst out of him.

    ¡°Dammit, what the hell are they doing here?¡±

    ¡°When Zarkog started taking over Serminak, the God of Stealth gathered his Sylvan followers and their

    families and brought them here to hide them from Zarkog.¡± Talia replied. ¡°They¡¯re here for the same

    reason we are; because Hiliani is the most isted ce in the world that¡¯s alsofortably livable.¡±

    ¡°Dammit, if they¡¯d have let someone know they were here, we¡¯d have chosen somewhere else and not

    intruded on them!¡± Mark grumbled. ¡°Now I¡¯m not even sure that we¡¯re entitled to our sovereignty of the

    ce! Were the Sylvan here before or after Hiliani was scouted by The Sea People and sold to

    Membitra?¡±

    ¡°Before, by almost a century.¡± Talia told him.

    ¡°That is irrelevant,¡± Alilia calmly informed them, ¡°And your sovereignty of Hiliani is fully legal by every

    nation¡¯sws, including by the somewhat informalws of the Sylvan before they were conquered by

    Zarkog. One must at least publicly im ownership ofnd before one can own it or justifiably defend it;

    every thinking race on Keran sees the practical necessity of that. The Sylvan did not do so. The Sea

    People registered their im to Hiliani with their governments on three continents, and publicly

    proimed it, before they sold it to Membitra. Your im to it is legally indisputable.¡±

    She paused, and gave them both a warm smile and a caress before she continued. ¡°Now, having dealt

    with that, we shall discuss what is truly worrying us, that being; How has this experience affected your

    children, and how will their having these absolutely unprecedented psionic abilities affect how they will

    develop, and how we should raise them?

 Chapter 16

    Chapter 16

    Part 4

    ¡°I can tell you this; they were far deeper into Kragorram and the Sylvan¡¯s minds than they have ever

    been in ours, despite the many hours we¡¯ve spent Linked with them. They gained ess to our surface

    thoughts and emotions with no resistance from us, and so they were well contented with what we gave

    them. But they had to break into the minds they shared tonight, and were still pushing hard when they

    broke past the Shields. They probably now know a significant portion of everything Kragorram has

    experienced or learned in some nine thousand years of life. They certainly know everything that the

    Sylvan ever thought or experienced.

    ¡°Only in war have I ever encountered anyone who was so thoroughly mind-raped by another as that

    Sylvan was by Helemia. In the girl¡¯s defense, the Sylvan did attack her when he detected her psionic

    probe. She counter-attacked, crushed his psionic Shields like egg shells, and took all that she found

    within.

    ¡°This episode brings back many memories for me. Not my own memories of course, but memories of

    what my mother told me of her experiences with me. I am the only person known to have cast the

    power before birth, in the form of primitive Force Bolts. I was just doing the magical equivalent of

    kicking in the womb for exercise, and venting my frustration at my confinement.

    ¡°Reggie and Helemia have found their own way to escape the confinement of the womb, and like my

    use of Force, their psionics arepletely inherent and intuitive. And so far as I know, they are the

    only babies to have ever used psionics before birth, though I would not be surprised to find the

    phenomenon among the unicorns. Perhaps we should have expected that the babies would go

    exploring, psionicly speaking. If they had chosen to do so in the day, we would have been awake and

    would have dealt with it before it became a problem. It was quite a stroke of bad luck that even Povon

    and Kragorram were asleep, considering draconian sleeping habits.

    ¡°As it is, this will have many repercussions. As my mother had to do, we will need to make sure that

    one of us is awake and monitoring the children whenever Talia is asleep.

    ¡°Now, I don¡¯t remember my adventures in my mother¡¯s womb; my first memories are from when I was

    just less than two years old. But there is no doubt that those experiences had an effect on me, and

    helped shape my development.

    ¡°Simrly, I doubt that the twins will retain any conscious memory of their experiences tonight. But I am

    sure that they will be affected. They may retain some of the character and qualities of Kragorram¡¯s

    mind, especially Reggie, which would probably not be a bad thing.

    ¡°The Sylvan that Helemia attacked is quite another matter. The Sylvan that are here on these inds

    of the vow of justice. They still believe that might makes right, and that they have the right to do

    whatever they have the power to do. They have no inhibitions against violence, torture, and killing, not

    from the day they¡¯re born. And every individual among them still believes, with all of their evil little

    hearts, that it is their own personal eventual destiny to conquer the world and enve the rest of us

    under the iron fist of their tyranny.

    ¡°This is not an influence that would be good for your children, to say the least. We¡¯ll have to make

    certain that we counter that influence, particrly in Helemia, and shape it into something positive. I

    suggest you do that by giving both of your twinsplete ess to your minds, as they hadplete

    ess to Kragorram and the Sylvan¡¯s, and that you do so as often as possible. This will have the side

    effect of further elerating their mental development, which may create it¡¯s own problems, but that¡¯s a

    better choice than risking them ending up thinking like an unsworn Sylvan.

    ¡°I must admit to feeling a bit lucky that this happened. Talia, your family is known for strength in the

    Text content ? N?velDrama.Org.

    power, as is mine, and yours is known for intellectual ability, mine for intuitive ability. But you and I and

    our families are not known for particrly noteworthy psionic abilities, among the elves at least. I think

    it¡¯s safe to assume that your children have inherited their psionic ability from Mark, and so it¡¯s likely that

    my daughter will also share those abilities.¡±

    She paused and smiled and caressed her own tummy, which had not begun to swell yet, before she

    continued.

    ¡°Forewarned is forearmed, and I¡¯ll certainly be monitoring her psionics constantly, even when I¡¯m

    asleep, from now on.¡±

    ¡°Thanks Alilia, that¡¯s good thinking.¡± Mark chuckled as he gave her a one-armed hug. ¡°With the way

    you act around ustely, and the way you look, it¡¯s easy to forget how incredibly capable and

    experienced you are, in every way. I¡¯m d you¡¯re with us in this.

    ¡°And I think you¡¯re right about countering the Sylvan¡¯s influence, and the effects of the twins¡¯

    experiences tonight. Not even born, and they¡¯ve already facedbat and pain. I still can¡¯t believe they

    broke Kragorram¡¯s mental Shields, even if he was asleep! Since Quewanak¡¯s training, I know he¡¯s got

    some of the best shielding I¡¯ve ever encountered!¡±

    ¡°It is indeed amazing.¡± Alilia smiled. ¡°Raising exceptional children can be more challenging, but it¡¯s

    definitely more rewarding as well. Bezedil was a handful and then some, but I¡¯ve loved every minute

    I¡¯ve spent with him. And there¡¯s little doubt that yours are the most exceptional children ever conceived.

    With the possible exception of myself, of course.¡± she added with a giggle.

    ¡°Gods, I marvel to consider what your daughter will be like!¡± Taliaughed. ¡°I mean after all, I know that

    Mark is truly the exceptional one in our mating, not me! As you say, it¡¯s likely his blood that¡¯s given the

    twins their amazing abilities, not mine, and you¡¯re the only female I know of who¡¯s almost as

    exceptional as he is! It boggles my mind to think of the abilities she might have!¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± Alilia nodded. ¡°It¡¯s both thrilling and worrisome to consider the possibilities.¡±

    Mark¡¯s face firmed in concentration. ¡°We need a spell to monitor all three of them constantly, so if they

    develop any new abilities, or more importantly, if they use any new abilities, we¡¯ll know about it right

    away. Unfortunately, I don¡¯t have anything that does that specifically, and I¡¯m still really crappy at

    designing new spells. I can copy anyone else¡¯s spells with no effort, but when ites to making any

    new ones, I¡¯m still no better at it than most other wizards with less than a year of experience.¡±

    ¡°Ah.¡± Alilia smiled. ¡°Well I for one learned a great deal about curses, blessings, and other automated

    spells from Povon after you all underwent Quewanak¡¯s training. And with that knowledge firmly in mind,

    and with my own intuitive ability, I can design a spell such as you¡¯ve described by doing little more than

    wanting to do it.

    ¡°Here. What do you think of it?¡± she giggled as she held her cupped hand palm up, and a tiny but

    intense blue light appeared in it.

    ¡°Gods! What is it?¡± Talia asked as she squinted a bit from the brightness of it.

    ¡°It¡¯s an uncast blessing, or a beneficial automated spell in the new terminology you¡¯ve introduced,

    ¡°That¡¯s amazing!¡± Mark marveled as he considered it with his sense of magic. ¡°I mean, it¡¯s a very nice

    spell for sure, but beyond that I¡¯ve never heard of anyone making any spell manifest like that without

    actually casting it, or casting it into an object at least!¡±

    ¡°Neither have I, actually.¡± Alilia agreed. ¡°I may have invented that technique just now, so I could show

    you the spell before I cast it on our children. I suppose I didn¡¯t have to; you both could have checked

    my work psionicly before I cast it. But it was a spontaneous thing, like all of my best work.¡±

    ¡°And like all my best work, I can copy what you¡¯ve done.¡± Markughed, holding out his hand and

    casting two more of the blue lights in it.

    ¡°Bah, you¡¯re being ridiculously humble again.¡± Talia grinned as she considered the beauty of the uncast

    spells. ¡°You invented more groundbreaking new spellcraft on the day you dealt with the curse and

    saved Dalia and Bezedil than most wizardse up with in their entire lifetimes!¡±

    ¡°And I notice you didn¡¯t cast those with Talia¡¯s elven wizard power.¡± Alilia pointed out. ¡°Those are cast

    with your own power from the second source. They¡¯re warlock¡¯s spells. Amazing how you¡¯ve still

    matched the power cost exactly.

 Chapter 17

    Chapter 17

    Part 4

    ¡°Be careful when you cast them. This is not to be cast on my daughter directly, since I don¡¯t think it

    would be wise to cast any spells on our children directly. Who knows what it could lead to? So anyway,

    I will cast this on my own womb, to monitor my child within, and you will cast those on Talia¡¯s womb.¡±

    ¡°Ah, I see that now, now that I consider it.¡± Talia nodded. ¡°That¡¯s very good thinking too, by the way,

    about not casting anything on our children.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Alilia smiled, and the bright spark in her hand floated down to her belly and disappeared.

    Mark¡¯s brow furrowed in concentration. ¡°Talia, could you help me with this? I¡¯m trying to make sure that

    one of these is attuned to Reggie and the other to Helemia, so we know right away which one of them

    is doing it if they do anything. But I¡¯m having a bit of trouble with it, and you know them a lot better than

    I do.¡±

    Talia deepened her Link with him to share his thoughts and sensations directly.

    Alilia joined them in that. ¡°Hmm. I¡¯d have thought the effort would be un-necessary, since the two of

    them are almost one mind anyway. But despite their constant andplete Linking, they¡¯re developing

    their own individualities quite nicely. Moreso since their little adventure tonight, I see.¡±

    ¡°There. Go ahead.¡± Talia said, and Mark let the two spells drift down and disappear within her.

    They cuddled and silently considered the twins with all their senses, and all their love. Then Alilia

    broadened their awareness to include her daughter, who was still just an invisibly tiny ball of life, only

    four weeks since her conception. But they loved her just the same.

    The next morning they were visited by Hilsith, Yazadril, and Nemia, who joined them for breakfast.

    After hugs and greetings and cing extra settings at the table, Hilsith opened the conversation. ¡°The

    Sylvan is sedated, and with our continued treatment he will likely recover. Eventually.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve Read him rather thoroughly. His name is Vanakit Lamitkeze, and he¡¯s quite an individual.¡±

    Yazadril added. ¡°For one thing, he¡¯s over eight hundred years old, which is rare in a Sylvan. He¡¯s also

    one of the most formidable warriors and wizards of that race I¡¯ve ever met. It seems their God of

    Stealth has imposed his own culture on them for thest few thousand years, and it includes not

    allowing the adults to kill one another. Since they¡¯ve had this culture for far longer than a Sylvan¡¯s

    lifespan, or what we thought was their lifespan, they¡¯ve had time to learn that a Sylvan can live a lot

    longer than we thought. So long as they¡¯re not killing each other, that is. No doubt Zarkog would have

    discovered the same, if he¡¯d had time.

    ¡°The eldest Sylvan on these inds is over three thousand years old, and is certainly the most

    formidable member of her race. Many of them are older than the nine hundred years we thought they

    could live, and have had the time to be far more capable than any of the Sylvan from Serminak.

    ¡°However, their young still y one another regrly, which winnows out the weak and keeps their

    poption in check. Which is lucky, since their females have a child every fifteen months on the

    average, century after century.

    ¡°They live by hunting, gathering, and fishing, and their homes are made in hollows in trees; like

    primitive versions of elven homes. Their god hides them and all their artifacts from detection from all

    others, and from any animal. It makes hunting a very easy activity, apparently. They practice being

    stealthy with fanatical devotion as well, to hide from one another and to impress the god. Though the

    adults don¡¯t kill each other, they live in a constant state of anarchy and warfare, with ever-shifting

    factionspeting for status, power, and their god¡¯s favor. Though killing each other is forbidden

    among the adults, wounding, maiming, and torturing one another are quite eptable.

    ¡°Their homes are all on the big ind on the north-west edge of Hiliani, almost as far from here as they

    could be. The one in our infirmary was only so close because he was scouting us. They¡¯ve been aware

    of us since the first day we were here. Their god, whose name they don¡¯t know, told them to leave us

    alone, and left before the time-bubble went up. I imagine he didn¡¯t want to be trapped in here for

    twenty-four years. But the Sylvan here don¡¯t know why he left, and they¡¯re not aware of the time-

    bubble. He just told them he¡¯d be gone for a score of years, and left.¡±

    ¡°We had Povon consult with us on his Healing, since we considered her to be our resident expert on

    Sylvan, due to her recent experience as Dragon Lord Regent of Serminak.¡± Hilsith said between bites

    of t-cakes. ¡°She was a great help too.

    ¡°They¡¯ll be dropping by after breakfast to discussst night¡¯s events, her and Kragorram and Karzog,

    that is. She says Kragorram is fine, by the way, though he has some lingering symptoms, on which she

    would not borate.

    ¡°I¡¯d expect Yzell to be by after breakfast as well, since we¡¯ll definitely want to examine the babies after

    their experience.¡±

    ¡°Ah.¡± Talia nodded, finishing a mouthful of fruit juice. ¡°We expected that, and we certainly have some

    interesting things to tell you about it, but we might as well wait until they all get here.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s starting to snow.¡± Markmented after a nce outside. ¡°Let¡¯s have them meet us at the hall. We

    can be out of the weather without having us all crowded in here.¡±

    The walk to the meeting hall was enjoyable and pretty, with big puffs of snow gently drifting down

    between the trees through still air.

    They were met by Povon and Kragorram, who¡¯d brought young Karzog, and by Yzell and Theramin,

    who had their six children with them, including their baby.

    The dragons were ying; Povon and Kragorram crouched about twenty meters apart, and carefully

    tossed Karzog back and forth between them. The elves watched this and smiled, their young with

    grinning fascination.

    Like all Dragons, Karzog¡¯s wings were too small to support him in flight; they were just big enough that

    he could make a controlled descent from a great height and stillnd slowly enough to avoid injury

    most of the time. His inherent magical abilities of Levitation and Self-Movement were starting to have a

    weak effect, but were still a little erratic, and he beat his wings as hard as he could as he learned to

    control himself in flight. He was having great fun, and for the first time, he was obviously using a

    Draconian-to-human trantion andmunications spell, since he was grinning widely. asionally

    he let out a little puff of yellow fire and ck smoke to vent the heat of his exertions.

    After about fifteen more minutes of that he was tuckered out, panting hard, and clung to Povon as he

    caught his breath.

    During that time it seemed word had spread that something was happening at the hall, and almost

    everyone in themunity had gathered there, and watched the dragons ying.

    ¡°Thanks for your patience.¡± Kragorram smiled as they rxed and lounged on the soft carpeted floor.

    ¡°That¡¯s the first time Karzog has truly felt the urge to fly, so we could not deny him.¡±

    ¡°Everything he just did, he is the youngest dragon to have done it.¡± Povon proudly added as she gave

    her adopted son a nice back-scratching. ¡°We are so proud of you!¡±

    ¡°Thank you. I am proud of you too!¡± the young dragonughed.

    As soon as Kragorram was lying down most of the children there started climbing all over him, an

    activity that Karzog joined as soon as the adult¡¯s discussion began.

    ¡°Be careful of the smaller children.¡± Povon cautioned him, and she cast a Soft Landing on the floor

    around them in case any of the young fell.

    ¡°So, what¡¯s up?¡± Dren asked Mark, and all the adults gave them their attention except Yzell and Hilsith,

    who began examining Talia and her unborn children with diagnostic spells.

    ¡°Well, we weren¡¯t really nning a gathering, but I suppose we should have since there¡¯s things you all

    need to know.¡± Mark replied, and looked around to include everyone.

    ¡°A couple of weeks ago, our unborn twins contacted Talia psionicly. At first it was just basic emotions,

    but we¡¯ve been Linked with them quite often, including Alilia, and by yesterday they were already

    Original content from N?velDrama.Org.

    thinking in basic concepts, and using their own names and ours. They¡¯re still having a bit of trouble with

    the fact that we call each other Talia and Mark but we want them to call us Mother and Father, but still,

    their progress has been amazing.

 Chapter 18

    Chapter 18

    Part 4

    ¡°Last night we found that it was more amazing than we knew. While we were asleep, Reggie and

    Helemia managed to project their consciousness beyond Talia, and they went exploring, I guess. We

    don¡¯t know why, but Reggie contacted Kragorram. Kragorram was asleep at the time, so Reggie just

    bumped into his psionic shields, and that might have been the end of it. However, Helemia detected a

    Sylvan out in the mountains¡­¡±

    He continued to rte the rest of what had urred the night before.

    ¡°¡­so that¡¯s where it stands right now. Between the adults and the kids, we¡¯ve got about eleven

    thousandbat capable Sylvan out there, but their god told them to leave us alone. If we¡¯d have

    found out about them any other way, I¡¯d say we should just ignore them until the time-bubblees

    down, and let our gods deal with their God of Stealth then, and he can deal with his people. On the

    other hand, he¡¯s not here, and we know about them now, and since Helemia almost killed one of them

    they might not be very understanding about what Helemia did. Even if we tell them the truth of what

    happened, they might not believe it. I probably wouldn¡¯t if I was them.

    ¡°So, we¡¯ve got a few issues to deal with here. We¡¯re pretty sure we can keep Reggie and Helemia from

    trying to get into anyone else¡¯s mind, but if you feel anything strange that you think might be them, let

    us know right away. They¡¯ve been affected by their experience rather profoundly. They now think in

    words andplete sentences. Unfortunately, Reggie thinks in Draconian, and Helemia thinks in a

    Sylvannguage called Blezogeth. Luckily enough, Talia and I learned thatnguage when we were

    training with Quewanak, but still, it¡¯s been more than a little strange for all of us.

    ¡°To counter that, we¡¯ve been staying deeply Linked with them at all times since they woke up this

    morning, and we¡¯ll keep that up until the influence of our personalities has countered what they gotst

    night.

    ¡°Kragorram, how are you doing?¡±

    ¡°My head no longer hurts, which is nice. Your son is still passively aware of me, psionicly speaking,

    much as Povon is. He is not in my mind anymore, but he is constantly aware of where I am, and my

    basic state of mind.

    ¡°After Povon cured my headache, I considered the experience quite carefully. I know that he meant me

    no distress; he was just curious. He chose me because he likes me. When I disregard the unpleasant

    aspects of the experience, I think it would have been a fine thing to share his Link if I had been aware

    of what was happening at the time. I think he will have a character of great nobility, and I suspect that

    he will have some talent with the crafting of items as well.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Well that¡¯s good to know.¡± Mark nodded. ¡°And now that you mention it, I can feel his awareness of

    you through the Link. That¡¯s weird, and amazing.¡±

    ¡°Uh, about these Sylvan.¡± Mark¡¯s uncle Wittan said as he stepped up. ¡°You¡¯re saying that their god

    makes thempletely undetectable? So there could be one standing right here beside me, and I

    wouldn¡¯t even know it? How do we know they won¡¯t be sneaking into our homes at night, pilfering our

    possessions and causing who knows what trouble?¡±

    ¡°Damn, I¡¯ve been so distracted with my kids that I didn¡¯t even consider that.¡± Mark cursed.

    ¡°We¡¯ll cast Wards around the settlement.¡± Yazadril announced. ¡°And I will ensure that there are no

    Sylvan inside the Wards when they are cast. They may be invisible and silent, but they still have

    weight, their bodies still give off heat, and they can be detected by those with sufficient skill.

    ¡°The Wards will allow us to pass in and out, but not the Sylvan. Those going hunting, fishing, and

    gathering should work in groups, and not take anything valuable with them when they go. We should

    not allow any of our children beyond the Wards unapanied. Once the injured Sylvan is Healed he

    can return to his people, and with any luck we and they can continue to ignore each other.

    ¡°As Mark said, once the time-bubble is ended, I¡¯m sure the other gods will have things to say to the

    Sylvan God of Stealth. Once they are aware of his existence, I doubt even he will be able to escape

    their notice.¡±

    Theramin spoke up. ¡°Just to be on the safe side, the next few times we dobat training, we should

    have Quewanak and Ria make up a few exercises to prepare us for an attack by a few thousand

    invisible Sylvan.¡±

    Property of N?)(velDr(a)ma.Org.

    ¡°Ha! They can¡¯t be any tougher than the demons we¡¯ve been fighting!¡± Drenughed.

    ¡°All right.¡± Mark chuckled. ¡°I think that deals with everything. But since it¡¯s snowing outside and we¡¯re all

    here, we might as well stay and visit for a while. Besides, the kids look like they¡¯re having too much fun

    to want to leave!¡±

    Mark was drawn into a game of badra by Nek and her friends, while Talia initiated a discussion about

    raising psionicly active children with Equemev and two of her unicorn friends. The children had

    identally discovered the Soft Landing spell Povon had cast on the floor, and were now all engaged

    in running madly up Kragorram¡¯s body from his tail to his head and jumping off, then running around to

    do it again. Povon cast a blue glow on the Soft Landing spell so none of them would miss it, and was

    watching closely while taking part in a conversation on tactics forbat against undetectable Sylvan.

    Kragorram took part in that conversation as well, while patiently ignoring the children of three races

    who were madly using him as a yground. asionally people left for an hour or so to tend to

    livestock, but they all returned when they were done.

    In the mid-afternoon Hilsith was in conversation with Sana while helping to prepare a huge evening

    meal for everyone, since it seemed the spontaneous gathering would continue until sundown. Suddenly

    she froze, and blurted; ¡°He¡¯s gone!¡±

    ¡°Who is?¡± Sana inquired, a bit rmed at Hilsith¡¯s expression.

    ¡°The Sylvan in my examination room! He should have remained sedated for hours yet, and I have

    diagnostics constantly running on him, in case he had a setback while we were gone. But now he¡¯s

    gone! It¡¯s like he just faded away to non-existence!

    ¡°Povon!¡± she called, turning to the center of the room. ¡°Can you find the Sylvan we were treating?!¡±

    Povon closed her eyes and cast her awareness outward. ¡°No. He slipped out of my awareness so

    subtly that I didn¡¯t notice it.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s still unconscious.¡± Talia announced, her eyes also closed. ¡°He¡¯s moving fast to the north-east

    though, so his people must havee and taken him.¡±

    ¡°You can still detect him?¡± Povon asked in surprise.

    ¡°No, but Helemia can. As Reggie¡¯s still passively aware of Kragorram, so she¡¯s still aware of Vanakit

    the Sylvan. But she¡¯s losing him due to distance. I think she¡¯ll still know what direction he¡¯s in no matter

    how far he goes, but she¡¯s losing her reading of his distance and state of mind. Which is fine by me,

    frankly. The farther he is from us, the better I¡¯ll like it.¡±

    ¡°Do you think he¡¯ll recover without your care?¡± Yazadril asked Hilsith.

    ¡°He should, mostly, but without further treatment, he¡¯s sure to suffer side-effects.¡± she replied.

    ¡°Headaches, extreme sensitivity to psionics, personality changes, that kind of thing. He really was quite

    badly injured, and though he¡¯s mostly well now, it takes a long time to fully heal from that kind of thing

    without a lot of expert care.¡±

    ¡°We can only hope his own people can finish his Healing for him, because I can¡¯t see any benefit in us

    trying to get him back just so we can finish it.¡± Mark dered.

    ¡°We¡¯ll be back in a few minutes.¡± Nemia said as she gave Talia a quick kiss on her cheek. ¡°I want to

    check our home to make sure they didn¡¯t disturb anything when they took him.¡±

    She and Yazadril Translocated out, and when they returned they reported that nothing was missing or

    broken. Yazadril then organized all the senior spell-casters in a co-operative effort to search the

    settlement for any remaining Sylvan, and to cast the Wards around it without dy. That only took a

    few minutes, then everyone went back to enjoying themselves.

 Chapter 19

    Chapter 19

    Part 4

    Talia¡¯s pregnancy seemed to elerate after that. On the morning she began herbor she had only

    been pregnant for eight months and one week. She looked massively pregnant; her belly hugely

    distended, her breasts painfully swollen.

    When she felt the first contraction she was cleaning and folding clothing, doing the work entirely by

    Movement since ordinary movement was now so ufortable.

    Mark knew immediately through their Link, though he was a kilometer and a half away in a fishing

    canoe at the time.

    In the determined near-panic that only a new father knows, he immediately informed Hilsith and Yzell of

    the contraction with a simple Speaking, even as he Translocated home, abandoning his canoe and

    three fat fish to the wind and waves. He appeared in their bedroom and hurriedly arranged the pillows

    against the headboard for Talia to lean back against, then Translocated across the house to theundry

    room, gently picked his wife up, Translocated back to the bedroom, andy her gently on the bed. He

    Summoned pitchers of clean water and fruit juices from the kitchen, and stacks of towels from the linen

    closet, before casting a determined Healers¡¯ cleaning spell on everything in the room.

    He knelt beside the bed and took Talia¡¯s hand with a giddy grin, then joined her in Linking deeply with

    the babies to calm and reassure them about theiring birth. Alilia came in from the garden and

    hugged them both, smiling warmly and giving them all of her love.

    Hilsith and Yzell were there a momentter, briskly taking charge and shooing Mark and Alilia out of the

    room. ¡°Nothing will happen for hours yet, go out and see to your guests; family and friends will be

    arriving soon.¡± Hilsith told them with a reassuring smile. And so they did.

    Four hourster they were called back in, and they abandoned their guests to be part of the birthing,

    but it became a long and difficultbor. Almost fourteen hours after herbor began, and after much

    struggle and effort, Talia gave birth to her daughter. While Hilsith checked and cleaned the babe, Yzell

    spoke to the young parents with a warm intensity, raising her voice a bit over Helemia¡¯s healthy cries.

    ¡°Your daughter is healthy, but Talia, you are almost out of resources. Furthermore, while your daughter

    is only one and and two-thirds kilograms, your son will be more than four. A natural birth is always best

    if possible, but at this point I think it would be wiser if we brought your son out by Translocation.¡±

    ¡°Yes! Please!¡± Talia gasped.

    Hilsith ced Helemia at Talia¡¯s breast, wrapped in a soft nket, then she and Yzell cast the spell

    together. An instantter Reggie appeared in their hands and immediately began crying even more

    loudly than his sister. He too was checked, washed, wrapped, and ced at his mother¡¯s breast, while

    Hilsith performed the after-birthing care for Talia.

    Talia and Mark gently caressed their new children and each other while beaming with proud and joyous

    smiles, and murmuring soft words of greeting, love, and endearment. Alilia just cuddled with them and

    grinned.

    But Talia and her babies were exhausted, and all three were soon asleep, despite the sounds of joyous

    celebrationing from the living room. Their visitors had heard the babies¡¯ healthy cries, and needed

    no one to tell them the results.

    Soon Mark and Alilia came out and joined them, and Mark epted their congrattions with a face-

    aching grin, and their toasts with a ss of sparkling wine. By that time however, it was almost three

    hours past midnight. By the time another hour had passed, everyone had either left or bedded down in

    a guest room, and Mark went to bed with his family.

    ¡°Father.¡±

    Mark was deeply asleep, but something was waking him up.

    ¡°FATHER!!!¡±

    Mark sat bolt upright in bed, still mostly asleep. ¡°Wha¡­ What?¡± he stammered as he shook his head,

    then rubbed his eyes and looked around. He could see that dawn was just breaking through the

    window. He had been on his side near the edge of the bed, Talia had been spooned against his front on

    her side, and Alilia was on her side facing them. Between the two elven women, who were still deeply

    asleep, his childreny wide awake, watching him with incredibly bright eyes. Helemia¡¯s were a deep

    dark violet, and her hair was as ck as Mark¡¯s, while Reggie¡¯s were the lightest clear blue eyes he

    had ever seen, and his hair was the same honey blond as his mother¡¯s. As Yzell had predicted, they

    looked like they were months older than they were; their hair was thick and over five centimeters long,

    their gaze clear and focused. Reggie was almost three times the size of his tiny sister. Surprisingly

    considering that, her ears were almost entirely human looking and were barely pointed at the tops,

    while Reggie¡¯s ears were even more long and slimly pointed than those of the elven babies he¡¯d seen,

    and were almost as long as a Sylvan infant¡¯s.

    Mark grinned and softlyughed in absolute joy at the sight of them as he deepened his Link with them.

    This caused them to smile and giggle in response. ¡°Good morning Helemia, good morning Reggie, and

    how are you both this fine morning?¡± he quietly asked as he reached over Talia and picked them both

    up in his huge hands, and gently held them close in his arms. Their tinyness amazed him, especially

    Helemia, who couldfortablyy back on the t of his hand.

    This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.

    ¡°We are frustrated, father.¡± Helemia told him. ¡°I can¡¯t control my body, and I¡¯m so weak that I can¡¯t lift

    my head. I can¡¯t talk because my mouth and my voice won¡¯t obey me.¡±

    ¡°Me too.¡± Reggie added.

    ¡°Well that¡¯s to be expected, my darling babies.¡± Mark chuckled as he cuddled them. ¡°You were just

    born, after all. It¡¯s a miracle that you can think and share thoughts already. The rest wille with time

    and practice, and it won¡¯t take very long.¡±

    ¡°We know that Father, but it¡¯s still frustrating.¡± Reggie told him. ¡°What¡¯s most frustrating is that we¡¯re

    hungry, and Mother is so deeply asleep that we couldn¡¯t wake her. That¡¯s why we woke you. Can you

    help us?¡±

    ¡°I sure can, my new loves!¡± Mark chuckled as heid them back on the bed. He gently rolled Talia to

    her back, bared her breasts, and carefully cast soft pads of Force to support the babies infortable

    positions while they nursed. Then he set them in ce, and marveled at their emotional responses as

    they began to suckle. To the babies, nursing at Talia¡¯s breast was absolutely heaven itself; delicious

    and soft and warm and magnificently satisfying.

    Helemia only drank half of the milk that Talia¡¯s right breast provided before she was full, but Reggie

    drank all there was on the left side, then asked to be switched over to the right to finish what was there.

    Mark held Helemia again while Reggie finished, and she fell asleep in his arms in a moment.

    ¡°I¡¯ll need to be changed when I¡¯m finished eating.¡± Reggie announced. ¡°Helemia won¡¯t need it for an

    hour or two.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll take care of that.¡± Alilia softly responded.

    ¡°Good morning Alilia, I didn¡¯t realize you were awake.¡± Mark told her.

    ¡°Good morning Mark. Good morning Reggie. I so love you all at this moment, my heart could burst from

    all the love in it!¡± Alilia beamed.

    ¡°Me too.¡± Mark agreed. ¡°I think this smile is going to be permanent!¡±

    They stayed in bed holding the babies until Talia woke, almost two hourster.

    ¡°Good morning love.¡± Mark told her as he greeted her with a kiss, which Alilia happily joined.

    ¡°Mmmm. Good morning! What an excellent way to wake up.¡± Talia giggled as she sat up.

    ¡°How are you feeling, Sweetness?¡± Alilia asked.

    Talia slowly stretched, then got out of bed. ¡°Surprisingly well actually, all things considered. I still feel

    rather weak, but I¡¯m fine other than that. And I¡¯m starved! Let¡¯s go make breakfast!¡±

    As it turned out, breakfast was already made, as they discovered when they opened their bedroom

    door and were greeted by the savory scents of biscuits baking and bacon frying, and the sound of

    dishes clinking and quiet conversation. Yzell and Hilsith had stayed overnight, as had Yazadril, Nemia,

    Dalia, Bezedil, Dren, and Mandri. They all took their turns holding the sleeping babies while the new

    parents ate.

 Chapter 20

    Chapter 20

    Part 4

    After breakfast Mark¡¯s grandparents arrived to meet their new great-grandchildren. They were soon

    greeted and seated, each with a baby in their arms.

    ¡°It will interest you to know,¡± Sana informed Mark with a smile, ¡°That Balen and some of the other

    young elf-girls of The Devoted have taken it upon themselves to arrange a schedule for everyone that

    wants to visit the new babies, which is everyone in the settlement. Knowing that Talia wouldn¡¯t want to

    be overwhelmed by so many visitors so soon after her birthing, they¡¯ve arranged that everyone will

    drop by in small, well-spaced groups over the next week or so, with those with closer rtionships to

    youing first. We were actually scheduled to be before everyone but Yazadril and Nemia, but it

    looks like these youths have cheated by staying overnight!¡±

    ¡°Damn right!¡± Drenughed. ¡°I guess grandparents woulde before cousins, but we were way too

    excited to go homest night.¡±

    ¡°Besides, they never told us about it, so I plead ignorance!¡± Mandriughed.

    ¡°So when are you two nning on giving us some more great-grandchildren?¡± Sana teased.

    ¡°Well¡­¡± Mandri grinned and paused until she had everyone¡¯s attention. ¡°In about six and a half months

    actually, wouldn¡¯t you say, Yzell?¡±

    ¡°About that.¡± the elven midwife smiled.

    The room brightened with another round of joyous congrattions and hugs.

    Twenty minutester, Mark¡¯s uncle Wittan and his aunt Koran arrived just as the babies woke up. Talia

    noticed before they were fully awake, and held her arms out for her babes to be returned to her.

    ¡°Good morning Mother.¡± they told her in unison as their eyes opened.

    ¡°Good morning my loves!¡± Taliaughed. ¡°You are so very beautiful, and it¡¯s delightful to speak with

    you, and I love you both very much!

    ¡°There are too many people here, Mother.¡± Reggie told her as he fussed and kicked a bit, a tiny frown

    on his adorable little face. ¡°Their thoughts are confusing. They¡¯re nice, but confusing.¡±

    ¡°And we love you too Mother.¡± Helemia added.

    ¡°Just a moment.¡± Talia said, and cast a very dense psionic Shield around the three of them with both

    her power and Mark¡¯s. ¡°There, is that better?¡±

    ¡°Yes, thank you.¡± Reggie told her, and giggled in spontaneous and joyous relief as the irritating excess

    of thought was blocked.

    ¡°I¡¯ll let you hear them two at a time as you¡¯re introduced, starting with these two lovely people;¡± Talia

    exined. ¡°Reggie and Helemia, know your grandfather Yazadril and your grandmother Nemia, my

    father and mother. Father and Mother, know your grandson Reggie and your granddaughter Helemia.

    ¡°Mmm, some hugs are definitely in order!¡± Nemia beamed as she and Yazadril were gently handed the

    children. ¡°We are pleased to meet you, and we love you very much.¡±

    ¡°You are very nice, Grandmother.¡± Helemia giggled. ¡°Your thoughts are nice, and you smell good.¡±

    Yazadril only hugged Reggie a moment, then he couldn¡¯t help looking into the child¡¯s smiling eyes,

    fascinated and amazed by the lively intelligence that looked back at him. ¡°You are both absolutely

    astonishing! Such incredible minds!¡±

    ¡°You too grandfather, you have so many thoughts and memories!¡± Reggie eximed. ¡°Many more than

    anyone else! Even more than Kragorram, and he is even older than you. How can that¡­ Oh I

    understand! You have many memories from other people!¡±

    ¡°I sure do, Reggie.¡± Yazadril chuckled. ¡°As a wizard specializing in information and precision, I have

    Read and Linked with many, many people in my life.¡±

    ¡°Ooh, if I look too close it makes me confused.¡± Reggie frowned, and purposefully looked away, both

    physically and psionicly.

    ¡°I¡¯m not surprised! The brain of a child your age should not even be able to retain enough memory to

    even think in words! Please be careful, we have no idea how all this will affect you!¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± The baby replied, and made an effort to not ¡®look too close¡¯ at anyone¡¯s mind.

    ¡°We¡¯d forget how to talk all the time, but Mother and Father are always showing us how to do it.¡±

    Helemia exined. ¡°We can know anything they know whenever we want, so it doesn¡¯t matter if we

    don¡¯t remember it, we can just keep learning it again until we do.¡±

    ¡°Oh. I see.¡± Yazadril nodded as his eyebrows rose and he turned to Talia. ¡°So they¡¯re using your mental

    capacity through your Link?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re using our memory, and we¡¯re guiding them as well as we can.¡± she replied. ¡°But their

    intelligence is entirely their own, as is their psionic ability.¡±

    ¡°If their brains stopped growing right now they would be as fully functional as any adult¡¯s, including the

    ability to retain memory.¡± Hilsith exined. ¡°They onlyck that ability because their brains are still

    growing and forming so quickly. It¡¯s hard to read and write well on a te when the te is growing

    quickly and unevenly in all directions.¡±

    ¡°Fascinating.¡± Yazadril smiled as he exchanged Reggie for Helemia. ¡°So what do you think of this

    wonderful world you¡¯ve been born into?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s strange.¡± Helemia replied, and squirmed in his arms a bit. ¡°Before we could only hear a little bit,

    and we couldn¡¯t really feel anything, and we could only see the minds and thoughts around us. Now

    every sense is so loud that it¡¯s distracting, and it¡¯s hard to keep thinking about what we¡¯re thinking

    about. And seeing with our eyes is so beautiful, but it¡¯s weird to actually be seeing the person we¡¯re

    thinking with at the same time.¡±

    ¡°Being a baby is almost intolerable!¡± Reggie added. ¡°Look, I try to point my finger at you, but my arm

    just waves around, and I can¡¯t control my fingers individually at all! It¡¯s the same with my mouth and my

    voice! And I keep trying to raise my head or sit up, only to find I am too weak! And I can¡¯t seem to cast

    any spells at all, not even the most basic ones! It¡¯s so very frustrating!¡±

    ¡°Ah, but you¡¯re at the very beginning of your long lives, and you¡¯re already far ahead of where you

    should be in many abilities!¡± Yazadril chuckled. ¡°Just try to have patience, keep working at it and

    practicing, and enjoy all the love and pleasure you have avable to you. When this period of your lives

    is over, it will seem like it went by very quickly.¡±

    ¡°And on that wise word, I¡¯ll remind you that we¡¯re waiting patiently for our turn!¡± Dalia teased.

    Yazadril and Nemia smiled and passed the babies to Dalia and Bezedil, and Talia introduced them.

    Just after lunch Povon and Kragorram inquired with a Speaking; ¡°May we pop by for a visit? We¡¯re next

    on Balen¡¯s list.¡±

    ¡°Certainly.¡± Talia told them, and a momentter the two dragons appeared in the most amusing forms.

    Each was only a meter long, their heads and eyes appeared muchrger in proportionpared to

    their normal appearances, and both were covered in short, fuzzy fur about seven millimeters long. In

    short, they resembled children¡¯s toy stuffed animal versions of themselves. They appeared hovering

    near the ceiling in the living room, then flew down tond with perfect control on the low table in front of

    the sofa where Mark, Talia, and Alilia sat with the babies.

    They grinned and posed in ridiculously cute stances while exaggeratedly fluttering their overly-long

    eyshes, and everyone roared withughter at the sight of them, including the babies.

    ¡°Oh sweet gods, you¡¯re so cute!¡± Mark gasped as he wiped tears from his eyes.

    ¡°Thanks.¡± Povon chuckled. ¡°We invented this for Karzog, when heined of having no one to y

    with. We did it at the same size he was then, but I thought this would be more appropriate for meeting

    human babies.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the most amazing transformation I¡¯ve ever seen!¡± Mandriughed.

    ¡°Not really.¡± Kragorram chuckled. ¡°Our bodies aren¡¯t transformed, they¡¯re at home. These are merely

    full-sensory Simcrums. Far easier to cast than the Shrink spells, and much safer, since these only

    weigh a few kilos, and I can¡¯t set anything on fire if I cough a bit too hard.¡±

    ¡°I can just picture you looking like this as you preside over the General Staff of Serminak!¡± Nemia

    Original content from N?velDrama.Org.

    gasped, which triggered another round of hystericalughter.

    ¡°All hail The Dragon Lord Regent and The Prince of Serminaki Draconia!¡± Dren called, before he

    Eventually theughter calmed, and Talia formally introduced the dragons to her children. Rather than

    holding the babies, the tiny fuzzy dragons simply bounced over to the parents¡¯ps and hugged

    them.

 Chapter21

    Chapter21

    Part 4

    The babes couldn¡¯t help but giggle at the slightly-ticklish sensation of the dragons¡¯ soft warm fuzziness

    against their skin.

    ¡°Thank you for this, Povon.¡± Helemia said as her body continued giggling. ¡°You¡¯re a lot less scary this

    way. Still very scary, like a hurricane contained in a teacup, but less.¡±

    ¡°Ah, and why should I be so scary?¡± Povon teased. ¡°Your father has more power than I, and Yazadril

    has a greater intellect. Or are they equally scary?¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t sense magic power yet, and Mother and Father haven¡¯t given us ess to the magic part of

    their minds yet. And intellect isn¡¯t very scary. But we sense psionic power quite well on our own, and

    you have more of that than anyone. You¡¯re only projected into this body, but still, being this close to you

    is like being beside a big fire.¡±

    ¡°You think?¡± Povon chuckled. ¡°There are others in this room who have greater psionic power than I.¡±

    ¡°No there aren¡¯t, I¡¯m sure of it.¡± the baby girl replied, puzzled.

    ¡°Yazadril, cast a Measurement for psionics, would you please?¡± Povon asked as she turned to the

    senior elf. ¡°Now, who in this room has the greatest psionic power?¡±

    ¡°They do, Reggie and Helemia!¡± Yazadril marveled. ¡°And psionicly speaking, there¡¯s only one of them!

    I¡¯ve never seen such a close Linking between two minds before. Some parts of their minds are quite

    individual and distinct, but other parts, including their psionic ability, are shared so closely that they are

    literally of one mind!¡±

    ¡°Oh. I never thought of that.¡± Helemia admitted.

    At that moment Povon realized that as Kragorram continued hugging Reggie, the two had been

    surprised. ¡°My Love?¡± she inquired.

    ¡°He apologized for hurting me, and I forgave him.¡± Kragorram quietly replied. ¡°And he has let me get to

    know him as deeply as he knows me, to be fair.¡±

    ¡°Kragorram will be my very best friend.¡± Reggie stated. ¡°That¡¯s a prophesy.¡± he added in a matter-of-

    fact tone.

    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re a prophet now?¡± Talia teased.

    ¡°Yup. I guess so anyway. I just felt like saying that, so I did. Maybe I¡¯m wrong.¡±

    ¡°No, you¡¯re not wrong!¡± Mark said in surprise as he considered his son¡¯s aura. ¡°You¡¯ve got the same

    thing in your aura that Tithian and the other Seers have! Helemia doesn¡¯t have that, but both of you

    have a bunch of other magic qualities that I can¡¯t sort out yet!¡±

    ¡°How about their power?¡± Alilia asked. ¡°Can you see the glow of their magic potential, as you can with

    others?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. You¡¯re so bright that way that I keep my Optical Attenuator spell tuned to block that kind

    of light.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m curious about that.¡± Helemia told them.

    ¡°So am I, now that the subject¡¯se up. I¡¯ll take you in the bedroom where I can get a good look at

    you without anyone else¡¯s glow distracting from it.¡± Mark said as he waited for Povon to move from his

    As he left the room, Dren asked; ¡°What¡¯s the difference between a seer and a prophet and an oracle

    and a soothsayer?¡±

    ¡°Not much, except for the precision of their visions.¡± Yazadril told him. ¡°Generally, a soothsayer is

    specific about what will happen and when, but they only perceive quite small pieces of information, and

    the information is often irrelevant to anything. A prophet is pretty specific about what¡¯s going to happen,

    and it¡¯s almost certain to happen, but when it¡¯ll happen isn¡¯t known. A seer usually has at least some

    indication of when something will happen, and sometimes they know the time of the event exactly, but

    they¡¯re usually less precise about the exact nature of the event. Both of those often foresee important

    events. An oracle generally only foresees in response to a question, the answer is seldom time-

    specific, and is usually quite cryptic; worded so as to be difficult to understand, but obvious in hindsight

    once the event has happened.

    ¡°But we¡¯ve proven with Mark¡¯s aura aspect istion technique that they all use the same kind of talent

    and power.

    ¡°Mind you, before the gods withdrew, the word prophet was also used for a cleric who received

    knowledge, instructions, or information about the future from their god.¡±

    While Yazadril had been speaking Mark had returned from the bedroom and exchanged Helemia for

    Reggie. Now they were back again, and he took his seat as Yazadril finished. He had a big proud grin

    on his face as he turned to Alilia.

    ¡°Alilia, you used magic from before you were born. Do you happen to know how strong you were with it

    at birth,pared to now?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s hard to say. I don¡¯t know that I ever used my full exertion then, and I only have my mother¡¯s

    Original content from N?velDrama.Org.

    ount of what I did, which wasn¡¯t precise. Perhaps I had a hundredth of my present power then.

    Certainly no more than a twentieth.¡±

    ¡°So about the same as an average adult elf has?¡± Mark pressed.

    ¡°About that.¡± she smiled.

    ¡°All right.¡± Mark smiled, with a bit of smug satisfaction. ¡°When ites to elven wizard¡¯s power,

    Reggie¡¯s pretty strong. He glows about as bright as Yazadril, which is about average for The High

    People, and better than average for most other elven nations. But average for The High People is a

    heck of a lot for a newborn. Helemia glows about a third as bright as that. But they also glow in another

    color that I¡¯ve only seen in one other person, since I don¡¯t see my own glow, and that was Glup of the

    Zurb. I¡¯m assuming that means that they can use the power of the second source, and they¡¯re both

    warlocks like me. And in that color, Helemia glows about twice as bright as Reggie. But I have no idea

    how strong they are as warlocks, because I have no idea how bright I¡¯d have glowed when I was born,

    if there¡¯d been anyone there who could see it. And it¡¯s not much useparing them to Glup.

    ¡°Mind you, all of us glow a lot less brightly since about a week after the time-bubble went up, since

    there¡¯s a lot less power avable in here. Maybe a quarter as much.¡±

    ¡°I agree.¡± Povon nodded. ¡°The weaker spell-casters don¡¯t notice any difference, since they still get as

    much power as they can use. But I¡¯ve definitely noticed it, especially during our military training

    exercises.¡±

    ¡°Be thankful for it.¡± Alilia told Mark with a mischievous smile. ¡°It¡¯ll make things a lot easier, and a lot

    safer, when the timees to train your children in the use of magic.¡±

    ¡°Good point.¡± Mark chuckled. ¡°After what happened to me when I first cast my power, you can bet we¡¯ll

    be taking every precaution we can think of with the twins.¡±

    Yazadril harrumphed a bit at the memory, then fixed a stern gaze on Reggie and Helemia. ¡°Can you

    children remember what happened when your father¡¯s power was first cast? They were trying to light a

    candle.¡±

    ¡°Yup.¡± Helemia responded. ¡°They made a big fire and burned you up and killed themselves, and they

    were saved by their Blessing.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Yazadril nodded. ¡°Be aware of the danger. Mark¡¯s power was unprecedented, but there

    are two of you, and both of you have two kinds of power, and you don¡¯t have a Blessing to save you if

    things go wrong!

    ¡°I want you both to promise me, right now, that you won¡¯t experiment with your power in the slightest

    way without your parents¡¯ full knowledge and co-operation! Now swear it with all your sincerity!¡±

    ¡°I promise, Grandfather.¡± The twins swore, in almost-perfect unison.

    ¡°Good.¡± Yazadril nodded. ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°Are we scary, Grandfather?¡± Helemia asked.

    Yazadril raised an eyebrow, then chuckled. ¡°Yes, my loves. You are beautiful and very cute and

    revealed of your power, you are quite scary indeed. Your abilitiese with a great responsibility, and

    you must always be certain to use them with great control and consideration.¡±

 Chapter 22

    Chapter 22

    Part 4

    ¡°I know Grandfather.¡± Helemia told him. ¡°I feel bad about Vanakit Lamitkeze. I hurt him before I knew

    what I was doing, and now he hates me a lot. He hates what I did to him, and he hates that the others

    had toe and get him, and he hates that he was helpless for a week while he healed up. And I¡¯m

    aware of him all the time, and he can feel that, and he hates that most of all. He thinks about killing me

    all the time, but he doesn¡¯t even know what I look like, or which one of us I am. He sure doesn¡¯t think

    I¡¯m a baby. So he kind of hates all of us here in the settlement, because he doesn¡¯t know which one of

    us is me. He¡¯s too far away for me to know where he is or what he¡¯s thinking exactly, but I can sure feel

    all of that, all the time.¡±

    That brought an awkward silence for a moment, during which Mark met Talia¡¯s eyes and found them

    narrowed with the same expression of determined protectiveness that his own face wore. They

    exchanged a few private thoughts.

    From somewhere outside the house they all heard Stripe¡¯s roar and Scout¡¯s shrill cry, and Mark opened

    the front door with Movement. ¡°It¡¯s time for you kids to meet Stripe and Scout.¡± he announced as he

    Moved the table out of the way to make room.

    Scout swooped down from a treetop, gave two powerful wing beats in the front yard to level out, one

    more to achieve a fast, shallow arc, and folded his wingspletely as he darted through the door. He

    immediately spread his wings to their full span of more than three and a half meters and back-winged

    hard for three beats with enough strength to blow the napkins off the tables and ruffle everyone¡¯s hair,

    brought himself to a stop in mid-air, and settled straight down a meter tond on Mark¡¯s outstretched

    wrist. He waved his wings once to finalize his bnce before he gripped Mark¡¯s wrist, fussily folded his

    wings, and cocked his head to the side as his crest rose.

    Though everyone there knew the great Serminaki King Eagle, his entrance was still a startling and

    intimidating disy of expert flying that had everyone ducking, and Mandri squealed a bit in excited

    startlement. Now he stood proudly, as if giving them a moment to admire his sleek ck feathers and

    the shimmering silver on his crest and the edges of his wings and tail.

    Stripe bounded in the door a momentter, andy his huge tiger-like head on Talia¡¯sp. The thirty-

    centimeter long white whiskers on his muzzle and eyebrows tickled Helemia, who giggled in adorable

    delight. The horizontal stripes of his fur were vibrant and bright, ranging in color from dark red on the

    top of his head, neck, and back, down to light yellow on his belly and legs. Every gram of the gigantic

    six hundred and thirty-five kilogram Kletiukan Sleng Cat was a picture of feline health and vitality.

    ¡°Hello boys.¡± Mark said to their beloved pets as he and Talia gave them scratches and rubs with their

    free hands. ¡°I know we haven¡¯t had much time for youtely, but now that our children are born, you

    have two new friends to y with. Once they¡¯re old enough that is. For now, you know your new duties,

    don¡¯t you? Sure you do, you¡¯re both such good boys!¡±

    Both animals looked to the twins, and considered them carefully.

    ¡°You¡¯ve set them to guarding us?¡± Reggie asked.

    ¡°All it takes is for them to know you¡¯re our children.¡± Talia exined. ¡°Once they learned that, your

    safety became their highest priority. Gerticol¡¯s training assures it, and all we had to do was introduce

    you.¡±

    ¡°We did tell them to watch out for invisible Sylvan anywhere near here.¡± Mark added. ¡°With Stripe¡¯s

    psionic sensitivity and their other incredibly acute senses, I doubt even the Sylvan God of Stealth can

    hide his people from these two.¡±

    They supported their babies while the twins awkwardly hugged each of the animals, then Stripe

    bounded back out the door with a low, rumbling growl. Scout stepped onto the palm of Mark¡¯s hand,

    Mark drew his arm back, and threw the big bird toward the door with a motion like throwing a spear.

    Scout co-coordinated with this perfectly, leaning forward and leaping from Mark¡¯s hand during the most

    powerful part of the throw. Once clear of the door he spread and beat his wings, and was gone with a

    shrill scream of farewell.

    ¡°Well that was impressive.¡± Sana said to herself, to general agreement.

    There was a pause in the conversation while Mark shut the door, then Reggie told them; ¡°The unicorns

    areing. Can we go outside? Sran says he¡¯ll take us for a ride.¡±

    ¡°All right, but we¡¯ll all need warmer clothes first.¡± Talia said as she rose with Helemia.

    Original content from N?velDrama.Org.

    ¡°Let me help.¡± Alilia said with a smile as she plucked Reggie from Mark¡¯s arms and followed Talia into

    the nursery.

    After their first trip out in the brisk winter air the twins fell asleep, and their visitors took their leave. Mark

    went to retrieve his canoe, then spent a few minutes casting Wards around the small valley behind their

    house. Their gardens and animal pens were there, the children would probably y there often as they

    grew, and he wanted it protected as well as the rest of the settlement was.

    The babies woke for feeding and changing about every four hours, then went right back to sleep, until

    morning the next day.

    Mark was thest to wake in the morning. Sensing activity on the bed, he slowly cracked his eyes

    open, and smiled as he understood what he was seeing. The girls¡¯ interactions with the babies were

    calm and loving, and obviously enjoyed by all, but it soon became apparent that it was also serious

    training.

    Talia was massaging Reggie¡¯s right hand, while Reggie watched closely and flexed his fingers. Mark

    realized that Talia was helping Reggie learn to localize sensation and control in his hands and fingers.

    Alilia held the palm of her hand against the sole of Helemia¡¯s right foot as she helped the girl slowly flex

    and extend her leg while pushing back at Alilia¡¯s hand.

    The girls and the babies gave him smiles and nods of greeting, but none interrupted their concentration

    on what they were doing.

    The babies¡¯ motions were still somewhat erratic, particrly at the beginning of motions, but he

    watched silently over the next forty or so minutes, and even in that short time the twins¡¯ muscle control

    noticeably improved.

    ¡°That¡¯s enough of that for now.¡± Talia announced with a smile as she set Reggie down and exchanged

    good-morning hugs and kisses with Mark.

    ¡°It is. My body is tired.¡± Helemia admitted.

    ¡°I hope your minds aren¡¯t.¡± Talia teased as she climbed off the bed, and began choosing their clothes

    for the day. ¡°We¡¯ll start your education after breakfast.¡±

    ¡°Our education? Why do we need education?¡± Reggie inquired. ¡°We already know all that you know.¡±

    ¡°No, you don¡¯t.¡± Talia responded. ¡°You only have ess to what we know. To you, our memories are

    like a big library full of books, and you can instantly read any of the books any time you want. But you

    don¡¯t have a catalogue to tell you where all the books are and what¡¯s in them. And until you read the

    books, or in this case, until you¡¯re prompted to consciously think about specific knowledge, our

    knowledge isn¡¯t part of your knowledge; it doesn¡¯t form part of what you think about and use as your

    basis for judging the world. So we¡¯ll go through the standard education program, including arithmetic,

    history, geography, current events, and the rules of reality. The process should proceed very quickly,

    which is good, because we¡¯ll need to constantly review all that you learn until you¡¯re capable of forming

    your own permanent memories.

    ¡°After lunch we¡¯ll work on psionic techniques, beginning with Shielding, so you can protect yourselves

    from being overwhelmed in crowds like you were yesterday morning.¡±

    ¡°Thanks Mother.¡± Helemia giggled as Mark put her socks on.

 Chapter 23

    Chapter 23

    Part 4

    The twins progressed incredibly quickly. They both developed very intense and focused personalities,

    especially Helemia, and this tendency increased over time. Within two weeks they were both walking

    without support, and at a month they were running gracefully, if carefully. At three months they began

    asking for a taste of the foods the adults were eating, and had no trouble digesting the small, well-

    mashed samples they were given. As they were gradually weaned from the breast, they were also

    gradually weaned from the adults¡¯ constant psionic contact and guidance, and they began to spend

    some time away from the adults, outside or in their bedroom.

    Text content ? N?velDrama.Org.

    They spent almost no time on ying as other children yed, instead they spent their time learning

    and exercising with almost fanatical discipline. Even when their parents and Alilia yed basic games

    with them like tag, or hide and seek, (which was a challenge in psionic Shielding for all involved) the

    twinspeted with an intensity worthy of finalists in the world¡¯s great tournaments. When they yed

    catch, they always strove to catch the ball and throw it back as quickly as possible, and as hard and as

    urately as possible, usually aimed at the other person¡¯s head. They neverughed when they were

    ying, for there was no room for humor in their almost-grim concentration, but theyughed about it

    readily enough when a break was taken, and they were gracious in victory and in loss.

    The first anniversary of themunity¡¯s founding came, was celebrated, and passed.

    PART 5

    Vanakit Lamitkeze crouched on the branch of a tree, watching those he¡¯d conquered training on the

    ground beneath him and in the trees around him. As always, his face was hardened with a glowering

    expression of hatred. Thoughts of revenge consumed him. Since his recovery, his obsession was so

    powerful that he no longer cared about anything else, not even his own status. Somewhat ironically, his

    new viciousness and fanaticism had served to raise his status in the eyes of his people quite

    considerably. But not as much as the conquests he¡¯d made.

    It had been a fiendishly difficult task to identify his tormentor without being noticed by her. For many

    days he had flown a circle around the intruders¡¯ settlement, kilometers away and as high as he was

    capable, viewing the settlement with his people¡¯s best magnification of vision spell. He knew which

    direction his tormentory at all times, and by looking in that direction as he flew constantly around the

    settlement, he had eventually triangted his target to a single dwelling. At first, he was unable to

    determine which upant of the dwelling he was seeking, but then his target had finally gone with her

    brother to the small valley behind their home without their parents. As soon as he knew that it was one

    of two tiny elves, he knew which one he sought. He had a shback to the nightmare of her attack, and

    then he knew her.

    He then knew she had still been a baby in her mother¡¯s womb when she had nearly killed him, almost

    by ident. The knowledge that he had been so thoroughly bested by such a person filled him with a

    humiliation as great as his hatred. He knew he had best act soon, while she was still physically and

    magically helpless. She was never apart from her brother, so he knew he would have to take them

    both. Above all, he must kill her before any of his people could learn that it was she who had attacked

    him, and that it was she who continued to torment him with her constant, nagging intrusion in his mind.

    But he had to deal with her psionic power, and he had to take her without involving the rest of her

    people, which required a n of unprecedented stealth. The Lord had warned all of The Sylvan of

    Stealth that the neers possessed great power, perhaps enough between them to destroy every

    Sylvan on the inds, and that they were not to be interfered with. But the Lord was gone for a score of

    years, and Vanakit was not capable of waiting.

    He had recruited his chosen followers by defeating them with stealth andbat, then beating and

    torturing them until they thought that doing what he instructed was not such a bad thing. Some of them

    were far more dangerous than he was, but he¡¯d saved them forst, and by then he had enough of an

    army to overwhelm them. Some of his people had feared that he meant to conquer them all, but he

    only needed about five hundred of them for his n, all carefully chosen, including all of their most

    skillful and powerful psionicists. Now his conquered trained under his watchful eye, and the rest

    covertly watched with interest to see what he meant to do.

    At four and a half months of age Reggie was already the size of a one-year-old human; ten kilograms

    and seventy-four centimeters tall. Helemia had more than doubled in weight to three and two-thirds

    kilos, and was almost sixty centimeters tall. They were sitting motionless on the floor, staring at a

    pebble on a stool between them one evening, when Yazadril came by for a visit. They didn¡¯t move as

    their great-grandfather was greeted by their parents and Alilia.

    ¡°I¡¯vee because I¡¯m concerned about your children.¡± Yazadril began as he epted a cup of tea. ¡°I

    haven¡¯t discussed this with anyone else yet, but I¡¯ve noticed that they never spend time with any of the

    other children.¡±

    ¡°And you don¡¯t know why?¡± Mark asked in surprise.

    ¡°Well, I¡¯ll admit that it¡¯s a bit unnerving to see such young infants running around like eight-year-olds,

    and I understand that the other children are a bit intimidated by them, but I still think it would be better

    for them to develop some rtionships among the other children.¡±

    ¡°Father, to say that the other children are a bit intimidated by them is a vast understatement.¡± Talia

    ¡°Including most of my own family, unfortunately.¡± Mark chuckled.

    ¡°You may not have noticed this, as you have some of the best psionic Shields and you habitually keep

    them up all the time, and you¡¯re a very confident person.¡± Talia continued. ¡°But with most people,

    Reggie and Helemia can¡¯t help but Read everything a person¡¯s thinking as soon as they look at them,

    unless they make a concerted effort not to, and even that doesn¡¯t help if they get distracted. By the time

    either one of them have talked to anyone for more than five minutes, they usually know everything that

    person has thought in thest week. And many of the thoughts they receive are notplimentary to

    them. Furthermore, the person knows they¡¯ve been Read, and most people are pretty ufortable

    with being Read that thoroughly by a couple of babies. The twins are well-liked by all, and well-

    respected, but still, thoughts like ¡®scary little freaks¡¯ and ¡®abominations¡¯ havee up with disturbing

    regrity.¡±

    ¡°And on top of that is the fact that some of Reggie and Helemia¡¯s thoughts, words and behaviors are in

    keeping with young children,¡± Mark added, ¡°But they often act like teenagers or adults. They almost

    never act like babies. So people find them strange, unpredictable, and disconcerting in the extreme.

    ¡°And if all that wasn¡¯t enough, Helemia likes to scare people. Once we realized that she was doing it we

    had her stop, but word gets around.¡±

    ¡°Helemia? Really?¡± Yazadril asked in surprise as he turned to consider the children.

    ¡°I just got tired of people being scared of me.¡± Helemia shrugged as she and Reggie ended their

    concentration on the pebble. ¡°I wasn¡¯t surprised when we were at Uncle Theramin and Auntie Yzell¡¯s

    house and their kids were scared of us. But I didn¡¯t expect it from Uncle Theramin, and when I realized

    he was scared of me too, I was a bit hurt, and a bit mad. So I thought; fine, I¡¯ll give you a reason to be

    scared of me. And it was so fun that I did it to a few more people after that, until Mother told me not to. I

    did it to Father once, and that was the most fun of all because he was so easy, but he doesn¡¯t fall for it

    anymore.¡±

    ¡°Now we only visit the ones that aren¡¯t very scared of us.¡± Reggie added. ¡°That¡¯s you and Grandmother

    Nemia, Aunt Dalia and Uncle Bezedil, the unicorns, and the Dragons. Nek Sibook isn¡¯t very scared of

    us, she likes us a lot, but her husband Prince Reen is one of the people Helemia scared on purpose, so

    now we only see Nek when shees here to visit us. Without Reen.¡±

    ¡°Can I scare Grandfather, Mother?¡± Helemia giggled.

 Chapter 24

    Chapter 24

    Part 5

    ¡°Oh, I don¡¯t know.¡± Talia responded with a mischievous little smile for her father. ¡°Your grandfather is

    First Wizard and First Battle Wizard among the elves, First Commander of all the militaries of Keran,

    and a veteran of dozens of wars and thousands of battles. Such a mighty elf as he would be hard to

    scare, I think.¡±

    Text content ? N?velDrama.Org.

    ¡°I bet I could still scare him!¡± Helemiaughed.

    ¡°Well forewarned is forearmed, and I admit I¡¯m curious.¡± Yazadril chuckled. ¡°Give it your best, and we¡¯ll

    see.¡±

    Helemia stood and red at him, and her face took on an expression of incredible viciousness. ¡°You

    may be mighty, Grandfather, and I am only four and a half months old, but you are already helpless

    before me. Feel THAT.¡±

    Yazadril winced.

    ¡°If I wanted to, I could shred your psionic Shields like paper and crush your mind like a bug under my

    foot, and leave you screaming in agony for thousands of years.¡± Helemia continued as she slowly

    stepped closer, her psionic voice a menacing growl. Since she didn¡¯t have to speak with her mouth,

    there was no interruption in the ever-increasing malevolence of her facial expression. Suddenly she ran

    two steps and grasped the edge of the kitchen table, which was as high as she could reach, and swung

    herself up onto it. Shended in the center of it facing Yazadril in a perfect martial arts low stance,

    crouched on one knee with her fists cocked. Her baby face seemed a barely-controlled mask of rage,

    and she almost reeked of danger and menace.

    ¡°When I am six years old, I will have the power to destroy cities!¡± the tiny baby psionicly yelled as she

    suddenly cupped her hands and a ball of red and orange fire appeared in them with a loud crack of

    sound like a small explosion.

    ¡°When I¡¯m sixteen, the ability toy waste to entire continents will be within my grasp!¡± she yelled with

    increasing volume as she seemed to squeeze the fireball in her hands. As itpressed it brightened

    and shifted in color to bright yellow, then blue, and its crackle became a roar that grew in volume with

    her ¡®voice¡¯.

    ¡°You don¡¯t know if I will enve the entire world in my iron fist, because you don¡¯t know what I¡¯m

    thinking, and youck the power to even scratch my psionic shields, let alone break them!!!¡± she yelled,

    and the fireball became a tiny, white-hot inferno between her hands, it¡¯s roar a deafening shriek.

    ¡°You don¡¯t even know if I¡¯m going to tear your throat out with my teeth right NOW!!!¡±

    As she said thest sentence her mouth opened in a snarl that revealed many sharply-pointed and

    rapidly-growing teeth, and with thest word the fireball exploded with staggering force as she leaped

    at Yazadril.

    ¡°GODS!¡± he cried as he involuntarily brought his arms up to defend himself, but she was already

    between them, her hands at his neck.

    In that fraction of a moment, it took everyst vestige of his self-control to not st her to dust with all

    his power.

    She hugged him as she kissed him on the cheek, and giggled. ¡°You were easy, Grandfather. Easier

    than Father even. I got you good and you know it. You can¡¯t hide it from me.¡±

    Yazadril tried to calm his racing heart and recapture control of his facial expression. It took an act of will

    to do it, but he gently hugged the child. Reggie and Alilia wereughing openly, while Mark and Talia

    were at least trying to hide it a bit.

    ¡°But how did you do all that?!¡± he asked in exasperation. ¡°You were obviously trying to Move the pebble

    when I arrived, the first lesson in elven magic! And unsessfully!¡±

    ¡°The fireball wasn¡¯t real, Grandfather, it wasn¡¯t even magic.¡± Helemia giggled. ¡°It was just psionic. I only

    made you think you saw and heard it. Same with the teeth, although I do have some now, I have five

    growing in the front, see?¡±

    ¡°Ah, I see, that¡¯s very good!¡± Yazadril told her, trying to muster some enthusiasm while feeling off-

    bnce at the sudden change of subject.

    ¡°Feeling somewhat disconcerted, Yazadril?¡± Alilia asked with a smile. ¡°They¡¯re a disconcerting pair to

    be sure, though once you get used to them, they¡¯re even more adorable!

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you Reggie, you cuddly little thing!¡± she added as she scooped the baby up and hugged him.

    ¡°We sure are, Auntie Alilia!¡± Reggie giggled, with no humility at all.

    ¡°Anyway, the other kids don¡¯t want to y with them, and we¡¯re not going to force the issue.¡± Mark

    stated. ¡°They¡¯re not particrly bothered by it, so we¡¯re not either.¡±

    ¡°Really, other children are incredibly boring, and most adults are too.¡± Reggie opined. ¡°Except Karzog.

    He¡¯s the only other child who¡¯s our friend. We y with him all the time when we go visit Kragorram

    and Povon.¡±

    ¡°We scare him sometimes, but he scares us right back, so it¡¯s all fun!¡± Helemia giggled, and climbed

    down Yazadril to the floor. ¡°It¡¯s never boring at all at their house. Their den I mean.¡±

    Reggie climbed down from Alilia¡¯sp as well, and the two babies sat at the stool again and resumed

    staring at the pebble.

    ¡°Seriously Yazadril,¡± Mark told him with a grin, ¡°I thank you for your concern, but Yzell and Hilsith both

    agree with us that our kids¡¯ emotional health is just fine.¡±

    ¡°Hmm. Disconcerting indeed.¡± Yazadril mused as he considered the motionless babies, still looking a

    bit worried.

    ¡°I think you might have overdone it with your Grandfather, Helemia.¡± Talia chuckled. ¡°You¡¯d better show

    him your Markings.¡±

    Both twins turned to Yazadril and pulled the neck of their shirts down and to the left, showing their

    Markings on the upper left of their chests, right where a crest would be ced on a suit of armor. Both

    had the blue and white symbol of The Just Alliance two centimeters wide above the blue mark of the

    Truthstone and two smaller crowns.

    ¡°Uncle Theramin insisted that we take Osbald¡¯s Oath on a Truthstone of Falgaroth after Helemia scared

    him.¡± Reggie told him as they released their shirts and returned their attention to the pebble. ¡°And it felt

    so neat that Mother and Father let us swear it again on both of their crowns, which felt real good, but

    not as neat as the Truthstone.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Welle give me a hug before I go.¡± Yazadril said as he stood. ¡°And if you¡¯d like, I¡¯ll bring my

    sword by tomorrow. You can get the Marking from Mountainfire as well, if you swear Osbald¡¯s Oath on

    it.¡±

    ¡°Oh thank you Grandfather, that would be so neat!¡± Helemia cried, and the two ran over to hug him as

    he crouched for them.

    With their tiny bodies held in his embrace, it was easier for him to remember that they were just babies,

    and how much he loved them.

    ¡°Thanks Father, that¡¯s very kind of you. If perhaps a little paranoid.¡± Talia giggled as she hugged him in

    turn.

    ¡°Ah, you noticed that, did you?¡± he chuckled, a bit abashed.

    ¡°Yup. We love you Father.¡±

    ¡°Give our love to Nemia too!¡± Mark called as Yazadril left. ¡°Better yet, bring her with you tomorrow!¡±

    They returned to what they were doing before he¡¯de; Mark reading a treatise on the War of The

    Segregation, Talia and Alilia re-charging Flight and Translocation medallions, the twins trying to Move

    the pebble.

    After another twenty minutes Reggie picked up the pebble and pocketed it as he and his sister stood.

    ¡°Not feeling anything yet?¡± Alilia asked.

    ¡°No. It¡¯s frustrating.¡± Reggie reported. ¡°We know how to do it, we know exactly how it will feel to do it

    from Mother¡¯s memory of her first Movement, which is quite clear. And we know from Father that we

    have the power to do it. But it seems like the part of our brains that actually does it isn¡¯t working yet!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s worth spending so much time on it.¡± Helemia stated. ¡°I think that when we can do it,

    we¡¯ll do it, and until then all this staring and concentrating isn¡¯t going to help. We should just check it for

    a minute once a day and that¡¯s it.

    ¡°We¡¯re going to y darts.¡±

    A half hourter Mark realized that he hadn¡¯t heard anything from the living room for a few minutes,

    and went to check on his children. They¡¯d thrown darts until they were tired, then simplyid down on

    the sheepskin throw rug right where they stood and fallen asleep together. Helemia still had a dart in

    her hand.

    They looked so adorable that he simply stood there smiling and looking at them.

    A few minutester Talia came in and chuckled at the scene, then they picked up their babies and took

    them to bed.

 Chapter 25

    Chapter 25

    Part 5

    Over the next week; the twins finished their education on general knowledge, then began reviewing it

    again from the beginning. They announced that they could detect Alilia¡¯s unborn baby¡¯s mind psionicly,

    though no others could yet, and independently confirmed Yzell¡¯s judgment that it would be a girl. And,

    throwing darts became their favorite pastime.

    They¡¯d started out ying the game conventionally ording to Finitran rules; throwing from a

    standstill, from behind a line at the standard distance from the standard dartboard, throwing five darts

    each per turn, and counting points to 100. On the first day, most of their darts failed to reach the board,

    though they yed with the lightest darts avable.

    Their first modification was to run up to the line and throw while running, with a motion like throwing a

    light javelin. Then they reced the board with a target of their own design; a wide nk with a crude

    picture of a humanoid on it. They only counted points if they hit it in the throat, groin, or eyes, and by

    the fourth day they were doing so consistently. Then they drew a face on a dried pumpkin, tied it on a

    rope, and set it to swinging before they threw at it. By the end of the week they had designed an

    obstacle course through the small trees at the edge of the little valley behind the house, with faces

    painted on the trees for targets, and they ran through the trees while throwing 15 darts each of various

    sizes at 30 targets. Then they stoppedpeting with each other, and ran the course together,

    practicing providing covering fire for each other. They yed in silence, without a word or augh or a

    yell until they were finished. To those watching, the activity seemed very little like ying a game, and

    very much like dedicated military training.

    At dinner on Eighthday of the following week, Mark voiced some concerns. ¡°Listen kids, over thest

    few days there¡¯s been a change in you. You seem a little grim much of the time, and you don¡¯t smile as

    much. Would you care to tell us what¡¯s bothering you?¡±

    The twins exchanged a nce and a burst of thought before Reggie answered. ¡°We realized a while

    ago that everything in life has to do with the demons that areing here. We¡¯re here so you and the

    other adults would have the time to have more children before they get here. No one needs to work

    much to get their necessities here, and all the real work that gets done is all getting ready for the

    demons. Researching spells to fight the demons, building defenses to fight the demons, everyone

    training together to fight the demons.

    ¡°And I realized that I used to have a memory about the demons, but I forgot it. I just remembered that I

    used to have it. It took me a while to remember where I got it, then I got it again. And of course Helemia

    knows everything I know.¡±

    He went back to eating like the matter was settled.

    ¡°So you¡¯ve been upset because of this memory of the demons?¡± Mark pressed.

    ¡°Upset isn¡¯t really the right word.¡± Helemia told him. ¡°It¡¯s just that now we know what we¡¯re truly facing. I

    think most people here don¡¯t really understand what it¡¯ll be like.¡±

    Like her brother, she went back to eating, and seemed to assume the subject was dealt with.

    ¡°Maybe you¡¯d better give me the memory.¡± Mark told them.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure you don¡¯t want it.¡± Reggie replied. ¡°It¡¯s not very nice. I wish I hadn¡¯t remembered about it.¡±

    Mark considered them both for a moment, then firmly instructed; ¡°Son, give me the memory.¡±

    Reggie looked at him, and shrugged.

    Mark pped his hands onto his forehead and screamed, which sounded strange in his exceptionally

    deep voice.

    ¡°Love!¡± Talia called in worried surprise as she sprang from her chair to go to him.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay, I¡¯m all right.¡± he told her through clenched teeth as she hugged him, and she found to her

    surprise that he was blocking her from his mind.

    He forced himself to rx and took a deep breath. ¡°I just have to walk this off for a minute. I need some

    fresh air.¡± He stood a bit unsteadily, walked to the door, and left.

    Talia watched him go in concerned confusion, then forced calm on herself, and turned to her children.

    ¡°What exactly did you give him?¡±

    ¡°Well I got that from Kragorram, who got it from Povon, who got it from Quewanak, who got it from

    Somonik, who remembers it from almost seven and a half million years ago. So it might be a little fuzzy,

    which is just as well. It would be worse if it was fresh. It¡¯s Somonik¡¯s memory of thest demon war.¡±

    The conversation paused for a moment.

    ¡°Go to him.¡± Alilia told Talia. ¡°I¡¯ll talk to these to rapscallions for a while.¡±

    Talia found Mark sitting beneath a tree, leaning back against the trunk at the edge of the yard.

    She curled up in hisp, and he wrapped his arms around her. She waited for him to speak. After a few

    moments, he did.

    ¡°A few minutes ago, we thought that Reggie and Helemia were acting a little strange, even for them.

    Now I¡¯m amazed that they¡¯re still acting as normal as they are.¡±

    He paused again for a deep breath.

    ¡°You know, I always thought Somonik was pretty incredible, but I really had no idea. He was maimed by

    demon-Fire in the third year of the war. One wing and one arm almostpletely burned off, half his

    face and half the rest of his body burned very badly. Wounds from demon-Fire don¡¯t heal more than

    halfway at best, and the pain never diminishes at all. No one expected him to live through the night,

    and if he did, they fully expected that he¡¯d ask to be put out of his misery. And they¡¯d have done it as a

    matter of course.

    ¡°He had the Healers cut off all the burned flesh, right down to what was still healthy, and Heal him as

    best they could. The pain didn¡¯t diminish any; the pain of demon-Fire is a magical property of its own,

    probably a sub-spell of the Fire spell.

    ¡°He went back to war the next morning! He was thought to be the Eldest Draconian, he was their

    mightiest warrior, and he refused to let them down. Everyone else was just amazed that he was alive.

    They were amazed again when he chose to continue being active in the war. No one would have

    med him if he¡¯d have chosen tomand from the rear at that point, they¡¯d have considered it a

    miracle to have him there. But he was back in the front line of the battle, and the next morning! And it

    was a huge and crucial boost to everyone¡¯s morale that he did.

    ¡°He fought the rest of that war; fifty-three more years of fighting the demons, and he¡¯s led his people for

    seven and a half million years since then, through many more wars and crises, and always, he was the

    voice of justice, of peace, of reason. And in all that time, he never let it show that he was in constant

    agony, feeling like half his skin and limbs had just been burned off.¡±

    He paused again, and leaned down to kiss her before he continued.

    ¡°The kids are right. Except the dragons, no one here has any idea what they¡¯ll be facing. Quewanak¡¯s

    been going easy on us in the training exercises. The demons he¡¯s been simting for us aren¡¯t a tenth

    as dangerous and horrible as real demons are. I mean, war is always hell, but war against real demons

    is another whole category of hellishness beyond war against anything else. They make unsworn Sylvan

    seem noble and nice byparison. The demons¡¯ favorite game was to see how much of a prisoner¡¯s

    body they could eat before the prisoner died. They¡¯d take a little bite, then cauterize the wound with

    demon-Fire to stop the bleeding, then keep going. The most skillful among them could regrly eat

    Original content from N?velDrama.Org.

    over seven-tenths of a prisoner¡¯s body before it died.

    ¡°And it¡¯s hard to fight effectively against an enemy when every part of them poisons you. If you cut

    them and their blood gets on you, it poisons you. If you step in a pile of their shit or a puddle of their

    piss, it poisons you. If they spit on you or blow snot on you, it poisons you. Hell, if you even get too

    close and they breathe on you, it poisons you.

 Chapter 26

    Chapter 26

    Part 5

    ¡°And they¡¯re damned hard to kill. If you cut off one of their limbs, or even two or three, it won¡¯t kill them,

    and they¡¯ll probably be back in the battle in two or three days. Assuming that one of their own doesn¡¯t

    take advantage of their weakness to kill them and eat them. You pretty much have to destroy their

    heads, or more than half of their torsos, in order to kill them. They breed like flies, and they give birth by

    vomiting up a few hundred tiny demons about five centimeters tall, all of whom are battle-ready a

    moment after birth. They double in size every three months when well fed, and they can change the

    shape and configuration of their bodies as they¡¯re growing. They can add extra limbs, tails, wings,

    spikes, horns, whatever they want.

    ¡°I mean, I knew a lot of this already, from what Somonik said at the beginning of the War of The

    Founding. And we just read about it a couple of months ago. But knowing it is a lot different from

    seeing it, hearing it, feeling it like you were there. I don¡¯t know how our babies haven¡¯t beenpletely

    traumatized by this. It just amazes me. Fifty-four years of the demon war, every experience of it, taken

    in a blink.

    ¡°I¡¯m so worried about them now, but I don¡¯t know what to do about it, or even if we should do anything

    about it.

    ¡°And beyond that, I¡¯m worried for us all. I think we¡¯re not taking the threat of the demons seriously

    enough. But I¡¯m not sure if there¡¯s anything we can do about it. I don¡¯t know that it¡¯ll really help things if

    everyone knows in advance how horrible the demons really are. Many are having a hard enough time

    dealing with their fear as it is.¡±

    ¡°No doubt that was Quewanak¡¯s thinking.¡± Talia mused. ¡°And Povon and Kragorram¡¯s as well, since

    they have the memory too. Quewanak¡¯s training pushes us pretty hard. He could make it harder, and

    we could improve faster, but then it would start to detract from people¡¯s ability to enjoy their lives

    between training. That in turn might slow our progress.

    ¡°We have the time to train in the healthiest manner possible. It would be different if we had less time. If

    we had to fight the demons in six months it would be worth it to hurry and intensify the training. But we

    can¡¯t sustain that level of intensity for twenty four-years.

    ¡°On the other hand, the simtions of demons that we face in the training should be just as dangerous

    as real demons. If we have to face less of them in the exercises in order for any of us to survive the

    battle, then we¡¯ll just have to do that. They just don¡¯t have to be as horrible as real demons, not yet

    anyway.

    ¡°Tell me; when we faced the demons in Quewanak¡¯s training dream, do you think they were the same

    as in Somonik¡¯s memory of them?¡±

    He cocked an eyebrow. ¡°Huh. I haven¡¯t thought about that training since before you got pregnant. It¡¯s

    like a dream that keeps fading with time. We didn¡¯t face demons until thest part of the training, and

    by then I was pretty emotionally numb from it all, and they were just distractions from the task of

    beating Zarkog anyway. But yah, now that I think about it, they were pretty much the same, they were

    just as poisonous and tough and horrible in the training dream as they are in Somonik¡¯s memory.¡±

    ¡°Good. I remember Quewanak¡¯s training well enough to know that those demons were bad enough. I

    haven¡¯t thought about it enough recently topare it to the training exercises we¡¯re doing now

    though. I spend most of the exercises thinking about how well the others are doing.

    ¡°And they¡¯re doing well, considering how inexperienced most of them are. Quewanak allows us enough

    victories that the exercises are¡­ Well not fun, as I was going to say. But with the joy and triumph and

    celebration thates from the asional victory, I think it¡¯s an enjoyable experience overall.

    ¡°I¡¯m still worried that we may be forming bad habits that will lead us to underestimate the enemy.

    ¡°Quewanak, what are your thoughts on this?¡± she asked of the thin air, knowing the dragon god¡¯s vast

    awareness would insure she was heard.

    ¡°You¡¯re correct in assuming that I designed thismunity¡¯s training with equal consideration for their

    emotional health and for theirbat capabilities.¡± He psionicly answered. ¡°And you¡¯re correct in

    thinking that this training program has been designed to advance steadily in difficulty over the full

    twenty-four year span of our time here.

    ¡°For now, a victory over a more numerous enemy feels far better than defeating a small but realistic

    band of demons. The realism of the enemy, and their numbers, will gradually increase over the full

    score of years, culminating in fully realistic simtions. You need not worry that you will form bad

    habits that lead you to underestimate the enemy, because your habits will gradually change as the

    training changes. The only long-term habit you will form is the expectation that the demons will always

    be a bit more dangerous than they were thest time you faced them, which is likely to be a realistic

    assumption.¡±

    ¡°Ah.¡± Mark nodded. ¡°That¡¯s good thinking, so long as the time-bubble isn¡¯t ended early for some

    Text content ? N?velDrama.Org.

    reason.¡±

    ¡°I see no reason to think that it might be, though that is within the realm of possibility. If it ends without

    warning, we will have to see that these people receive elerated training in the main time stream,

    assuming that the time-bubble cannot be resumed for some reason. If we have some warning that the

    time-bubble will end early, the training program will be elerated ordingly.

    ¡°But you can trust me on this; so long as things continue as nned, in twenty-four years these people

    will be as fully prepared and trained to wage war against the demons as it¡¯s possible for them to be.

    Ourselves included.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Talia nodded.

    ¡°Do you have any thoughts on the twins¡¯ mental health?¡± Mark asked. ¡°Or ours, for that matter?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re all doing fine. Don¡¯t worry so much. The twins have a good grasp of their own abilities and

    limitations. When they¡¯re ready, they¡¯ll ask to join themunity training program, and shortly after that

    their worth will be known. Then everyone will want the twins in their squad. Their poprity will take

    care of itself.

    ¡°You should have heeded your son¡¯s warning, and been better prepared for the emotional shock of the

    memory he gave you. You were still filled with loving parental concern, which is a foolish state of mind

    to be in when a powerful psionic says that they are about to pass you something traumatic.¡±

    ¡°I guess you¡¯re right.¡± Mark chuckled. ¡°He did say it wasn¡¯t very nice. I should¡¯ve known from that.¡±

    ¡°He told you in three separate sentences that it was a bad thing. You are his father, and he loves and

    respects you very much. That was as much warning as he feltfortable with giving you. He trusted

    you to know what you were doing. You failed to take him seriously enough.

    ¡°He and his sister were less traumatized by the memory than you were because they actually spent a

    minute considering that a memory of the demons was likely to be a horrible thing, and they were far

    more emotionally prepared for it than you were. You let your parental concern over-ride your intellectual

    consideration of what they were telling you. It¡¯s amon failing of first-time parents.¡±

    ¡°All right, all right, I get it!¡± Markughed.

    ¡°You¡¯re doing fine. Don¡¯t worry.¡± Quewanak repeated, and then his mental contact was gone.

    ¡°Hmm. Maybe we should go in and see what they¡¯re up to.¡± Talia said as she stood with a smile, then

    took his hand and pulled him to his feet with magically-augmented strength.

    ¡°Yah. And we¡¯ll tell them what Quewanak said about the training. Hopefully it¡¯ll set their minds at ease

    about us taking the demons seriously enough.¡±

 Chapter 27

    Chapter 27

    PART 6

    Life continued without any further exceptional developments for the next six weeks. Then there came a

    warm summer¡¯s evening that found the twins rxing in the grass beside the chicken pen. They were

    six and a half months old, and were ying h; a basic war game they¡¯d learned from the unicorns,

    yed on a hexagonal board covered with triangles on which three kinds of markers were moved in

    turn to capture territory. The moves on the board were only half thepetition, since they each had to

    block the other from their mind enough to conceal their moves, which was exceedingly difficult for both

    of them. As each of their turns came and they considered their next move, the other would be probing

    their mental barriers and offering ingenious distractions.

    Then Reggie¡¯s barriers slipped, and Helemia saw his entire strategy.

    ¡°Ha! I¡¯ve got you now!¡± she crowed as she prepared to counter his forces.

    ¡°Wait. Check Stripe.¡± Reggie told her.

    Their barriers dissolved, and they thought almost as one again.

    Reggie had psionicly ¡®heard¡¯ what sounded like Stripe growling in the distance. When they checked his

    rudimentary thoughts, they found that he was stalking, and that he hated his prey because his quarry

    meant harm to Helemia and Reggie. And there were more than one of them. Furthermore, he hated

    them because he couldn¡¯t see, hear, or smell them, though he knew that they were there with his

    psionic sensitivity. The discrepancy irritated him to no end.

    The two pets hadn¡¯t been back to the house for weeks. They¡¯d hunted for food, while patrolling for the

    Sylvan scouts who¡¯d asionally approached the settlement. Now there were more than scouts; there

    was a force of enemies moving into position.

    ¡°Stripe, wait.¡± Reggiemanded, and the cat froze.

    The twins spent a long moment checking the vicinity, while continuing to y their game without any

    apparent distraction, in case they were being watched.

    ¡°It¡¯s Vanakit Lamitkeze. And he¡¯s brought a lot of friends.¡± Helemia realized.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Reggie agreed. ¡°They¡¯ve cast a big domed Shield over this whole valley. A really strong one,

    psionic as well as Force, I bet. I don¡¯t know if we can break through it to call for help. There really is a

    lot of them. And they¡¯ve found a way to get past Father¡¯s Wards. We¡¯ve all underestimated these

    Sylvan. They¡¯ve had a very long time with nothing to do but get better at being dangerous in every way.

    We should¡¯ve thought about that more.¡±

    ¡°They picked a good time.¡± she noted. ¡°Father and everyone else are all doing a training exercise. No

    doubt Vanakit nned it that way; themunity schedule is pretty obvious if they¡¯ve been watching. A

    bunch of them are on the top of the cliffs on either side of the pass. They¡¯re probably waiting to ambush

    us when we go home. The rest are scattered along the ridge around the valley. They¡¯re probably going

    to try to scare us into running home, and make sure they herd us the right way. They¡¯ll likely wait until it

    gets dark, if we don¡¯t try to go home first.

    ¡°I can¡¯t tell what Vanakit¡¯s thinking. He¡¯s gotten a lot better at Shielding, and he has a couple of the

    others helping him with it. He sure hates me though. I¡¯m surprised he managed to get so close without

    me noticing.

    ¡°This¡­ This is actually pretty scary. But it¡¯s pretty exciting too!¡±

    ¡°Yup!¡± Reggie agreed, suppressing a grin. ¡°Let¡¯s see if we can find some with less mental Shielding.

    We¡¯ll have to be careful to make sure they don¡¯t know they¡¯ve been Read.

    ¡°Ah, here¡¯s one. Just her surface thoughts and emotions, but¡­ Ha! They¡¯re just as scared as we are!

    They¡¯re scared of Vanakit ¡®cause they think he¡¯s crazy and he hurts them a lot, they¡¯re scared their god

    will be mad at them for attacking us, and they¡¯re scared of¡­ Something unseen that they know has

    been stalking them. That¡¯d be Stripe! He¡¯s about the only thing that¡¯s as stealthy as they are!¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re scared of our parents and the rest of our settlers too, especially the dragons.¡± Helemia pointed

    out. ¡°Vanakit has them convinced that it was our parents that attacked him. They think he¡¯s attacking us

    to get revenge on our parents. Because he¡¯s ashamed to admit he got taken by me before I was born, I

    bet! And they actually think that after they kill us, they¡¯ll be able to hide it from our people! They really

    have no idea who they¡¯re dealing with!¡±

    ¡°Huh. Well all we really have to do is keep from getting caught by them for the next two hours, at most.

    Mother and Father and Aunt Alilia will be done with the exercise in an hour and a half. When they get

    home and find that we didn¡¯te home at sundown, they¡¯lle looking for us.¡±

    ¡°Bah! Nuts on that!¡± Helemia snorted. ¡°Let¡¯s get ¡®em ourselves! We¡¯ve got Stripe and Scout inside their

    Shield with us, we can take ¡®em!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. It¡¯s pretty risky.¡± Reggie countered. ¡°We still couldn¡¯t win a physical fight against even one

    half-grown Sylvan, even working together. And we still don¡¯t have any magic. And we don¡¯t know how

    many of them there are.¡±

    ¡°Well then, let¡¯s try to get a count of them. I¡¯ll take the ones above the pass, you take the ones along

    the ridge.¡±

    ¡°Okay. Then we¡¯ll need a n. And it¡¯ll be dark in about a half hour, they¡¯ll probablye after us then.

    We should move before then. We¡¯re right out in the open here, and I¡¯m sure they¡¯re all watching us.¡±

    A few minutester Helemia had her results. ¡°Crap. I count a hundred and five of ¡®em on each side of

    the pass.¡±

    ¡°Three hundred and eleven of them along the ridge.¡± Reggie reported. ¡°Five hundred and twenty-one

    all together.¡±

    ¡°Double crap! You¡¯re right, we won¡¯t be able to take all of them, there¡¯s way too many.¡±

    ¡°Yes, but you¡¯re right too, we¡¯re going to have to get as many of them as we can. There¡¯s too many of

    ¡®em for us to avoid them all if we don¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m surprised that they¡¯re all inside their big psionic Shield.¡± Helemia mused. ¡°They could have stayed

    hidden from us if they were outside it.¡±

    ¡°They have to be inside it, to stay hidden from our grown-ups. And they think their personal psionic

    Shields are strong enough to protect them from attack. I doubt they¡¯re worried about us detecting them,

    they don¡¯t think we¡¯re any danger to them anyway. Vanakit¡¯s the only one who knows different, and he¡¯s

    This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.

    not telling them.

    ¡°How many do you think we could beat with psionic attacks before we got too tired to keep fighting?¡±

    ¡°Maybe thirty. We should save that forst, to get the ones who¡¯re holding the big psionic Shield. So we

    can call for help if we have to.¡±

    ¡°Good thinking.¡± he agreed. ¡°The easiest thing we can do is help Stripe and Scout. Scout can¡¯t detect

    these Sylvan at all. Stripe knows they¡¯re there, but he can¡¯t locate them exactly, which is probably why

    he hasn¡¯t attacked them yet. We can show Stripe and Scout exactly where the Sylvan are. And we can

    make it harder for the Sylvan to detect them.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll have to be really sneaky.¡± she mused. ¡°And that¡¯ll be hard, ¡®cause these Sylvan spend their

    whole lives being sneaky. And they hunt each other all the time, so they know how to find people that¡¯re

    being sneaky.¡±

    ¡°Yup. So we¡¯ll need a really good n¡­¡±

    Twenty-five minutester, as the sun was disappearing behind the ridge, they picked up their game and

    casually strolled into the goat shed, which was under the edge of the trees. There they retrieved their

    darts and a small water-skin, and climbed the bars of a stall to the top of the low rear wall, and wedged

    themselves between the top of the wall and the pine-bough thatch of the roof. It was hard to push the

    thatch up enough to get under it, and it was hard not to cry out from the pokes and scratches they got

    from the pine needles and twigs, but soon they were in position. They checked to make sure that Stripe

    and Scout were ready, then waited another few minutes for darkness to fully fall in the bottom of the

    valley.

 Chapter 28

    Chapter 28

    Part 6

    It was still twilight at the top of the cliffs on either side of the narrow slot canyon that formed the pass

    out of the valley to the west, with the asional beam of red dusk light still filtering through the

    underbrush. The Sylvan formations were lined up right to the edge of the cliffs, knowing that their god¡¯s

    gift of absolute Stealth hid them from the sight of any others. All that had a vantage of the goat shed

    watched it intently.

    When Stripe had first alerted Reggie, the great cat had been on the slope near the ridge on the north

    side of the valley. He¡¯d halted his stalk at his young master¡¯smand, and a few minutester his

    awareness of his prey sharpened considerably. He now knew the locations of the closest few exactly,

    including their motions and the positions of their limbs, and the twins assured him that for now, the

    Sylvan couldn¡¯t detect him. At Reggie¡¯s direction, Stripe had moved west and up, gaining the top of the

    ridge where the cliffs to the west began, and he¡¯d stalked along the top of the cliffs to the edge of the

    Sylvan formation. He was now hidden in the bush less than a meter and a half from the closest Sylvan,

    who crouched at the cliff¡¯s edge and diligently watched the goat shed.

    ¡°Okay. Let¡¯s start it.¡± Reggie decided.

    ¡°Wait. Are we really ready to kill these people?¡± Helemia asked.

    ¡°Yup. You know Vanakit¡¯s gonna torture you to death if he catches you. He¡¯ll just kill me quick to get me

    out of the way. And we¡¯re not good enough to stop them without killing at least some of them. We¡¯ll let

    the wounded live if they¡¯re hurt bad enough that they won¡¯t attack us anymore, but that¡¯s as nice as I¡¯m

    willing to be.¡±

    ¡°Good.¡± Helemia grinned with satisfaction. ¡°Just checking. Let¡¯s do it.¡±

    At their direction, Scout took off from the tree he was in near the valley floor, and flew up to the top of

    the ridge to the south-west. He pumped his wings hard as he flew just above the ridge going clockwise,

    gaining speed.

    A Sylvan who was stationed on the ridge on the east side of the valley moved over a couple of meters

    to get a better view of the shed, but one of the rocks he tried to step on was an Illusion covering a crack

    in the slope. He fell heavily and cried out before his face smashed against the rocks, and he tumbled

    down the steep slope for a while before sliding to a stop, unconscious.

    The Sylvan woman who was stationed eighteen meters to his left stood to see what was happening,

    and started to move to assist him. Before she¡¯d gone three meters the same thing happened to her.

    She yelled and tumbled and slid until she struck a tree, andy there moaning from the pain of a

    broken arm, as well as numerous serious cuts, scrapes, and bruises.

    All the Sylvan on the top of the cliffs heard the cries and the crashes of the fallen tumbling down the

    slopes on the far side of the valley, and stood as they tried to crowd forward to get a better look, as

    much as they could without crowding the ones near the edge off the precipice.

    At that moment Scout flew over the southern group from behind, unseen and unheard, making his best

    speed. He swooped down at thest moment and mmed into the back of the second row of Sylvan

    from the edge. He hit two of them in the backs of their heads with his wings, knocking them into the

    ones at the very edge in front of them. He sank his ws into the scalp of the one between them, and

    drove his sharply-pointed hooked beak into the scalp of the one in front of that. His momentum dragged

    the one he graspedpletely off the edge, knocking off those in front of him, and all the ones who

    were falling tried to grab the ones around them for purchase. Eight Sylvan fell, yelling and screaming all

    the way down.

    The cliff was just over eighteen meters high, and none of them had the time or the wherewithal to cast

    Flight or Levitation before they hit.

    On the cliffs on the north side the pass, the Sylvan crowded forward even more to see what had just

    happened. Stripe bounded out of cover and charged through them, knocking as many Sylvan off the

    cliff as he could. He reached the far side of the formation and turned. The rest of the Sylvan had

    backed away from the edge, but he grabbed six of them one by one by the arm or leg with his mighty

    jaws and threw them over before they had backed up enough to make that impractical. He leaped into

    the midst of them, biting and wing and tearing amidst a cacophony of screaming, yelling, and

    confusion.

    Scout had circled around for another pass. Most of the Sylvan on his side hadn¡¯t moved back yet,

    instead they stood staring as Stripe, silent and invisible, tore through their fellows on the opposite side

    of the canyon. Scout took four more off the edge on his side, and the rest of them moved back, yelling

    in fear and confusion.

    Though they couldn¡¯t see him or hear him, the Sylvan around Stripe backed away from where their

    fellows were dying, and they brought their weapons to bear.

    Then Stripe stood among dead and dying Sylvan, surrounded by a ring of spears, swords, and knives.

    He leaped over the weapons pointed at him and startedying waste to them again.

    Many of them broke and ran, but Vanakit Lamitkeze was bellowing in rage and organizing them.

    ¡°They¡¯re not demons, you superstitious idiots! It¡¯s only their animals, hidden behind some kind of

    Indetectability spell! Now bunch up and defend yourselves!¡± Soon they were huddled in small clumps of

    eight to ten with their weapons sticking out in all directions, and many were casting Force Shields and

    other spells.

    Stripe has sustained numerous small wounds, but nothing serious.

    ¡°Stripe, go.¡± Reggie called, and the Sleng cat bounded out of the Sylvan formation and ran to his next

    assignment.

    ¡°Crap, we have to move NOW!¡± the twins realized as they slid out the back of the goat shed, hissing

    and gasping as they tried to maintain silence while the bark of the log wall scraped the delicate skin on

    their fronts through their light summer clothes, and the pine thatch poked and scraped their backs.

    They rolled around in the dry and dusty bed of pine needles behind the shed to further cover their

    scents, gritting their teeth against the continuing painful and itchy irritation of it. Then they ran

    diagonally up the slope under the trees to the north-east.

    Both were angry at themselves. Their n had called for them to move right after they tripped up the

    two Sylvan to the east, but they hadn¡¯t. Instead they¡¯d been concentrating fiercely on the fight above

    the cliffs; tracking all the Sylvan¡¯s locations and movements, passing that information to Stripe and

    Scout, and hiding the animals from the Sylvan¡¯s perceptions. They now realized that they¡¯d nned on

    doing more multitasking than they were capable of, and they¡¯d left their bodies lying on top of the shed

    wall feeling half-squashed under the prickly pine thatch while they conducted the fight.

    ¡°They know we¡¯re here!¡± Vanakit Lamitkeze barked as he cast a Speaking to the Sylvan stationed on

    Text content ? N?velDrama.Org.

    the ridge around the valley. ¡°Kill them! Kill them now!!¡±

    For the hundredth time he cursed the weakness of the power field since the settlers hade, and the

    cost in power of the mighty Shield they¡¯d cast around the valley, and of deceiving the Wards that had

    protected it. Few of his Sylvan had enough power left to fly for more than a few seconds.

    Over three hundred Sylvan readied bows, arrows, spells, and swords as they ran down into the valley

    toward the goat shed.

    The twins had not put as much distance between themselves and the shed as they¡¯d nned at that

    point. The converging Sylvan running down the slope toward them would be much closer together

    when they passed.

    The two paused behind a tree, panting hard and concentrating. They tripped up two Sylvan on the far

    side of the valley with Illusory footing, which was easy now that they were all running downhill. Then

    they continued running uphill and north-east.

    ¡°All of you get down there and block the pass!¡± Vanakit yelled to the remaining Sylvan atop the cliffs.

    ¡°Our prey will try running home, and you might not be able to detect them! Block the canyon from wall

    to wall with your weapons presented! And sharpen your damn psionics! Find those two little brats

    NOW!¡±

 Chapter 29

    Chapter 29

    Part 6

    The goat shed exploded as it was struck by multiple spells.

    The twins paused again and tripped up two more Sylvan to the south-west, waited a moment for that

    distraction to take effect and for the Sylvan running down-slope toward them to get close, then tripped

    up the three Sylvan closest to them, just as they ran past their quarry¡¯s hiding ce. The twins ran

    This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.

    upslope through the underbrush past the tumbling and cursing Sylvan, found another hiding ce, and

    tried to trip up all the Sylvan who were still running downslope.

    ¡°Stop running, damn it!¡± one of the Sylvan called. ¡°They¡¯re hiding the ground with Illusions! Check your

    footing with every step!¡±

    ¡°They killed all our goats.¡± Helemia angrily realized as they ran up the slope again.

    ¡°And half the chickens.¡± Reggie added, just as angry.

    They paused again a minuteter, and checked on the Sylvan.

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing here but burnt goats, they weren¡¯t here!¡± a Sylvan reported to Vanakit as she

    inspected the smoldering wreckage of the goat shed.

    ¡°Kill everything that moves, or even seems to move!¡± Vanakitmanded. ¡°We¡¯ll find them by psionics

    soon! Meanwhile try to track them from the shed they were in!¡±

    A few trackers gathered around the wreckage of the shed, but the twins¡¯ tracks were everywhere

    around the area, and the st had obliterated the sign where they¡¯d rolled on the ground.

    Most of the Sylvan in the valley began wandering around at random, swinging their swords around

    them, or casting arrows and spells at anything that caught their attention, while testing the ground by

    feel in every ce they nned to take a step. More than a few were angrily aware of how ridiculous

    they all looked. Some of them ughtered the rest of the livestock.

    The twins drew within thirty meters of the ridge above them, and started slowly and stealthily moving

    across the slope to the east, farther away from the pass. Every few minutes they paused to continue

    their war of attrition against the Sylvan.

    They continued tripping the Sylvan asionally by hiding things. Rather than casting an Illusion of a

    rock over a hole or something simr, they made the Sylvan not notice a crucial root or rock that really

    existed. Some banged their heads on tree branches they hadn¡¯t seen. This served to keep the jumpy

    Sylvan on edge, though it didn¡¯t produce many serious injuries.

    Every few minutes they helped Stripe or Scout kill or disable one of their enemies. It was fully dark now,

    and they no longer had to hide the animals from the Sylvan, they only had to show where the chosen

    Sylvan was. Stripe¡¯s natural stealth and inherent psionic unnoticability served him well in the darkness,

    and Scout could swoop down to make devastating attacks on the face and eyes of his prey with his

    talons and be gone a momentter, or pull any Sylvan on a steep slope to a nasty tumble. Though he

    could only lift a fraction of the weight of a Sylvan, he had enough strength to drag them down a steep

    slope by one leg or one arm until they were incapacitated or dead.

    Then the twins tripped one, who was immediately shot with an arrow by the nervous and startled

    Sylvan closest to her. That inspired the twins to a new tactic.

    A minuteter one of the Sylvan thought he saw the twins trying to sneak by him out of the corner of his

    eye. He immediately turned and cast Force Bolts at them, only to find that he¡¯d killed another Sylvan.

    Reggie and Helemia reached their chosen hiding ce; behind the top of the low peak in the ridge at

    the north-east edge of the valley. The Sylvan Shield dome was less than two meters behind it, so they

    knew they could not be snuck up on from behind. They peered over the peak into the valley below and

    inspected it with their psionic senses, and sharpened their n.

    Over the next few minutes; by tricking chosen Sylvan into killing each other, they precipitated a battle

    between two groups of them.

    ¡°WHAT IN ALL THE HELLS DO YOU THINK YOU¡¯RE DOING?!!! EVERYONE STOP!!!¡± Vanakit yelled

    at them in absolute rage, his voice magically amplified to booming volume. ¡°These cursed children are

    making fools of you, and turning us on each other!!! Everyone just hold where you are, and put all your

    concentration into finding them psionicly!¡±

    The twins withdrew their awareness as they ducked down behind the peak, and lowered their psionic

    activity to the minimum.

    ¡°Okay, Stripe and Scout got fifty-one of them up on the cliffs, and their little battle there took out another

    thirty-four.¡± Helemia mused. ¡°And almost a hundred ran away. Plus the rest of ¡®em that we got.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s still more than three hundred of them left, three hundred and nine, actually.¡± Reggie counted.

    ¡°And we¡¯ve still got at least half an hour before anyonees looking for us.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think any of them are maintaining the Shield dome. I think they just pre-charged it and cast it. If

    we had some magic, we could just pound on it until its energy was all used up.¡±

    ¡°But that means that we can¡¯t get rid of the dome by taking the ones casting it, like we thought.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s just wait for a while. Maybe they won¡¯t find us. Mother and Father are bound toe looking for

    us soon.¡±

    Sixteen minutester one of the Sylvan chuckled to herself, and quietly made her way to Vanakit

    Lamitkeze. ¡°I have them.¡± she reported.

    ¡°I have the cat and the bird by their body heat.¡± Vanakit quietly growled, his eyes closed in

    concentration. ¡°They¡¯re keeping their distance. But I can¡¯t find the prey. You found them psionicly?¡±

    ¡°No, by their auras, of all things.¡± she chuckled. ¡°And impressive auras they are, too. See through my

    spell, and look at that peak. You can see their glow behind it.¡±

    ¡°Ah, good work. They¡¯re just inside the Shield. Can we reflect spells or missiles off of it?¡±

    ¡°No, it doesn¡¯t work that way, it just absorbs the energy. Though if we hit the Shield with arrows or rocks

    directly above the prey, they¡¯ll fall straight down.¡±

    ¡°Bah, it¡¯s only a couple of meters above them.¡± Vanakit spat. ¡°We¡¯d have to Move a big rock. They¡¯d

    have time to avoid it, and I want the girl alive if possible.

    ¡°Crap on it. You keep an eye on them. We¡¯ll need to know if they move.¡±

    He waved his lieutenants over. ¡°Pass the word. Our prey is hiding behind that peak, and we¡¯ll know if

    they move, so disregard any other sightings of them. Have everyone except those at the pass form up

    into a tight formation. We¡¯ll just march up there and get them. Warn everyone to be careful of their

    footing and to beware of Illusions. Once we start moving, I expect the cat and the bird to resume their

    attacks, and I doubt I¡¯ll be able to follow them by their heat once they start making speed. Keep

    weapons out at the nks and rear to ward against the cat, and keep your daggers high to ward against

    the bird. We¡¯ll take the girl alive if possible. If anyone has the power left to cast some Shielding, have

    them stand ready to cast it as needed.¡±

    ¡°If we hadn¡¯t spent so much of our magic on the big Shield, we¡¯d be able to protect ourselves properly.¡±

    one of the lieutenants grumbled.

    Vanakit back-handed him across the mouth, bloodying lips and loosening teeth. ¡°You¡¯ll follow your

    damn orders!¡± he growled.

    The lieutenants nodded and backed away, and went to their tasks.

    ¡°They¡¯re moving.¡± Helemia noticed a minuteter. ¡°They¡¯re probably either leaving or they¡¯ve spotted us

    somehow. They¡¯ve spotted us, I¡¯m sure of it now, I can tell from Vanakit¡¯s emotions.¡±

    The Sylvan finished forming up in the center of the valley. They made a fairly tight bunch in an oval

    shape about ten wide and almost twenty deep, bristling with weapons. Vanakit moved to their head with

    his spotter beside him, and they began advancing up the valley to the north-east.

    As they reached the top of the meadow and began entering the trees, Vanakit turned and shouted to

    his troops; ¡°The animals are on the move, be on your guard!¡±

    They climbed the slope through the trees, stubbing their toes on unseen rocks and banging their heads

    on unseen branches, but it was hard to make any of them take a serious fall, forewarned as they were

    and walking uphill. Onward they came, with the asional cry and curse.

 #Chapter 30

    #Chapter 30

    Part 6

    Vanakit emerged from the trees neen meters below the peak and paused, and he held his spotter

    back as well as he waved the rest forward and upward. The rock was craggy and steep there, and the

    Sylvan had to climb with one hand as they made their way up, weapons at the ready in their free

    hands.

    To the twins, peeking past the peak, all of the glowing golden slitted eyes looked like fireflies moving up

    the slope, and they realized that they could now see the Sylvan visually. They were no longer bothering

    to remain hidden behind the gift of their god.

    As the Sylvan came within seven meters of the peak the rock was only eight meters wide, and they

    began to bunch up, having to wait for each other to find a path to climb on.

    As they came within four meters, the twins attacked.

    They cast an Illusion of Fire three meters deep, epassing the top fifty or so Sylvan.

    It was incredibly realistic in sight and sound, roaring around the Sylvan who were immersed in it. They

    couldn¡¯t see anything for the fire in their faces, and the fear of inhaling fire struck all of them. The twins

    even managed to convince the weaker-minded among them that it hurt.

    As they cast the fire, the twins popped up from behind the peak and began throwing darts, Scout

    swooped into the precarious crowd of blinded Sylvan and began pulling them off the rocks, and Stripe

    leaped into them from the side and beganying waste to them with ws and teeth.

    Property of N?)(velDr(a)ma.Org.

    ¡°Fight!!! Advance!!!¡± Vanakit screamed in rage. ¡°The fire isn¡¯t real, damn it! It¡¯s just two babies and two

    animals! Just kill them!¡±

    The twins took their time and made every dart count, despite the overwhelming excitement of it all.

    They had thirty darts, and they hit thirty Sylvan in the eye, but then they were reduced to throwing

    rocks, at which they were far less effective. The Sylvan kept swarming up the rock toward them. They

    moved the wall of Illusory fire up and towards themselves to keep the lead Sylvan within it.

    Stripe was now between them and the Sylvan, just in front of the peak, killing and maiming any who

    came near, roaring and snarling with deafening volume. But he¡¯d taken many small wounds, and a

    couple that were more serious.

    Then one of the Sylvan got lucky and cut off most of Scout¡¯s left foot. He wanted to continue fighting,

    but the twins sent him away, and he hurt so much that he went.

    ¡°This is it!¡± Reggie cried.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to GET Vanakit Lamitkeze, if it¡¯s thest thing I do before I die!¡± Helemia vowed.

    They let their rage take them, and let the fire Illusion dissolve, and struck with psionic attacks.

    Helemia struck Vanakit first, crushing through his psionic Shields and shredding his mind, while

    severely injuring six Sylvan at the pass who had been bolstering his psionic Shields.

    In the next minute they attacked the highest seventy-two Sylvan on the mountain, leaving them with

    broken psionic Shields and crippling, blinding headaches.

    And then, suddenly, the twins were too exhausted to continue.

    Almost eighty Sylvan remained of the attacking formation, all of them filled with their battle rage. They

    screamed their hatred as they surged up the hill, sensing victory.

    Stripe roared his defiance as he prepared to meet their rush, Scout gave a piercing cry and turned back

    toward the battle despite his pain, and the twins grimly stood together, looking over the peak and

    panting for breath, waiting for the end.

    ¡°That¡¯s quite enough of that, I think.¡± Quewanak stated as he appeared hovering just above the slope

    between Stripe and the advancing Sylvan. He froze them with a nce, held them immobile long

    enough to make them realize they were helpless and for their emotions to cool a bit, and let them go.

    The Dragon God of Dreaming looked around and Healed all the injured, including Stripe and Scout.

    ¡°None of your fallenpatriots are dead, and I have Healed them.¡± he announced in Blezogeth to all

    of the confused Sylvan, many of whom were picking themselves up off the ground all over the valley.

    ¡°Were it not for my efforts, three hundred and seventeen of you would be dead or severely injured at

    the hands of two babies and their pets. I hope you¡¯ve learned something from this. You don¡¯t want to

    anger the rest of us. Now go, all of you, except that one.¡± He indicated the immobile form of Vanakit

    Lamitkeze. ¡°We¡¯re keeping him.¡±

    Slowly, then more quickly, the Sylvan moved away and began heading home.

    Quewanak Translocated himself, Stripe, Scout, and the twins down to the valley floor.

    Reggie and Helemia let themselves copse to the grass and cry, venting some of the overwhelming

    emotion that they felt. They hugged each other as they cried until Stripe nuzzled them and Scout

    soaked up all the love they were getting.

    ¡°Thank you, oh thank you both so much, you¡¯re both such good boys, such great friends, we love you

    so much¡­¡± the babies babbled.

    Quewanak looked around, then Restored the goat shed, the chicken pen beside it, and the dead

    livestock. He even Retrieved the twins¡¯ darts and put them away in the shed, then lounged on the

    grass.

    Finally Helemia and Reggie turned their attention to the green dragon. Their bodies were still crying

    and hugging the animals, but their psionic ¡®voices¡¯ seemed calm enough.

    ¡°Thank you for saving us.¡± Helemia told him.

    ¡°You¡¯re wee.¡± Quewanak chuckled.

    They considered him a moment.

    ¡°I know you can¡¯t resurrect dead people unless you know them absolutely, and you have to be in

    psionic contact with them when they die. Or you have to be a god.¡± Reggie stated usingly. ¡°We

    know that from Father.¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s true.¡± Quewanak admitted.

    ¡°So, you either saved those Sylvan with god-power, or you were aware of what was happening here the

    whole time. Or both.¡± Helemia said, sounding as miffed as her brother.

    ¡°Also true.¡± The dragon smiled.

    ¡°Maybe you are a god.¡± Reggie used. ¡°Father and Mother and Aunt Alilia have been hiding

    something about you, now that I think about it. And none of us have ever noticed that you¡¯ve never

    been introduced to us, and we¡¯ve never met you before today, even though you live right next door to

    Kragorram and Povon and Karzog and we go there all the time.

    ¡°And whether you¡¯re a god or not, I¡¯d bet my lunch that you knew what was happening here, and you

    could have stopped it anytime!¡±

    ¡°Yes, I could have. But it was an interesting event, and once I saw how well you were doing I wanted to

    give you the chance at victory. I must say that I¡¯m incredibly impressed by the two of you.¡±

    ¡°Thanks.¡± Helemia grumped, still trying to sound angry. Then she considered what he¡¯d said. ¡°Did we

    really have a chance at victory?¡±

    ¡°You did indeed, though it was a very small chance. You did better than anyone would have predicted,

    including me. Still, if you¡¯d had some intensive training in psionic warfare, you could have prevailed.

    Your initial tactics were extremely efficient uses of your power, those being the Illusions and extending

    your perception to Stripe and Scout. But your final psionic attacks were understandably crude. You

    wasted strength in clubbing them with a big psionic hammer, when you could have stabbed many more

    of them with a slim sword of thought.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m still upset with you.¡± Reggie told him determinedly. ¡°You let Stripe and Scout get hurt for nothing.

    You let us think we were gonna die at the end there.¡±

    ¡°There was purpose in my actions, your friends were not hurt for nothing, and they aren¡¯t capable of

    remembering pain once it¡¯s passed at any rate.¡± Quewanak patiently exined. ¡°I learned things of

    great value. I am not a humanoid, I¡¯m a dragon, and we test our young on the hunt and in battle when

    they¡¯re ready. You were ready. A young dragon who cannot bring himself to kill is soon a starving and

    useless individual. You were ready to kill. You fought to your limits against overwhelming odds, and

    when you could fight no more, you faced your deaths with dignity and courage.

    ¡°Beyond all that, you didn¡¯t ask for help. If you had, I¡¯d have helped you sooner. I have rather

    extraordinary perception, and I¡¯d have heard you, but it might interest you to know that if you had used

    your strength to get a message through the Sylvan barrier at the beginning of your battle, the best six

    psionicists in themunity would all have heard you. Even while engaged in battle training

    exercises.¡±

 Chapter 30: #Chapter 30

    Chapter 30: #Chapter 30

    Part 6

    Vanakit emerged from the trees neen meters below the peak and paused, and he held his spotter

    back as well as he waved the rest forward and upward. The rock was craggy and steep there, and the

    Sylvan had to climb with one hand as they made their way up, weapons at the ready in their free

    hands.

    To the twins, peeking past the peak, all of the glowing golden slitted eyes looked like fireflies moving up

    the slope, and they realized that they could now see the Sylvan visually. They were no longer bothering

    to remain hidden behind the gift of their god.

    As the Sylvan came within seven meters of the peak the rock was only eight meters wide, and they

    began to bunch up, having to wait for each other to find a path to climb on.

    As they came within four meters, the twins attacked.

    They cast an Illusion of Fire three meters deep, epassing the top fifty or so Sylvan.

    It was incredibly realistic in sight and sound, roaring around the Sylvan who were immersed in it. They

    couldn¡¯t see anything for the fire in their faces, and the fear of inhaling fire struck all of them. The twins

    even managed to convince the weaker-minded among them that it hurt.

    As they cast the fire, the twins popped up from behind the peak and began throwing darts, Scout

    swooped into the precarious crowd of blinded Sylvan and began pulling them off the rocks, and Stripe

    leaped into them from the side and beganying waste to them with ws and teeth.

    ¡°Fight!!! Advance!!!¡± Vanakit screamed in rage. ¡°The fire isn¡¯t real, damn it! It¡¯s just two babies and two

    animals! Just kill them!¡±

    The twins took their time and made every dart count, despite the overwhelming excitement of it all.

    They had thirty darts, and they hit thirty Sylvan in the eye, but then they were reduced to throwing

    rocks, at which they were far less effective. The Sylvan kept swarming up the rock toward them. They

    moved the wall of Illusory fire up and towards themselves to keep the lead Sylvan within it.

    Stripe was now between them and the Sylvan, just in front of the peak, killing and maiming any who

    came near, roaring and snarling with deafening volume. But he¡¯d taken many small wounds, and a

    couple that were more serious.

    Then one of the Sylvan got lucky and cut off most of Scout¡¯s left foot. He wanted to continue fighting,

    but the twins sent him away, and he hurt so much that he went.

    ¡°This is it!¡± Reggie cried.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to GET Vanakit Lamitkeze, if it¡¯s thest thing I do before I die!¡± Helemia vowed.

    They let their rage take them, and let the fire Illusion dissolve, and struck with psionic attacks.

    Helemia struck Vanakit first, crushing through his psionic Shields and shredding his mind, while

    severely injuring six Sylvan at the pass who had been bolstering his psionic Shields.

    In the next minute they attacked the highest seventy-two Sylvan on the mountain, leaving them with

    broken psionic Shields and crippling, blinding headaches.

    And then, suddenly, the twins were too exhausted to continue.

    Almost eighty Sylvan remained of the attacking formation, all of them filled with their battle rage. They

    screamed their hatred as they surged up the hill, sensing victory.

    Stripe roared his defiance as he prepared to meet their rush, Scout gave a piercing cry and turned back

    toward the battle despite his pain, and the twins grimly stood together, looking over the peak and

    panting for breath, waiting for the end.

    ¡°That¡¯s quite enough of that, I think.¡± Quewanak stated as he appeared hovering just above the slope

    between Stripe and the advancing Sylvan. He froze them with a nce, held them immobile long

    enough to make them realize they were helpless and for their emotions to cool a bit, and let them go.

    The Dragon God of Dreaming looked around and Healed all the injured, including Stripe and Scout.

    Text content ? N?velDrama.Org.

    ¡°None of your fallenpatriots are dead, and I have Healed them.¡± he announced in Blezogeth to all

    of the confused Sylvan, many of whom were picking themselves up off the ground all over the valley.

    ¡°Were it not for my efforts, three hundred and seventeen of you would be dead or severely injured at

    the hands of two babies and their pets. I hope you¡¯ve learned something from this. You don¡¯t want to

    anger the rest of us. Now go, all of you, except that one.¡± He indicated the immobile form of Vanakit

    Lamitkeze. ¡°We¡¯re keeping him.¡±

    Slowly, then more quickly, the Sylvan moved away and began heading home.

    Quewanak Translocated himself, Stripe, Scout, and the twins down to the valley floor.

    Reggie and Helemia let themselves copse to the grass and cry, venting some of the overwhelming

    emotion that they felt. They hugged each other as they cried until Stripe nuzzled them and Scout

    soaked up all the love they were getting.

    ¡°Thank you, oh thank you both so much, you¡¯re both such good boys, such great friends, we love you

    so much¡­¡± the babies babbled.

    Quewanak looked around, then Restored the goat shed, the chicken pen beside it, and the dead

    livestock. He even Retrieved the twins¡¯ darts and put them away in the shed, then lounged on the

    grass.

    Finally Helemia and Reggie turned their attention to the green dragon. Their bodies were still crying

    and hugging the animals, but their psionic ¡®voices¡¯ seemed calm enough.

    ¡°Thank you for saving us.¡± Helemia told him.

    ¡°You¡¯re wee.¡± Quewanak chuckled.

    They considered him a moment.

    ¡°I know you can¡¯t resurrect dead people unless you know them absolutely, and you have to be in

    psionic contact with them when they die. Or you have to be a god.¡± Reggie stated usingly. ¡°We

    know that from Father.¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s true.¡± Quewanak admitted.

    ¡°So, you either saved those Sylvan with god-power, or you were aware of what was happening here the

    whole time. Or both.¡± Helemia said, sounding as miffed as her brother.

    ¡°Also true.¡± The dragon smiled.

    ¡°Maybe you are a god.¡± Reggie used. ¡°Father and Mother and Aunt Alilia have been hiding

    something about you, now that I think about it. And none of us have ever noticed that you¡¯ve never

    been introduced to us, and we¡¯ve never met you before today, even though you live right next door to

    Kragorram and Povon and Karzog and we go there all the time.

    ¡°And whether you¡¯re a god or not, I¡¯d bet my lunch that you knew what was happening here, and you

    could have stopped it anytime!¡±

    ¡°Yes, I could have. But it was an interesting event, and once I saw how well you were doing I wanted to

    give you the chance at victory. I must say that I¡¯m incredibly impressed by the two of you.¡±

    ¡°Thanks.¡± Helemia grumped, still trying to sound angry. Then she considered what he¡¯d said. ¡°Did we

    really have a chance at victory?¡±

    ¡°You did indeed, though it was a very small chance. You did better than anyone would have predicted,

    including me. Still, if you¡¯d had some intensive training in psionic warfare, you could have prevailed.

    Your initial tactics were extremely efficient uses of your power, those being the Illusions and extending

    your perception to Stripe and Scout. But your final psionic attacks were understandably crude. You

    wasted strength in clubbing them with a big psionic hammer, when you could have stabbed many more

    of them with a slim sword of thought.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m still upset with you.¡± Reggie told him determinedly. ¡°You let Stripe and Scout get hurt for nothing.

    You let us think we were gonna die at the end there.¡±

    ¡°There was purpose in my actions, your friends were not hurt for nothing, and they aren¡¯t capable of

    remembering pain once it¡¯s passed at any rate.¡± Quewanak patiently exined. ¡°I learned things of

    great value. I am not a humanoid, I¡¯m a dragon, and we test our young on the hunt and in battle when

    they¡¯re ready. You were ready. A young dragon who cannot bring himself to kill is soon a starving and

    useless individual. You were ready to kill. You fought to your limits against overwhelming odds, and

    when you could fight no more, you faced your deaths with dignity and courage.

    ¡°Beyond all that, you didn¡¯t ask for help. If you had, I¡¯d have helped you sooner. I have rather

    extraordinary perception, and I¡¯d have heard you, but it might interest you to know that if you had used

    your strength to get a message through the Sylvan barrier at the beginning of your battle, the best six

    psionicists in themunity would all have heard you. Even while engaged in battle training

    exercises.¡±

 Chapter 31

    Chapter 31

    Part 6

    ¡°Huh. What are Mother and Father doing?¡± Helemia asked.

    ¡°They¡¯re preparing dinner, visiting with the others of the Command Group, and discussing today¡¯s

    exercises. They know that I¡¯m always keeping an eye on you. Otherwise they¡¯d never allow you to be

    by yourselves out here at your ages, even with your advanced abilities and with Stripe and Scout to

    guard you.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s gonna happen to Vanakit Lamitkeze?¡± she asked.

    ¡°The mind of Vanakit Lamitkeze is gone forever. You¡¯ve wiped him clean. He¡¯ll need a week of physical

    recovery and Healing before he¡¯ll even be able to move, and then he¡¯ll need to learn everything all over

    again, including how to walk, how to speak and understand anguage, how to feed himself, and how

    This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.

    to dress himself. He¡¯ll be a new person.¡±

    ¡°Huh. We might as well feed him to Karzog as a treat.¡± she snickered.

    ¡°I think not.¡± Quewanak chuckled. ¡°I¡¯ll try to find someone suitable to deal with him, and if not I¡¯ll simply

    make him sleep and put him in storage until a suitable caretaker is found.¡±

    ¡°Why haven¡¯t youe by to see us before now, and why haven¡¯t our parents ever brought us to visit

    you?¡± Reggie inquired. ¡°And why didn¡¯t anyone ever notice that they hadn¡¯t?¡±

    ¡°Your development has been as fast as is healthy for you, and you weren¡¯t yet ready to meet me.¡±

    Quewanak said as he scratched under his chin. ¡°For that matter, I wouldn¡¯t be taking this opportunity to

    get to know you if you weren¡¯t both psionicly exhausted. Like all psionicists, your subconscious gathers

    far more information than your conscious minds are aware of. And the shared subconscious psionic

    awareness that the two of you have is amazingly insidious. It¡¯s almost impossible to blockpletely; it

    just slowly and passively seeps into everything around it. Even I am not certain that I could block it

    experience. essing even a tiny fraction of my thoughts or memories would surely have a harmful

    effect on your minds.

    ¡°And no one noticed because it was simply more convenient for me that way. I try not to affect the

    minds of others without their permission, but sometimes I don¡¯t notice it. I¡¯ve developed some rather

    remarkable new abilitiestely, and I¡¯m still not entirely used to them. I¡¯m sure you both can understand

    that.¡±

    ¡°Ha! We sure can!¡± Helemiaughed. ¡°And I want you to know that I wouldn¡¯t have faced death with

    dignity. I¡¯d have been biting and scratching until thest second!¡±

    ¡°I believe you would have, little one.¡± Quewanak chuckled.

    ¡°That was really no fun at the end of the fight when we realized we were going to lose.¡± Reggie said,

    angry at the memory. ¡°I don¡¯t want to take even a little chance that it could happen again. Who can give

    us the intensive psionic warfare training?¡±

    ¡°Ah, the question I¡¯ve been waiting for!¡± the dragon grinned. ¡°With your permission, I¡¯ll begin teaching

    you myself while you dream, the next time you and your parents are all deeply asleep. It should only

    take an hour per lesson, and you won¡¯t even remember it. You¡¯ll just know it happened, and you¡¯ll retain

    the training.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Helemia said as she and Reggie stood. ¡°We should go home now, and tell our parents

    what we¡¯ve been doing.¡±

    ¡°Yes. But I want you to know something.¡± Reggie told the dragon with a nasty little grin. ¡°Now that I¡¯ve

    thought about it for a while, I¡¯m d you don¡¯t treat us like babies just ¡®cause we¡¯re babies, like

    everyone else does.¡±

    ¡°Thank you. I¡¯ll bid you goodnight then, and leave you by your house.¡± Quewanak told them with a

    warm smile, and a momentter they were in their back yard, and he was gone.

    When their parents heard what they¡¯d experienced, Mark got so upset that he resorted to a Tranquility

    spell to steady his nerves, for the first time in many months.

    As a mercy to their elders, the twins stayed close to home for the next week.

    PART 7

    On Thirdday of that week, Talia and Mark were outte helping build coastal fortifications on the east

    side of Hiliani.

    Alilia stayed home with the babies, since she was eight and a half months pregnant. After the evening

    meal they curled up on one of the Mark-sized sofas for a nap, but didn¡¯t sleep. They stayed rxed and

    cuddled up together for over an hour anyway.

    Then Alilia softly spoke. ¡°I wish my daughter was like you. You had already contacted Talia two months

    earlier in her pregnancy than this, and it was so beautiful Linking with you then. I¡¯ve tried to contact her

    myself, but I can¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°We can feel her mind, but we haven¡¯t really contacted her, and she can¡¯t initiate contact with anyone

    else yet.¡± Reggie told her. ¡°She¡¯s not like us. I think she¡¯d have to have a twin to be like us. But we

    could help her just a little bit, and then we could Link with her, and then you could Link with her through

    us.¡±

    ¡°Ah, sweet gods but that would be beautiful!¡± Alilia sighed. ¡°But what changes would you have to make

    in her, and how sure are you of the safety of the work?¡±

    ¡°Well look; this is our psionic sense of her.¡± Helemia exined as she deepened the Link. ¡°See this

    part? This is her psionic senses. It¡¯s still sleeping, kind of, and it doesn¡¯t have enough¡­ energy, I guess

    you¡¯d say, to wake up. So we¡¯d put a little energy in there; it¡¯d look like this, see? You see how that part

    of her would then be like everyone else who uses psionics? It¡¯s pretty safe, it¡¯d only take a little bit of

    energy, and we¡¯ve thought about it a lot. We didn¡¯t think you¡¯d let us mess with her mind, so we didn¡¯t

    ask. But we can do it.¡±

    ¡°Hmm. Show that to me again from beginning to end, and slow it down to about a quarter, and give me

    more detail.¡± Alilia asked.

    The twinsplied. ¡°It wouldn¡¯t be a permanent change.¡± Reggie exined as Alilia experienced their

    simtion. ¡°As soon as we stop putting the energy in, she won¡¯t be able to do it anymore. Until she

    grows enough to be able to do it on her own, anyway. But if we do this for her a lot, I bet she¡¯ll be able

    to do it by herself a lot sooner.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s amazing. And brilliant.¡± Alilia quietly marveled, her eyes closed as she concentrated on what

    they were showing her. ¡°The precision of it is¡­ chilling, actually. However did you think of this?¡±

    ¡°The technique of it is a psionic attack that Quewanak showed us.¡± Helemia casually informed her.

    ¡°When you¡¯re doing it to attack someone, you put a whole lot of energy in there, and it burns our their

    psionic senses. But we¡¯re only gonna put such a little bit there, it would take ten times as much to hurt

    her at all. She just needs a little spark in the right ce, so this connection here can work, see?¡±

    ¡°Amazing.¡± Alilia breathed, and found herself torn between caution and yearning.

    ¡°We promise we won¡¯t hurt her, Aunt Alilia.¡± the twins told her.

    Alilia heaved a sigh, and nodded. ¡°All right. Do it as slowly and as carefully as you can, and we¡¯ll

    monitor her well-being as carefully as we can while you do it.¡±

    ¡°Okay. Here we go.¡± Helemia nodded.

    A few momentster, Reggie reported; ¡°Okay, it worked, we have her. Wow! Hello Valentia, you¡¯re

    gonna be¡­¡±

    Suddenly he cracked upughing so thoroughly that he could no longer form words, not even psionicly.

    ¡°What is it?!¡± Alilia asked in worried confusion.

    ¡°We¡¯ll tell youter.¡± Helemia told her with a snicker. ¡°Get ready, we¡¯re gonna Link her with you. Got it?¡±

    ¡°I have her!¡± Alilia marveled, smiling with wondrous joy and closed eyes as she caressed her tummy.

    ¡°Oh, my sweet darling, it¡¯s so beautiful to meet you! I love you so much, my beautiful baby!¡±

    ¡°She likes it, but she¡¯s getting confused.¡± Helemia reported. ¡°There¡¯s too many of us for her. Take a firm

    but gentle grip on the Link, and we¡¯ll back out of it. We¡¯ll just keep giving her the energy.

    ¡°There. Do you still have her?¡±

    ¡°I do! Oh thank you, thank you so much!¡± Alilia smiled.

    ¡°You¡¯re wee, Aunt Alilia.¡± Reggie giggled. ¡°We love you a lot. Valentia too.¡±

 Chapter 32

    Chapter 32

    Part 7

    ¡°And I love you!¡± Aliliaughed, so full of joy and love that tears filled her eyes.

    For more than half an hour they continued rxing on the couch; Alilia in wordless emotional

    That¡¯s how Mark and Talia found them when they returned home.

    ¡°Hello my loves, how are you doing ?¡± Mark asked as he and Talia picked up Reggie and Helemia, and

    snuggled in beside Alilia.

    ¡°Just take a Reading of me, lovers.¡± Alilia smiled. ¡°It¡¯ll be easier than exining it.¡±

    ¡°Oh! Oh wow!¡± Talia eximed as she cast the Reading.

    ¡°Exactly!¡± Alilia giggled. ¡°These wondrous children have exceeded our expectations yet again. And now

    that you¡¯re here, maybe Reggie can tell me what he found so funny earlier? And how did you know I

    would name her Valentia? I hadn¡¯t even decided yet.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a prophecy.¡± Reggie giggled.

    ¡°Oh? And what if I decide to name her something else?¡± Alilia teased.

    ¡°You won¡¯t.¡± Reggie confidently dered.

    Alilia opened her mouth to reply, then reconsidered it. ¡°You¡¯re right. I won¡¯t.¡± she chuckled. ¡°Valentia. It

    fits her too well to choose another name. But I¡¯m sure it wasn¡¯t her name that had youughing like

    that. You said she was going to be something. What?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d rather not say. It¡¯s embarrassing.¡± Reggie admitted as he blushed a bright pink.

    ¡°Oh? Well if you don¡¯t tell me, I¡¯ll tickle you until you do!¡± Alilia dered, and did so with vigor, eliciting

    peals of helplessughter from the squirming baby.

    ¡°All right, enough! I¡¯ll tell you!¡± he called.

    ¡°Ha! You¡¯re lucky you can surrender by psionics!¡± Helemia teased with a giggle. ¡°She was getting you

    too good for you to talk otherwise, if you could talk that is!¡±

    ¡°Tell me now, or I¡¯ll get you again!¡± Alilia warned with a grin, her fingers poised over his ribs.

    ¡°Okay, okay! She¡¯s my destined love! She¡¯s going to be my wife!¡± Reggie giggled. ¡°I told you it was

    embarrassing!¡±

    The three adults were thunderstruck into speechlessness for a very long moment.

    ¡°But¡­ But, she¡¯s your half-sister!¡± Talia protested.

    ¡°Hey, it¡¯s a prophecy, I didn¡¯t choose it!¡± Reggieughed. ¡°You can pretend it¡¯s not true if you want, but it

    won¡¯t matter. Whether it¡¯s in twenty years or twenty thousand, sooner orter she will be my wife. It¡¯s

    our destiny. She¡¯s my destined love, and I¡¯m hers.¡±

    ¡°Well that¡¯s good news, I guess.¡± Mark chuckled a momentter. ¡°It means we know you¡¯ll both be fine

    at least until you¡¯re old enough to get married. With the demonsing, that¡¯s a good thing to know.¡±

    This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.

    ¡°And who¡¯s my destined love going to be, prophecy boy?¡± Helemia asked as she reached over to tickle

    Reggie.

    ¡°How should I know?!¡± heughed, pushing her hand aside and trying to tickle her back. ¡°I don¡¯t just get

    a prophecy whenever I want to, you know!¡±

    ¡°Tell me tell me tell me tell me tell me!¡± Helemia demanded as the tickle contest turned into a wrestling

    match and spilled off the adults¡¯ps onto the couch beside them. ¡°I¡¯m gonna keep asking until you tell

    me tell me tell me tell me!¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t!¡± heughed as they struggled. ¡°I don¡¯t know so I can¡¯t¡­¡±

    Suddenly they both froze. Then Helemia gave a squeal of anguish that was almost a scream as she

    climbed off the sofa as fast as she could and ran to the twins¡¯ shared bedroom.

    ¡°Helemia?!¡± Talia inquired with sudden worry as she set off after her daughter.

    Mark and Alilia looked to Reggie with concerned eyes.

    ¡°It¡¯s her secret and I won¡¯t tell it.¡± Reggie dered with determination, then his expression became

    more introspective.

    ¡°Well how about that. I¡¯m an oracle.¡± he softly dered.

    ¡°So you did get a prophesy about her destined love? You know who it is?¡± Mark asked. ¡°And there¡¯s

    nothing else wrong with her?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s just upset, she¡¯ll be okay in a while. But yah, I saw who it is. And as I said, I won¡¯t tell. If you

    tickle me about this one, I¡¯ll just get mad.¡±

    ¡°Huh.¡± Mark grunted, having no other response.

    ¡°The answer you got to her question,¡± Alilia inquired, ¡°Was it cryptic and hard to figure out?¡±

    ¡°No. I just suddenly knew exactly who it was, and then Helemia did too.¡±

    Alilia¡¯s brows furrowed as she considered his answer.

    ¡°Why? Why does that matter?¡± he asked.

    ¡°There¡¯s never been an oracle who could give a in and easily-understood answer to any question

    about the future. And there¡¯s been very few who could reliably give an answer of any kind on demand.

    Often they¡¯ll take days or weeks to get an answer, if they get one at all.

    ¡°When we get out of this time-bubble, Tithian and the other precognitives in The Just Alliance¡¯s

    Intelligence Brigade will definitely want to spend some time with you. The information you could give us

    might be decisive in theing struggle.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± Reggie said, for want of any other reply. A few momentster he had a big yawn, and climbed off

    the sofa.

    ¡°We¡¯ll have to stop giving Valentia the energy pretty soon. We¡¯re getting pretty tired.¡± he told Alilia.

    ¡°I understand. And again, thank you, thank you both so very much.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re wee. We¡¯ll do it as much as we can, until she can do it herself.

    ¡°Goodnight.¡±

    Mark reached out and picked him up, and hugged him with all his love. ¡°Goodnight, my son. I¡¯lle in

    with you and say goodnight to your sister.¡±

    Alilia joined their hug, and gave Reggie a kiss on the cheek.

    Mark stood and carried him to the bedroom, where they found Talia sitting on the low bed with Helemia

    in her arms. The girl had stopped crying, but still had tear tracks down her plump baby cheeks.

    ¡°Don¡¯t ever have a prophesy about me ever again.¡± she told her brother without looking.

    ¡°I¡¯ll try not to. I¡¯m sorry.¡± he replied as Mark sat with him beside the girls, and put an arm around Talia.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Helemia nodded. ¡°Goodnight then.¡±

    ¡°You sure you¡¯re all right?¡± Mark asked her as he gently caressed her cheek with a fingertip. ¡°You know

    you can always talk to us about anything, and we¡¯ll always do anything we can to help you.¡±

    ¡°I know. I¡¯ll be fine.¡± Helemia replied. ¡°There¡¯s nothing anyone can do to help, and I don¡¯t want to talk

    about it.¡±

    ¡°Okay. Sleep well then. We love you both with all our hearts.¡±

    ¡°We love you too.¡±

    Mark and Talia tucked their children into bed, and left them with kisses on their cheeks.

    Before they fell asleep, Reggie and Helemia shared a few private thoughts.

    ¡°We should start trying to act more normal.¡± Reggie decided. ¡°They¡¯re really getting very worried about

    us.¡±

    ¡°Yes. You¡¯re right.¡± Helemia agreed. ¡°But do you really think we can?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°Reggie didn¡¯t say who it was?¡± Talia asked as they paused in the living room and Mark gently lifted

    Alilia¡¯s heavily pregnant form from the couch.

    ¡°No, and he said he¡¯d never tell, that it was her secret.¡± Mark told her as they went to their bedroom.

    ¡°Helemia said she¡¯ll never tell too.¡± Talia said, a bit of worry apparent in her voice as she closed their

    door behind them.

    ¡°I admit I¡¯m burning with curiosity to know who it is!¡± Alilia said as they climbed into bed. ¡°And I don¡¯t

    know what to think about my daughter being destined to marry her half-brother!¡±

    ¡°I think we should ask them to keep that information private.¡± Mark mused as they cuddled up to him.

    ¡°There¡¯s still a big taboo about that sort of thing amongst most of the races. But ording to thews

    that¡¯ve been put in ce, at my suggestion no less, it¡¯s not illegal unless someone can show that

    there¡¯s been harm caused by it. If it¡¯s really their destiny and there¡¯s nothing we can do about it, it¡¯ll be

    up to them to decide when the timees whether they want to keep their rtionship secret, or face

    the disapproval of most of the world.

    ¡°Personally, I¡¯m not going to go out of my way to either encourage it or discourage it. If it happens, I

    suppose I¡¯ll do my best to support their decision.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I suppose that¡¯s the best we can do.¡± Alilia nodded.

    ¡°Sweet source above!¡± Talia quietly cursed. ¡°Reggie was no more than embarrassed to admit that he

    was destined to marry his half-sister! I can¡¯t imagine who Helemia could be destined to love, that would

    produce such a reaction from them about it!¡±

    There was silence for a minute as they considered that.

 Chapter 33

    Chapter 33

    Part 7

    ¡°Bah!¡± Mark said with a shake of his head. ¡°It¡¯s useless and worrisome to even specte about it. We¡¯ll

    know eventually. In the meantime, here, have a distraction¡­¡±

    In less than ten seconds, all three of them were quite distracted indeed.

    Three weekster, after a pregnancy that would have been of about average duration for a human but

    was short for an elf, Alilia went intobor.

    She had felt heavy and lethargic that day, and had slept through most of it. The third hour past midnight

    found her in the living room, slowly rocking in a rocking chair, sipping tea and lightly drowsing

    asionally, unable to truly sleep as the rest of the household slumbered.

    She felt her first contraction and smiled, knowing it for what it was. She knew that there was no real use

    in waking anyone at this stage, and waited for it to pass.

    Her next three contractions came about ten minutes apart andsted about a minute each, and

    seemed normal.

    Her fifth contraction, however, struck her suddenly, and with a power that took her breath away as her

    entire torso clenched. She knew it shouldn¡¯t be so sudden or so strong, but she wasn¡¯t very concerned

    yet, initially. But the contraction only got stronger and stronger, long past when it should have ended.

    By the third minute she was in absolute agony, and would have called for help if she¡¯d had any

    attention left for it. As the fifth minute approached she felt a bolt of panic as she realized that she was

    in serious trouble. She hadn¡¯t been able to take a breath for almost two minutes.

    Within her, unborn Valentia struggled against the crushing feeling of the abnormal contraction. First it

    had frustrated her, then angered her, then filled her with a fear that grew constantly along with the

    increasing pressure. As the baby began feeling serious pain, her sense of magic awoke in her with a

    rush like an explosion.

    In the moment when Alilia tried to call for help psionicly, Valentia struck out against the crushing

    pressure with Force and Fire. Alilia¡¯s call became a psionic scream that jolted everyone in the

    This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.

    settlement wide-awake in an instant.

    Mark and Talia Translocated into the room without thinking about it, a secondter the twins ran in, and

    a second after that Yazadril, Nemia, Hilsith, and Yzell appeared.

    They found Alilia screaming and writhing in the rocking chair, and every bit of her prodigious power was

    being used by her inherent Healing ability. Her hands were sped on her stomach, which writhed like

    a wildcat was trying to tear its way out from inside her. Two or three times every second one of the

    Force bolts erupted through her skin in a spray of blood, or a small Fireball burned its way out from

    within with a huge puff of stinking smoke, and each time Alilia¡¯s body Healed the wound in a fraction of

    a second. It was a testament to the power of her maternal instinct that she didn¡¯t strike back at her

    daughter. Seven small fires were already burning in the room, and it was quickly filling with smoke.

    It took all of those arriving a moment to ovee their shock and horror at the scene and decide on

    action. It was difficult to even think over Alilia¡¯s continuing psionic scream.

    ¡°Help me Mark!¡± Hilsith cried as she Linked with him, and she guided him as he cast spells around the

    baby that cut her off from the fields of magic power, and vented her spells high in the sky above the

    house. Then Hilsith began treating Alilia.

    Reggie and Helemia Linked with Valentia and did their best to calm the panicked baby girl.

    Yazadril extinguished the fires and vented the smoke.

    Talia and Nemia did their best to calm andfort Alilia.

    And Yzell Examined the baby while assisting the twins¡¯ effort to calm her by casting a Tranquility on

    her, then treated her pain and self-inflicted burns, which were already mostly Healed by her own

    inherent Healing ability. As soon as the baby stopped thrashing and stilled for a fraction of a moment,

    Yzell delivered her by Translocation.

    Fifteen seconds after Alilia started screaming, the crisis was over and her daughter was born. It took a

    while after that for everyone to get their racing hearts and panicked breathing under control. Hilsith

    continued to treat Alilia for the next fourteen minutes, as her body was still undergoing abnormal and

    painful contractions, though her daughter was no longer in her womb.

    Yzell continued treating Valentia, even as she washed the baby and wrapped her in a soft nket. She

    stood close, holding the babe until Hilsith was finished and was satisfied with the health of both mother

    and child.

    Finally, at Hilsith¡¯s direction, Mark gently picked Alilia up from the ruined rocking chair with Levitation,

    and Translocated to the bedroom with her, Yzell, and Valentia. Alilia was gently bedded down and her

    daughter ced at her breast.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± she whispered in exhausted joy as she caressed her baby. ¡°All of you, thank you.¡±

    In another ten minutes they were both asleep, but everyone else was far too wound-up from the

    excitement to want to go back to bed.

    At Hilsith¡¯s request, Mark sent a quick Speaking to the awakenedmunity, announcing Valentia¡¯s

    birth, but asking all but the closest family to postpone visiting until further notice, due to the delicate

    condition of mother and child after a difficult delivery.

    Hilsith and Yzell remained at the bedside, monitoring their patients. Talia, Nemia, and Helemia made

    tea and snacks, while Mark, Yazadril and Reggie cleaned and Restored the living room. Shortly Dalia

    and Bezedil arrived with sparkling wine for the congrattory toasts. Only then did it truly strike home

    in Mark¡¯s emotions that he had a new daughter, he was a father again, and now he had three children.

    Reggie and Helemia fell asleep in their parents¡¯ arms an hourter, but the rest stayed up and waited to

    meet the new baby when she and Alilia woke.

    That happened an hour before noon, and a few minutester Hilsith and Yzell said it was fine for small

    groups to visit in the bedroom, if they were calm and quiet.

    Valentia was born weighing two and a half kilograms with entirely elven-looking features. Her delicate

    hair was already ten centimeters long, and most of it was the same white-blond as Alilia¡¯s, but there

    were ck streaks almost three centimeters wide from her temples and over her ears that curved down

    in back, and almost met at the base of her skull. Her eyes were wide open and focused, and were the

    same deep dark violet as Helemia¡¯s.

    Mark, Talia, Reggie, and Helemia were the first toe in for a visit. They all climbed onto the huge

    bed, and for a minute it was a gentle chaos of hugs and kisses, congrattions and greetings, love and

    pride andughter. Then Mark and Talia spent a minute giving Alilia more serious kisses, while Reggie

    and Helemia gave the newborn girl the energy she needed for her psionics, and spent a while getting

    to know their new sister.

    ¡°Her hair is amazing.¡± Mark murmured with a grin a few minutester as he watched his children

    interacting. ¡°Mostly your color, with some of mine.¡±

    ¡°It is beautiful, isn¡¯t it?¡± Alilia agreed with a loving smile. ¡°What¡¯s most peculiar is that this white isn¡¯t my

    natural hair color, this came upon me gradually when I was about thirty-two hundred years old. Before

    that my hair was medium brown, like most of my people. Almost exactly the same color as Bezedil¡¯s,

    actually.¡±

    ¡°Could you kids show me what you do to spark Valentia¡¯s psionics?¡± Mark asked.

    ¡°Sure, here.¡± Reggie replied as he Linked and passed the information. ¡°And then you have to do this to

    initiate a Link with her. Wow, you got that right away!¡±

    ¡°Your father might not have Povon¡¯s psionic strength, but when ites to fine control work, he¡¯s

    second to none.¡± Talia proudly proimed. ¡°Why don¡¯t you let him do it?¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Helemia nodded. She and Reggie let Mark gradually assume what they were doing with

    Valentia as they carefully withdrew. ¡°That was sure smoothly done, Father.¡±

    ¡°Thanks.¡± Mark chuckled, then gave his tiny new daughter his full attention as he picked her up and

    cradled her in his arms. ¡°Hello Valentia, I love you very much.¡±

    A minuteter Alilia asked; ¡°May I?¡± and Mark brought her into the link.

    After a while Talia told Mark; ¡°Alilia and Valentia need some time with you.¡±

 Chapter 34

    Chapter 34

    Part 7

    She gave him a quick kiss, gave another to Alilia, and climbed off the bed. ¡°Come on kids, let¡¯s go

    make lunch.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Alilia told her with deep gratitude and affection.

    ¡°You¡¯re wee.¡± Talia smiled as she backed out the door and closed it behind her.

    ¡°No disturbing them for at least an hour.¡± she told all the guests with a firm smile. ¡°Wife¡¯s orders!

    ¡°Meanwhile, I¡¯ll share my Reading of thest few minutes, so you can see Valentia second hand, at

    least.¡±

    About forty minutester they heard exmations andughter from the bedroom. Fifteen minutes after

    that, Mark came out and closed the door behind him.

    ¡°Wow.¡± he grinned as he epted a huge te of lunch from Talia. ¡°Valentia may not have the psionics

    that the twins have, but she¡¯s sure a handful when ites to magic! I took her in the girls¡¯ closet to

    check her glow, and she¡¯s a bit brighter than either of the twins in both wizard¡¯s and warlock¡¯s power.

    And her use of both kinds of magic is as intuitive as Alilia¡¯s use of wizardry! A few minutes ago she got

    ufortable and tried to sit up, found that she couldn¡¯t, and took off out of the bed with self-

    Movement! She was tumbling every which way and got scared for a second before I could catch her,

    and she almost hit the ceiling. So then we had to teach her how to fly properly with Levitation to hold

    the weight, and she got it down in about seven minutes! I mean, she can¡¯t even think in words yet, and

    her sense of magic is fully ready to go! You show her something, and she gets it almost right away! I

    think she only had trouble with lifting herself steadily at first because she was using both kinds of power

    without thinking about it, and it wasn¡¯t¡­ working out even, I guess you¡¯d say. But then she got it

    bnced, and about three minutes after that she wasn¡¯t even thinking about it anymore.

    ¡°It¡¯s weird. I checked what she was doing, to see whether her spell style is more like wizardry or

    magecraft, and it¡¯s like neither. She just wants to do it and it happens. It¡¯s like her will acts on her power

    directly. The closest thing to it I¡¯ve ever seen is the way dragons use Levitation and Movement to assist

    their wings in flight without even realizing they¡¯re doing it most of the time. They just decide to fly the

    way we decide to walk, and they do. Same with Valentia. Alilia probably did the same thing at that age,

    and I guess she still does, sort of, but she also knows all the formal spells for what she does since she

    has an incredible magical education, and that affects how she casts a lot.

    ¡°Anyway, Alilia¡¯s Shielding Valentia¡¯s power and running her through all the basic safety lessons right

    now. She just shows a dangerous spell, and then casts a convincing Illusion of the consequences of it

    going wrong, then shows how to do it right. Valentia gets it right away.

    ¡°Alilia says they¡¯lle out for lunch in an hour or so, once she¡¯s gone through the most important

    stuff.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s gonna be fun to y with!¡± Helemia dered. ¡°We love her a lot already! Wow, if she¡¯d have

    been with us when those Sylvan tried to get us, they¡¯d sure have got a big surprise!¡±

    ¡°I think they got enough big surprises as it was.¡± Talia chuckled.

    ¡°Yup! We got a pretty good feel for ¡®em that day, and none of ¡®em have evere back to this ind

    since then, or even flown over it!¡±

    ¡°They don¡¯t fish in the channels within thirty kilometers from here either!¡± Reggieughed. ¡°Anyway, I¡¯m

    done my soup, can I have some pie?¡±

    An hourter Alilia opened the bedroom door wide, and Valentia slowly floated out about a meter and a

    half above the floor, giggling all the way. Alilia slowly walked just behind her, grinning proudly and

    watching carefully. Valentia floated close to Mark andughed at his expression as she stopped in mid-

    air and started rocking back and forth and side to side.

    ¡°She¡¯s not having trouble holding still, she just thinks it¡¯s fun.¡± Helemia informed everyone.

    ¡°If you hold your arms out to her like this, she¡¯lle over for a hug.¡± Mark said, and caught her as she

    floated over. ¡°She likes hugs, don¡¯t you Valentia? Yes you do!¡±

    A third of a minuteter he felt her pulling away and let her go. Dalia held her arms out for a hug with a

    big grin, and Valentia floated over to her.

    ¡°I can hardly control my urge to grab her before she falls.¡± Nemia said with a shake of her head. ¡°It¡¯s

    hard to believe that¡¯s safe.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll have her if she falls more that a finger length.¡± Alilia smiled between bites of sd and

    tbread with jam. ¡°And you¡¯re ready to catch her if I don¡¯t, aren¡¯t you? And so is every adult in this

    room. Nine pre-cast Levitations, all just waiting to catch her at a moments notice. I can almost feel

    them all!¡±

    ¡°Father, can you cast Flight on me and let me show you where I want to go like I was doing it myself?¡±

    Reggie eagerly asked.

    This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.

    ¡°Sure Son, it¡¯ll be good training too.¡± Mark chuckled. ¡°I¡¯ll do my best to show you exactly how it would

    feel if you were doing it yourself. Just set a Command Link like this, and then you¡¯re basically casting a

    draw spell on my power.¡±

    ¡°Oh Father, you¡¯re so wonderful!¡± Reggie marveled as he slowly rose off the floor.

    ¡°Mother, me too?!¡± Helemia begged as she bounced in her seat and pped in eager anticipation.

    ¡°Of course Dear.¡± Talia smiled, and soon there were three babes floating around the room andughing

    themselves silly, and it was so contagious that all the adults soon had tears ofughter rolling down

    their cheeks as well.

    Valentia just floated around in a semi-fetal position, and never let herself get tipped over more than

    halfway in any direction, since she didn¡¯t like having her head lower than her body. The twins were

    soon holding their arms out and swooping around like they were Scout.

    Then Reggie and Helemia started chasing each other around the room and ying tag, and their

    parents put a stop to it.

    ¡°Just work on your control while Alilia finishes eating, and we can all go flying together outside.¡± Talia

    told them.

    ¡°Oh wow, thanks!¡± Helemia shouted as she flew over for a hug. ¡°You¡¯re the best parents ever!¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe we never thought of this before!¡± Reggie eximed as he slowly turned somersaults in

    the air. ¡°We could¡¯ve been using magic for a long time!¡±

    ¡°I suppose you could¡¯ve.¡± Mark admitted. ¡°But you fill so much of your time with learning and training

    already, and you¡¯re so amazingly far ahead of where we thought you¡¯d be at your ages, we never

    thought to offer! And you¡¯re amazing me yet again! You¡¯ve got the Flight spell down already, even if you

    can¡¯t ess your own power yet!¡±

    ¡°You show it to us real good so it¡¯s easy to understand. Everything else is psionic, and we¡¯re getting

    pretty good at that.¡± Helemia imed with a smug smile.

    Things seemed to be going well for the next five days, but then Yzell dropped byte in the evening,

    when Mark, Talia, and Alilia were just getting ready for bed.

    ¡°Wee, Yzell.¡± Alilia said as she answered the door. ¡°What brings you by sote?¡±

    ¡°I waited until the children were asleep, both mine and yours.¡± Yzell exined as she came in and was

    seated in the kitchen. ¡°I have concerns, and I think your children shouldn¡¯t hear them until you¡¯ve

    discussed the issues.

    She turned to Alilia. ¡°Before Valentia was born, she kicked and squirmed as much as any pre-birth

    baby, and was developing well, physically. Since she was born and discovered her magical abilities,

    she almost never moves. She uses Flight for all her motion and Movement to bring her anything she

    wants, and uses Levitation even when she¡¯s sleeping because it¡¯s morefortable.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± Alilia admitted. ¡°Every minute she¡¯s awake, one of us have to be watching her constantly and

    closely, as she¡¯s constantly bringing things over to look at them, or trying to fly away out the doors or

    windows. It¡¯s been a fun but frazzling experience for all of us. It helps that the twins can be trusted to

    watch her for a moment here and there when we need them to.¡±

 Chapter 35

    Chapter 35

    Part 7

    ¡°Ah. Well there¡¯s not much I can suggest for that, but that¡¯s not what¡¯s concerning me.¡± Yzell replied.

    ¡°The thing is this; without any physical exercise, without even the minimal muscr efforts made in

    lying down and moving to be morefortable, Valentia¡¯s body is wasting away. Her constant use of

    Levitation is particrly harmful. She hasn¡¯t gained any weight since she was born, in fact she¡¯s lost a

    bit. All of her muscles and tissues are atrophying. You need to get her physically moving and

    interacting and exercising, and soon, or there will be permanent affects, both in her wasted physique,

    and in herck of any ability to control it in order to move normally.¡±

    She turned to Mark and Talia. ¡°Realizing that about Valentia prompted me to realize a simr fact about

    the twins. They never speak or sing, or make any vocal sounds whatsoever. They use psionics for

    everything. I haven¡¯t really thought about it because they aren¡¯t yet at the age when most babies start

    to talk. But when the rest of their physical abilities and development are so far ahead of normal, it¡¯s

    obvious that their vocal development is falling far behind. Except for the asional cry when they stub

    their toes or whatnot, their only vocalizations areughter. I worry that if they don¡¯t start talking and

    singing soon, they never will.¡±

    ¡°Hmm. I¡¯m sure Valentia won¡¯t react well to being forced to stop using magic for everything, even for a

    moment.¡± Alilia thoughtfully stated. ¡°She has a nasty temper. And I¡¯m sure she will need to be forced;

    she won¡¯t give up magic just because we ask her.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll very slowly and gradually cut her off from the field of power, starting right now.¡± Mark decided. ¡°She

    doesn¡¯t have much reserves, and in about an hour she¡¯ll run out, and so will her Levitation. Then she¡¯ll

    at least get a normal night¡¯s sleep. She¡¯ll be mad about it when she wakes up, but she won¡¯t be able to

    do anything about it but fuss and cry, which should be good for her. That¡¯s what babies normally do

    when they¡¯re angry anyway. We¡¯ll just have to be very patient and pleasant with her at all times, and

    start doing the physical training with her that you girls did for the twins when they were born. We¡¯ll give

    her as much physical y and attention as we can, to keep her moving and distract her from the fact

    that she can¡¯t use magic.

    ¡°Once she gets her fitness back, we can start letting her use magic again for a specific time at the end

    of each day, then cut her off again when she goes to sleep so she¡¯ll sleep normally. She won¡¯t like it,

    but as long as we¡¯repletely consistent about it, she should eventually get used to it and ept it.

    Once she can understand that we¡¯ll let her use magic as long as she stays physically active, we should

    be okay.

    ¡°We¡¯ll talk to the twins tomorrow about talking and singing. I don¡¯t know how they¡¯ll feel about it, but at

    least they can understandmon sense when they hear it. I¡¯m sure we can convince them of the

    wisdom of developing all of their abilities; their vocal abilities included.¡±

    ¡°All right then.¡± Yzell smiled as she stood. ¡°I expected it would take longer to find practical solutions for

    my concerns, but I shouldn¡¯t be surprised. You¡¯d think I¡¯d be used to you by now, Mark Longstrider. Of

    course, your n will have to take into ount the fact that it will be quite some time before Valentia

    will sleep through the entire night, or stay awake through the entire day.¡±

    Text content ? N?velDrama.Org.

    ¡°Oh we¡¯re fully aware of that, believe me!¡± Mark chuckled. ¡°But her longest sleep period is usually when

    we go to bed.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯ll wake for her feeding and diaper change about four hours past midnight.¡± Alilia stated a smile.

    ¡°So we¡¯ve got about five and a half hours before the excitement starts.¡±

    ¡°She is going to have the champion of all temper tantrums.¡± Talia nodded. ¡°But we¡¯ll all deal with it, I¡¯m

    sure.¡±

    ¡°Thanks foring by, Yzell.¡± Mark told her with a smile as he showed her out. ¡°And as always, thanks

    for all your help. You¡¯ve been a treasure.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, all of you.¡± Yzell countered with a grin. ¡°I gain valuable research information every time I

    ¡°Give our regards to your family!¡± Talia added as Yzell left.

    Mark sat down on a sofa to think about what they¡¯d learned, and Talia and Alilia climbed onto hisp

    and joined his contemtions.

    ¡°Bah. I can¡¯t think of any improvements to your n.¡± Alilia said as she stood. ¡°Let¡¯s get some sleep.

    We¡¯ll need it.¡±

    As it happened, Valentia only let them have four hours of rest. Then they had to face The Ordeal Of

    The Screaming Baby, whichsted for five hours until Valentia went back to sleep. They were to face it

    again whenever she was awake for the next two weeks, except for the four hours they allowed her to

    use magic every evening.

    Fortunately, she was asleep when the twins woke for breakfast the next morning, giving their parents a

    chance to discuss speaking and singing with them.

    Mark led the discussion, and started by going over what Yzell had said the night before.

    ¡°I don¡¯t see that it makes any difference.¡± Reggie shrugged when Mark was finished. ¡°I mean, so what if

    we don¡¯t talk with our voices? Using psionics works way better. I can even sing to everyone at a

    gathering at once that way, if I wanted to, even when the hall¡¯s full of everyone in the settlement. I could

    never sing loud enough for everyone to hear me if I used my voice, and if I could, it would be way too

    loud for everyone who was close to me.¡±

    ¡°True, and if you have to sing to the whole gathering, that¡¯s a good idea.¡± Mark nodded. ¡°But if you want

    to sing to just a few people, it¡¯s better to use your voice.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Reggie countered.

    ¡°For the joy of actually doing it.¡± Mark chuckled. ¡°If I wanted to, I could cast a spell that would y the

    harp for me, but it would never be as fun as actually ying it myself, with my hands and fingers.

    ¡°I hate trying to talk.¡± Helemia stated, sounding irritated. ¡°And we have tried. We sound stupid, and it

    hurts my throat.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s only because you haven¡¯t done it at all, and you waited too long before you tried the first time.¡±

    Mark exined. ¡°Now it¡¯ll be harder because you waited so long, and the longer you wait, the harder

    it¡¯ll be. I¡¯m sorry we never thought to work on this with you sooner. But as Yzell said, if you don¡¯t start

    talking soon, you might never be able to.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care.¡± Helemia resolutely dered. ¡°The unicorns don¡¯t talk either; they use their psionics for

    everything just like us, and everyone thinks that¡¯s just fine.¡±

    ¡°Because that¡¯s what¡¯s normal for a unicorn.¡± Mark patiently exined. ¡°But consider how everyone

    would feel if a unicorn learned to talk with his mouth, like we do. A lot of people who don¡¯t have much

    magic or psionics would really appreciate it, like the humans, the Selkies, and a bunch of other races.

    But if that unicorn decided that he would only talk with his mouth from now on, including when he was

    only with other unicorns, his people would think he was so strange that they¡¯d find it disturbing to be

    around him. And that¡¯s the biggest problem with never talking with your mouths; it makes people

    ufortable, and it makes some people feel like you¡¯re showing off, and lording your superiority over

    them.

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t matter very much here and now. You¡¯re still so young that you have no responsibilities,

    and everyone here knows you, so they give you some ck. But if you ever want to work closely with

    people who don¡¯t know you, or hold any positions of responsibility in the wider world after we leave

    here, you¡¯ll find it a lot easier if ordinary people can rte to you.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s right you know.¡± Alilia added. ¡°A lot of people wonder how he became leader of the world, and not

    Somonik or Tithian or someone like that. And a lot of the reason is that people can rte to him.

    Everyone feels like he¡¯s one of them, from the mightiest dragon to the smallest gnome, and they feel

    like they understand him.¡±

 Chapter 36

    Chapter 36

    Part 7

    ¡°I am not the leader of the world, and you don¡¯t have to be either.¡± Mark patiently insisted. ¡°We¡¯ll be just

    as proud of you if you decide to just live here like we do now for as long as you want. But knowing you

    two, I imagine you¡¯ll want to do more than that.¡±

    ¡°Of course we will.¡± Helemia giggled. ¡°Karzog says that it¡¯s his honorable duty to follow the example of

    greatness that his parents have set, and I guess we¡¯ve kinda picked that up from him.¡±

    ¡°I still find it hard to believe in the outside world.¡± Reggie revealed with a smile and a shake of his head.

    ¡°I mean, I know intellectually that it all has to be true; it¡¯s impossible that everyone in the settlement

    could all have the same false memories, and the knowledge we got from the Sylvan is consistent with

    what we¡¯ve learned here. I know that you¡¯re the ruler of Serminak, and that Povon and Kragorram

    actually run that continent for you from day to day, and that as Key To The Just Alliance, you¡¯re the

    senior advisor to every government in the world. That you and Mother co-rule these inds and Hilia

    and a bunch of other little properties, and that the two of you are considered key to theing nexus of

    the world, and crucial to the future of everyone. That Alilia here rules the forest elves as Princess of

    The People of Life, and Grandfather Yazadril is Prince of The High People and First Commander of all

    the world¡¯s armies, and Reen is really a Prince of Sming, and second in line to be Emperor there.

    ¡°But I tell you, even knowing all that, I still don¡¯t really believe it, emotionally. I don¡¯t even really believe

    in the time-bubble. I guess I probably won¡¯t until we leave here and I see it all for myself. It all just

    seems too incredible. To me, you¡¯re just our parents, and we¡¯re just settlers on an ind in the middle

    of nowhere.¡±

    ¡°Ha, I believe it, and I can¡¯t wait to get out of here and see it all!¡± Helemiaughed. ¡°And you are so the

    leader of the world, Father, everyone here agrees with it. And they¡¯re all sure that everyone else out in

    the world does too, even if you¡¯re not choosing to exercise any authority right now. You¡¯re not the ruler

    of the world, but you are the leader, at least until everyone thinks there¡¯s someone better to listen to.¡±

    ¡°And if you check our memories for the asion when he became leader of the world,¡± Talia directed,

    ¡°You¡¯ll find that he achieved it with two speeches that he gave at the founding meeting of The Assembly

    of The Just Alliance. It was his speaking ability that was crucial that day, along with brilliant and original

    thinking. Not his power, not his psionics, not his might, but his speaking, and the sound of it was just as

    important as the words he said; the artistry of his tone and rhythm and cadence and delivery added

    greatly to the persuasiveness of what he was saying. That should tell you that if you choose to not

    learn to speak physically, you¡¯ll be giving up a valuable and perhaps crucial ability.¡±

    ¡°Wow. That¡¯s a very good point. I never thought of that.¡± Reggie admitted.

    ¡°Yah, me too.¡± Helemia nodded. ¡°All right, we¡¯ll start working on it, but not here, or anywhere where

    anyone could hear us, even identally. We¡¯ll do it out by the goat shed.¡±

    ¡°Yah, I sound like an idiot when I try to talk, and I hate that.¡± Reggie agreed.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure you sound like adorable little babies, which is what you are!¡± Talia smiled as she reached over

    and ruffled his hair a bit.

    ¡°Not in any of the ways that really matter, we¡¯re not.¡± Helemia insisted.

    ¡°Maybe not.¡± Mark smiled as he finished his breakfast. ¡°We¡¯ll go work on your speaking as soon as

    you¡¯re finished eating. If you try hard, we¡¯ll work on magic after that.¡±

    PART 8

    Themunity grew quickly. A monthter Equemev announced that she and Sran would be having

    a colt in about a year¡¯s time, a week after that two of their unicorn friends announced the same, and a

    week after that Mandri and Dren¡¯s son Sollen was born. The human families had produced another

    eight children by then, and even one of the elven couples announced that they would have a child.

    In the twentieth month since the settlement¡¯s founding, Nek Sibook and Prince Reen of Sming were

    married in a lovely ceremony in the gathering hall, with the entiremunity in attendance, and the

    next day she announced that she was with child.

    Reggie and Helemia worked on speaking and magic with the same dedication they showed in every

    other subject. Valentia was difficult and moody for the first three weeks after she was born, until she

    finally seemed to ept the schedule her parents set for her. She gradually resumed normal physical

    Original content from N?velDrama.Org.

    activity, and her vitality and muscle control increased quickly. After that her physical skills seemed to

    improve as quickly as the twins¡¯ had. She walked at six weeks and ran at eight, and started talking

    shortly after that. The twins always had time for their baby sister whenever she wanted their attention.

    They spent a lot of time ying with her or in psionic contact with her, or both, as did Alilia, Mark, and

    Talia.

    Four months after they started learning to talk, the twins were fluent enough that no further lessons

    were needed. At that point they began a conscious campaign to earn the affection of themunity.

    First they visited their great-grandmother Sana at her restaurant early in the morning, and asked her to

    teach them how to bake cookies. She was delighted to show them, and they spent most of the day in

    the restaurant¡¯s kitchen with her, baking cookies and getting to know most of their female rtives on

    their father¡¯s side and a few of the males, all of whom worked in the restaurant for a few hours each

    day. They insisted on paying for all the cookies, over eighteen hundred of them, with a gold chip they¡¯d

    earned from their parents for looking after their animals. Then they promptly gave cookies to everyone

    in the restaurant, staff and customers both.

    They had time before supper to stroll around the settlement giving cookies and apologies to everyone

    that Helemia had intentionally frightened months before, and they made sure to use no magic or

    psionics as they did so.

    The next day they visited every household in the settlement, giving away cookies and inviting everyone

    to their first birthday party in the gathering hall the following week. They asked that no-one give them

    birthday presents, since otherwise it would seem self-serving to arrange their own birthday party and

    invite the entiremunity to it.

    By that time their magic lessons had progressed to the point where Mark and Talia felt safe in letting

    them have a trickle of power to use on their own; enough to lift about forty-five kilograms each by

    Movement with either wizard¡¯s or warlock¡¯s power. This allowed the two of them working together to

    Move almost a hundred and eighty kilos with both sources of power, and that was more than enough to

    be useful. They spend most of their days that week making themselves helpful to whoever could use

    some help with whatever they were doing. This included such tasks as weeding gardens, harvesting

    vegetables, maintaining boats and fishing gear, household chores, and assisting in the construction of

    hidden shelters and fortifications.

    They raised their standing in themunity quite considerably that week, among the adults and teens

    at least. They still didn¡¯t spend any time with the other children, who they considered to be frivolous and

    boring, and who didn¡¯t really like them much anyway.

    They awoke early on the morning of their first birthday almost giddy with excitement, and hurried

    through their breakfast.

    Helemia was just a bit smaller than average for a one-year-old elven baby, while Reggie was already

    the size of an average two-year-old-human. Their hair was already twenty-three to twenty-six

    centimeters long, and she wore her ck locks loose and flowing, while he tied his blond mane back

    with a leather thong at the base of his skull. They looked adorably cute in matching deer hide pants,

    boots, and short tunics, ented with a few small areas of swirling abstract beadwork. They¡¯d spent

    theirst five evenings nning their birthday party and preparing for it with the adults who were

    helping them with it, and as soon as they finished breakfast they put their n into action.

 Chapter 37

    Chapter 37

    Part 8

    First they ran to Sana¡¯s Kitchen to help with initial food preparation for a feast for the entiremunity,

    then they met Mark, Talia, and Alilia at the gathering hall where they helped put up ribbons, bouquets of

    flowers, and other physical decorations, then they all went back to the restaurant for lunch and to help

    with the cooking for another two hours. Then Reggie and Helemia spent an hour psionicly calling small

    birds from all over the inds, then back to Sana¡¯s to help with getting all the food into Preserving

    serving dishes, Moving it all over to the hall, arranging tables and chairs, and finalizing the meal¡¯s

    presentation. Finally, the twins cast the decorations that were Illusions, by themselves. These included

    three brilliant rainbows just beneath the dome of the hall that met in the center, and an amazing

    fountain consisting of an ornately carved white marble bowl three meters wide and a meter deep with

    three marble dolphins in the middle spouting streams into the air from their mouths, but the fluid they

    spouted in artistic andplex patterns up to three meters high wasn¡¯t water, it was liquid fire.

    ¡°That is just beautiful.¡± Alilia marveled.

    ¡°It is.¡± Mark agreed with a grin. ¡°I don¡¯t know if I¡¯m more impressed by your ability to maintain such

    ¡°Thank you Father.¡± the twins chorused together with proud smiles.

    ¡°And that¡¯s thest of it.¡± Talia nodded with satisfaction. ¡°We¡¯re a few minutes early, but we might as

    well open the doors, and you can start weing your guests.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Helemia agreed as she Levitated two meters and took onest long look around the great

    room. Everything seemed in order, so they went to the main entrance and swung the doors open wide

    with Movement.

    Reggie and Helemia took their ces just to one side of the doors, and the adults let the twins greet

    their guests. After all, the entire event had been the twins¡¯ idea, and it was definitely their production.

    The adults knew that it was the twins¡¯ing-out party, and their birthday was only a handy excuse for

    their social debut.

    There were already about thirty people visiting and chatting outside the hall as they waited for the

    doors to open, and the first to enter and be greeted were Dalia and Bezedil, who had been babysitting

    Valentia.

    Within twenty minutes everyone had arrived and been greeted and seated. The dragons and unicorns

    lounged on the floor, as did many of the children and younger adults of the humans and elves, using

    the avable cushions forfort and leaving some of the chairs empty.

    Reggie and Helemia Levitated three meters so everyone could see them. ¡°Hello, and wee to our

    party!¡± Reggie called as they smiled and waved. It sounded a bit strange to hear Trade Common

    spoken so well in his baby¡¯s voice, and he augmented his volume with a simple spell, but there were

    many there who were d he hadn¡¯tmunicated with psionics.

    ¡°First, we¡¯d like to say that we did as much of the work for this party as we could ourselves, but we

    couldn¡¯t have done it without a lot of help. We¡¯d like to thank Great-Grandmother Sana and everyone at

    Sana¡¯s Kitchen for all their help with the wonderful feast we¡¯ll all be enjoying in a little while!¡±

    They led a round of apuse for those worthy cooks, who smiled and waved in acknowledgement.

    ¡°And we¡¯d like to thank our wonderful parents, all three of them, for their help with everything!¡±

    Mark and Talia smiled and waved to acknowledge their apuse, but Alilia was so moved that she

    merely blushed bright pink and smiled as she wiped a tear away. The twins had never called her a

    parent before, and she was surprised at how moved she was to hear them publicly dere it. Talia

    chuckled at her emotion, and gave her a supportive one-armed hug. She returned it, and cuddled

    Valentia, held in her other arm, a little closer.

    ¡°We¡¯ve noticed some of you being very careful around our fire fountain, but you don¡¯t need to worry

    ¡®cause it¡¯s just an Illusion. After dinner there¡¯ll be games and dancing, and during dinner we¡¯ll be

    listening to the music of The Orchestra of The High People, taken from one of Mother¡¯s memories. But

    first, we¡¯ll listen to a quintet from Heartwood ying Flying In The Morning, apanying the birds of

    Hiliani in dance!¡±

    As he said thatst, everyone heard the rousing song begin, seeminglying from all around them,

    and hundreds of small birds flew in the open windows and began flying an intricate dance of swirling

    and darting patterns in time to the music. They flew well out of reach of their audience, but asionally

    flew low enough that some could faintly feel the wind of their passage, proving that they weren¡¯t an

    Illusion. The song was a short one, only a bit more than three minutes long, and as it ended the birds

    flew back out the windows and dispersed.

    Everyone gave an enthusiastic round of apuse, and as the orchestral piece began, Helemia called:

    ¡°Eat well everyone, we made sure there was lots!¡±

    The tables with the food were arranged around the perimeter of the room, including bushel baskets of

    sds for each of the unicorns. There was even a whole beef for the dragons, which was little more

    than a snack for the four of them, but it was a tasty one. The beef was whole and raw, but the twins

    were provided it with an Illusion of having been prepared and roasted for the benefit of the rest of the

    gathering, which the dragons did not perceive.

    As containers and serving dishes were opened all over the room, the twins made their way to their

    table, which was on the far end of the group of long seating tables from the main doors, nearest to

    where the dragons lounged. Everyone served themselves except for the youngest children, which

    included the twins, and Mark carried a tray with four tes along the serving tables while Talia loaded it

    with their meals.

    ¡°Mmm, this is so good!¡± Karzog growled in Draconian to Reggie and Helemia while tearing off a

    mouthful of beef. ¡°Thank you! Domestic animals are always so tender!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re wee!¡± Reggie psionicly replied in the samenguage, since the humanoid vocal apparatus

    was incapable of doing justice to the spokennguage of dragons. He allowed only the dragons and his

    table group to hear him. ¡°Changing the smell of it for everyone is one of the hardest things we¡¯ve done.

    But then, we didn¡¯t have to cook it, so it¡¯s still less work in total than everyone else¡¯s meals.¡±

    He and Helemia were d for the conversation, since they were the only ones seated at their table

    while everyone else served up.

    As a politeness, Yazadril cast Tongues for Draconian on himself and the rest of their tablemates while

    serving himself six meters away, and disyed no outward sign that he had done so.

    Text content ? N?velDrama.Org.

    ¡°So let me see if I understand all this.¡± Povon chuckled, continuing in Draconian. ¡°You two are changing

    the sight and scent of this beef for everyone else here, and you¡¯re casting the Illusions of the rainbows

    and the fire fountain, and you¡¯re broadcasting the soundponent of a Reading of Talia¡¯s memory of

    the orchestra ying, all simultaneously? Will you still be able to eat without spilling on yourselves

    while doing all that?¡±

    ¡°Sure!¡± Helemia replied with a mental giggle. ¡°We¡¯ve applied automated physical spell techniques to

    psionic spells. Once we start one it keeps going on its own. The hardest part was doing the bird dance,

    though you really only have to get a good control on the flock leaders, and the rest follow them. And the

    hardest part of that was making sure that none of them pooped while they were in here!¡±

    She continued after everyone got a good chuckle from that. ¡°We¡¯re getting pretty good at psionics since

    Quewanak started training us in psionic warfare. We¡¯ve adapted his techniques to almost everything

    we do. For instance, the way we¡¯re changing the smell of the beef is the reverse of a method for hiding

    on a battlefield after a defeat, only instead of covering our smell and making us smell dead, we¡¯re

    covering the dead smell of the beef and making it smell to humanoids like that other roast beef over

    there. And we¡¯re covering all of the smells of the meat from the unicorns, raw and cooked both.¡±

 Chapter 38

    Chapter 38

    Part 8

    ¡°He¡¯s taught us to hide our psionics a lot better too,¡± Reggie added, ¡°So most people here think this is

    all being done with physical magic instead of psionics, and none of them know when we¡¯re Reading

    them anymore. I think we could fool everyone here now except you, Quewanak, and Father.¡±

    ¡°Yah, thanks again, Quewanak!¡± Helemia told him with happy sincerity.

    ¡°You are most wee.¡± Quewanak responded in a throbbing snarl as he delicately ripped a wful of

    beef from the carcass. ¡°Your psionic ability is unprecedented, especially at your ages, and your training

    with it may prove crucial to the war effort. And with the exception of your father, you¡¯re easier to train in

    Draconian psionic techniques than any other non-Draconians I¡¯ve perceived. Likely this is due to your

    early Linking with Kragorram.¡±

    ¡°Probably, that¡¯s how we know how to speak Draconian, anyway.¡± Reggie agreed.

    Copyright by N?v/elDrama.Org.

    ¡°I think the fact that they inherently use two kinds of power probably helps too.¡± Mark opined as he and

    Talia took their seats. ¡°They and Valentia are the only non-dragons that do that, as far as I know, and

    we know that psionics uses magic from Yazadril and Alilia¡¯s research.¡±

    ¡°True, though we now know that psionics is done in a different part of the brain from physical magic.¡±

    Yazadril contributed. ¡°Tithian¡¯s team figured that out. And we corrted her findings with a survey of

    when psionic development urs. It¡¯s almost always before or after the development of physical

    magical ability, they¡¯re almost never simultaneous, regardless of race.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s obvious here.¡± Reggieughed. ¡°Me and Helemia don¡¯t have magic yet, and Valentia doesn¡¯t

    have psionics yet. She¡¯s close though, she¡¯ll get it pretty soon. I just hope we get magic soon too.¡±

    ¡°Ah, the impatience of youth.¡± Povon teased. ¡°You¡¯d best slow down some, or we¡¯re likely to run out of

    things to teach you long before our time here is up!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a chance we¡¯re willing to take.¡± Helemiaughed. ¡°In the meantime, pass that pickle sauce

    please!¡± she finished in spoken Trade Common.

    They let their meal upy most of their attention for a while.

    When almost everyone was finished eating and the symphony they were listening to had reached its

    finale, the twins Levitated three meters to address the room again, and Helemia spoke.

    ¡°We¡¯ll have dancing and music now, and we¡¯ll also be having a one-turn badra tournament. Everyone

    who wants to y gets one turn to score for the tournament. You can keep ying after everyone¡¯s

    yed a turn, but only your first turn counts for the tournament, and Nek Sibook, who¡¯s our local badra

    champion, will be our referee. We¡¯ll have some nice prizes for the best five scores at the end of the

    party.

    ¡°After the dancing and the tournament, Reggie and I will perform a sequence of Illusions for your

    entertainment.

    ¡°We¡¯ll give out the prizes and end the party at four hours to midnight, because by then it¡¯ll almost be our

    bedtime! Have fun!¡±

    The assembly gave them a chuckle and a round of polite apuse, and jaunty music was heard by all.

    Soon couples were moving to the dance floor, and a crowd formed around the badra wall.

    A casual game of badra was usually eight turns, while a tournament game was sixty-four turns. A

    single turn of badra was to roll two eight-sided dice, and throw two small balls at the eight graduated

    holes in a wall in a vertical row that featured the smallest hole at the top worth eight points, and the

    so to get the maximum score of sixteen required a great deal of both skill and luck. This ensured that

    almost everyone had a chance to win the tournament, so it was a good choice of format to ensure

    broad participation.

    Everyone gathered to watch after Povon, Kragorram, and Karzog surprised all by announcing that they

    would take a turn for the tournament. Since the dice were too small for them to manipte with their

    hands and no magic was allowed, Nek allowed that they could roll the dice by cupping their hand over

    the dice table and shaking the whole table like a dice cup. When they took their turns, eachid down

    on their bellies with their chins on the throwing line.

    Disying amazing dexterity, Kragorram took a ball from Nek¡¯s hand between the w-tips of his

    forefinger and thumb, closed one eye, and made his toss with a short flick of his wrist. Both his throws

    were very close to their targets, but both missed the hole.

    ¡°I am satisfied.¡± he stated with a smile as he epted congrattions for his effort. ¡°My throws were

    could bepetitive.¡±

    ¡°Considering that your throw was like me trying to throw a grain of fine salt, I think you did pretty good!¡±

    Nekughed.

    ¡°Set one on the floor for me please?¡± Povon asked, then showed that her hands were so much smaller

    than Kragorram¡¯s that she could pick up the five centimeter wide ivory ball between the pads of her

    fingertip and thumb, and she threw with a motion simr to his. She made both of her throws, but had

    only rolled a six and a three.

    Karzog¡¯s hands were small enough that he could throw in an almost-human manner, and he made his

    throw at the six hole, but narrowly missed the eight.

    Then Sran and three other unicorns queued up for their turns. Sran delicately shook the dice in a

    cup with his mouth and tipped it onto the table, showing a one and a seven. He dried his lips on the

    towel provided for people¡¯s hands, picked up the ball in his mouth, sealed his lips around it, and blew it

    toward the wall with a sudden puff of breath. It popped out of his mouth with significant velocity, and

    into the one hole, but his shot at the seven missed so high that it went into the six hole.

    After taking their turn at the badra wall, the twins spent an hour and a half circting, saying hello to

    everyone, epting their thanks for the party, and offering their own thanks when everyone wished

    them happy birthday.

    Then they spent an hour ying darts, and showed that they werepetitive with some of the best

    yers there. Though they didn¡¯t run up to the line for their throws, since that officially wasn¡¯t allowed in

    the rules, their full-armed motion like throwing a spear was still very unique and surprising to see, given

    their sizes and that most humans didn¡¯t take up the game until their teens.

    Everyone made further inroads in the bounteous feast for their evening meal, then Reggie and Helemia

    rose to speak again.

    ¡°We¡¯d now like to show you an entertainment, by casting an Illusion on that quarter of the wall on that

    side, so everyone close to there will want to move back a bit so they can see the whole thing.¡± Reggie

    instructed.

    ¡°What we¡¯re gonna show you is known among the dragons as The Greatest Challenge Ever Fought.

    Way, way back about forty-five million years ago, when the only intelligent races were the dragons and

    the unicorns, the two races fought a war, and after the war, some of the dragons wanted to change the

    way their government worked, and make a permanent peace treaty with the unicorns. Some of the

    other dragons didn¡¯t want that, and there were a lot of fights about it.

    ¡°Even back then Somonik, who is Most Noble, was already twenty-four million years old. He was

    already one of the most famous dragons, and he was one of the best fighters. He was in favor of the

    peace treaty, and he let everyone know he was ready to fight about it.

    ¡°Kergok was a brown dragon who was the toughest fighter that was against the treaty, and he epted

    Somonik¡¯s challenge. He was about the same size as Somonik, and was thought to be a little stronger

    with his fire, but a little weaker with his magic. He was thirty-one million years old, so he had the edge

    in experience, but he wasn¡¯t as aggressive as Somonik was then. They were well-matched, and no one

    could say who would win.

 Chapter 39

    Chapter 39

    Part 8

    ¡°They both knew that whoever won, it would make a big difference on whether all the dragons agreed

    with the treaty or not. So they agreed to fight on the ins of Xervia a month after Kergok epted the

    challenge, so everyone could go there and watch. But no one got to watch the whole fight, because it

    eat and get a drink of water, and maybe take a quick nap, but other than that they fought continuously

    for one thousand, one hundred and five days. The dragon who was Eldest when they fought made all

    the spectators go home to hunt, or they¡¯d have eaten everything in central Xervia by the time the fight

    was over, and that¡¯s why no one got to see the whole thing. But almost all of them watched as much of

    it as they could, and they stayed about four hundred meters away from the fighters all the time so

    everyone knew there was no interference. After it was over, Readings were taken from almost

    everyone that watched it, and a continuous record of the whole fight was edited together from the best

    views avable at any given moment. Because of that, the view of the fight changes a lot, and it¡¯s

    mostly a flying fight seen by flying spectators, so be careful if you haven¡¯t flown much or you have a

    weak stomach, because parts of it might make you dizzy.

    ¡°Millions of years after the fight, Somonik watched the edited Reading of the spectators¡¯ views, and

    Quewanak got that memory from him at the founding of The Just Alliance, and we got it from

    Quewanak.

    ¡°Now since itsted for three years, we can¡¯t show very much of it. We¡¯re going to show the first nine

    minutes, the best ny-three minute sequence, and thest twenty-one minutes.

    ¡°We begin.¡±

    He and Helemia floated back to their seats and closed their eyes in concentration as the Illusion began,

    and a window covering a quarter of the interior wall of the hall opened into elsewhere and elsewhen.

    Somonik was soaring about a hundred and fifty meters above the rolling ins, and Kergok

    approached from the north, flying hard and making good speed. Millions of other dragons surrounded

    them, keeping their distance. First there was only the sound of the wind and their wings, then Somonik

    growled menacingly, Kergok snarled in reply, and as the distance between them closed to thirty meters,

    both cast spells while making short-range Translocations to avoid the other¡¯s attack. That set the tone

    for the entire first sequence. The hall was filled with the cacophonous sound of mighty energies

    released; the roar of fire, the crack and crackle of lightning, the boom of great explosions, and the

    indescribable report of unidentifiable magics. The nine-minute sequence was spectacr, but neither

    dragon managed to injure the other due to their phenomenal abilities to Shield from attacks, to dodge

    and duck with amazing and sinuous agility, and to Translocate almost instantly. Both were incredibly fit,

    healthy, and vigorous. At a moment when they¡¯d paused for a few seconds to catch their breath and let

    their power recover a bit, the sequence ended.

    ¡°The next sequence was about neen monthster.¡± Helemia announced, and the Illusion resumed.

    Their battle was rejoined after a hunting break, and both dragons were covered in wounds; a few fresh,

    most in various stages of healing, but both still seemed mostly unimpaired. The fight was no longer

    over ins, and had moved to a region of rocky foothills. They cast far fewer spells than they had at

    the beginning, and never Translocated, instead relying on their fire, their flying skills, their ws, and

    their teeth. When they came close to the ground they often snatched up boulders to throw at one

    another. The skill and agility they disyed in both fighting and flying was awesome, and everyone in

    the hall was captivated. Finally thebatants¡¯ post-break burst of energy was expended, and it

    became a slower-paced and more grueling battle. The sequence ended.

    As the next sequence began it was seen that both dragons were covered in blood and horrible wounds.

    Neither flew, or had any energy left for spells, or fuel for their fire. They bit and wed and wrestled as

    they rolled across the ground in a furious tangle, desperate to finally finish their conflict. Every once in a

    while they held each other at bay for a few seconds as they panted and struggled to ovee their

    almost-debilitating fatigue, then suddenly the thrashing, roaring, snarling fight would resume. Even at

    thiste stage of the fight, the incredible toughness of dragons was readily apparent, and most of the

    bites and w strikes failed to prate the other¡¯s scales, unless they scored on a previous wound.

    Finally Somonik managed to get a good bite on Kergok¡¯s entire muzzle, mping the brown dragon¡¯s

    mouth closed and blocking his nostrils. Kergok frantically thrashed and wed for more than four

    minutes before he lost consciousness fromck of breath. To administer the coup de grace, Somonik

    held his fallen opponent¡¯s mouth wide open with one foot and one hand, summoned thest dregs of

    his magical energy, and cast a small explosion straight down Kergok¡¯s throat that blew out the back of

    his neck.

    Somonik raised his head and roared his victory to all the dragons who were watching, and they roared

    back in almost-hysterical approval. Then he slowly copsed to the ground in bone-deep exhaustion,

    panting as fast and as deep as it seemed possible for him to do.

    The sequence ended, the window faded, and there was not a sound in the gathering hall of Hiliani.

    Helemia spoke into the silence. ¡°Somonik. He is Most Noble.¡±

    Another moment passed, and just as someone started to p, Reggie made a strange sound like:

    ¡°Heeack!¡± as he experienced a shuddering cringe. His voice was still being magically augmented, so no

    one could fail to notice it, and the surprising sound interrupted the beginning apuse.

    ¡°Wow! I just had a prophecy!¡± heughed a secondter.

    ¡°And it¡¯s a good one!¡± Helemia giggled. ¡°Let¡¯s make it special!¡±

    ¡°Okay! Just a second¡­¡± he said as he closed his eyes in concentration.

    ¡°Yah, that¡¯s good! But with this!¡± Helemia enthused.

    ¡°Nice!¡± he nodded as his eyes opened and he grinned.

    They rose to four meters above the floor and moved apart and across the great room, until they faced

    Text content ? N?velDrama.Org.

    each other and the center of the great room with a third of the room¡¯s width between them.

    Reggie altered the properties of his voice¡¯s magical re-enforcement, giving it the reverberating and

    echoing quality heard in Quewanak¡¯sir, and increasing the volume by half.

    ¡°Know that our enemies will name her The Fire,¡± he announced with all the grim dignity his infant¡¯s

    voice could deliver.

    As he spoke Helemia raised her arms, threw her head back, and cast the Illusion of a roiling Fireball

    two meter wide directly above her,plete with an initial crackling sound and the roar of a st

    furnace pulsing at its limits.

    ¡°For she shall incinerate their multitudes in the congration of her wrath!¡± Reggie continued as the

    fireball grew quickly, gaining width faster than height, until it was a boiling cloud of fire above her filling

    half the room to the ceiling. Images appeared in the swirling inferno; a burning dragon striking at prey, a

    herd of ming unicorns galloping across ins of fire, the Strike Force of The Just Alliance assembled

    before the Wards of Venak.

    ¡°Know that our enemies will name me The Storm,¡± Reggie intoned as he matched Helemia¡¯s movement

    and cast a perfectly realistic Illusion of an undting two meter high tornado that grew as quickly as

    her fire had. ¡°For I shall destroy their hordes with the hurricane of my vengeance!¡± The tornado became

    a mighty cyclone, filling half the room, with smaller tornadoes dropping down from the swirling, ck,

    lightning-shot cloud.

    Then the edge of the fire met the edge of the hurricane. The fire seemed to ignite a spreading ze at

    the edge of the storm, while the cyclone seemed to suck the fire into itself. The sound of their disy

    was quite loud now, and he raised his voice to match it.

    ¡°Together, we will be The FireStorm, for we will pursue those who would y us unto their very

    homeworld, and we will destroy it utterly!¡±

    The fire and the cyclone joinedpletely, bing a hurricane of fire and lightning that filled most of

    the volume of the huge hall. It roared and swirled and pulsed and crackled for five more seconds, then

    abruptly disappeared with a loud ¡®POP¡¯ that left silence in its wake.

 Chapter 40

    Chapter 40

    Part 8

    This time the apuse and amazed cries swept the room without interruption, and the twins bowed in

    the air with huge grins, then floated over to the badra wall and stopped in mid-air beside their parents.

    Eventually the apuse faded as Nek handed Reggie the paper with the tournament results, which he

    held up over his head.

    ¡°Okay, we have two people who scored fifteen, and they¡¯ll y another turn to determine first and

    second ce.¡± he announced. ¡°We have six people who scored fourteen, and they¡¯ll each y a turn to

    determine third, fourth, and fifth. And just so they know what they¡¯re ying for, Helemia will now reveal

    the prizes.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re giving away these five diamonds, with the biggest for first ce and the smallest for fifth.¡±

    Helemia announced as she held up the five glittering stones on the palm of her hand. Mark cast a

    Revealing to focus closely on them and disy them to the room, and the crowd murmured in

    appreciation of the value of the prizes. Thergest was almost a centimeter and a half wide, the

    smallest a third that size. ¡°We¡¯ve found a ce where there¡¯s a lot of these, and after we¡¯ve picked up

    all the easy ones we¡¯ll tell everyone where it is, in case they want to dig a mine or something. We¡¯re

    using some of the small ones to pay for the feast tonight. And we¡¯d like to thank Kragorram for helping

    us with cutting and polishing these.

    ¡°Now, could we have the eight finalists step to the wall please?¡±

    Everyone watched the yoffs, aided by a Revealing of the badra wall that Mark cast at three times

    life-size above the ying area. The crowd cheered the high rolls and the good shots, groaned at the

    low rolls and the missed shots, and enjoyed the tension and excitement.

    Reggie and Helemia had hugs to give with the prizes, and once all the winners had been congratted

    and the losers consoled, they addressed the room onest time.

    ¡°We¡¯d like to thank you all foring today.¡± Reggie began. ¡°It¡¯s been a lot of fun, and we hope to do it

    again next year!¡±

    They paused for a short round of apuse.

    Original content from N?velDrama.Org.

    ¡°We mainly decided to have this party because we know we¡¯re strange, weird, and dangerous.¡±

    Helemia grinned, which brought a few chuckles in response. ¡°We¡¯ve tried to act more normaltely, but

    we know it hasn¡¯t helped that much. And we¡¯re probably gonna seem even more strange, weird, and

    dangerous after we start ourbat training, and when we really get going on magic.

    ¡°But there¡¯s lots of people that¡¯re strange, weird, and dangerous that everyone else still likes because

    they¡¯re nice, and they do a lot to help others. I think our father is a good example. Andpared to any

    humanoid, every dragon and every unicorn is strange, weird, and dangerous, but lots of them are still

    well-liked and well-respected.¡±

    ¡°We hope that will include us.¡± Reggie said as he took over the narrative. ¡°We¡¯re already qualified to

    help other people with their psionics, especially Shielding and Illusions, so if anyone wants some help

    with that, or with anything else we can do, just say so and we¡¯ll be d to help. And we¡¯lle back

    here tomorrow to clean everything up.

    ¡°We¡¯ve gotta go get ready for bed now. Goodnight everyone!¡± he finished with a wave and a grin.

    Helemia joined him in waving, grinning, and calling goodnight, then they floated down to Mark and

    Talia¡¯s arms for hugs.

    ¡°The pub will be open in about ten minutes, in case anyone still wants to party!¡± Reen called to the

    room, and most of the young adults seemed to think that was a good idea. The rest of the adults

    gathered their children to take them home.

    As the twins and their family took their leave, the hall was already emptying quickly.

    ¡°I doubt there¡¯ll be any work left to do in the hall by the morning.¡± Alilia chuckled as she walked along

    carrying Valentia.

    ¡°I know.¡± Helemia chuckled. ¡°Balen¡¯s already organizing a bunch of Father¡¯s sworn elves to do it before

    they go to the pub. They still spend half their time trying to think of ways to serve him without being a

    bother about it. But it¡¯s nice of them to help with the hall; I¡¯m d we won¡¯t have to do it.¡± She tilted her

    head to the side a bit and considered her psionic awareness. ¡°Besides, they¡¯re doing it with full-out

    magic, so it¡¯ll only take them a couple of minutes anyway.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t miss much, do you?¡± Talia chuckled, and gave the girl a kiss on her cheek as she walked.

    ¡°Nope. We don¡¯t!¡± Reggie giggled.

    ¡°And we are all immensely proud of both of you.¡± Mark smiled as he gave Reggie a cuddle. ¡°Your

    behavior today was very special. Your maturity and abilities would still be incredible if you were sixteen

    years old. To be as special as you are at your ages seems nothing less than a miracle.¡±

    ¡°Thanks Father. We just seem normal to us though.¡±

    ¡°Yup.¡± Helemia giggled. ¡°And most of the time, everyone else seems slow. And most of ¡®em aren¡¯t really

    trying as hard as they could be. Considering what we¡¯re all facing, they could all work on their training

    more than they do. We did get lucky to have our abilities, but most of our fast improvement is ¡®cause

    we work hard on it.¡±

    ¡°A lot seem to think that if they work really hard, that life won¡¯t be any fun any more.¡± Reggie stated.

    ¡°And that¡¯s just silly. I mean first, it¡¯s not true. I love my life, and getting better at doing things all the

    time is one of the best parts of it. But beyond that, so what if working hard is less fun? If we can¡¯t fight

    good enough to win when the demons get here, it¡¯s not gonna matter much whether we had less fun

    now. And even if the demons weren¡¯ting, everybody¡¯s memory shows that there¡¯s always gonna

    be big problems; storms and earthquakes and volcanoes and droughts and floods and wars and new

    diseases. The longer it¡¯s been since the problem happenedst, the less ready for it everyone gets.

    And when it does happen, the best survive, especially the best families; the ones that are smart and

    strong and work well together. The isted and the weak and the stupid and the really unlucky die, or

    lose everything.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a fact, though I¡¯m surprised you realize that already.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s probably because we know so many old people, and we get their thoughts a lot.¡± Helemia mused.

    ¡°Most of the elves and unicorns here are hundreds of years old, Yazadril and Alilia and Kragorram are

    thousands of years old, Povon is almost thirty thousand, and Quewanak is one hundred and twenty-

    eight million, which doesn¡¯t even seem like it could be real.

    ¡°Anyway, old people see the same kind of things happen over and over again, so they notice it a lot

    more.¡±

    ¡°Speaking of which¡­¡± Mark chuckled as he opened their front door and ducked through it.

    ¡°Surprise!¡± A roomful of people called, just as the room brightened with light and Talia was fully through

    the door with Helemia.

    All of their close family and friends were there, including Equemev, Sran, and the four dragons, all of

    whom were using ¡®cute and fuzzy¡¯ simcrums. ¡°Happy Birthday!¡± They all called as the twins broke

    out in surprisedughter.

    ¡°You fooled us!¡± Helemiaughed. ¡°I can still feel the fake psionic versions of you that you left at your

    houses!¡±

    ¡°Just a little something Povon and I came up with.¡± Yazadril chuckled as Mark, Talia, and Alilia were

    seated with their children on the sofas in the ces that had been reserved for them.

    ¡°It was wise of you to ask not to receive presents at your own party earlier,¡± Yazadril teased, ¡°But those

    of us who love you certainly aren¡¯t going to refrain from giving you birthday presents on your very first

    birthday! And since it¡¯s very seldom that the two of you are surprised by anything, we thought a

    surprise party was the perfect asion to do so!¡±

    ¡°For sure!¡± Reggieughed. ¡°You couldn¡¯t have found a better way for our birthday party to be a

    surprise than by having it right after our birthday party! I¡¯m sure no one expects that!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what we thought!¡± Bezedil chuckled. ¡°Though this second one won¡¯t really be long enough to be

    a party by itself. It¡¯s more of a continuation of the first one.¡±

 Chapter 41

    Chapter 41

    Part 8

    ¡°We know you¡¯ll be ready for bed soon, so we¡¯ll present your gifts now.¡± Nemia said as she cleared the

    low table. ¡°Your gifts are each of a set, and we all contributed equally to making them. Each of us spent

    six hours working on them, each to our own skills, whether that was crafting, spell casting, or polishing.

    ¡°Go ahead Dear.¡±

    Yazadril cast a Summoning that brought the gifts from the home of Sana and Markhan the senior,

    where thest of the work had been done.

    Two baby-sized armor stands appeared with full suits of gleaming steel te-over-chain-mail armor,

    eachplete from boots to helmet, and each equipped with a sword and scabbard, a round shield, a

    lightnce, a bow and a quiver of arrows, and a pouch of the heavy little darts that were designed to be

    propelled by Movement. Each item had a few small but tasteful gold ents.

    ¡°Oh wow!¡± Helemia squealed and pped her hands, just as Reggie said; ¡°Oh excellent, thank you!¡±

    ¡°The swords are apromise design, since we don¡¯t know yet what style you¡¯ll eventually prefer.¡±

    Markhan the senior exined. ¡°They¡¯re light enough to be used with one hand, but have enough

    handle for two. Same with the shields, they don¡¯t have the coverage of a full line-infantry shield, but

    they¡¯ll cover well and they¡¯re still handy enough to use for striking.

    This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.

    ¡°They¡¯re beautiful, all of it!¡± Helemia marveled as she and Reggie bounced from their parent¡¯sps and

    drew their tiny swords.

    ¡°And as you might expect, they¡¯re all rather heavily spelled.¡± Yazadril added with a grin. ¡°Perhaps most

    importantly, they¡¯ll grow with your size and strength. The armor will always fit you, the weapons will

    grow to match your body and hand size, and the bows will increase in pull to match your growing

    strength.¡±

    ¡°Of course the armor has added magical protection, and the weapons have added offensive

    capabilities, but it¡¯ll take you a few days to be familiar with all the spells involved.¡± Alilia smiled.

    ¡°There¡¯s rather a lot of them. When my turn came, they already had so many enhancements that I

    couldn¡¯t think of many to add, so I spent most of the time adding charge and power to the spells.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve been hinting for a while that you¡¯ll want to startbat training soon,¡± Mark added, ¡°So we

    were pretty sure you¡¯d like these.¡±

    ¡°Do we ever!¡± Reggie marveled as he tried the pull of his bow.

    ¡°Thank you all so much!¡± Helemia added as she tried the weight of hernce in her hand.

    ¡°Okay, hugs for everybody, then I¡¯m gonna put on the whole thing!¡± Reggie dered as he reced the

    bow in it¡¯s carry-case.

    The twins each gave everyone a hug and their thanks, then Mark and Alilia helped them into their

    armor.

    As they posed in front of a full-length mirror, Talia had tough. ¡°It¡¯s amazing that you look so very

    dangerous and so adorably cute at the same time!¡±

    ¡°Well as you showed in The Turning of Zarkog¡¯s Commanders,¡± Helemia giggled, ¡°Being very cute can

    be an effective offensive quality!¡±

    ¡°It sure can!¡± Povonughed, remembering. ¡°I wish I¡¯d thought of this get-up then, it would have been

    even easier!¡±

    ¡°You sure do look cute like that, all fuzzy and everything.¡± Mark chuckled.

    ¡°Especially Equemev, you look absolutely adorable like that!¡± Helemia grinned as she took off her

    helmet.

    ¡°Thank you Helemia, but I think Sran looks cutest of all!¡± Equemev teased as she nuzzled Sran¡¯s

    pink mane.

    ¡°So you think Equemev is cuter than me?¡± Karzog teased as hended beside Helemia and gave her a

    yful shoulder-bump, almost knocking her off bnce.

    ¡°Girls are cuter than boys, and unicorns are cuter than dragons!¡± Helemia dered as she tackled him

    to the floor, surprising him, and held him pinned for a moment as she smiled down at him. ¡°But you¡¯re

    always cute, Karzog, even when you¡¯re killing something.¡±

    ¡°Well that¡¯s sweet!¡± Karzog responded as he flipped her over, and they rolled across the floor wrestling,

    apanied by the soft cks of her armor against the hardwood and the sounds of his ws sliding

    as he scrambled for purchase.

    ¡°But I¡¯ll have you know I am not cute when I am not wearing this silly form, I am a mighty and

    conquering hunter! There!¡± he dered as he tied her up with all of his limbs; legs, arms, wings, neck

    and tail. ¡°Got you!¡±

    ¡°You think?¡± Helemia responded as she started tickling him on his ribcage.

    ¡°Ah! Ahhh hahahaha! No fair, tickling is no fair!¡± Karzog protested as he escaped her grasp and took to

    the air.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t hear you listing any rules before you almost knocked me over, you beast!¡± she yelled as she

    took off in pursuit.

    ¡°That¡¯s enough of that!¡± Markughed as he dexterously reached out a long arm and plucked her out of

    the air on her way by. ¡°No chasing each other around the house, you know that!¡±

    ¡°He started it!¡± Helemia used.

    ¡°That¡¯s irrelevant and you know it!¡± Talia chuckled.

    ¡°I know, but he did!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯ll be fun ying tomorrow.¡± Karzog dered with anticipation as hended on Mark¡¯sp beside

    Helemia and gave her a hug. ¡°I¡¯ll be able to y with you with my real body, and with your armor on, I

    won¡¯t have to worry about squashing you identally!¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯ll just have to be careful not to squash you identally!¡± Helemia returned with a grin. ¡°There

    really are a lot of nice spells in this stuff! I could take on a full squad of Sylvan by myself with this on,

    I¡¯m sure of it!¡±

    ¡°Some of the spells are safeties.¡± Alilia pointed out. ¡°Until yourbat training is at least up to a

    professional level, they should prevent you from doing any idental damage. Not to say that¡¯s it¡¯s

    impossible for you to get in trouble with it, but you¡¯d really have to try something quite foolish to do so.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll go through everything tomorrow when you start your training.¡± Mark said as he set her on the

    floor. ¡°For now, take off your armor and put it back on the stands. Then there¡¯s something I want to ask

    you about before bedtime.¡±

    ¡°Yes Father.¡± Reggie said as he took his helmet off.

    When all of the pieces were back on the stand in their proper ces, the twins sat on the edge of the

    low table facing their parents.

    ¡°First, let me say again how immensely proud of you two we all are.¡± Mark began. ¡°Your disys of skill

    today were wondrous, but your disy of character was even better. Your showing of Somonik¡¯s fight

    makes me wish I had the time to watch the whole thing in real time, and maybe after the nexus I will.

    ¡°But what I want to ask about is the prophecy. That was a very important prophecy, if it turns out to be

    true.¡±

    ¡°Yup. It means we¡¯re gonna win.¡± Reggie agreed. ¡°The demons are gonna fear us, and we¡¯re gonna kill

    lots of them, and we¡¯re gonna find their homeworld and destroy it!¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s hope so.¡± Mark nodded. ¡°Now, you obviously chose some very momentous-sounding wording for

    your delivery, and it was very entertaining and dramatic. But what was the exact wording of the

    prophecy?¡±

    ¡°Um, I don¡¯t really get them in a sequence of words, really.¡± Reggie exined. ¡°I just suddenly know

    certain things, and it feels way different from when you just think of something normally, or when you

    get something from someone else with psionics.

    ¡°With that one, I knew the demons would call Helemia The Fire, and they¡¯d call me The Storm, and

    we¡¯ll kill a lot of ¡®em, and we¡¯ll destroy their homeworld. That¡¯s it, really. I don¡¯t even know if they¡¯ll call

    us that because we¡¯re gonna kill a lot of ¡®em, which seems the obvious reason, or for some other

    reason. I don¡¯t know if they¡¯ll call us that and we¡¯ll kill a lot of ¡®em here on Keran, or in the void near

    here, or not until we¡¯re fighting on their homeworld. And I don¡¯t know when any of it¡¯s gonna happen.¡±

    ¡°Ah.¡± Mark nodded. ¡°Well the word I wanted to ask about most is ¡®vengeance¡¯. You said; ¡®I shall destroy

    their hordes with the hurricane of my vengeance.¡¯ That implies that you¡¯ll be killing them not as a

    defensive effort, but in revenge for something they did to us. I¡¯m still hoping we can alle through

    this unscathed; all of us on Keran and The Triax as well. So can you rify that? Was the word or

    concept of revenge or vengeance part of the prophecy?¡±

 Chapter 42

    Chapter 42

    Part 8

    ¡°I hate them Father.¡± Reggie stated grimly. ¡°We¡¯ve relived a lot of Somonik¡¯s memory of the first demon

    war, with enough fidelity to feel like we were there. The demons are the worst thing in reality. They¡¯re

    pure evil, there¡¯s not a trace of good in them anywhere. They were so mean and so foul and so

    intentionally horrifying¡­ Well anyway they were. Even if they never hurt any of us or The Triax, that

    won¡¯t matter to me. I¡¯ll still want to kill them to get revenge for everything they did here before.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡± Mark nodded again.

    ¡°You¡¯re not answering his question.¡± Helemia told Reggie with some intensity. ¡°Was vengeance part of

    the prophecy? I think it was. I¡¯ve Read myself for when you got it, and I got it from you when you got it.

    If you do the same, you¡¯ll see that there was an emotion to it. I could almost feel the emotion of killing

    them, and it felt like revenge.

    ¡°And besides,¡± she continued to Mark, ¡°I hope that we get them all before they can hurt any of us too,

    but we all know that we¡¯d have to be unbelievably lucky for that to happen. Maybe they are just a

    wandering horde of minor demons making their way through the void, who don¡¯t know about the other

    demons that got beat here before. The Triax said they attacked a helpless world with no thinking

    people on the way here, which I think kind of goes with the ¡®wandering horde¡¯ idea.

    ¡°But we don¡¯t believe it for a second.¡± She paused and looked around, meeting every eye there with the

    strange intensity of her gaze. ¡°Me an¡¯ Reggie are pretty certain that the demon homeworld sent this

    horde to get revenge for us beating thest one, and so are all of you. They¡¯reing through the void

    because we already know how to wreck the gate they used to get herest time. And if that¡¯s the case,

    I doubt there¡¯s even one minor demon in that rock. It¡¯ll be full of billions of greater demons and those

    DemonLords that The Triax told us about. It doesn¡¯t make sense to bring any weaklings along for all

    that way, unless they need ¡®em for food. And I doubt that¡¯s the case, since they just ate a whole world

    on the way here.

    ¡°And we think we¡¯re all being incredibly stupid. That is, Reggie and I can¡¯t believe we¡¯re all just waiting

    for the demons to get closer! We should be out there killing them now, all our gods and the Triax at

    least, and the rest of us as soon as possible! It sure seems like all the preparation that the people of

    Keran are doing is for the defensive war after the demons get here! No one is really preparing for war

    in the void except the gods and the Triax! And that¡¯s stupid! Just as almost all war has been fought in

    the air ever since it became practical, so now all of us should be ready to fight in the void! If we¡¯re

    bound to Keran while the demons attack us from the void, we¡¯re as helpless as a deer being attacked

    by a dragon!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s easy to think that way.¡± Quewanak nodded. ¡°The possibility that the demons are indeed the terrible

    and forewarned force that we fear they are is what prevents The Triax from attacking them now, or long

    before now, for that matter. The Triax want all of us in our alliance to be able to strike against the

    demons together, to minimize the chance that they¡¯ll be overwhelmed.

    ¡°Beyond that, the raw power for magices from the sun, and wizards¡¯ magic onlyes from the

    energy of the sun that¡¯s been absorbed and re-radiated by certain rocks on Keran. Most spell-casters

    are helpless once they¡¯ve expended their power, and when they¡¯re far from Keran, there¡¯s nowhere

    to get any more. Only the unicorns, the gargoyles, and a few of the hidden races from Xervia utilize the

    power of the Source directly and purely; even dragons get half their power from the heat of the stone.

    And at the immense distance the demons are from the sun now, the Source supplies only a very tiny

    fraction of the power it delivers to Keran.

    ¡°We think that even the gods might derive most of their power from the sun, and before the Triax

    arrived, none of our gods had ever ventured any further from Keran than the closest of the outer

    worlds. That was far enough for them to confirm that Keran is the only thing circling our sun that has

    life, and there was no reason to go any farther. At the distance that the demons are now, even the gods

    might be severely restricted in their ability, due to the power required to go there and the weakness of

    the Source there.

    ¡°As for preparing our peoples to fight in the void, I can assure you that great efforts are being made to

    do so, but we are at the very beginning of a learning process that is immense. The Triax and the

    demons do it, but they both required many, many millions of years to develop the ability, and almost

    none of their methods will work for us.

    ¡°As cold as it seems, our best strategy against the demons may be the exact opposite of what you

    propose. We would hide the Triax and feign helplessness so that the demons willnd here on

    Keran, where our powers are so very much stronger than anywhere else, without them feeling the

    need tounch any major attacks from the void. Then we would attack them from all sides while the

    Triax attacked them from above.

    ¡°However, that n contains too many huge risks for our poptions. The ns that will be enacted

    will be the bestpromise we can craft between attacking at the greatest possible distance to

    minimize our risk, and attacking at the minimum possible distance to maximize our offensive capability.

    The longer we wait, the greater part of our people will be capable of fighting in the void. But even if we

    halted all the defensive preparations in order to concentrate on void warfare, we would still only be able

    to bring a very tiny fraction of our force to bear in the void. It truly is a huge problem. The distances and

    harshness of conditions in the void are incredibly difficult to deal with, and effectively waging war there

    is many orders of magnitude more difficult.

    ¡°If you truly wish to advance your n, and we would all like nothing better, you need to contribute to

    our ability to fight in the void. That means learning to calcte and engineer forces, materials,

    momentum, energy, and gravity, and inventing new solutions. There¡¯s much to be learned in those

    areas that¡¯s beyond the general education that you¡¯ve received so far.

    ¡°Of us here, Yazadril has the greatest grasp of the rules of reality. I can easily know everything he

    knows, but that doesn¡¯t give me the talent to understand it as thoroughly as he does. He¡¯s also fully

    aware of all the technical challenges that fighting in the void entails. If you decide to do this, learning

    from him directly seems the best course.

    This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.

    ¡°Unfortunately for you, researching void warfare techniques was not part of the research mandate of

    this colony. Many others are working on it, and many of them are doing so in other time-bubbles like

    this one. Our research here has been concentrated on ending the ageing process in humans,

    increasing fertility in elves, achieving immortality, and improving warfare training and defensive

    emcement construction techniques for general poptions on thend and in the air of Keran.

    ¡°These are important researches, and if you choose to join them your efforts are more likely to

    contribute to results. Weck the single most important resource required to research void warfare, and

    that is ess to any of The Triax. Though their techniques are not directly applicable to any of us, their

    experience and general knowledge of war in the void would be invaluable.

    ¡°Conversely, many of the greatest discoveries were made by those who researched in istion. Their

    work is more likely to show originality. So if you truly wish to pursue this, we¡¯ll give you all the help we

    can.¡±

    ¡°Yah, I guess we kind of knew most of that.¡± Helemia admitted. ¡°It¡¯s just so frustrating though! We know

    they¡¯re out there! I just wish we could just go out there right now and burn ¡®em all!¡±

    ¡°We all feel that sometimes, Love.¡± Alilia smiled. ¡°Patience can be a hard thing, especially when the

    future of life on our world may hang in the bnce.¡±

 Chapter 43

    Chapter 43

    Part 8

    ¡°We¡¯d already nned our training and learning for the next year.¡± Reggie said with a slightly-furrowed

    brow. ¡°But we¡¯ll take your advice, Quewanak, and change our ns. When you talked about it, I could

    almost feel from Grandfather Yazadril how much knowledge there is about the rules of reality that we

    don¡¯t know yet. And we need to know how to fight in the void, I mean me and Helemia personally,

    otherwise we¡¯ll never be able to destroy the demon homeworld. Maybe we can figure out some ways to

    do it.¡±

    ¡°An admirable goal in all respects.¡± Mark chuckled. ¡°And now it¡¯s time all three of you were in bed. Say

    This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.

    goodnight to everyone, and we¡¯ll get you into your pajamas.¡±

    It took a while for the twins to say goodnight and goodbye to everyone, since they felt they had to

    include a hug for everyone there, and by the time they were done they were yawning uncontrobly.

    Minutester they were asleep.

    Midmorning the next day found their family gathered in the back yard for the twins¡¯ firstbat lessons.

    ¡°I want that too.¡± Valentia pouted and pointed at the shiny armor the twins were donning.

    ¡°Maybe you¡¯ll get some on your first birthday, like we did.¡± Helemia told her with a smile as she

    tightened a buckle.

    ¡°Or maybe you¡¯ll get something even better.¡± Reggie added.

    ¡°That¡¯s looking good.¡± Mark nodded as he checked the adjustment of their gear. ¡°Reggie, you¡¯ll want

    the dart pouch back a bit, it¡¯ll keep you bnced, like that.¡±

    ¡°Thanks Father.¡±

    ¡°I imagine the first thing you¡¯ll want to work on is the spells in your equipment.¡± Talia began.

    ¡°Actually, no.¡± Reggie grinned. ¡°We got a good feel for the spells and their uses and parameters when

    we were trying it outst night. It¡¯s a lot of information, but after we slept on it and thought about it this

    morning, it all got pretty easy to understand.¡±

    ¡°What we want to work on,¡± Helemia paused for a moment with a mischievous grin, ¡°Is The Skills of

    Visinniria.¡±

    ¡°Excuse me?¡± Alilia inquired, as Mark and Talia seemed taken aback.

    ¡°When you all met the gods for the first time at Hilia,¡± Reggie exined, ¡°The goddess Visinniria made

    some improvements to Ria, the spirit in Mother¡¯s sword. These included Visinniria¡¯s physical martial

    arts skills, both unarmed and with every weapon she used. While they were training in Quewanak¡¯s

    dream, they wondered why the goddess had given those skills to Ria, who couldn¡¯t use them anyway.

    They checked and realized that Visinniria had only given those skills to Ria to stay within the rules of

    The Withdrawal of The Gods, which was still in effect at the time, and didn¡¯t let any gods help any

    people directly. She could give the skills to Ria because Ria isn¡¯t really a person, but really, they were a

    gift for Mother and Father,plete with a divine spell that transfers physical skills so they can be used

    right away, unlike when you learn someone¡¯s moves psionicly and still have to practice them to be any

    good at ¡®em.¡±

    ¡°The skills transference spell was the real prize.¡± Helemia continued. ¡°They used it to teach

    Kragorram¡¯s fighting skills to Povon, and to teach Sran¡¯s skills to Equemev. Mother and father used it

    to learn each other¡¯s skills, as well as Visinniria¡¯s. And Visinniria fought The War of The Segregation

    her whole life until she became a goddess, for over six thousand years, so she was really good.

    ¡°Mother and Father, we ask that you use the skills transference spell to give us all the fighting skills you

    have now. And that you give us the spell.¡±

    ¡°Well, I was kind of looking forward to teaching you the regr way...¡± Mark said as he scratched his

    chin in consternation.

    ¡°We understand that Father, and it would be fun, but really, it would also be a huge waste of time.¡±

    Reggie patiently pointed out. ¡°We¡¯ll still need to practice the skills to develop strength with the moves,

    as well as endurance and toughness. We don¡¯t have much of that yet. And we hope that you¡¯ll all join

    us in practicing and sparring, which will be just as much fun as learning from you the old way.¡±

    ¡°Why do you want the spell?¡± Talia asked. ¡°I assure you, learning the fighting skills of others after you¡¯d

    learned the ones that we have won¡¯t make much difference. We¡¯re already about as dangerous as it¡¯s

    possible to be that way, and we¡¯ve checked that with some of the most renowned fighters in the world.¡±

    ¡°We hope to assume positions of leadership someday, and we have some practical uses for that spell.¡±

    Helemia exined. ¡°Besides, you know that fighters are most likely to injure themselves or their

    training partners when they¡¯re first leaning the skills, and we¡¯d avoid that. And you can trust our

    judgment not to do anything foolish with either the skills or the spell.¡±

    Mark exchanged nces with Talia and Alilia, then shrugged. ¡°Well I can¡¯t think of any practical

    objection, other than dealing with the non-fulfillment of our expectations. Can you?¡±

    ¡°No, I guess not.¡± Talia replied with a shrug of her own.

    ¡°I¡¯ll take the skill set too, since you¡¯re giving it out.¡± Alilia chuckled. ¡°I¡¯m not an amateur when ites

    to physicalbat by any means, but it¡¯s never been one of my strong points, and I could use some

    improvement.¡±

    Reggie initiated a very tight, very private Link between the five of them. ¡°Father, Quewanak is not often

    surprised, and I know his simted demons are victorious in about half of themunity training

    exercises. The next time you are losing badly, you should cast The Skills of Visinniria on everyone at

    once. I bet that¡¯ll turn things around pretty fast, and Quewanak will get a big surprise. Actually, I¡¯m

    surprised you haven¡¯t done it before. You should get the unicorns to all share their skills too. And after

    the exercise, you should get Quewanak to share his skills with Povon, Kragorram, and Karzog. And

    when we get out of the time-bubble, you should do it for everyone in the world. Even the Selkies and

    the gargoyles and the other non-humanoids can all learn their best fighters¡¯ skills. I don¡¯t think there¡¯s

    anything you could do that would prepare us all to face the demons as much as that would, or as fast.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good thinking, Reggie.¡± Talia agreed. ¡°Unfortunately, a person needs a certain minimum level of

    psionic ability before the spell can be effectively cast upon them.¡±

    ¡°Still, they¡¯re right.¡± Mark nodded. ¡°We should be using it on everyone we can, and we haven¡¯t been. I¡¯ll

    even go along with the surprise for Quewanak! As you say, he doesn¡¯t get one very often.¡±

    ¡°All right, get ready.¡± Mark warned them as he prepared the spell. ¡°Here you go.¡± he said as he cast it

    on both of them. ¡°And here¡¯s The Skills of Visinniria.¡± he concluded as he set the spell in their minds.

    ¡°Wow Father, it really works so good when you give us a spell!¡± Helemia marveled. ¡°It¡¯s way easier than

    when we get something from someone else ourselves!¡±

    ¡°Thanks.¡± Mark chuckled. ¡°Did it work all right? You didn¡¯t find it too much to take all at once?¡±

    ¡°I think it¡¯ll take a day or two for some of the fine details to fully sink in, but it¡¯s not ufortable or

    anything.¡± she responded, then grinned. ¡°Now quick, do Aunt Alilia and get your armor on so we can

    start fighting! I can¡¯t wait! This is gonna be so fun!¡±

    ¡°Okay!¡± Markughed as he cast on Alilia, and Talia fetched their armor by Translocation.

    Soon the back yard rang with the sounds of joyousbat, while Ria floated above it all offering

    pointers on tactics and strategy. What the twinscked in strength, endurance, and outright speed, they

    made up for in quickness and enthusiasm.

    Valentia was so distraught at being left out that Mark and Alilia spent a few minutes casting a close

    fitting Shield around her with enough power to make her almost indestructible, and gave it the Illusory

    appearance of armor that matched Reggie and Helemia¡¯s. This allowed her to run through the sparring

    enjoyed immensely. Mark said it was good training for the rest in dealing with distractions on the

    battlefield.

    They kept it up all day, with a pause for lunch. As always, Valentia was allowed to use her magic for

    three hours each evening beginning at the fifth hour after noon. She had the elven time sense, and

    began chanting; ¡°Magic time! Magic time!¡± over and over in anticipation a couple of minutes before it

    began.

 Chapter 44

    Chapter 44

    Part 8

    That evening, the whole family worked on aerialbat tactics and strategies, which was even more

    fun than groundwork. They were having so much fun that they skipped a formal evening meal and had

    sandwiches and juice between bouts.

    That evening Valentia insisted on sleeping with the twins, rather than with her parents as she always

    insisted on before that. It was a relief for her parents, since they wouldn¡¯t have to monitor her sleep and

    cast Silence on themselves in order to make love without disturbing her.

    As the adults were tucking the children into bed, Markmented to the twins; ¡°You know, you¡¯re more

    than ready to join in themunity military training. You¡¯d already be more effective than about a third

    of our adult neighbors.¡±

    ¡°No thank you, Father.¡± Reggie smiled. ¡°It would be fun, but we¡¯d like to wait until Valentia¡¯s ready too,

    and until her psionics are fully running, and our own magic is fully working.¡±

    ¡°But thanks for offering.¡± Helemia added.

    ¡°All, right, I understand that.¡± Mark chuckled.

    ¡°And it¡¯s very generous of you to wait to include Valentia.¡± Alilia smiled.

    ¡°Thanks,¡± Helemia giggled, ¡°But it has less to do with generosity than with knowing how much of a

    temper tantrum she¡¯ll have if she doesn¡¯t get to y, when we can. And I can¡¯t really me her. But

    she¡¯sing along pretty fast, especially since you grownups started Linking her without us, so it won¡¯t

    be long. She¡¯s not near as far ahead as me and Reggie, but she¡¯s still way ahead of any other kids her

    age, and we¡¯re helping her as much as we can.¡±

    ¡°And she loves you dearly for it.¡± Alilia told them. ¡°As do I.¡±

    ¡°As we love you all.¡± Reggie returned with a smile. ¡°And we¡¯re sorry that you don¡¯t get to, well, to parent

    us very muchpared to other kids. You don¡¯t have to teach us as much as normal kids, or care for

    us as much as normal kids, and on top of that we know we like to spend a lot more time on our own

    working on stuff than other kids. And sometimes we can tell that you really miss it. Like today, with the

    you¡¯ve learned, and we just wanted to get it all done right away.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Well I¡¯m sorry we were that obvious about it.¡± Mark chuckled.

    ¡°Almost every advantage has its price.¡± Talia smiled. ¡°The benefits of your amazing abilities far

    outweigh their meager drawbacks. And you were right, we had far more fun today than we would¡¯ve if

    we¡¯d spent the time teaching you the basics of swordy without any magical or psionic teaching

    methods.¡±

    ¡°As to the joy of parenting you, we also have the advantages of our abilities.¡± Mark told them. ¡°We¡¯re

    always psionicly aware of you, at least subconsciously, even when you¡¯re off on your own. We always

    know you¡¯re safe, and we share every moment of your lives to one extent or another. The only

    exceptions were when we were in abat exercise, at which time we used to have Quewanak

    monitor you for us so we could free up our concentration. But since your little adventure with the

    Sylvan, we keep some of our awareness on you even when we¡¯re fighting a battle exercise. So in many

    ways, we get a lot more wonderful parenting experiences than normal parents get with normal

    This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.

    children.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll never lose you.¡± Alilia told them with love that was almost fierce. ¡°As Mark saved Dalia and

    Bezedil from death itself, so we will save you or Valentia, should you ever need it. We make sure that

    all three of us have sufficient psionic awareness of all three of you at all times to make the Resurrection

    work, we keep a reserve of power avable for it at all times, and Mark has pre-cast the spell for each

    of us and stored them in indestructible objects.

    ¡°Even if something were to kill all three of you children and two of us, our family will be restored. If we

    can find a way to fully automate the spell, it¡¯ll save us even if all six of us are suddenly killed. And that¡¯s

    as safe as we can be, until Mark figures out how to make gods of us all. Our love for you will not be

    denied, not by anyone or anything!¡±

    ¡°Wow! That¡¯s good to know!¡± Helemia marveled.

    ¡°And besides all that,¡± Talia pointed out with a smile, ¡°If we want more of the joy of parenting after

    you¡¯re grown, we¡¯ll just have more children. Won¡¯t we Alilia?¡±

    Alilia looked at her with wide eyes. ¡°You¡¯re offering to make our rtionship permanent?¡± she asked in

    surprise.

    ¡°As long as our lovests.¡± Talia returned with a smile. ¡°Shall we say indefinitely, rather than

    permanently. I still think the great love of your life may be out there somewhere, and once Yzell solves

    the fertility problem, every male elf alive bes a candidate.¡±

    Alilia actually chuckled bashfully. ¡°I hope she does solve the fertility problem, so that you can see that

    you¡¯re wrong. The fact that Mark was my only hope to have a child was a very lucky ident for me,

    because he truly is the great love of my life, I¡¯m sure of it. If I¡¯d only been able to have a child with some

    other man, I probably would have done it, but it would have broken my heart when it took me farther

    from Mark. I love you more than I could ever love any other woman, and the biggest reason for that is

    that you are so much a part of him. Part of it is that you¡¯repletely adorable, and a fine person in

    every way. The rest of the reason being that this family that we¡¯ve created has brought us together far

    more than Gorsh and I were by raising Bezedil, since we¡¯re far better and more caring parents than

    Gorsh and I were then. And my improvement in that regard is due to the beneficial effect that knowing

    you and Mark and our experiences together have had on my character.

    ¡°We still have twenty-two years of glorious freedom here before we have to go back to the world and all

    its demands. Twenty-two years for our love to grow, and for our rtionship to prove its strength.

    ¡°Then, if all has gone as well as I¡¯m sure it will, I will ask you both to marry me; to stand with me in

    Las chapel and proudly dere our love and our union for all time, as all of civilization bears

    witness.

    ¡°I see I¡¯ve surprised you, and it¡¯s not yet time to ask that of you anyway. As I¡¯ve said, if all goes this

    beautifully for twenty-two more years, then I¡¯ll ask you, and I won¡¯t ept an answer until then.

    ¡°For now, it¡¯s time our little warriors were asleep. Goodnight, my loves.¡± she said, and leaned over to

    kiss all three children in turn.

    Mark and Talia did the same, then Mark picked up his wives and carried them to bed.

    The next morning, Alilia took Valentia for a visit to Yzell and Theramin¡¯s home for an examination by

    Yzell and some y time with their children.

    While they were gone, the twins tried to awaken their magic abilities for a few minutes, then prepared

    to go out.

    ¡°What are your ns for today, loves?¡± Talia asked as they put on their outdoor clothing.

    ¡°We¡¯ll ask for private lessons.¡± Helemia replied. ¡°There¡¯s much we still want to learn from you and

    Father and Aunt Alilia, and we n to continue our lessons with you on magic, general knowledge,

    ¡°We¡¯ll follow Quewanak¡¯s advice.¡± Reggie continued. ¡°I¡¯ll ask to study the rules of reality with

    Grandfather Yazadril, fabrication with Kragorram, and manufacturing with Uncle Wittan and

    Grandfather Mark. It seems much of the problem of fighting in the void involves theck of wizard¡¯s

    rock in the void, and the resultingck of the ability to use wizardry,bined with the lesser energy

    avable from the sun at extreme distances. I propose to create a void-craft such as the Triax use,

    recing much of the spells required to live and operate in the void with physical properties and

    processes. And we can make some of the void-craft out of wizard¡¯s rock, so we can use wizardry in it.

    It¡¯ll get plenty of sun in the void to charge the rock.¡±

 Chapter 45

    Chapter 45

    Part 8

    ¡°I¡¯ll ask Grandfather Yazadril for special magic training.¡± Helemia added. ¡°I¡¯ll ask him for training on

    magic techniques that get the most results from the least magic power by focusing on precision and

    efficiency. I¡¯ll be asking Bekamil of The Atoned about that too; he only has a tiny amount of power but

    he¡¯s over three thousand years old, and he¡¯s gotten really good at using the little bit of power he has.

    Knowing this should help us a lot in the void when we¡¯re a long way from the sun, and it might help me

    and Reggie when our own magic starts to work. We might get it all at once like Valentia, or we might

    get just a little that grows with us, like most elven kids. If we only get a little bit at first we¡¯ll still be able

    to do a lot with it, even if we can¡¯t get power from someone else when we need it.

    ¡°I¡¯m also going to ask for Healer¡¯s training from Hilsith so I can help with her research. And I¡¯m going to

    ask Quewanak to help me understand more of what we know about demons from Somonik¡¯s memory.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll make way better use of our time by splitting up like that.¡± Reggie added. ¡°We both pretty much

    learn what the other one learns anyway, so we might as well. And it¡¯s not so hard to be apart anymore.

    We figure we¡¯ll spend about two hours every morning on this extra stuff, until Valentia¡¯s ready to do it

    with us. We¡¯ll do it more after that, but she doesn¡¯t like being apart from us either.¡±

    ¡°Well, that all seems like fine thinking.¡± Talia smiled as she gave them a kiss goodbye.

    ¡°Will you be back for lunch?¡± Mark asked as he came over and knelt down for a hug.

    ¡°Yup.¡± Reggie nodded. ¡°Mother¡¯s making berry pie. I¡¯d never miss that!¡±

    ¡°Good. There¡¯s something I want to ask you before you go, though.¡± Mark said as he stood. ¡°As far as I

    know, no one outside our house knows about the prophesies you made about your destined loves, and

    we think it would be best if it stayed that way. We also don¡¯t think it would be good for Valentia to know,

    if she doesn¡¯t already. It might be a self-fulfilling prophesy before it¡¯s meant to happen, if indeed it

    is meant to happen, or it might drive her away from you if she feels that her choices are being made for

    her. I¡¯d also like you to make an effort to not treat her any differently than you would have if you¡¯d never

    had the prophecy. As you said, maybe you¡¯re not meant to be together for twenty thousand years or

    more from now. History is full of people who caused bad things by trying to make a prophecy happen

    too early.¡±

    ¡°All right father.¡± Reggie nodded. ¡°Valentia doesn¡¯t know, I don¡¯t think. I can¡¯t say for certain; we¡¯ve been

    Linked with her a lot so she might have seen something we haven¡¯t showed her, but we haven¡¯t

    showed her that.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want anyone to know that I know about my destined love either.¡± Helemia stated with

    determination. ¡°I wish I didn¡¯t know. Now I have to do the same thing; act normal as much as I can so

    the prophecy doesn¡¯te early or get messed up. We still don¡¯t know if Reggie¡¯s really a prophet

    anyway. Him and Kragorram aren¡¯t even best friends. We were already nning on killing demons

    anyway, we¡¯ll probably never know what the demons actually call us, and us destroying their

    homeworld is already starting to be what you said; self-fulfilling, because we¡¯re already working on it

    just because he said so. The only thing he¡¯s said would happen that did is that Alilia named Valentia

    that after he said so, but he might have picked it up from Alilia¡¯s mind, or she might have done it

    because he said so right to her. If he hadn¡¯t said it to her and he¡¯d written it down in private and showed

    it to someone else, and Alilia named her that without knowing about it, then we¡¯d know. Now we have

    to wait until he says something we can prove.

    ¡°Anyway, we haveta go if we don¡¯t want to bete back for lunch. Love you!¡± she added as Reggie

    opened the door.

    ¡°Love you! Have fun!¡± Mark returned, then turned to Talia.

    ¡°You know, now that the kids are off to school, so to speak, we¡¯re going to have more time avable.¡±

    he thoughtfully stated. ¡°And it strikes me that they¡¯re improving a lot faster than we are, so if we want to

    stay ahead of them, we¡¯re going to have to start working harder.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Talia giggled as she floated up to give him a hug around his neck and a kiss. ¡°Will your manly

    pride be insulted if you¡¯re bested by your children?¡±

    ¡°Of course!¡± heughed. ¡°I¡¯m only human after all, and while I don¡¯t mind being surpassed by my

    children when they get to be adults, I don¡¯t want it happening when they¡¯re two! And besides that, we

    won¡¯t be able to provide them with very much guidance if they¡¯re better than us at everything and know

    more about it, now will we?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a point.¡± she nodded with a smile. ¡°But what will we work on? It seems of little use to study the

    same specialties that they are, simply to make sure that we¡¯re better at everything than them, and it

    would be somewhat petty as well.¡±

    ¡°Would it? They¡¯re studying things with other people because those others have skills or knowledge

    that weck. Otherwise they could just learn it from us. It seems to me that their choice of outside

    Text content ? N?velDrama.Org.

    studies presents us with a neat list of our own deficiencies, and the reasons they gave for wanting to

    learn it are allpelling. A better understanding of the rules of reality, improving our capability to

    make war in the void, being able to make more precise and efficient use of our power, improving our

    knowledge of the Healers¡¯ arts, and improving our understanding of the demons. I think they¡¯ve hit the

    nail on the head better than anyone else when ites to seeing what¡¯s gonna be important for the

    next few years. And I won¡¯t mind telling them that they inspired us to follow their example.

    ¡°On the other hand, all of those are very broad fields of study, and it would be petty of us to work on

    exactly the same material that they¡¯re working on, and a waste of time besides. We should do the same

    as they¡¯re doing; all of us should get together at the end of the day and pass each other what we¡¯ve

    learned that day.¡±

    ¡°All right.¡± she agreed with a smile, and released him to float down and start putting her shoes on. ¡°In

    that case, we should go join Alilia at Yzell and Theramin¡¯s house. We¡¯ll want to see what she thinks of

    joining us in this, and besides, Theramin and Yzell are both near six thousand years old, and are

    extremely knowledgeable. And since Theramin is one of the world¡¯s premier horticulturists, I think he

    may be able to help us a great deal in improving our void warfare techniques.¡±

    ¡°Oh? I don¡¯t follow you.¡± Mark said as he put his boots on.

    ¡°Ah. Well one of the great problems with the void is that there is no air there, and air is made by nts.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t know that!¡± Mark responded in surprise. ¡°You mean if there were no nts, there would be no

    air?¡±

    ¡°There would be air, but it would be unbreathable.¡± Talia informed him as they shut the door behind

    them, and left for the short walk to their destination. ¡°That¡¯s why Quewanak had those water nts in

    the cavern in Blenda. There¡¯s no air on Blenda, so Quewanak must have brought the air there, but

    without the nts to make the air of life from his stale breath, it would have be unbreathable and

    he would have suffocated. Simrly, the nts would not have survived there for all those millions of

    years if he hadn¡¯t been there, for the nts needed his stale breath, just as he needed the air of life

    from them. nts need animals just as animals need nts, for both food and air. All must be in

    bnce.

    ¡°So, if we will build vessels to fight in the void as Reggie said, and we wish to have them function with

    the minimum of magic spells, they¡¯ll need nts to purify the air and water, and to provide food for the

    crew.¡±

 Chapter 46

    Chapter 46

    Part 8

    ¡°Brilliant!¡± Mark marveled as they passed Dalia and Bezedil¡¯s ce. ¡°You know, in many ways, you

    really are the smart one in our marriage.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m pleased you think so!¡± Taliaughed. ¡°I¡¯m the quick one too! Race you there!¡± she added as she

    took off running, with himughing in pursuit.

    They soon settled into the new routine, and theirs became a much more closely-scheduled household,

    as they all arranged and attended appointments to learn, teach, and work with others in themunity.

    Their evenings were usually reserved for family warfare training, which was the emotional highlight of

    their day. They worked as a team of six against whatever simted demons Ria conjured for them that

    day, and they consistently found it to be an incredibly fun and deeply bonding experience. All the

    magic, light, and sound of their battles were cast as private Illusions which were sometimes augmented

    with a bit of Force or Heat, so as to not disturb the neighbors. However, they soon realized that they

    sometimes looked quite silly running and flying around making inexplicable motions, so Ria devised a

    nice spell that allowed anyone observing them to see and hear their battles if they chose to,plete

    with hundreds of demon enemies, barrages of spells, full use of weapons, and listening-only ess to

    their family Command Link.

    Soon after that, spectating their family warfare training became amon pastime for the rest of the

    Valentia often made a pest of herself by trying to share in all of the twins¡¯ activities, and they responded

    by spending about four hours every day ying with her. Without specifically saying they were doing

    so, they spent that time deeply Linked with her, trying to hurry her development as much as they could.

    Their efforts,bined with the lessons and training that their parents were giving her, soon began to

    produce results. Valentia¡¯s speech lost most of its childish quality within weeks, and her behavior and

    abilities improved so rapidly that within a year she seemed as mature as Reggie and Helemia. She still

    had a fiery temperament, but she was in control of it, and she became as dedicated to self-

    improvement as her siblings.

    PART 9

    The day before Valentia¡¯s first birthday she initiated conversation as the family was sitting down for

    supper.

    ¡°Tomorrow¡¯s my birthday, and there¡¯s some presents I want to ask for.

    ¡°I think you can trust me not to make silly mistakes anymore. I promise to keep getting lots of exercise,

    and to not sleep with Levitation.

    ¡°I want full control of my magic, and I want The Skills of Visinniria spell done on me. I promise not to

    hurt anyone, and not to wreck anything.

    ¡°But I really want to do what I can do! I want to see how much I can lift, I want to see how big a Fireball

    I can cast, I want to see how big an explosion I can make! I mean, ying with the Illusions is fun, but I

    really want to use all my abilities, and I really want to fight! I mean, some really serious sparring at

    least, both with magic and without! I want to shoot real arrows, and I want to use a real sword, and I

    want to learn all the forest ranger stuff Father knows!¡±

    ¡°That all seems pretty reasonable.¡± Mark agreed. ¡°And I think we¡¯re all ready for some real weapons

    training.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a small ind at the southern edge of the archipgo that we could use for a weapons

    range.¡± Alilia told them. ¡°It¡¯s not much more than a big t-topped rock at one end of a big sandbar, and

    there¡¯s only about half a dozen trees on it because it gets sted by the hurricanes every year. It¡¯s

    about the only ce in Hiliani where there¡¯s not much to destroy, and it¡¯s as far as we can get from

    here, and from the Sylvan.¡±

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    ¡°All right, we¡¯ll all go there after supper and get some real exercise.¡± Talia told Valentia with a big smile

    and a caress of her head. ¡°We¡¯ll start off by lifting sand with Movement. I¡¯m quite curious to see how

    strong you are, Love.¡±

    ¡°And yes, you can have full control of your magic now.¡± Mark told her with a proud grin. ¡°We¡¯ll give you

    The Skills of Visinniria when we get there.¡±

    ¡°Ooooh, thank you thank you thank you!¡± Valentia cried as she pped and bounced in her seat. ¡°This

    is gonna be so fun!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure we could fill the whole evening just ying with magic,¡± Reggie mused, ¡°So there¡¯s no use

    bringing our armor. I think I¡¯ll bring my war darts though, I could do with more practice with those.¡±

    ¡°Ya, me too.¡± Helemia nodded around a mouthful of baked fish.

    After supper they dressed for a warm spring evening, and loaded their packs with water bottles and war

    darts.

    ¡°I¡¯ll Translocate us there.¡± Alilia said as she buttoned her tunic. ¡°You children have never Translocated

    before, and it¡¯s about the most useful spell there is, so you¡¯ll want to pay attention. It¡¯s aplex

    multiple spell with a very high power requirement, and lives are on the line every time you cast it on

    someone or on yourself. You must always work with an experienced caster, first as you observe, then

    as you cast it under their guidance, until you are absolutely certain of it. Only then can you cast it

    independently, and only then if you are absolutely sure of everyponent of the spell at that moment.

    ¡°Valentia, though you and I do most magic intuitively, we still need to have a solid intellectual grasp of

    every step of this spell. Nothing in life is more horrible than a badly bungled Translocation. It can scar

    your soul just to see it.¡±

    She let them consider that as she established a teaching Link among herself and the three children.

    ¡°First, take a measurement of the weight of everything you¡¯re going to move. You¡¯ll eventually get good

    enough to make an estimate of sufficient uracy for most people andmonly moved items, but for

    now you should cast the Measurement discreetly, so that your result is urate. So, the weight of the

    six of us and our items is three hundred ny-nine kilos, seven hundred and ny-six grams, and

    that¡¯s urate enough. Keep that number in mind.

    ¡°Second, you need a Translocation reference. The easiest way to get one is to physically travel

    between the two ces while carefully measuring your movement. You can get a memory of such

    travel from another psionicly and use that as your reference. You can project your consciousness along

    your route and measure the distance and direction as you do so. And, if you have an intellect like

    Yazadril¡¯s, you can use mathematics to extrapte a reference between two ces from two other

    references that link those ces to a third ce. And if you¡¯re as smart as Somonik or Tithian, you can

    construct a reference with pure mathematics if you know the exact locations and elevations of both

    ces.

    ¡°If the target is more than a couple of kilometers away, you must correct for orientation. Remember that

    the world is round, and when you¡¯re standing your feet always point toward the center of the world. If

    you Translocate a quarter of the way around the world without correcting your orientation, you¡¯lle

    outying on your side, and if you Translocate to the other side of the world without correcting for it

    you¡¯lle out upside down.¡±

    She waited a moment while the children got a giggle at that thought.

    ¡°Until you¡¯re very experienced with casting Translocations you should alwayse in high, by casting

    Levitate upon everything you¡¯re Translocating and targeting a destination point that¡¯s high above the

    ground or anything else you could intersect.

    ¡°Having established exactly where you¡¯re going, you project your consciousness there and check to be

    sure the space is clear, and that no-one could move into it.

    ¡°Then you must prepare for discement. You will always measure the volumes and shapes of

    everything you¡¯re Translocating. The air upying the space the Translocated people or items will take

    up at the destination is Translocated back to fill the space they left at their departure point.

 Chapter 47

    Chapter 47

    Part 9

    ¡°You always make the shapes you¡¯re Translocating a bit big and bring some of the air around you with

    you when you go, just in case someone moves at thest moment. The smaller you make the space,

    the greater the chance that someone you¡¯re Translocating will move at thest moment, and part of

    them will be outside the Translocation field at the moment of casting. Anything sticking through the field

    from inside will be cut clean off. It¡¯s easier to Translocate something that¡¯s Levitating, because you

    don¡¯t have to be so careful to make the bottom of the field exactly even between the bottom of their

    shoes and the floor. Therger you make the space that you¡¯re Translocating, the greater the chance

    that something will move into the edge of the destination space, and then whatever is sticking through

    the edge of the space will get cut clean off as it gets Translocated back to the departure point. Most

    casters bring about two centimeters of space around what they¡¯re moving, and we minimize the

    chances of there being an ident by casting the Translocation as quickly as possible, to minimize the

    chance that something will move between stages of the spell.

    ¡°There are three reasons for casting a discement Translocation to bring the air from the space you¡¯ll

    Text content ? N?velDrama.Org.

    fill at your destination back to where you left from. First is that if you don¡¯t at least clear the air at your

    destination, it will be mixed with your body, which is painful and causes millions of incredibly tiny

    injuries in your body, which can be fatal or difficult to heal from. Second is that if you leave a void in the

    air at your departure point, it will cause a sudden implosion that sucks things toward it, and it¡¯s loud,

    irritating, and rude to anyone in the vicinity. And third is that if you make a mistake and you target a

    destination that has solid matter or water in it, and you don¡¯t clear that matter before you go there,

    those solids or liquids will be mixed with your body, and you will surely die. If the density of the

    mixed material is suddenly increased enough, you could explode. With discement, even if you

    Translocate into solid rock, you will at least be in a space in the rock shaped like you, and you¡¯ll have a

    few moments to Translocate out of there before you suffocate. It would be difficult in that situation to

    remain calm and controlled enough to cast another Translocation in time before you suffocated, and do

    it properly, but it has been done.

    ¡°So, I consider my reference and my orientation, I project my consciousness there, in this case a

    hundred meters above the ind we¡¯re going to, and make sure no birds are flying toward that spot. I

    consider the distance and the weight, and I allocate sufficient power and a tiny bit more. If you allocate

    too much power, everything you¡¯re moving will heat up, which can kill you if you¡¯ve really overdone it.

    Not using enough power is a far greater danger though, since it can cause a failed Translocation, which

    is always a disaster. Then I take my measurement of shapes and volumes and cast the Translocation

    as quickly after that as I possibly can, like this.¡±

    They appeared Levitating above the small rocky ind, which was only a couple of hundred meters

    offshore from the nearest main ind.

    ¡°Wow! That¡¯s so nice!¡± Valentia marveled, still concentrating on her memory of what she¡¯d just

    experienced.

    ¡°I¡¯d like to point out that Mark invented an important improvement to the Translocation spell that Alilia

    just did.¡± Talia said as they all cast their own Flight spells. ¡°After measuring distance and weight, we no

    longer consciously allocate power to the spell; we let the spell draw the correct amount of power, like

    this.¡± She showed them the technique psionicly. ¡°I think it was the first spell automation technique that

    Mark invented.¡±

    ¡°Ah, that is an improvement!¡± Alilia marveled. ¡°Of course, I¡¯m so used to doing it the old way that I don¡¯t

    even think about it most of the time anymore, so it¡¯s not worth it for me to learn to do that. But you

    children should let Mark and Talia be your Translocation guides from now on, and do it that way. It¡¯s

    definitely a safer method, and it makes the spell a lot easier too.¡±

    ¡°Wow! I thought there was not much to disturb here!¡± Reggie marveled as their surroundings

    registered.

    Though nothing lived on the ind except six gnarled, stubborn trees in a clump on the north shore,

    since Alilia had seen itst it had been temporarily upied by several million seabirds. The birds had

    been fairly quiescent when they¡¯d arrived, but had quickly been stirred up into a cacophony of cawing,

    honking, and screeching, and many of the birds were taking to the air to flee, investigate, or defend

    their territory from the intruders who had suddenly arrived above.

    ¡°It seems I was wrong!¡± Aliliaughed as they followed Mark, who flew toward the rocky shore of the

    main ind a few hundred meters away.

    They lit on a boulder as big as a castle overlooking a deep pool where the water was rtively calm.

    ¡°This would be a good spot to measure our strength with Movement.¡± Mark said as he looked around,

    his ck hair ruffling in the salt breeze. ¡°We can lift some water. It¡¯s probably the safest thing we can

    lift, and we don¡¯t have to worry about the effects of altering thendscape.¡±

    ¡°Good thinking. I¡¯ll go first.¡± Talia agreed as she enjoyed the harsh but beautiful vista, then turned her

    attention to the water below, and cast. A huge glob of water rose two meters out of the sea, then

    steadied to a hemisphere over fourteen meters wide as an eight centimeter stream rose to join it. It

    slowly grew for seven seconds, then the stream stopped.

    ¡°That¡¯s it.¡± she stated through gritted teeth, her expression fierce with concentration, then she dropped

    her load with a huge ssh that would have soaked them all to the skin if Alilia hadn¡¯t blocked it with a

    quick ne of Force.

    The childrenughed and pped with glee at the strength of her lift and the spectacle and power of

    the ssh.

    ¡°That¡¯s with the elven magecraft spell of Movement.¡± she panted. ¡°I can do more with it now than I can

    with the wizardry version.¡±

    ¡°Well done, Love!¡± Mark congratted, having taken the Measurement. ¡°You lifted four hundred and

    one tons of water! That¡¯s more than double what you could do thest time we did this at Focus

    Mountain.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, but I¡¯m actually a bit disappointed in myself.¡± Talia responded. ¡°I¡¯ve improved so much since

    then, I was sure I¡¯d do double that at the very least.¡±

    ¡°Are you ounting for the weaker wizards¡¯ rock here, and the weakness of the Source within the time-

    bubble?¡± Alilia asked.

    ¡°No, actually!¡± Talia said, brightening.

    ¡°As I thought.¡± Alilia nodded. ¡°With those factors taken into ount, you¡¯re actually six to eight times

    stronger than you were.

    ¡°I know I¡¯ve also improved since we came here. Working with you has broadened my thinking and my

    techniques, not to mention that it¡¯s the first time I¡¯ve had any considerable amount of time to dedicate to

    self-improvement in over three millennia. I¡¯ve never tested my strength by Movement, but I¡¯ve tested it

    by heating water, and if my maths are right in the conversion, I would be able to lift about ny-five

    thousand tons, allowing for the weaker power here.¡±

    ¡°Wow! That¡¯s a lot!¡± Helemia marveled.

    ¡°Alilia is likely the strongest living elf in her use of the power.¡± Talia proudly dered as she ruffled her

    daughter¡¯s hair.

    ¡°Here goes.¡± Alilia said as she set herself and cast, making a forceful gesture to help focus her effort. A

    gigantic hemisphere of water rose six meters out of the sea so suddenly that the water below rushed to

    fill in the hole and sshed forcefully up against the bottom of the water she was holding. She held it

    steady just long enough for the water to settle below it, then carefully lowered it back down before she

    released it.

    ¡°Nice lift, Lover!¡± Mark told her. ¡°One hundred and twenty-three thousand tons, and a bit!¡±

    ¡°I have improved then, by about a quarter, and in only these few months of asional work.¡± Alilia

    stated with a satisfied smile. ¡°Truly, you¡¯re all so good for me! I¡¯m so lucky to have you!¡± sheughed

    and spontaneously gave Talia a hug, just because she was closest.

    ¡°You do that a lot like me, Mother.¡± Valentia told her. ¡°You don¡¯t really cast a spell, you just do it, even

    though I can tell that yours is still the elven wizard¡¯s Movement spell, just kind of¡­ smoothed

    out.¡±

 Chapter 48

    Chapter 48

    Part 9

    ¡°That¡¯s the intuitive way, my sweet.¡± Alilia nodded with a loving smile.

    ¡°Valentia, before you cast with all your power,¡± Mark requested, ¡°I¡¯d like to see if you can separate your

    two sources. It might be handy sometime to be able to cast with just your elven magic, or with just your

    warlock¡¯s power.¡±

    ¡°So you want me to lift the water with just my elven magic first?¡±

    ¡°Yes please.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Valentia nodded as she turned to the water, then cast with a forceful gesture of both arms, as

    Alilia had done.

    ¡°Twenty-four and a half tons! Good girl!¡± Talia told her as soon as her lift had steadied.

    She dropped it, and they all got a little sprayed from the ssh since no one had shielded against it.

    ¡°That¡¯s really hard.¡± Valentia stated, sounding a bit perturbed. ¡°It was a lot harder to stop myself from

    using the other power than it was to do the lift. I¡¯ll try to do it with just the warlock power.¡±

    She cast again, held it, and released it. This time Alilia definitely felt the need to guard them from the

    huge ssh.

    ¡°Sweet missing gods!¡± Talia breathed. ¡°Over thirty-seven thousand tons! What an aplishment for a

    one-year-old!¡±

    ¡°That was easier to ignore my wizard¡¯s power than it was for my warlock¡¯s power, but it was still way

    hard.¡± Valentia said, and took a deep breath, then let it out. ¡°Look how much easier it is when I use

    them both like I normally do.¡±

    She cast again, raising a huge mass of water, her tiny face hard with determination. ¡°AH!¡± she yelled as

    she gestured again, adding another smaller mass to what she was holding, then jumped up and down

    yelling at the top of her lungs and pounding her fists on her thighs as she added more and more, then

    growled as she held it for three seconds.

    ¡°Almost two hundred and eleven thousand tons! Let it down carefully child!¡± Mark marveled.

    She did let it down carefully, but she was almost out of strength and released it a bit early, which still

    raised a huge ssh. Then she let herself slump to the ground, panting hard.

    ¡°That was incredible, Valentia!¡± Mark congratted as he scooped her up and hugged her, and Alilia

    checked her with a spell to see if she had dangerously over-exerted herself, but she hadn¡¯t.

    ¡°Hah! I am the champion!¡± Valentia panted with a grin and two raised fists.

    ¡°That¡¯s what it means to be a warlock.¡± Talia said with pride. ¡°And there are only four of you in the

    whole world, Mark and you three. If the averages of heredity are followed, you would grow up to have

    half of Alilia¡¯s wizard¡¯s power, plus half of Mark¡¯s warlock power, and the twins would have half of my

    power plus half of Mark¡¯s. But you may be able tobine the two in a way that¡¯s greater than the sum

    of the two parts.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s all still impossible to say, at this point.¡± Alilia said. ¡°Mark is a new thing in the world, and you three

    children are an even newer development. What capabilities you¡¯ll develop will depend on your

    potential, which is stillpletely unknown, and it will depend on your development; how hard you

    work at it, what instruction you get, and so on.¡±

    ¡°And you¡¯re iming the prize a little early, little sister.¡± Helemia teased. ¡°Father hasn¡¯t done his lift yet.¡±

    ¡°The way you cast that is amazing.¡± Mark told his daughter. ¡°Even more basic and intuitive than how

    Alilia does it. You just do it, the technique seems as easy as waving your hand, and it¡¯s very efficient.

    Your will just gathers power, shapes it, releases it. It really does remind me a lot of how the dragons

    would do it, since it¡¯s so simr functionally, but really they have nothing inmon. I¡¯ve never seen

    anyone use magic the way you do.¡±

    ¡°I have!¡± Taliaughed. ¡°You! You cast a formal spell when you¡¯re not in a hurry, but when you¡¯re in a

    battle situation and the excitement and stress is intense, you cast a lot like she does.¡±

    ¡°Do your lift, Father!¡± Valentia urged. ¡°I want to see how much you can do!¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± he chuckled as he set her down.

    He gathered himself, and cast, targeting the water much further away than the others had. The

    hemisphere of water he lifted was over a hundred and eighty meters wide.

    ¡°By the source! Almost one and a half million tons!¡± Alilia eximed.

    ¡°Let it ssh, Father!¡± Helemia urged, so Mark gritted his teeth and moved his load even farther away

    and higher, then dropped it. It hit with a force they could feel through their feet on the rock, and it raised

    an incredible explosion of water that was too colossal to be called a ssh.

    The children cheered at the spectacle, and the adults couldn¡¯t help but be impressed.

    ¡°And that¡¯s what it means to be an adult warlock at the height of his power.¡± Talia stated with deep

    satisfaction. ¡°And your father is the only one. Outside the time-bubble, he should be able to do three or

    four times as much, at least. All of us should.¡±

    ¡°Hey, I¡¯m not at the height of my power, I¡¯m still a growing boy!¡± Markughed as he caught his breath.

    ¡°That¡¯s partly why I¡¯ve improved almost as much as Talia in thest two and a half years.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not a boy, Father!¡± Reggieughed.

    ¡°Seriously, I¡¯m still growing!¡± Mark asserted with a grin. ¡°I¡¯m up to two hundred and sixty centimeters tall

    now, and still going, if slowly. All the clothes I got as wedding presents are getting tight on me. I¡¯m not

    even neen and a half yet, and ording to Grandfather Mark, I¡¯ll probably keep growing until I¡¯m

    over twenty-one. So I expect that my magic strength is still growing too.

    ¡°Same with Talia, she won¡¯t be fully physically mature for another six years. Of course a lot of our

    improvement is from work and learning and practice, but our raw ability is still growing too.¡±

    ¡°Whereas I¡¯m just an old woman with a new start on life!¡± Alilia giggled as she flew up two meters and

    spun in the air in spontaneous joy.

    ¡°I want to try some explosions!¡± Valentia dered. ¡°And you¡¯re still supposed to give me The Skills of

    Visinniria.¡±

    ¡°Here.¡± Helemia said as she and Reggie cast the spell on her.

    ¡°Oooh, nice!¡± Valentia smiled as she felt the spell taking effect, and executed a jumping, spinning

    double kickbination to try it out. ¡°This is so nice!¡± she repeated, delighted with her new abilities.

    ¡°We should fly out to sea a ways before we cast any serious destructive spells.¡± Mark said as he rose

    off the rock.

    ¡°I¡¯d like to try to fly to the edge of the time-bubble.¡± Reggie announced as the family followed Mark.

    ¡°I think it would be a lot closer to fly straight up.¡± Mark told him. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure the roof of the time-

    bubble is a lot closer than the edge where it meets the water, even here near the coast. I got the

    Original content from N?velDrama.Org.

    impression from Falgaroth that it would extend out to sea for many kilometers. Just remember if you try

    to reach it, you should fly a dart or something far enough in front of you that you can stop when it hits

    the bubble. Falgaroth said it would seem like an invisible, imprable barrier from inside it, so you

    don¡¯t want to collide with it while flying at any speed.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s see how big an explosion Valentia can cast, then I¡¯ll fly up with you.¡± Helemia suggested.

    ¡°Let¡¯s fly up to the bubble first.¡± Valentia countered. ¡°It¡¯ll take a few minutes to get my strength back

    after my lift.¡±

    ¡°Sounds like fun to me!¡± Taliaughed as she took out a war dart. She sent it flying straight up, and

    took off after it when it was twenty meters above her, with the rest of her family in hot pursuit.

    They were almost a kilometer and a half in the air when the dart suddenly impacted the inside of the

    bubble and bounced off with its nose blunted. She held it against the bubble as they slowed and

    approached, then they put their hands against it.

 Chapter 49

    Chapter 49

    Part 9

    ¡°It¡¯s strange. I never felt anything that was invisible before.¡± Valentiamented.

    ¡°It¡¯s weird all right.¡± Helemia observed as she ran her hands back and forth on it. ¡°Perfectly smooth,

    with no temperature. I mean, we¡¯re not really touching anything. It¡¯s just Force, to keep anything from

    touching the real inside of the time-bubble.¡±

    ¡°From the angle of it, it must be over six kilometers high over the middle of Hiliani.¡± Mark guessed.

    ¡°Assuming that it¡¯s an even dome, like a ttened bubble, though that¡¯s just a guess too.¡±

    ¡°This is really proof of it all.¡± Reggie quietly marveled. ¡°The time-bubble, The Just Alliance, how

    important you are, the gods and the demons and everything. It¡¯s still hard to believe.¡±

    ¡°I know how you feel, son.¡± Mark chuckled. ¡°It all still boggles my mind every time I think about it. I

    never even saw any real magic until two years ago, not even once. Then the destruction of Shinosa

    Valley, then six months on my own, then the incredible six weeks after I met Yazadril. Then back to a

    mostly normal life here. I tell you, those six weeks were so mind-boggling, I might¡¯ve lost the ability to

    believe they ever really happened if I wasn¡¯t surrounded by elves and dragons and unicorns all the

    time.¡±

    Conversation paused as they felt the barrier and contemted what had been said, then Reggie

    suddenly flew over to Mark and buried his face in the hollow of Mark¡¯s shoulder. ¡°I so wish the demons

    weren¡¯ting, Father. It seems like everything in the world is finally almost perfect, and now we have

    to risk it all in a war. I love my life, but I sure wish we didn¡¯t have to spend all our time thinking about the

    war and getting ready for it.¡±

    ¡°I feel the same, Son.¡± Mark said as he hugged and consoled him. ¡°But most of the recent

    improvements in the world were triggered by the fact that the demons areing. That caused Zarkog

    to take over Serminak and start the insidious conspiracy, which caused the formation of The Just

    Alliance, which led to all the big improvements. It¡¯s almost certain that if it weren¡¯t for the demons, I

    would never even have met Talia or Alilia, and none of you would be here. So far, theing of the

    demons has led to a lot of good things happening, and we have to do our best to make sure that things

    keep going the same way.¡±

    ¡°So the world will be a better ce after the nexus.¡± Helemia said as she hugged Talia, sharing her

    brother¡¯s somber mood.

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Talia nodded as she returned the hug. ¡°We just have to stay strong, do our best to be

    ready, and enjoy every second of our lives as much as we possibly can.¡±

    ¡°Will you make us be gods, Father?¡± Valentia yfully asked as she flew over to Alilia¡¯s back and hung

    on like she was getting a piggy-back ride, and they started descending.

    ¡°If I can possibly do it, I will.¡± Mark nodded. ¡°It¡¯s the only thing I can think of that would make us safer

    than we already are. I wish I didn¡¯t have to though. I¡¯d much rather we could all enjoy a few thousand

    years of mortal life first. But I¡¯ve got to count my blessings. I¡¯d rather be a god than have to die before

    I¡¯m eighty, like most humans have for millions of years, and like I expected I would for most of my life.¡±

    ¡°What will it be like to be a god?¡± Helemia asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Mark shrugged. ¡°One god told me it was easy to just ignore it and feel normal if you

    wanted to. Another told me there was as much difference between a mortal and a god as there was

    between me and a pine tree. And they¡¯re all different anyway. We¡¯ll just have to wait and see.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re halfway down to the ground, this would be a good ce to make huge explosions.¡± Valentia

    snickered with a nasty grin as she hopped off Alilia¡¯s back and came to a halt in mid-air.

    ¡°First make sure that anyone who could be injured is sufficiently Shielded.¡± Alilia instructed as she cast

    Battle Shield on herself, and the rest followed her example. ¡°Cast it far enough from us that we¡¯d be

    safe even if we weren¡¯t Shielded. And cast it with the sun at your back, to get the best visual contrast

    against the sky.¡±

    ¡°Yes Mother.¡± Valentia said as she gathered herself and brought her arms back over her head. She

    made a sudden motion like she was throwing arge rock with both hands and gave a short, barking

    scream as she cast.

    Then she, Reggie, and Helemia all screamed and covered their ears against the shattering report of

    the explosion. It lit up a quarter of the sky before fading away with an ominous rumble.

    ¡°Guess who didn¡¯t Shield against dangerous noises?¡± Talia rhetorically asked as she cast a quick

    diagnostic on the children, but they were already Healing from minor ear damage. ¡°Are you okay?¡±

    Text content ? N?velDrama.Org.

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯ll be all right.¡± Valentia said as she rubbed her ears. ¡°I won¡¯t forget that again!¡±

    ¡°That was interesting, like a Concussion and a Fireball being cast on the same ce at the same time.¡±

    Markmented. ¡°I¡¯m sure it¡¯d be very effective in battle. ¡°

    ¡°Thank you Father.¡± Valentia smiled.

    ¡°You should also keep in mind that in a dark ce, the light from that spell would hurt your eyes, so

    you¡¯d have to Shield your eyes against that too.¡± Mark pointed out. ¡°If you cast anything brighter than

    that, you¡¯ll have to block the light even if you¡¯re casting in bright sunlight.

    ¡°If you cast a goodpound defensive spell-set, like this one; The Wards of The Nine Valleys, it

    includes all of that and a lot more besides.

    ¡°Oooh, that¡¯s nice!¡± Valentia told him enthusiastically. ¡°And if you turned it inside out so that the

    attacking parts attacked stuff inside the Shield instead of what¡¯s outside, you could cast it on someone

    and it¡¯d hold them inside it while it sted them with all the attacks!¡±

    ¡°Hey, that¡¯s very creative thinking!¡± he told her proudly, and reached over to give her a rub on her back.

    ¡°Not a very efficient use of powerpared to most magic attacks, but very creative!¡±

    ¡°Thanks Father.¡± Valentia smiled.

    ¡°Cast another one of those explosions, Valentia!¡± Helemia urged. ¡°It¡¯ll be a lot more fun now that we¡¯re

    ready for it!¡±

    ¡°Okay!¡± Valentia agreed, and cast it again.

    It was evenrger this time; a gigantic reddish-yellow fireball that expanded and dissipated at super-

    speed.

    ¡°Excellent! Can you do a pink one?¡± Helemia asked as she pped in spontaneous enthusiasm.

    ¡°A pink one? I¡¯m not sure¡­¡± Valentia responded as she thought about it.

    ¡°Remember that when ites to energy, color is usually dependent on temperature.¡± Talia told them.

    ¡°Red is the coolest and violet is the hottest, in the order of the colors in a rainbow. The colors in the

    rainbow are pure colors, but other colors, including pink, can only be made by mixing two pure colors.

    To be honest, I¡¯m not sure what two pure colors you¡¯d need to mix to make pink, nor do I know what

    temperatures you¡¯d need to produce a given pure color. So you¡¯d need to experiment a bit to get a pink

    explosion.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Valentia nodded. ¡°But I don¡¯t know how to make it hotter or colder.¡±

    ¡°Try making a bigger one with the same power to make it colder and redder, and smaller with the same

    power to make it hotter and bluer.¡± Reggie suggested. ¡°If our mothers and Father will let us use enough

    of their power to keep up with you, we¡¯ll try making the second pure color.¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± Mark chuckled, giving the twins ess to more power. Talia and Alilia did the same, and they

    spent over an hour watching their children making multi-colored explosions a kilometer in the air. As the

    sun began to set and the sky to the east darkened , they looked even more beautiful.

    Suddenly Povon, Kragorram, and Karzog arrived in the air beside them.

    ¡°May we join you?¡± Povon asked. ¡°We couldn¡¯t help but notice your fine disy, even from home.¡±

    ¡°Certainly you may join us.¡± Alilia told them.

    Karzog asked the children what they were doing, and they exined it.

    ¡°I hope we¡¯re not disturbing everyone back there?¡± Talia inquired.

 Chapter 50

    Chapter 50

    Part 9

    ¡°No, I doubt anyone heard it except us and the unicorns.¡± Povon said as the explosions resumed. She

    cast a Speaking and continued psionicly. ¡°We were the only ones who flew up to take a look, anyway.

    Equemev checked psionicly to see what it was, but that was it. She and Selmiom are both heavily

    pregnant now, and you know how unicorns are. Once any of the mares are pregnant enough to be

    vulnerable, none of the rest of the herd will leave their side until they¡¯ve delivered and the colts are

    running on their own.

    ¡°Quewanak says hi by the way, he¡¯s busy in a project with Yazadril and Hilsith, something to do with the

    human longevity problem.¡±

    Karzog turned to Kragorram and said a few words in Draconian, Kragorram snarled a reply, and they

    flew off a few meters from the group and began to experiment with breathing fire of different colors and

    then mixing their streams to produce a third color. Between the roar of their fire and the continuing

    explosions, only quality sound-shielding allowed the noise to be tolerable.

    Mark silently spectated while Povon, Talia, and Alilia discussed their unicorn friends¡¯ pregnancies.

    After another half an hour, Valentia¡¯s magic endurance was too exhausted to continue casting

    explosions, and at Mark¡¯s suggestion, the children began to y a game of chase with war darts.

    Whoever was being chased flew their war dart by Movement in wildly evasive maneuvers around the

    group at a safe distance, while the rest tried to hit it with their darts. Whoever scored a hit became the

    next person whose dart was chased. Karzog wasn¡¯t capable of casting magic yet, nor did he have the

    skill to cast Movement even if his magic had been working already, but Povon quickly devised a way to

    cast Movement on his dart and psionicly give him control of the spell. Since he couldn¡¯t use psionics

    yet either, she had to devote some of her attention to doing that part of it for him as well, but her

    attention span was so broad that she had no trouble doing all that while Levitating and having a

    conversation. She didn¡¯t mind, and it allowed him to have fun with the other children while sharpening

    his eye and his aim.

    That night, as the children were being tucked into bed, Talia caressed Valentia¡¯s face and gave her

    some instruction. ¡°Try this, dear heart; without doing anything to cast your power, gather it to you as

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    you would if you were preparing to use it all to cast a spell. That¡¯s it, just hold it, as much of it as you

    can. You don¡¯t need to hold it so hard, just enough to keep it ready, try to rx as much as you can

    while you¡¯re holding it. That¡¯s it, rx, just let your body marinate in the power, let it seep deep into

    your muscles and bones and nerves.

    ¡°Starting tomorrow morning, I¡¯d like you to try to do that all the time, if you can. If it gets ufortable,

    let some of it go very slowly and carefully, just let it flow back into the power field around us without

    affecting anything. Good girl, well done, now hold it all again. Very good.

    ¡°Doing this will make every part of you work a little better, but mainly your nerves, and most especially

    your brain. It¡¯ll make mental processes quicker and easier, it¡¯ll improve your spell-casting ability, and

    once your psionics be active, holding your power will improve that ability significantly. I really don¡¯t

    know why the practice fell out of favor among wizards, but it¡¯s one of the fundamental practices of

    magecraft and the other older arts, and it¡¯s helped your father and I a great deal. Great mages,

    magicians, and sorcerers get so used to holding their power constantly that it bes as automatic as

    breathing, whether they¡¯re awake or asleep. But you have to be more careful to not cast the power

    identally, or without thinking about it much. When you first start holding your power like this, if you

    think about a spell, you might start casting it before you mean to, and we don¡¯t want that.¡±

    ¡°Thank you Talia.¡± Valentia smiled. ¡°It feels nice.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re wee. I don¡¯t think you¡¯re ready to try sleeping like that yet, so let it go slowly, and start

    holding it again first thing in the morning.¡±

    ¡°Can I try? Doing it when I¡¯m sleeping?¡± Valentia asked. ¡°It feels real nice.¡±

    ¡°We can make sure she doesn¡¯t release it suddenly or cast anything in her sleep.¡± Helemia

    volunteered.

    ¡°Ah, but can you do so when you¡¯re asleep?¡± Talia chuckled as she gave her a little tickle.

    ¡°Sure!¡± Helemiaughed. ¡°Automated psionics are a wonderful thing.¡±

    ¡°Well all right.¡± Talia allowed as she gave her a kiss. ¡°But if anything goes wrong, you¡¯ll have to clean

    up any mess that gets made.¡±

    ¡°We will.¡± Reggie assured her.

    After they¡¯d all kissed and hugged and said goodnight and I love you to each other, the adults left the

    children to sleep. But they were still too restless from their exciting day and Valentia¡¯s birthday in the

    morning to sleep.

    PART 10

    In the morning, Alilia went in to wake the children. She knew they were still asleep without thinking

    about it, since her constant subconscious psionic contact with them kept her informed of their state of

    mind, and she could feel that they were asleep.

    So she was quite surprised, and more than a little irritated, to enter their room and find them wide

    awake, sitting in a tight little triangle on the bed with their arms and legs wrapped around each other,

    their foreheads pressed together, and their eyes closed. On the tiny space of bedspread between them

    rested the pebble that the twins had been using to test their magic, or rather theirck of it so far.

    Upon seeing this scene, Alilia suddenly realized that she had been fed a false psionic trace,

    disregarded it, and examined the children¡¯s true psionic state. They had been awake all night. They

    had cast upon themselves with Valentia¡¯s power to banish their fatigue and need for sleep, which could

    be harmful if overdone, but they all seemed to be fine with it so far.

    About half an hour after they had been kissed good-night, the twins had seeded in teaching Valentia

    what they had been doing to activate her psionics, and she had taken over from them in supplying the

    tiny part of her brain with the spark of energy it required. As soon as she had done that, hertent

    psionic ability truly awoke to full functionality, and she and the twins had Melded. For a moment they

    were one mind, each with full ess to the thoughts, memories, and sensations of the other two.

    Valentia had panicked, but the twins had pushed her out just enough for her to retain afortable grip

    on her own individuality. For over an hour the three of them had simplymuned with one another,

    lost in the beauty and the joy of the experience. Then Valentia became determined to return the favor,

    and since then the three had been working intensely on awakening the twins¡¯tent magic abilities.

    First they had all carefully examined a Reading of Valentia¡¯s memory of her moments of panic during

    her birth when her magic abilities had awakened. Then they carefully monitored Valentia¡¯s mind and

    brain while she held and cast her power. Then the twins attempted to do what she had done. Their

    close psionic Linking meant that they knew exactly what she had done and what it felt like, but it still

    didn¡¯t work for them. Then they made a directparison between Valentia during her casting and the

    twins during their failure to cast, while monitoring dozens of physical, psionic, and magical variables, as

    well as electrical activity, maic fields, auras, and other information that Alilia didn¡¯t recognize. And

    now the three of them were altering the twins¡¯ minds in order to have them do what Valentia¡¯s did.

    Alilia felt the blood drain from her face and she was struck by a bolt of panic upon realizing that they

    weren¡¯t merely adding a spark of energy, as they had done to Valentia. They were making physical

    changes. The twin infants, with baby Valentia¡¯s help, were performing very fine-scale brain surgery

    upon themselves.

    They freely shared all this with Alilia in a fraction of a second, in order to avoid breaking their

    concentration. She immediately forced herself to calm with an iron discipline, and silently backed out of

    the room, closing the door behind her.

 Chapter 51

    Chapter 51

    Part 10

    As soon as she had done that, she heavily Shielded her thoughts andmunications from the

    children, and immediately informed Mark, Talia, Hilsith, Yazadril, and Yzell of the state of affairs with a

    single burst of psionic thought that would have staggered most minds.

    None of those five were difited by the suddenness of the burst of information, though they were

    mightily difited indeed by what they learned. A momentter the five were standing silently in the

    kitchen with their eyes closed, concentrating intently on passively psionicly following what the children

    were doing, without interfering in any way. Alilia joined them in this.

    Though all six adults were almost consumed with the need to put a stop to this incredibly dangerous

    procedure, they all realized that to even disturb the process in the slightest way might have dire

    consequences. The work was already well underway, the chance to put a stop to it was hours in the

    past, and all they could do was wait and hope that everything came out well. The only truly bright side

    to the situation was the children¡¯s certainty that they were almost finished.

    Mark called Povon and Quewanak into a Link, updated them on what was happening, and asked for

    opinions.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been following what they¡¯ve been doing since they began.¡± Quewanak informed the rest. ¡°Don¡¯t

    worry; they have things well in hand.¡±

    ¡°I have to agree.¡± Hilsith stated. ¡°Their examination of the evidence was thorough and well-considered,

    their chain of logic is wless, and it appears that between the three of them, they have the skills to do

    this. It¡¯s only the fact that they¡¯re in no way qualified to be doing it that¡¯s so worrisome.

    ¡°You know, in thesest few months Helemia has scoured my mind for much of what I know as a

    Healer, but I didn¡¯t think she¡¯d be able to internalize enough of it for it to be useful to her for years yet.

    Yet it certainly appears that I was wrong about that.¡±

    ¡°Obviously so.¡± Quewanak agreed. ¡°This is innovative and ground-breaking work, as well as a brilliant

    disy of technique. Furthermore, the importance of being able to awakentent psionic and magical

    ability can hardly be overstated.¡±

    ¡°By herself, Helemia probably couldn¡¯t use all the Healing she¡¯s learned yet.¡± Talia stated. ¡°But she

    never does anything by herself, any more than Mark or Alilia or I do these days. She and Reggie share

    every thought and task, whether it seems like they are or not. They¡¯re capable of so much more

    together than they could ever do separately. And now that they¡¯ve added Valentia¡¯s deft and sure grasp

    of magic to the mix, the three of them are obviously a potentbination.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll say!¡± Mark agreed. ¡°That¡¯s some delicate work they¡¯re doing! I¡¯ve never even conceived of working

    on anything at such small scales!¡±

    Their conversation faltered as they concentrated on their observations of the children¡¯s operation.

    Hilsith began tracing everything they¡¯d done in the process, and preparing procedures to reverse it if

    necessary, should things turn out badly. It was soplex that she had to have Yazadril help her in

    order to keep all the details firmly in mind.

    Then Talia gave herself a shake, and started making breakfast. Mark smiled, shrugged, and joined her

    in the task. They knew their children would need some quick food energy when they were finished, at

    the very least. They used magic to hurry the task as much as possible, and were finished in less than

    three minutes, then spelled it to stay hot and fresh until the children were done.

    Almost fifty nerve-racking minutester the children finished and began meticulously double-checking

    their work, and after another three minutes they were filled with the joy of their triumph.

    The three babes shared their hug and their Link for one more long moment, just to savor their love and

    closeness and the joy of sess as the adults who were physically present ran into the room. Then the

    three of them rxed andid back on the bed, extricated their legs from around each other, and

    began stretching muscles stiff and sore from holding their positions for many hours. All three had bright

    red spots on either side of their foreheads from pressing their heads together for so long.

    Finally Alilia could contain herself no more, and she leaped onto the bed and tried to hug all three of

    them at once. ¡°You crazy kids!¡± she cried as her tension and fear were released in tears. ¡°You crazy,

    crazy kids! Gods how I love you so!¡±

    Mark and Talia sat on the bed and wordlessly joined the big hug.

    ¡°We¡¯re sorry we worried you.¡± Reggie said, but his huge grin detracted from the apparent sincerity of

    his apology. ¡°We didn¡¯t n to do all thatst night, but we did the first step, and then we did the

    second, and by the time we realized that there was a point where it wouldn¡¯t be very smart to stop

    anymore, we were already past it.¡±

    ¡°It was still foolish of you to even start such work unsupervised, with the meager experience that you

    have!¡± Hilsith insisted.

    ¡°Was it?¡± Helemia asked over Mark¡¯s shoulder with a defiant grin of her own. ¡°Nobody ever did that

    before, so we were as experienced at it as anyone else. Sometimes you have to act when the

    inspiration strikes. And it worked.¡±

    She lifted the pebble from the bed with Movement without even looking at it, and brought it around in

    front of her. ¡°Look at that. Just a pebble floating in the air. But it means so much.¡±

    ¡°It sure does!¡± Reggie agreed with a giggle, and lifted his whole family off the bed with Movement.

    ¡°And I¡¯m psionic now.¡± Valentia announced with profound pleasure without physically speaking. ¡°Reggie

    says I¡¯m pretty strong at it too.¡±

    ¡°You are.¡± Povon confirmed, with a bit of a mental snicker. ¡°Particrly if being among the thirty most

    psionicly powerful humanoids can be considered ¡®pretty strong¡¯.¡±

    ¡°Zi pekbaz kvi Gron! I¡¯m starved!¡± Helemia suddenly eximed, and the three youngsters pulled from

    their parents¡¯ embraces as Reggie dropped them all fifteen centimeters onto the bed, then they jumped

    off the bed and flew for the kitchen, darting around the other adults like pins in an obstacle course.

    ¡°Zi pekbaz kvi Gron?¡± Mark asked as he rose from the bed and they followed their children at a more

    sedate pace.

    ¡°It¡¯s amon epithet in the Sylvan Blezogethnguage.¡± Quewanak psionicly informed them. ¡°It

    trantes literally as; ¡®By the loins of Gron¡¯, and refers to a famous prostitute who lived in Serminak

    some two and a half eons ago.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± Mark said with raised eyebrows as they entered the kitchen, where the children were already

    serving themselves up. ¡°You know, I think I¡¯ve done a pretty good job at resisting it so far, but parenting

    is starting to be a pretty mind-boggling experience.¡±

    ¡°My mind is more than boggled!¡± Alilia angrily dered at the children. ¡°I¡¯m immensely relieved that you

    seem to havee through that with no adverse side effects, but it was still incredibly foolish, as

    Hilsith said! When I entered that bedroom this morning and realized what you were doing, it scared the

    life out of me! Perhaps no one could help direct you in your work, but that doesn¡¯t mean that it wasn¡¯t

    any of us would have been d to help you with this, even if it was a surprise in the middle of the night!

    Not to mention how hurt I was to realize that you were deliberately deceiving us with a false psionic

    impression that you were sleeping!¡±

    Suddenly her anger broke and she burst into tears as she turned to Talia and hugged her, burying her

    face in the younger woman¡¯s hair. ¡°Sweet missing gods, I was so scared they would injure their brains

    beyond recovery.¡± she sobbed into Talia¡¯s shoulder.

    The children had frozen in mid-motion at Alilia¡¯s angry outburst. None of their three parents had ever

    truly been angry with them before, nor had they ever seen one of their parents cry.

    Valentia started crying too, and flew over to hug Alilia¡¯s neck. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry Mother! Please don¡¯t cry!¡±

    she sobbed.

    Reggie and Helemia¡¯s eyes brimmed with tears, but they held theirposure other than that.

    ¡°We¡¯re sorry we scared you, and we¡¯re sorry we hurt you.¡± Reggie quietly dered. ¡°We sent the false

    sleep signal when we were working on Valentia¡¯s psionics. That wasn¡¯t dangerous, but it was tricky, and

    we just didn¡¯t want to be disturbed. We just left it on after that. We didn¡¯t deliberately use it to hide the

    Original content from N?velDrama.Org.

    fact that we were doing something dangerous.

 Chapter 52

    Chapter 52

    Part 10

    ¡°And, though we don¡¯t want to make our apology seem in any way insincere, and we don¡¯t want to

    seem like we¡¯re making excuses, but we think it¡¯s only fair to point out that we were being supervised.

    Quewanak was watching us. We didn¡¯t even have to ask, because Quewanak is always watching us.

    And we¡¯re pretty sure if anything had gone wrong, he¡¯d have had Hilsith here and alert a momentter.

    He would have had a perfect psionic record of what we¡¯d done, and she¡¯d have it by the time he got her

    here. And besides that, all of you really are great teachers. There wasn¡¯t really any danger, because we

    really weren¡¯t working beyond our training and abilities. We knew what we were doing, and Hilsith¡¯s

    evaluation confirms this. We were just making us more like Valentia, which seems perfectly safe,

    unless we¡¯dpletely bungled the whole thing. And we¡¯d have noticed something going wrong long

    before it got that bad. We took it really slow, and did each tiniest possible step one by one, and

    checked that it was good before we did the next one.¡±

    ¡°I understand, son, but emotions aren¡¯t logical.¡± Mark told him, and looked to Helemia to include her in

    what he was saying. ¡°As far as the state of Alilia¡¯s spirit is concerned, her only other child died just a

    short while ago. We brought him back, but that was four dayster, long enough to have hurt Alilia so

    badly that her soul may bear the wound for centuries. She¡¯s understandably terrified that she¡¯s going to

    lose him or one of you again. So you scared her even more than you did me and Talia.¡±

    He paused, and some of his own anger and irritation became apparent. ¡°And you managed to do the

    one thing, the one thing that could scare us like that! We can save you if you got sted into nothing

    but scattered dust and mist, we can save you from almost anything, but a whole bunch of extremely

    tiny brain injuries? Who knows? You wouldn¡¯t be injured enough for the Resurrection to work on you,

    you might not even be injured enough to affect you in any way, but I¡¯ve already learned enough about

    Healing to know that even the tiniest brain injuries can have a huge effect, from insanity to a lifetime of

    seizures and convulsions, orplete personality change, or loss of specific mental abilities, or loss of

    control of part of your body, or internal organ failure. Even your innate magic Healing won¡¯t work if

    you¡¯ve messed up any of the parts of your brain that make it work. Considering what you were working

    on, a permanent impairment of your ability to use magic would have been the most likely side-effect,

    which would have been heartbreaking enough. And with the injuries being as small and as many as

    there would have been if you¡¯d really screwed up, there¡¯s a good chance that no Healer in the world

    couldpletely fix you again. I¡¯m not exaggerating when I say that we wouldn¡¯t have been as scared

    if you¡¯d cut all three of your heads clean off!

    ¡°And on top of all of that, avoiding mistakes caused by unexpected events isrgely a product of

    experience, and at less than two years old, you still have almost none of that! I¡¯m sure you think you

    checked for every possible problem, but I can guarantee that in twenty years, you¡¯ll have thought of at

    least five things you could have done better and safer in your operations tonight.¡±

    ¡°Please, don¡¯t argue about it.¡± Alilia said as she wiped her eyes and tried to pull herself together. She

    took a deep breath and stepped back from Talia, holding Valentia, and faced the twins.

    ¡°Look, I really am very proud of what you¡¯ve aplished. Awakening Valentia¡¯s psionics and your

    magics are both amazing acts of brilliance from all three of you.

    ¡°But please, just promise me that you won¡¯t do anything more to physically alter your brains, at least

    until Hilsith deres you to be fully qualified as professional Healers. And even then, please give me a

    bit of time to prepare myself for it! I¡¯m just too damn old to take that kind of an emotional shock again!¡±

    ¡°I promise.¡± Valentia told her, wiping her own tears, just as the twins said;

    ¡°We promise, Alilia.¡±

    ¡°We really never meant to cause any problems, and we never thought we would.¡± Helemia added. ¡°But

    Father¡¯s right. Not really thinking about how it could affect everyone else was the mistake we made due

    to ourck of experience. We won¡¯t let it happen again.¡±

    ¡°All right. I ept your apology.¡± Alilia said, took a deep breath, and put a smile on her face.

    ¡°Now, to return to what I had nned to say after I woke you three up this morning, and that is; Happy

    birthday Valentia! You are one year old today, and I am very proud of you, and I love you very much!¡±

    ¡°Thank you Mother, I love you very much too!¡± Valentia giggled as she and Alilia exchanged a hug and

    a kiss.

    This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.

    Then she went around to everyone else and gave them hugs and kisses as they wished her happy

    birthday and she thanked them.

    Then she returned to her breakfast. She and the twins ate for almost an hour before they were finished,

    then they begged off on the pic lunch trip their parents had nned, and slept until mid-afternoon.

    Valentia had made it in that she didn¡¯t want a huge birthday party in the gathering hall like the one

    the twins had arranged for themselves, but the guests at her party were more than enough to fill the

    public areas of their house, so the event spilled out into the yard.

    As she¡¯d expected, she was given a set of arms and armor that matched what the twins had been

    given in every way, and since she hadn¡¯t asked anyone to not give her presents, she received many

    other gifts as well.

    The evening ended with her and the twins casting an impromptu fireworks disy a third of a kilometer

    above the settlement,plete with glowing and shing lights of every color, lightning, ribbons and

    loops of fire, multi-colored explosions, and multi-colored fireballs that expanded with widely-varying

    speeds from barely-growing to almost-exploding. Sometimes it seemed almost random, sometimes it

    formed beautiful and abstract symmetrical patterns in the sky, and asionally simple but pretty

    pictures were formed in the maelstrom. The thunderous noise of it all seemed to shake the ground at

    times, drowning out the apuse and shouts of amazement from those who watched.

    Finally, Alilia had to call out psionicly; ¡°Enough, my darlings! It¡¯s very beautiful and impressive, but if

    you don¡¯t stop soon you¡¯ll expend yourselves to exhaustion.¡±

    She received the mental equivalent of a nod, and the children finished up with an incredible barrage for

    a finale.

    The three of them giggled as they took their bows, but by the time thest of the guests had said their

    goodbyes and left, they were almost asleep on their feet. Their parents put them to bed early, and they

    were asleep before they were finished with goodnight kisses.

    ¡°There¡¯s one area in which our children have already far exceeded us.¡± Alilia softlyughed as she sat

    down in the kitchen for some tea with Mark and Talia. ¡°Being showoffs!¡±

    ¡°True.¡± Talia chuckled. ¡°They don¡¯t seem to have inherited Mark¡¯s humble traits at all!¡±

    ¡°Ah, they¡¯re just kids.¡± Mark said with a proud smile. ¡°I showed off every chance I could get until I was

    about twelve. But by then I was bigger than most of the men in Shinosa, and I got the feeling that they

    started to resent it. Besides, about then I started my formal apprenticeship as a Ranger, and the whole

    ¡®honor of the corps¡¯ thing got to be pretty important to me, pretty fast.

    ¡°I¡¯m d we¡¯re here now though. By the time we go back to the wider world, they¡¯ll have had enough

    years here to do all the showing off they want. I¡¯m sure there¡¯ll be enough public curiosity about them to

    ensure they get far more attention than they¡¯ll ever want, even without showing off.

    ¡°For now, I¡¯d like to go over everything they didst night with Valentia¡¯s psionics and the twins¡¯ magics

    and brains. I¡¯d like to understand it thoroughly, if I can, and I doubt I¡¯m up to it by myself. Would you

    ¡°Yes, I wish that also.¡± Alilia nodded as she closed her eyes, Linked with them, and cast discrete

    Readings on all three of them to iste and rify everything they¡¯d learned from the children on what

    they¡¯d done.

    They stayed upte, examining and discussing it psionicly, and the entire household sleptte the next

    morning.

 Chapter 53

    Chapter 53

    Part 10

    Text content ? N?velDrama.Org.

    Some six weekster at midmorning, Sran psionicly asked the entiremunity to meet with him in

    the gathering hall at noon. Since none of the unicorns had been seen outside their grassy valley for

    weeks due to the two mares¡¯ pregnancies, everyone had a good idea as to why he had called them

    together, and he did not disappoint.

    He arrived in the midst of them by Translocation precisely at noon, and immediately cast a four meter

    wide square Revealing in the air above him while calling out; ¡°Our son is born! Last night Equemev

    brought Fran into this world, and both are healthy!¡±

    The Revealing was cast to make the scene seem brighter than it had been, since Equemev had

    delivered in the dark of night without artificial lighting, which gave it a slightly surreal look. The

    sequence obviously began shortly after the birth, with the colt curled up in a depression in the grass

    while Equemev licked him clean. He was adorably cute, with a white coat, silver mane and tail, and

    dark blue eyes. His tiny horn was just a cone thirteen millimetes high and seventeen millimeters wide.

    Many of those watching oohed and ahhed and dered how darling he was, and some gave

    spontaneous apuse.

    ¡°The Revealingsts for forty-two minutes, but I must go be with my family.¡± Sran stated, and then he

    was gone as the Revealing yed on.

    Within five minutes, Equemev was finished her ministrations, and the tiny new unicorn struggled to his

    feet as his mother and father nuzzled and supported him from either side. He stood there wobbling and

    shaking a little for a minute or so, until he gained his stability. Six minutester, he took his first

    tentative steps, and ten minutes after that he was walking steadily. He soon progressed to running with

    joyous energy, then running in circles and zigzags. He quickly tired, and went to his mother to nurse

    just before the Revealing ended.

    The very next night Equemev¡¯s friend Selmiom gave birth to her daughter Penn, and the next day at

    noon her proud father Namada disyed a simr Revealing of his pretty girl, who was light yellow with

    a light purple mane and tail.

    As the twins discovered when they checked, the unicorns¡¯ valley was cloaked with heavy psionic

    Shielding, and no one left it or entered it for the next nine days. Only then did the unicorns invite a

    select few humans to meet their new children. They exined that those with the least psionic strength

    were invited first, to protect the colts, who were extremely psionicly sensitive and impressionable at this

    stage.

    Mark¡¯s household was the secondst to be invited, over two monthster. The children and the colts

    delighted in chasing each other all over the valley, with the children flying along a meter or so above

    the ground so they could all y tag. Even at this young age, the colts had their race¡¯s supernatural

    speed, bnce and agility, and they held their own.

    The dragons were made to wait another three months after that, and were asked to remain more than

    two hundred meters away from the colts, since unicorns have an instinctive fear of dragons that

    required some maturity to ovee. When the colts were eight months old, the unicorns finally ended

    their seclusion and brought their young with them as they rejoined the regr activities of the

    During those months the twins and Valentia spent more and more of theirbat training and leisure

    time with Karzog, and the four of them took to sparring with each other in the little valley behind Mark¡¯s

    house for an hour or two every afternoon. This was serious sparring indeed, and included full use of

    armor, weapons, and magic, as well as all of Karzog¡¯s fire and strength. Not only did they improve in

    repairing and recharging their armor and weapons, and Healing one another¡¯s many broken bones and

    serious injuries. Only lethal attacks were prohibited, most of thebat was fought in the air, and to

    any observer it was indistinguishable from true warfare.

    Of the four of them, Karzog had to push himself the hardest to keep up. A young dragon¡¯s development

    is normally much slower than a human or an elf¡¯s, but with their help he did keep up, and by the time

    Valentia was two he was already casting spells and using psionics.

    About half their fights were one on one, but asionally they would have a ¡®wolves and deer¡¯ exercise

    with three of them chasing one, and they often fought as pairs. At first the pairings were random, but

    over time they found it most fun when it was Helemia and Karzog versus Reggie and Valentia, so they

    did that most often. The twins bnced each other, and Valentia¡¯s greater magic was bnced by

    Karzog¡¯s strength and fire.

    They still did their evening training with their parents versus Ria¡¯s simted demons, and Karzog

    joined them in that with increasing frequency as well. Often others from themunity would join them,

    sometimes for the sake of extra training, and sometimes just for fun. Since Karzog and Mark¡¯s children

    were gradually bing inseparable, Povon and Kragorram also spent more time with the family.

    Whether Reggie¡¯s prophecy was genuine or self-fulfilling, he and Kragorram did indeed be great

    friends as they built the first Kerani void-craft together. Reggie devoted more and more of his

    learning time to this project, and Helemia broadened her studies topensate.

    Valentia finished her general education before she was three, with a lot of the twins¡¯ help. Thereafter

    she limited herself to studying the use of magic exclusively, though it was a broad field. She spent

    much of her days learning spells from anyone who had one that she didn¡¯t, usually her parents. She

    simplified them to match her own style, and practiced them incessantly. She made many improvements

    in casting speed and efficiency as she did so.

    There came a day when Valentia was almost four. After breakfast Mark, Talia, Reggie, and Helemia left

    to attend to their various pursuits. Valentia was scheduled to work on magic with Alilia in the study, but

    instead she went into the living room andid down on the floor with Stripe, and cuddled with him.

    She seemed a bit morose, so Alilia asked her; ¡°Is anything wrong, my love?¡±

    Valentia shrugged a bit and said; ¡°Not really. It¡¯s all just petty anyway.¡±

    Alilia picked her up and sat on the couch with her, and cuddled her. ¡°Sometimes we have to talk about

    what¡¯s troubling us, even if it seems petty.¡± she advised.

    ¡°Well, I love Reggie and Helemia a lot, and they¡¯re always nice to me, and they always help me a lot.

    But a lot of times it bothers me that they¡¯re so much¡­ more than me. If I were anywhere else, I¡¯d

    probably be the most amazing child that had even been born in the country. As it is, I¡¯m a distant third.

    And falling farther behind all the time.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t see that at all, babe of mine.¡± Alilia chuckled. ¡°They have more amazing psionics, but you have

    more amazing magic ability. They¡¯re most of a year older than you, but believe me, in a few years that

    won¡¯t matter at all.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not their psionics that makes them great, Mother, that¡¯s just a small part of it.¡± the child exined.

    ¡°Another part is that deep down inside, Helemia has the soul of a Sylvan and Reggie has the soul of a

    dragon, and they both share that, plus they share so much of Father and Talia and you from all the

    Linking they did when they were unborn. I¡¯ve been helped a lot by all the Linking I¡¯ve done too, but they

    got a lot more of it, and a lot earlier, and they still do. But most of it is their intelligence.

    ¡°Every night I show them what I¡¯ve learned that day, and they both learn it all from me right away, every

    detail of it. I¡¯m getting to be more skilled with the spells than they are because I practice them a lot

    more, but they know how to do everything I do. Then they show me what they learned that day, but I

    can only get the basics of it, because it would take me way more than two days to really learn what

    they learn in a day. And they learn almost everything that you and Father and Talia learn everyday, and

    that only takes them a few minutes too.

 Chapter 54

    Chapter 54

    Part 10

    ¡°I¡¯m getting to be a better spell-caster than they are, and they¡¯re getting to be better than me at

    everything else. And their determination and drive is just amazing. I only work so hard because they

    do, and I don¡¯t want them to think less of me. They don¡¯t need anything to push them to work that hard.

    I don¡¯t think anyone could stop them from doing it!¡±

    ¡°Ah, my daughter, I know exactly how you feel. For most of my life I¡¯ve been overshadowed by

    Yazadril¡¯s intelligence and experienced wisdom, andtely we¡¯ve all been overshadowed by Mark¡¯s

    magical ability, the nobility of his character, and his new wisdom. The day we first met the gods, he

    made me feel like a coward byparison, so incredible was the bravery he disyed.

    ¡°And I¡¯ll admit that there¡¯s been times when it bothered me, being overshadowed like that. To almost be

    the very, very best, but forever destined to be second, or third, or whatever. But most of the time I¡¯m

    just extremely thankful to have them in my life, to have their help and support, and their love.

    ¡°Besides, one never knows how life will turn out. Yazadril wasn¡¯t the fastest learner when he was

    young, or very powerful, nor was he very notable in any way until he was almost three thousand years

    old. Now he¡¯s universally recognized as the mightiest of elves, and the finest militarymander in the

    world. With the possible exception of your father.

    ¡°Eventually you¡¯ll find your own ce in life, and then it won¡¯t matter. I¡¯m Princess of The People of Life,

    perhaps the mightiest of elven nations, and when I¡¯m with them it doesn¡¯t matter that there are others

    who are greater than I am. I¡¯m the leader of my people by their choice, and if I say that they should do

    something, they¡¯ll do it, even if everyone else in the world disagreed with me, including Yazadril or your

    father. And that¡¯s enough for me.

    ¡°And truly, even that doesn¡¯t matter to me very much anymore. I have you and I have our family, and

    most days I feel half-drunk on love and happiness!¡±

    ¡°I know Mother. I know I really have nothing toin about and a lot to be thankful for, and I know

    it¡¯s petty of me. But sometimes it still bothers me.¡±

    ¡°Hm. Why don¡¯t we take a few hours and have some fun, just you and me? No learning orbat or

    ¡°That sounds good to me.¡± Valentia smiled as she sat up, brightening. ¡°We could go flying, and have a

    pic lunch by the ocean.¡±

    ¡°Then we will.¡± Alilia smiled as she stood with her daughter in her arms, and carried her into the kitchen

    to pack their lunch.

    PART 11

    Eight monthster, Valentia was four years and seven months old, a hundred and four centimeters tall,

    and weighed eighteen kilos, which made her a bit bigger than average for a human girl her age.

    The twins were five years and two months old. Helemia was only eighty-four centimeters tall, and just

    less than fourteen kilos in weight, which made her smaller than average for an elven child, or extremely

    small for a human.

    Reggie was a hundred and twenty-five centimeters tall, weighed twenty eight kilos, and was already the

    size of an average nine-year-old human boy.

    All three children were developing extremely quickly. The twins had already lost most of their baby

    teeth, and Valentia had lost half of hers, leaving them all with gapped and uneven smiles.

    Karzog was almost twenty years old, and was almost nine meters long from his nose to the tip of his

    tail, but he still had the slim build of a young dragon, and his neck and tail made up most of his length.

    Despite that and the light bones of dragons, he already weighed over eighteen hundred kilograms, and

    was bigger than any dragon his age had ever been before.

    The four of themy on the grass after sparring, Healing, and Restoring the back yard valley. All of

    them were breathing hard, and the children had been so tired and sweaty after fighting that they¡¯d

    removed their armor and weapons by Translocating out of them. Karzogy on his belly fanning himself

    with his wings, and asionally turning his head a bit and burping a bit of smoke and fire out of the

    corner of his mouth.

    ¡°We¡¯re ready.¡± Helemia stated.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Reggie agreed. ¡°We¡¯re still improving, but it¡¯s slowed so much that I think we¡¯ve reached the

    limits of our present potential. Now we¡¯re only getting better at the same rate that our bodies and brains

    are developing and growing.¡±

    ¡°I agree about that.¡± Karzog nodded. ¡°But what are we ready for?¡±

    ¡°Full warfare training with the grownups.¡± Valentia stated as she sat up and stretched a moment.

    ¡°Without being treated like children, that is.¡±

    ¡°We were probably ready two weeks ago, but now is the right time.¡± Reggie said as he rolled over and

    rested his chin in his hands. ¡°They finished building all the shelters and fortifications yesterday, so

    they¡¯ll have more time avable, and they¡¯ll be able to stabilize the defense ns a lot more. I¡¯m betting

    that¡­ Hold on.

    ¡°Sorry to exclude you Quewanak, but you domand the enemy in themunity war games. You¡¯ll

    have to forgive us for keeping our nning private from you.¡±

    ¡°Quite understandable.¡± the dragon psionicly replied.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Helemia closed her eyes as she and Reggie psionicly Shielded against their elder. ¡°We¡¯re

    confidential now.¡±

    ¡°Wow! You can block Quewanak from our minds?¡± Karzog marveled.

    ¡°Yup. He showed us how.¡± Reggie stated. ¡°Him and Father figured out a way to block the gods

    themselves. Most magic casters don¡¯t have inherent psionics, but a lot of ¡®em can do the same things

    by casting conventional psionic spells with their magic power. The advantage of that is that you can put

    your magic power into your psionics. Normally psionics don¡¯t take very much raw power, because the

    only thing you¡¯re changing in reality is other people¡¯s thoughts and perceptions. As powerful as me and

    Helemia are psionicly, if we use it all it¡¯s still only equivalent to lifting a kilo or so in raw power, but it

    takes a lot of magic talent to put more than that amount of power into an artificial psionic spell. But if

    you have the talent, and you have warlock power, you can block anyone.¡±

    ¡°Of course, to block Quewanak, you have to block the sound of us talking from him too.¡± Helemia

    pointed out. ¡°His awareness is so good that he¡¯d know it was there, even if he couldn¡¯t hear it

    physically.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s pretty good, but I¡¯d do it like this.¡± Valentia told them a trifle smugly as she passed them her

    thoughts. ¡°As usual, you save over a third of the power and three-quarters of the attention span doing it

    my way. And I¡¯d automate it like this, so you could forget about it.¡±

    ¡°Ah! As usual Val, you are the queen of magic.¡± Reggie chuckled. ¡°That¡¯s really very good.¡±

    ¡°As usual Six, thank you.¡± Valentia giggled.

    ¡°Six?¡± Reggie inquired.

    ¡°I¡¯ve decided that¡¯s your nickname.¡± Valentia revealed. ¡°Our names are too long. You guys call me Val

    and we call him Karz and we call her Fire, and I like those. You¡¯re Prince Markhan Reginus Longstrider

    The Sixth, but we still call you Reggie, and to be honest, I hate the way it sounds. Same with Reg, and

    Storm doesn¡¯t feel right either. I do like Mark, but Father¡¯s already using that one, and Reginus sounds

    too pompous, besides being too long. I¡¯m not going to call you Prince unless you¡¯re going to call me

    Princess. So, Six. I like the sound of it.¡±

    Copyright by N?v/elDrama.Org.

    ¡°Six. That¡¯s okay.¡± Reggie decided.

    ¡°Prince and Princess, you say?¡± Karzog chuckled. ¡°My, aren¡¯t we fine today?¡±

    ¡°Yup, I¡¯m a princess three times over.¡± Helemiaughed. ¡°I¡¯m a princess of The High People through

    Grandfather Yazadril and Mother, I¡¯m a princess of Hilia through Father, and then I¡¯m a princess of Hilia

    again through Mother because they co-rule. Same with Reggie, he¡¯s a prince three times. Val¡¯s a

    princess of Hilia and a princess of The People of Life. And now that I think about it, make it four times

    for me and Six, and three times for Val, ¡®cause Father¡¯s also Lord of Serminak, so I¡¯m a princess of

    there too.¡±

    ¡°Excuse me for not exalting your greatness, Your Highness!¡± Karzogughed.

 Chapter 55

    Chapter 55

    Part 11

    ¡°What are youughing about?¡± Helemia teased. ¡°You¡¯ve been legally adopted by Kragorram and

    Povon, so you¡¯re a prince of Serminaki Draconia through your father, and a prince regent of Serminak

    through your mother. But you can¡¯t call me Your Highness because our positions aren¡¯t hereditary, and

    you can¡¯t say I¡¯m the princess of anything because I¡¯m not the ruling monarch, the way Alilia is The

    Princess of The People of Life. I¡¯m just a princess of Hilia. Our titles are just a courtesy, and we only

    get to use them as long as our parents still rule.¡±

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t you inherit the rule of Hilia?¡± Karzog asked.

    ¡°We¡¯d inherit all thend, and all the buildings and stuff in Hilia, and our house here, because our

    parents bought it outright with their own money and with contributions, none of which came from taxes.

    But we wouldn¡¯t inherit their political rule unless they explicitly say so, and designate one of us as their

    heir. I doubt they¡¯ll do that, they¡¯ll probably do the elven thing and let the people decide who¡¯ll rule after

    they¡¯re gone. I think they¡¯d even step down if the citizens demanded it, but that¡¯s about as probable as

    the sky turning pink.¡±

    ¡°Still, it¡¯s a fine thing, I think.¡± Karzog grinned. ¡°I¡¯ve never thought of myself as a prince before.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve gotten distracted.¡± Reggie pointed out. ¡°As I was going to say, now that they¡¯ve built all the

    shelters and emcements, I¡¯d bet that the next time they have war games they¡¯ll have a full

    Quewanak will do it by surprise too, probably in the middle of the night, instead of at their regr

    training time. He might even do it tonight just to surprise the four of us, since he already knows that

    we¡¯re nning on joining the exercises. The grownups will probably put us in as reserves and

    observers, so if we pick the right moment, we can give everyone a good surprise.

    ¡°First we have to familiarize ourselves with all the exercises they¡¯ve had before. In order to keep the

    training advancing, Quewanak and Ria always have their demonse up with a way to counter

    whatever the grownups do. Usually a spell or a tactic only works one to three times before ¡®the demons¡¯

    figure out how to counter it, so we need to know everything they¡¯ve learned to counter already, and

    n some stuff they haven¡¯t seen before. And we only have an hour till suppertime.

    ¡°Here¡¯s the Reading I got from Father about itst night.¡±

    Their verbal conversation ended as the four of them were Linked by the twins.

    Surprisingly, the demons that Quewanak simted for themunity exercises were distinct from the

    ones that Ria simted for their family training every evening, and they used different methods, even

    though Ria assisted Quewanak with therger exercises.

    In the early stages of the war games, the demons had attacked by flight, giving themunity plenty of

    warning when they were detected approaching over the horizon. Later they came up out of the sea at

    the perimeter of the archipgo, then from the channels in the heart of the inds. Then they¡¯d

    appeared through Gates that appeared at the periphery of themunity, andtely they''d been

    Please check at N/?vel(D)rama.Org.

    Translocating into the heart of themunity in packs.

    In the beginning, the demons had been vulnerable to the warcraft that had been developed in the War

    of The Founding of The Just Alliance six years previously, or eight weeks previously in real time. Most

    effective was Alilia¡¯s Circle, a spell based on Karbak¡¯s Needle, which allowed the caster to concentrate

    an incredible amount of Force onto an area no wider than a human hair, and prate the Shielding,

    armor, and skull of an enemy. Mark had improved and automated that spell, and Alilia had added the

    innovation of having the needle of Force curve into a tiny circle and spin around a bit after it reached

    the enemy¡¯s brain. Automated versions of the spell could be cast by the thousands, and it was very

    efficient in its use of power, but the demons had eventually found a way to harden their Shields enough

    to block it. That brought the contest back to more conventional methods; overwhelming the enemy¡¯s

    Shields with massive and concentrated power, devising new spells that used different kinds of energy

    from what they¡¯d used against the demons previously, and physical attacks including fire, muscle-

    powered weapons with magical enhancements, and Movement-driven weapons that varied from darts

    to boulders.

    The demons also developed new techniques, and theirtest was the ability to cast Demonfire in a very

    fast, very narrow stream for almost two kilometers. It¡¯s properties not only caused burns that were

    almost impossible to heal and whose pain didn¡¯t fade when they were healed, it also burned hot

    enough and long enough to set fire to almost anything mmable, and it was very difficult to extinguish.

    When the demons had attacked over the horizon, themunity had built defensive emcements in

    the tops of mountains near the periphery of Hiliani. These were hollows in the rock with no physical

    entrances, equipped with Translocation tes, dense Shielding, permanent Viewing spells on the walls

    to allow those within to see out with any chosen level of magnification, and an arsenal of automated

    defensive and attacking spells. They were stocked with food, water, weapons, items with pre-cast

    spells in them, and charged power batteries. The batteries were usually diamond, because more power

    could be stored in a given weight of diamond than in an equal weight of any other material, and they

    had many of them avable since the twins had announced the location of their find. Hidden in the rock

    on the surface were various kinds of artillery weapons and spells. As the demons¡¯ attacks had begun

    from ces closer and closer to themunity, further emcements had been built all over the

    inds, along with shelters that had been excavated deep beneath the surface in the stone of the

    inds, also with no physical entrances.

    There were alsoworks of two-way Wards cast all over the inds, constantly charging but not

    activated until they were needed. If the demons attacked from without, they wereyered defenses,

    and if the demons Translocated within them before they were activated, they were containment and

    traps.

    The Reading gave the four youngsters a lot to think about, but they still took the time to make some

    basic ns and review some spells before they went home for supper.

    Just less than four hours after midnight that night, a huge vering demon appeared in their bedroom

    with a blood-chilling scream and a stomach-turning stench, and raised its club to strike down at them

    on the bed. The three children screamed even as they struck at it with psionics and spells, but they

    were Translocated out by Mark before they could see the results of their counter-attack.

    They appeared in a cavern in ck rock shaped like a low dome with a t floor, over forty-six meters

    wide and fifteen meters high in the center. It obviously served as both themunity¡¯s main shelter

    and theirmand center. Around them among rows of simple beds were the vige¡¯s other children,

    and the adult nonbatants who were mostly older human women. Around the perimeter of the

    cavern were full silos of food, huge barrels of water, and pens for their animals, which had been

    Translocated in by Povon and Equemev along with the children. In the center of the room beneath a

    bright cone of light was an oval table over seven meters long with a scale model of the Hiliani

    archipgo on it. Around the table were their parents, Yazadril, Povon, and Equemev, who were

    obviously themand group this time.

    Everyone was still in their nightclothes, but over the next second the adults present donned arms and

    armor by Translocating it onto their bodies. All around them the other children were screaming and

    crying, and Sana and the other women immediately set to calming them and checking them for injuries.

    The twins and Valentia calmed themselves in a moment and Linked with Karzog, who was eighteen

    meters away on the far side of the situation table. They immediately moved as surreptitiously as

    possible as close to the table as they could get without bothering the adults. As they did so, they

    passed through a spell that blocked the sounds and spells at the table from the surrounding non-

    Meanwhile, Yazadril had called out; ¡°I havemand!¡± and cast on the table, even as Mark yelled;

    ¡°Quewanak, is this a drill?!!¡±

    ¡°Not now, I¡¯m busy.¡± was Quewanak¡¯s hurried psionic reply, which they heard as Yazadril¡¯s spell on the

    table became active.

 Chapter 56

    Chapter 56

    Part 11

    The model became slightly transparent, allowing them to see their emcements and shelters beneath

    the stone, and the locations of all their citizens and all the demons were marked with tiny glowing lights;

    blue for citizens, red for demons. All the citizens were within the shelters and emcements, and the

    demons were seemingly everywhere else. Tiny white streaks of light showed where attacks were being

    returning fire. Another cluster of white streaks appeared at the north end of the inds.

    ¡°They¡¯re attacking the Sylvan. They¡¯ve never done that before.¡± Yazadril stated, and turned unerringly

    toward the children.

    ¡°Helemia, can you show me where the Sylvan are?¡± he asked.

    Helemia nodded, she and Reggie concentrated, and tiny yellow lights began to appear on the table

    marking the Sylvan¡¯s locations. ¡°Povon, could you help us with this?¡± she asked.

    Povon joined their Link and their efforts. The yellow lights appeared more rapidly for a moment, then

    they stopped appearing, and more white streaks began to be seen as the Sylvan¡¯s counter-attacks

    against the demons were shown.

    ¡°Sweet Mother, there must be thirty thousand demons out there!¡± Mark cursed as the situation became

    apparent. ¡°They¡¯re all over Hiliani!¡±

    Ten seconds had passed since the beginning of the attack.

    Alilia cast a Revealing high above the table, showing what was happening in the vige. Most of the

    demons there were systematically destroying the vige, starting with the gardens and the water

    delivery system. Those demons were protected by greater demons, who were also counter-attacking

    the surrounding emcements. The ce was a maelstrom of spells, fire, and missiles, and the

    greater demons seemed to be holding out against the surrounding cross-fireing from the top of the

    ridge around the vige. She moved the Revealing¡¯s focus to the unicorns¡¯ valley, where the grass was

    burning, then further out where the demons were setting the forest alight, then to the nearest channel,

    where the demons were dumping huge stone containers full of a green liquid into the water.

    ¡°They¡¯re scorching thend and poisoning the water.¡± Alilia dered bitterly, even as Yazadril psionicly

    their fire on the demons there. ¡°They mean to starve us out, if they can¡¯t kill us directly.¡±

    ¡°If this is a drill, Quewanak¡¯s going through a lot of trouble to convince us that it¡¯s not.¡± Equemev

    dered as she pointed with her horn to four lights high above the vige, one blue and three red.

    ¡°That¡¯s him there, fighting three enemies.¡±

    Alilia moved her Revealing up to show that battle.

    ¡°Great source! What are those things?!!¡± Talia eximed as they saw what Quewanak was fighting.

    ¡°From the descriptions the Triax gave us, those are DemonLords.¡± Mark grimly opined.

    Like all demons, they were reddish-brown in color, and of no uniform shape. Some vaguely resembled

    humanoids, some were quadrupeds, others seemed to be distorted versions of insects, or dragons, or

    sea creatures like crabs or squid. Many didn¡¯t even bother with being symmetrical, and had extra limbs

    seemingly stuck on in strange ces. A few of them even seemed to have ced their heads in

    random positions on their bodies. Their eyes were fire and numbered from two to eight, and they all

    had an abundance of teeth, ws, horns, spikes, and spines.

    A typical fighting demon was anywhere from one-third to three meters in length or height, while the

    Greater Demons were three to six meters. In this attack, over half the demons were Greater Demons,

    some of which were a match for Mark in singlebat, and Mark was the most powerful individual in

    themunity, with the exception of Quewanak.

    It was obvious to everyone around the table that the enemy force they faced was far more than they

    could hope to defeat without Quewanak¡¯s assistance, and he seemed to be fully upied with the

    three DemonLords he was fighting. Each of those wererger than he was, and he was over ten

    meters long. They seemed to change shape constantly, and like Quewanak, they were using a lot of

    short-range Translocations. The fourbatants were often hidden by the holocaust of power they

    were casting at each other.

    ¡°This is an exercise. It¡¯s not real.¡± Reggie stated with assurance.

    ¡°How do you know?¡± Yazadril demanded with some impatience, even as he directed re-deployments all

    over the inds.

    ¡°Everything that the simted demons have learned to counter in your exercises isn¡¯t working against

    these ones either.¡± Helemia exined. ¡°We just tried most of ¡®em, including Alilia¡¯s Circle, and they¡¯re

    not working.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s almostpletely improbable for real demons to already know how to counter everything the

    simted demons can, but not your new stuff.¡± Reggie continued. ¡°If these were real demons, at least

    a few of the things the simted demons have learned to counter would still work.¡±

    ¡°Ha, that¡¯s good thinking!¡± Markughed with relief. ¡°I doubt any of the rest of us bothered to try

    anything that had already stopped working in the exercises!

    ¡°That being the case, let¡¯s go give Quewanak a hand.¡±

    He turned to his children. ¡°You stay here.¡± he instructed, then those around the table disappeared even

    as they deepened their Link. They left the spells at the table running, including the Revealing.

    The youngsters watched as those who¡¯d just left joined Quewanak in his fight against the DemonLords,

    and they were soon joined by Kragorram, Sran, and the rest of the senior fighters.

    Valentia stepped out of the privacy screen around the table and called out to all the nonbatants;

    ¡°In case you were wondering, you can stop worrying. This is just an exercise, those aren¡¯t real demons

    out there.¡±

    This announcement was greeted by a wave of relieved exmations throughout the room.

    Text content ? N?velDrama.Org.

    Talia appeared back at the table. ¡°Damn, I¡¯m dead.¡± she cursed, and joined her children and Karzog in

    watching the disys.

    Their forces, as well as the Sylvan, were being swiftly decimated. Sran was the next to appear at the

    table in defeat, then Povon, then Alilia. The Greater Demons near the ground were swiftly finding the

    emcements, digging them out, and killing all within, while the regr demons concentrated onying

    waste to the inds, burning everything down to the bedrock.

    ¡°Get ready.¡± Reggie psionicly warned his sisters and Karzog. ¡°Now!¡±

    The four of them Translocated to high above the vige, a half kilometer from the battle with the

    DemonLords, and cast a mighty spell. Then all the demons died over the next two seconds, starting

    with those who were closest to the children. An expanding ring of demon deaths seemed to propagate

    outward from the four youngsters until it reached the coast in all directions. Demons fell from the skies

    like rain, impacting the ground with heavy crunching thuds.

    ¡°Whew! Now that was a spell!¡± Karzogughed.

    The next moment, as cheering began to be heard from the surprised victors, all the damage on the

    inds was either suddenly Restored, or more likely the Illusion of the damage was dismissed. Only

    Quewanak and Ria knew for certain which was the case.

    ¡°The exercise is over.¡± Quewanak announced. ¡°You can put the children back to bed. The rest of you

    meet me in the gathering hall for debriefing.¡±

    There were so many people Translocating into the gathering hall over the next few seconds that

    Reggie¡¯s little team flew down, rather than risk a traffic ident in the hall.

    Initially, only their parents and Sran realized who had killed the demons. And Quewanak, of course.

    But the news spread through the still-activemand Link in a second, and by the time they flew into

    the hall, everyone was cheering them. They waved and smiled as they alighted near the center of the

    room between Quewanak and their five parents.

    Ria the person manifested as Quewanak handed Ria the sword back to Talia.

    ¡°Well, that didn¡¯t turn out quite the way we nned, did it?¡± Ria chuckled to Quewanak. ¡°And to think

    we were thwarted by these four babes!¡±

    ¡°How did you do that, anyway?¡± Mark asked as Talia and Alilia hugged him from either side.

 Chapter 57

    Chapter 57

    Part 11

    ¡°We¡¯ve been working on that for a while, and we finished it yesterday.¡± Helemia grinned. ¡°The demon¡¯s

    psionic Shielding blocks almost everything, but one thing they don¡¯t block against is someone simply

    projecting their awareness inside their Battle Shields, but outside their bodies. Like you would if you

    were going to Translocate there, for instance.¡±

    ¡°But what good does that do?¡± Dalia asked. ¡°You still can¡¯t get any spells past the Battle Shields they

    use to block physical and magic attacks.¡±

    ¡°Ah, but one thing their Battle Shields don¡¯t block is sunlight.¡± Reggie stated, with a grin that matched

    all of his team-mates¡¯. ¡°If you st ¡®em with enough light to cause some damage they¡¯ll block that, but

    they don¡¯t block the sun unless you do, not the light of it, or the heat of it, or the Source, or the

    warlock¡¯s Source. And if you¡¯re really careful, when your awareness has been projected inside their

    Battle Shields, you can cast a spell from there, using the power that¡¯s already in there from the Source

    and the warlock¡¯s source that¡¯s shining on them from the sun. It¡¯s not much, but it¡¯s enough to cast a

    tiny Translocation on a ball of stuff about two centimeters wide inside their heads. You only move it

    over a centimeter and you don¡¯t cast discement, so there¡¯s a space left on one side that causes a

    little implosion, and on the other side there¡¯s too much stuff all of a sudden, so it explodes because of

    the extra density. And just to make it both easier and more dangerous, you under-power the

    Translocation. That¡¯s why a few of them lost their whole heads; the messed-up Translocations release

    some energy from the Translocation medium, and it causes a lot of damage.¡±

    ¡°It took all four of us pooling our awareness to do it to that many enemies that quickly.¡± Karzog pointed

    out.

    ¡°And it takes all four of us to cast the spell, too, even though it¡¯s all automated.¡± Valentia added. ¡°It¡¯s a

    pretty hard spell. We call it the Brain Bomb, because it makes a bomb in their brains. Even if they grow

    their brains somewhere else in their bodies, we always target a few centimeters behind their eyes, so

    it¡¯s pretty sure to mess up a lot of important stuff.¡±

    ¡°And you don¡¯t think you should have announced that you were going to join the exercises before you

    did so in the middle of one?¡± Quewanak asked, sounding slightly miffed. ¡°Perhaps I was trying to make

    a point with this one?¡±

    ¡°We waited until the oue was pretty much decided before we intervened.¡± Reggie pointed out.

    ¡°Everyone here knows that if it had been real, and if we four hadn¡¯t been able to do anything, everyone

    would¡¯ve been killed. The demons weren¡¯t having much trouble finding the emcements, so they¡¯d

    probably have found the shelters soon, and if they didn¡¯t, they¡¯d have starved us out, like Alilia said.¡±

    ¡°Hm. Perhaps it wasn¡¯t aplete waste of time then.¡± Quewanak nodded. ¡°Do you realize what point I

    was trying to make?¡±

    Reggie shook his head.

    ¡°Anyone else?¡± The green dragon asked as he looked around.

    ¡°We need a n to escape from Hiliani in case we get overwhelmed here, and we don¡¯t have one.¡±

    Mark stated immediately.

    ¡°That is correct.¡± Quewanak said with another nod.

    ¡°Oh, don¡¯t be so growly, you old lizard!¡± Ria teased with a big smile. ¡°They all responded extremely

    quickly to a drastic esction in the immediacy of their enemies¡¯ attack, and all of them were

    Translocated to shelter before any were injured. None of them got hurt until they took the fight to the

    demons. They kept their heads when they all thought the attack was real, and you and I never thought

    to make our simtions vulnerable to some of what had be ineffective before in order to protect

    the deception. Not to mention that what these children did was brilliant in its creativity and execution,

    and as far as I can tell, it would have devastated real demons as thoroughly as it did our simtions.

    From what the Triax told us, I doubt even the DemonLords have any defense against such a thing, and

    they have power to rival a god.¡±

    ¡°Because they¡¯re still physical.¡± Mark mused. ¡°They may have the power of a god, well a god of the

    Triax at least, but unlike gods they¡¯re still dependent on their physical bodies.¡±

    ¡°How can we make a n to flee from Hiliani when we¡¯re confined in here by the time-bubble?¡± Talia

    asked.

    ¡°We will assume that the time-bubble protects us as thoroughly as it confines us.¡± Quewanak

    announced. ¡°It¡¯s a logical assumption. We can be reasonably certain that the demons cannot attack us

    through the time-bubble, so if we¡¯re actually attacked, we will assume that the time-bubble has fallen. If

    we are no longer protected, we are no longer confined.

    ¡°Therefore, if you attempt to escape from Hiliani during a training exercise, you can assume that we are

    no longer confined by the time-bubble. If I judge that your attempt to flee would have been sessful,

    those who fled will then be out of the exercise, in the same way they are when they are ¡®killed¡¯.¡±

    ¡°All right.¡± Mark nodded. ¡°We¡¯ll maintain readiness to Translocate all of our nonbatants to Hilia at

    the first sign of trouble from now on.¡±

    ¡°And I will first check to confirm that Hilia is still a safe ce to send them.¡± Povon stated. ¡°If we¡¯re truly

    attacked here, there¡¯s no reason to assume that Hilia wouldn¡¯t have been attacked first. If it¡¯s unsafe

    there, I¡¯ll find a safe destination before we transfer our dependants.¡±

    ¡°Should we simte the Translocations, or can you deal with it if we truly cast them?¡± Alilia asked.

    ¡°As with the other spells you cast during the exercises, do what you would truly do if it were a real

    attack.¡± Quewanak instructed. ¡°I train you for battle, not for games, so you need to be trained to cast

    spells and attacks, not simtions of them. I¡¯ll deal with the limitations of the time-bubble. Those who

    Translocate away from Hiliani will be re-directed to the main shelter below, and will not be attacked or

    perceive any simted demons, even if the shelter is attacked in the exercise.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a neat trick, re-directing a few hundred simultaneous Translocations!¡± Yazadril eximed.

    ¡°All of us are being trained and are learning new skills, and I¡¯m no exception.¡± Quewanak revealed. ¡°I¡¯m

    still exploring the abilities I¡¯ve gained since I was Healed, and learning to apply much of what I learned

    during my long dream.¡±

    ¡°And I know your secret for sure now, newest of the Draconian Gods.¡± Helemia told him in a tightly

    Shielded Speaking, with a bit of a mental giggle.

    ¡°Then I would appreciate it if you keep it to yourself.¡± Quewanak acknowledged.

    ¡°Six and Val and Karz already know ¡®cause we¡¯re still Linked, and I wasn¡¯t blocking it when I realized it.¡±

    Helemia told him. ¡°But we¡¯ll keep it to ourselves.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Quewanak told her.

    This exchange had only taken a fraction of a second, during which the green dragon had continued the

    audible conversation without pause or visible acknowledgement of the psionic one.

    ¡°Exercises will be conducted without prior announcement from now on, as they were tonight.¡± he

    announced. ¡°They will be at random times and at least once per week, with no more than three

    exercises in any given period of five days.¡±

    ¡°Now see here!¡± Sana eximed. ¡°Maybe it was good for our training to not know whether tonight¡¯s

    exercise was real or not, but it scared the soul out of the children, and disrupted their sleep besides! I

    can¡¯t see how that¡¯s good for anything, and if we do it repeatedly, it¡¯s likely to harm their mental health

    and their development!¡±

    ¡°I agree.¡± Quewanak nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll amend my ns. From now on, all nonbatants will not perceive

    my simted demons, and if they¡¯re asleep when the exercise begins and you Translocate them to

    safety, I¡¯ll re-direct their Translocations to leave them asleep in their beds. You can then consider them

    to be outside the exercise and safe. If they¡¯re awake when the exercise begins, they¡¯ll be informed that

    it¡¯s only an exercise as they¡¯re Translocated to the shelter. I¡¯ll work with Hilsith to ensure that none of

    Please check at N/?vel(D)rama.Org.

    the children is permanently affected by tonight¡¯s events.

 Chapter 58

    Chapter 58

    Part 11

    ¡°However, there will be times when I will do everything I can to convince youbatants that the

    exercise is real. That will include your not knowing if psionic contacts with the outside world are

    genuine or simted by me, you will not be able to perceive any nonbatants who have been

    Translocated beyond Hiliani in the exercise, and if the exercise is held when the children are awake

    and they are Translocated to the shelter, you will not be able to perceive them. And of course, on those

    asions, some of the attacks that are no longer effective against the simted demons will be

    effective again, to prevent my ruse from being revealed as it was tonight.

    ¡°I¡¯ll leave you to discuss your performance amongst yourselves.

    ¡°And by the way; well done.¡±

    With that he was gone.

    ¡°How about a cheer for our new young warriors?!¡± Bezedil called, and everyone did give them a rousing

    cheer.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Reggie said, speaking for the four of them when it was quiet again enough for him to be

    heard.

    ¡°We might not have an exercise for a while after this.¡± Mark chuckled. ¡°I think it might take Quewanak

    some time to figure out how to counter your spell. I sure can¡¯t think of a way yet! And he never has his

    demons counter anything we do unless he¡¯s actually found a way to counter it in reality.¡±

    ¡°The easiest way would be for him to simply kill the four of us at the beginning of the attack.¡± Helemia

    mused. ¡°So we should teach it to as many of you as we can right away.¡±

    ¡°Beyond that, we can think of at least three ways they could counter it by magical and psionic means.¡±

    Reggie stated. ¡°Including Shielding from the energy thates from the sun, casting very big psionic

    Shields a few meters beyond their bodies, and doing a lot of really fast Translocations to avoid being

    targeted. So I¡¯m sure Quewanak will find a counter quite quickly. On the other hand, we do have a few

    Please check at N/?vel(D)rama.Org.

    more tricks up our sleeves. As Quewanak once told us, researching in istion gives you originality,

    and we four have been able to think of different things than the rest of you have. Of course, now that

    we¡¯ve joined themunity exercises, it¡¯s time to meld all our efforts.

    ¡°So we should make sure we¡¯re psionicly Shielded against Quewanak and any demons who may be

    listening and that Ria is sheathed for a while, then we¡¯ll show you what we¡¯ve been working on¡­¡±

    The next exercise was four dayster, in thete afternoon. The four children had just finished sparring

    and were rxing on the grass when there was a bright sh of extremely short duration, then they

    suddenly appeared in the main shelter.

    ¡°You are dead.¡± Quewanak informed them from the center of the cavern as dozens of children and

    older women appeared around them, and themand group appeared around the table. Then most

    of the other powerful members of the colony appeared around the edge of the cavern, having been

    ¡®killed¡¯ as well.

    ¡°The exercise is concluded.¡± Quewanak stated a momentter.

    The four moved up to the table and past the Privacy Barrier, allowing them to see the disy spells and

    hear themand group, which today wasposed of Sran, Kragorram, Bezedil, Dalia, and

    Markhan the Senior.

    ¡°You were killed in an explosion which sterilized the vale you were within, killing everything there.

    Would you like to see it?¡± Quewanak continued, as the situation disyed on the table became

    apparent in tiny blue and red lights.

    ¡°Later definitely, but not now.¡± Reggie stated as they appraised the disy, which reyed the few

    seconds of the battle over and over.

    Only about two hundred greater and lesser demons had appeared. They had obviously arrived as

    suddenly as possible in positions and deployments that targeted the most dangerous of the settlers,

    many of whom had none-the less survived the initial attack.

    ¡°They came in assassination squadrons, and tried to get everyone who could cast the Brain Bomb right

    away.¡± Helemia observed.

    ¡°Yes, but they failed.¡± Sran stated. ¡°They got Mark, Yazadril, Theramin, Equemev, and Povon in the

    initial attack, though Povon still had time to evacuate the nonbatants before they got her. That left

    us to form themand group. Talia and Alilia stayed up there and cast the Brain Bomb, and that

    ended it.¡±

    ¡°It was somewhat predictable, but it had to be done. It would be the demons¡¯ logical next move.¡±

    Quewanak said with a shrug as he scratched his chin with a w tip.

    ¡°So the scenario we¡¯re actually facing in the exercises,¡± Reggie mused, ¡°Is that we¡¯re trying to hold

    Hiliani against sessive waves of demon attacks, and that the bigmander demons out there

    somewhere have a way of observing or monitoring the battles here, since they responded to what we

    did in thest one even though every attacking demon was killed. And we have to pre-suppose some

    constraints on their resources or they¡¯d just overwhelm us with millions of enemies every time. So in

    this scenario, the war in the rest of the world can¡¯t be going that great for them, since they can¡¯t

    consistently allocate enough forces or enough power to guarantee them victory against us. You have to

    figure that they¡¯ve learned through repeated observation of the battles here who the most dangerous

    among us is. Thenst time we four popped up at the end of the battle and ended it with the Brain

    Bomb. Since we were new to them and the Brain Bomb was new too, and none of the rest of you used

    it in the battle before then, they probably thought we were the only ones who could do it. They probably

    didn¡¯t expect that the rest of you could do it already this time, they just targeted you because they knew

    you were the most dangerous fighters here.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s essentially the case.¡± Quewanak confirmed. ¡°I y the demons fairly, and they only act on

    information that they could learn by distant observation andmunication with the demons who have

    my simted demons act on anything I know that they would not. They learn and adapt at the same

    pace the real demons did in the first Demon War.¡±

    ¡°And that was an apt deduction, my son.¡± Mark said as the rest of those who¡¯d been killed in the

    exercise gathered around. ¡°That they didn¡¯t know the rest of us could cast the Brain Bomb yet, that is.

    We managed to stay one step ahead of them.¡±

    ¡°Well we did seed in defending Hiliani, and all the demons were killed.¡± Valentia nodded. ¡°But I have

    a hard time feeling like we won when I was killed. I¡¯d like to see the explosion that killed us now,

    Quewanak, if we may.¡±

    ¡°Certainly.¡± Quewanak nodded, and cast it as a Revealing.

    ¡°Ah.¡± Helemia nodded. ¡°A Demon Lord and four Greater Demons. They were already casting the

    explosion when they Translocated in a half kilometer up.¡±

    ¡°And with that, we¡¯ll get these kids home and get ourselves to the debriefing.¡± Mark nodded. ¡°See you

    all in the gathering hall in a minute.¡±

    This time it was Talia and Alilia who were cheered as the heroes of the day, then they settled down to

    nning for the next attack.

    The next one came three dayster during breakfast, and onlysted a moment. Everyone in the

    settlement saw a very brief sh, and that was it.

    ¡°You are all dead to thest soul. The demons are victorious.¡± Quewanak informed them. ¡°That being

    the case, I have left you all in ce, and I suggest you finish your breakfasts before debriefing.¡±

    And so they did. When they met in the Hall to discuss it, Yazadril revealed what had happened. ¡°It was

    an explosive spell of the same type they used against the four twinsst time, but much more powerful.

    On the same order as the spells that were cast in Mark and Talia¡¯sst battle with Zarkog at the end of

    the war of the founding. It would take billions of lesser demons to cast such a thing.¡±

    ¡°Or millions of Greater Demons, or thousands of DemonLords.¡± Alilia added.

    ¡°The few dozen of us who are powerful spell-casters can¡¯t charge the Wards with enough power to

    resist such a powerful spell.¡± Yazadril continued.

    ¡°We still haven¡¯t figured out how they¡¯ve been Translocating through the Wards, either.¡± Bezedil pointed

    out.

 Chapter 59

    Chapter 59

    Part 11

    ¡°We¡¯ll cast more Xervian-style Wards, to absorb the power of such attacks.¡± Povon decided. ¡°The

    elven-style Wards are better against individual demons because of their deceptions and transducing-

    counter-attacks, but they¡¯re less efficient against big pure-energy attacks.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯ll help, but not enough, not against something like we faced today.¡± Mark noted. ¡°I think casting

    more varieties of Wards might stop them from Translocating in, though. We should cast every variety of

    Wards that we know of, with every kind of power and every kind of casting style we have avable. And

    we should try that trick you showed me for psionic Shields, where you cast one, and then cast another

    at a different frequency. I doubt anyone¡¯s ever tried to do that with other kinds of spells before. Shifting

    the frequency ofplex spells is a tough task, but I bet we can figure out how to do it if we all work

    together. Actually, Yazadril did some basic work like that when he first figured out how to make wizard¡¯s

    spells work on me.¡±

    ¡°And while you¡¯re working on all that to stop attacking Translocations,¡± Valentia suggested, ¡°You should

    give me that Xervian Wards spell and let us work on it for a while. I know it¡¯s a really, really old unicorn

    magician¡¯s spell. Since it¡¯s really old and was probably designed to be cast by a group of unicorns, I¡¯m

    sure I can make a much more direct and efficient way of casting it. And all unicorn spells have a big

    psionicponent, and I¡¯m sure my brother and sister cane up with improvements in the psionics

    of the spell. I¡¯d also like to check to see how casting it with pure warlock-power affects its power-

    absorption rate. I mean, the spell absorbs power as it¡¯s charged and as it¡¯s attacked. There¡¯s no limit to

    the power it can absorb slowly. It only gets overwhelmed when the power it¡¯s hit with suddenly is a lot

    more than the power it had charged up with before that. If we can get it to absorb power a lot more

    quickly, it might be enough to stop a big explosion like today¡¯s. Karzog can help us with it too.¡±

    ¡°Here.¡± Povon said as she passed Valentia the Xervian spell.

    ¡°All right then, let¡¯s form up into teams and work on all that.¡± Mark said.

    ¡°I¡¯d like Nemia, Povon, and Alilia with me on the frequency shifting problem.¡± Yazadril announced.

    ¡°We¡¯llpile all the forms of Wards and Shielding spells we have among us all.¡± Sran announced,

    speaking for the unicorns.

    ¡°Talia and I will start tranting spells into different techniques.¡± Mark decided. ¡°We¡¯ll want at least one

    unicorn and one dragon with us on this, so Kragorram and Equemev, you¡¯re with us. And we¡¯ll have Ria

    to help with magecraft. And Mandri and Nek for human wizardry.

    ¡°The rest of you magic users can join whichever team you think you can make a contribution to.¡±

    ¡°All non-magic users, you¡¯re with me.¡± Wittan announced as he raised a hand.

    ¡°What will you do?¡± Yazadril asked.

    ¡°Well, I figure you¡¯re likely to be sessful in strengthening the Wards against the demons, for a while

    at least.¡± Wittan grinned. ¡°That means thate the next exercise, there¡¯s likely to be a lot of demons

    just outside the Wards tryin¡¯ to get in, and we wouldn¡¯t want ¡®em to get bored out there. Some will be

    standing on the ground just outside the wards, so we¡¯ll build some nice drop-traps for them. And a lot of

    ¡®em will be flying just above the dome of the Wards, so we¡¯ll build some hidden catapults just outside

    the dome and set ¡®em to fire in an arc just above the dome from one side clear to the other. We¡¯ll use

    crossbow-style catapults to get the right arc.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good thinking.¡± Yazadril nodded. ¡°A lot of these young elves won¡¯t be very interested in the

    ¡°That I can.¡± Wittan grinned, and led his team out as the magic teams all got to work.

    For hours the spells went around from team to team; tranted to different techniques by Mark¡¯s team,

    frequency-shifted by Yazadril¡¯s, simplified and improved by the children, then back around again.

    They ate lunch in the hall as they worked, and spent thest hour before supper consolidating their

    work. Finally they called the elves from the construction team to lend their power to the Command Link,

    and they all cast the improvements on the Wards with all the power they could muster, before going

    home to eat.

    The next day was the same, and the next, and the next. Since everyone in themunity had been

    ¡®killed¡¯ in thest exercise, they didn¡¯t mind putting in the effort to prevent it from happening again.

    They had six days to improve the Wards and pour their power into them, and to build traps and

    catapults with various magic improvements. Then came the next attack,te in the evening.

    The Wards did indeed hold against a repeat of thest explosion, though it destroyed many of the

    newly-built catapults and a few of the traps, as well as two of the nearer sub-surface emcements.

    The remainder of those took their toll on the thousands of demons who arrived a momentter, though

    it was a small fraction of them who were killed. They all appeared as t ck spheres, for their new

    Shielding was all that could be seen of them, and they were now protected from the Brain Bomb spell.

    They immediately began attacking the Wards with everything they had, and they kept it up. Though the

    nonbatants didn¡¯t perceive it, to the rest the sky was full of fire and fury, and the air was filled with

    a physical cacophony of noise and a psionic din, all of which seemed impossible to block out

    None of them slept that night, and they met in the hall again after breakfast to meld their minds and

    their power, and continued to pour their power into the Wards, and asionally make further

    improvements to them. Unfortunately, they had made so many changes to the Wards, and added so

    manyyers to them, and woven the manyyers together in so many ways, and the demons were

    subjecting them to such an incredible barrage of powers, that they could no longer be sure of the effect

    of Translocating out through the Wards, or of casting a spell through them. The Translocation might fail,

    the spell might reflect back, and either might disrupt the Wards themselves.

    This left them unable to counter-attack the demons, and all they could do was continue to strengthen

    the Wards and their defenses, and be prepared to evacuate if they started to fail. Wittan and his

    engineering team began building more walls and fortifications on the top of the ridge around the valley,

    including great drop-gates for the passes to the valleys of the unicorns and Mark¡¯s back yard. They

    built rows of traps, walls and catapults just above the beach. It soon became obvious that the demons

    intended to keep attacking the Wards until they did fail, no matter how long it took, which inspired the

    defenses. The entire settlement rapidly became a fortress.

    For thirteen days and fourteen nights the attack on their Wards continued, and the mood of the

    Finally the twins sat up in bed just before dawn, deeply Linked and fuming with rage. ¡°That is it!!!¡± they

    yelled in perfect unison as Valentia joined their Link.

    ¡°No, do it like this!¡± she told them as she saw what they were going to do, and showed them her

    alternative.

    They had nned to simply Translocate outside the Wards and attack the enemy in their rage, but they

    immediately saw the wisdom and brilliance of what she was showing them.

    They took her with them as they Translocated to just below the Wards and hovered in Flight. She was

    going to cast the spell with them, but their furious rage was so awesome and intimidating that she just

    gave them control of her power, then leaned back to watch.

    They cast their power through the Wards and the demons¡¯ attacking spells, above the demons to the

    empty sky, and there their power suddenly became The FireStorm. They screamed their rage and their

    hate as the lightning-shot hurricane of fire formed, and the swirling, ming mass full of fire-tornadoes

    dropped onto the demons.

 Chapter 60

    Chapter 60

    Part 11

    Mark had been sitting in the kitchen with Talia and Alilia, drinking tea in a frustrated and grumpy state of

    battle-readiness. He was the first to realize what was happening and checked the Wards in a fraction of

    a second, and found them unaffected by what his children were doing.

    ¡°Damn right!!¡± he growled as he instantly gathered all the avable power in themunity and passed

    it to his children with a Draw spell. ¡°I have the Command Link!¡± he announced as the twins epted

    the power and directed it into their spell, still screaming and shaking their clenched fists as they brought

    the Firestorm down to the dome while intensifying it and making it grow quickly enough to catch many

    of the demons who tried to escape.

    Within six seconds a quarter of the demons were dead, and the rest had fled.

    ¡°YES!! Take THAT, stupid demons!!!¡± Helemia yelled at the empty pre-dawn sky, while Reggie yelled;

    ¡°HA! Who¡¯s tough now?!!! Who¡¯s strong now, you ugly smelly scum!!!¡±

    Suddenly they both stopped celebrating, even as those on the ground below began. They turned all the

    way around, looking out at the ground around the Wards.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Valentia asked as Karzog appeared beside them.

    ¡°Thend that we burned out there hasn¡¯t been Restored, and Quewanak hasn¡¯t said the exercise was

    finished.¡± Reggie tly stated. ¡°This isn¡¯t over. They¡¯ll be back, and they¡¯ll be back today, or Quewanak

    would¡¯ve just said it was over and started another exercise tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s get down to the hall. I¡¯m sure everyone¡¯s gonna want a meeting.¡± Helemia suggested, then

    Translocated the four of them without waiting for an answer.

    Sure enough, about half themunity joined them in the hall over the next few minutes. The rest

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    decided to get some sleep.

    The twins were given a rousing cheer, and they tried to get Valentia to take a bow with them, but she

    demurred and cheered them along with the rest.

    ¡°Valentia was just as responsible for that as us.¡± Helemia announced as soon as the noise had

    dropped. ¡°She figured out how to cast that through our Wards without causing a disruption, she

    suggested we do so, her version of the spell was eleven percent more efficient than ours and took four-

    fifths as much time to cast, and if she hadn¡¯t said anything we¡¯d have just gone outside the Wards and

    started sting away like infants having a tantrum.

    ¡°Give her a big cheer! Valentia!!!¡±

    This time she had no choice but to ept her people¡¯s tribute, and stood blushing, smiling, and

    fidgeting as they gave it.

    ¡°As fine as that was, we have other things to think about.¡± Mark announced. ¡°The demons will be back

    today. Quewanak hasn¡¯t announced the end of the exercise.¡±

    ¡°He hasn¡¯t restored the forest we burnt either.¡± Reggie pointed out.

    ¡°Darn it father, we were gonna say that!¡± Helemia scolded, but she was smiling.

    ¡°We can¡¯t let people think you kids are the only quick thinkers in the family.¡± Mark chuckled.

    ¡°Here¡¯s our status.¡± Yazadril exined. ¡°Between the Wards¡¯ new reflective and absorbent qualities,

    and with the power we were putting into them every day, versus the power the demons were using to

    attack them, we could have held out for another nine days before the Wards started to fail. We spent a

    lot of power against the demons just now, and we¡¯re all mostly expended, so we have to hope they

    don¡¯t attack again for at least ten hours, or our margin of safety will shrink even further. If they wait for

    more than ten hours, we¡¯ll be sufficiently recovered to resume charging the Wards while keeping a

    prudent reserve, and our safety margin will grow.¡±

    ¡°And it shrinks if they think of something new to do, and grows if we do.¡± Mark pointed out. ¡°The kids

    here took out about fourteen hundred demons just now, a quarter of them Greater Demons, so unless

    theye up with a counter to the Firestorm, they¡¯ll lose a lot every time they get hit like that. We can

    hope Quewanak will have them decide that it¡¯s not worth the losses to keep going with that, but I

    wouldn¡¯t count on it. So we still have to think of something new.¡±

    ¡°And we have to do it quickly.¡± Hilsith insisted. ¡°All of us need to get as much sleep and recovery as we

    can before the demons return! Most of you are either about to fall asleep on your feet, or you¡¯re on the

    verge of overdosing on various sleep-banishing and stimnt spells.¡±

    ¡°All right.¡± Mark nodded. ¡°Now kids, your Firestorm sure did a good job of burning through the demons¡¯

    new Battle Shields, and I¡¯m sure it fit your mood at the moment, and it was quite spectacr. But I¡¯m

    hoping we can make it more precise. A lot of the fire and wind you cast out there didn¡¯t affect any

    demons directly. Maybe you could cast it as a bunch of smaller firestorms, one for each demon, just big

    enough to get through their Shields and toast them good¡­¡±

    In twenty-six minutes they had designed a small, very intense fire-tornado that was automatically self-

    replicating and self-aiming, then they set a number of Sentry spells and went to bed.

    The demons attacked again some seven hourster. There appeared to be the same number of them

    who had fledst time, so they weren¡¯t being re-enforced, which was a blessing. They began with

    another mighty explosion, then began raining down spells and fire again. Everyone was so deeply

    asleep that it was more than five secondster before Reggie, Helemia, and Mark responded with the

    new, concentrated Firestorm spell. They got another third of the demons with it before the rest fled.

    Again, Quewanak did not call an end to the exercise. Some went back to bed, some went back to

    building, and the rest went back to charging the Wards, though they didn¡¯t have much power avable

    for it.

    The colony¡¯s response time was down to two seconds at the next attack six hourster, but the demons

    were expecting it now. They only cast the gigantic explosion and fled before any were struck down by

    the Firestorm.

    The next attack was only an hourter, but Povon responded in a fraction of a second and killed

    another four hundred demons before they could all flee. They still managed to cast their explosion

    before she struck them though, and each explosion deteriorated the Wards to a significant degree.

    It became a battle of attrition. They killed some demons almost every time, and the explosions became

    weaker and weaker, but so did their Firestorms and their Wards. Still the attacks increased in

    frequency, and stabilized at just more than two per hour.

    The Wards failed at midmorning the next day, and by that time there were somewhat less than six

    hundred demons left. The colonists then realized that they had waited too long; they should have

    evacuated before then, but now they were so depleted that theycked the power to evacuate them all

    to safety away from Hiliani. And they refused to abandon any of theirrades.

    But as the battle began in earnest, it was seen that the demons were also almostpletely depleted

    of magic.

    ¡°Damn it, we can still win this!¡± Mark angrily dered. ¡°We fight on until we only have enough power left

    to Translocate our survivors to the shelters, then we fall back!¡±

    Most of the settlers took to the air as the fightmenced, and it soon spread in the skies far beyond

    the settlement. Mark and his family and the three dragons formed the settlement¡¯s most effective

    squadron, attacking wherever the demons were most numerous, or where defenders were hard-

    pressed. Every once in a while, when they remembered that it was only an exercise, it was a lot of fun

    to be swooping through the skies together, dodging and blocking attacks and sting at the demons.

    Over the next six hours, as the forces on both sides ran out of power, the fight degraded from flying and

    casting careful attack spells, to ground-fighting and only using their magic for Shielding, and finally to

    purely muscle-powered warfare as it had existed eons ago.

 Chapter 61

    Chapter 61

    Part 11

    The colonists soon wiped out the demons who hadnded in themunity, then it became siege

    warfare against the three hundred or so enemies outside the ridge, who outnumbered the surviving

    defenders by three-to-one. The engineers¡¯ recent works proved their worth, for now the demons had to

    scale a steep slope and a sheer wall to get into the settlement, or go around the edge of the ridge and

    approach from the channel. Few chose thetter course, as the demons were ufortable and

    generally ineffective in water, though they could all swim to one degree or another. Those few died on

    the beach, skewered by arrows and huge bolts from the ballistae.

    The siege went on for neen hours, with three-quarters of the defenders on the walls and the rest

    defending the beach. Mark and his family stood and fought together atop the wide walls, defending

    Text content ? N?velDrama.Org.

    against the asional rushes of the demons with bows, swords, and throwing darts, and they were

    d that the spells on their armor and weapons were permanently or semi-permanently charged. They

    were also very d for The Skills of Visinniria.

    They fought between the dragons, with the four children in the middle to take advantage of their many

    hours of sparring together, and their family training in the evenings paid off handsomely as well. They

    kept a fairly tight formation; Kragorram on the left end with Talia and Alilia beneath him or to his right,

    Karzog in the middle with Helemia, Reggie, and Valentia in front of and beneath him, then Mark with

    Povon above him and to his right.

    The dragons wore chain vests, knee and elbow covers and gauntlets of te armor, thin steel des

    on the leading edges of their wings, steel spikes on their tails, and wielded light swords, knives,nces

    and crossbows sized to their mighty proportions. Kragorram had crafted all of these items, sometimes

    with his mate or his son¡¯s assistance.

    Mark and his family all wore their finest armor and bore their finest weapons. The children used the

    armor and weapons they¡¯d received as birthday presents, while Mark and Talia wore mismatched full-

    te armor that they¡¯d assembled and fitted from many different sets in order to ensure that each piece

    they wore was the most functional andfortable of its type that they owned, from their gauntlets to

    their boots. As they¡¯d learned in their first course of training with Quewanak, appearance was irrelevant

    once battle was joined. Mark¡¯s hands bore only GrimFang; the great ck two-handed sword that cut

    any material without resistance. Talia alternated between Ria and a highly spelled short bow, while

    Alilia distained armor in favor of an elven Belt of Protection with seemingly infinite charge that turned

    every weapon that struck at her before they could reach her skin. She wielded a ck staff of power

    topped with a diamond as big as her fist, and it struck with a Concussion capable of sting the

    biggest Greater Demon off the wall. She remarked during a pause in the battle that it held enough

    charge to keep doing so for centuries, continuously.

    Perhaps the finest benefit of their training was that none of them ever hit each other, despite fighting

    with so much weaponry in the confined space atop the wall.

    Most of the demons were efficient climbers, finding purchase in the tiniest cracks with their w-tips,

    and could swarm up the rougher sections of the wall as fast as a tall man could walk. They tended to

    attack at one or more narrow points on the wall, to concentrate their attack and try to gain the top of the

    wall before the defenders could shift enough force there to prevent it, and it was a more effective tactic

    after darkness fell. They would erupt out of surrounding forest in a disorganized mixed pack of demons

    of every size, and when this urred on Mark¡¯s section of the wall, his squadron of nine would quickly

    move to meet them while keeping their formation. Thergest demons had no choice but to face

    Kragorram and Povon, who would bracket the demons attack point. As the big demons faced the

    dragons, Mark, Talia and Alilia would strike at them from below. Their formation funneled the smaller

    demons into the middle, where the children duplicated their parents¡¯ tactics. The medium-sized demons

    had no choice but to face Karzog, and the smaller ones who scrambled around those confrontations as

    they tried for the top of the wall were met by Valentia and Reggie. Only Helemia had the quickness to

    deal with the very smallest demons, and she did so with fierce crity.

    The unicorns formed the other heavy-response team. They wore full te barding armor with swords

    mounted in front of their horns. When the demons mounted a concentrated attack on their half of the

    wall, the unicorns would gallop along that section of the wall, one right behind the other, striking at

    every demon they passed with their head-mounted swords. When they were past the attack they

    turned and ran back on the inner half of the walkway, then did it again over and over, like a continuous

    looping chain of death.

    Meanwhile the rest of the men and elves dealt with the smaller sudden attacks that the demons

    bows. When arge attack came, they all provided supporting bow-fire to the two heavy-response

    teams.

    asionally abatant on one side or the other would recover enough magic power to do

    something with it, which the demons generally spent on magic attacks, and the defenders used for

    temporary Shielding.

    Between rushes, the demons would asionally toss one of their smaller fighters onto the wall to raise

    havoc until it was killed, for even a single small demon could kill or maim a few people in a few seconds

    if it caught them by surprise.

    After so many hours awake and fighting, everyone was bone-tired, dirty, and stinking of demon blood.

    The defenders¡¯ ordeal was made more frustrating by the need to clean any demon-matter from their

    skin as quickly as possible to avoid being poisoned by it.

    Finally the demons tipped a tall fir tree onto the top of the wall and used it as a scalingdder, after

    cutting it down in some silent manner.

    ¡°Prepare to evacuate to the main shelter!¡± Mark announced as he stood in the thick of the battle where

    the tree crossed the wall, cutting demons down with GrimFang like he was harvesting wheat.

    ¡°Wait, let us do this first!¡± Reggie called out, then he and Helemia quickly seized control of the

    Command Link and enough power to Translocate Helemia to the nearest of the underground

    emcements that were distant enough to have not been used in the recent battles.

    ¡°She¡¯s the lightest.¡± Reggie exined, and a momentter Helemia was back with all the diamond

    power-batteries the emcement had contained. She left all but one, and used that one to power her

    Translocations to the rest of the unused emcements and shelters, and Send their batteries back to

    her father. The amount of power the batteries contained wouldn¡¯t have been significant at the beginning

    of the battle, but at this stage they made enough of a difference that Mark had already wiped out the

    rest of the demons with a massive Lightning attack before she had Sent thest of them.

    ¡°The exercise is finished. Well done.¡± Quewanak announced.

    ¡°All right everyone, eat, clean up, and sleep.¡± Mark instructed as he looked around at his blood-soaked

    family and Helemia arrived back from thest shelter. ¡°We¡¯ll de-brief in the hall in the morning after

    breakfast.¡±

    He used the remaining power in the diamonds to re-cast the Wards, though they were weak indeed,

    then he and his family wearily walked home.

    None of them had sustained a major injury after they ran out of power to Heal them, but they were all

    beaten and bloody, they were half-sick from the stench and poisonous offal of dead demons, and all

    their armor and weapons were in need of maintenance.

    They spoke little and were subdued as they cleaned up and ate, and they all felt the need for a lot more

    hugs and personal contact than usual. Finally all six of them went to bed together in Mark and Talia¡¯s

    huge bed, where they cuddled together.

    ¡°Sleep well, my loves.¡± Alilia murmured. ¡°Remember, it was only an exercise.¡±

    Then they slept like they wereatose for almost ten hours.

 Chapter 62

    Chapter 62

    PART 12

    Over the next ten months they engaged in simted battles during about a quarter of their days and

    nights. The rest of the time, life went on as usual: Chores, learning, training, sports, games, music,

    dancing, crafting, fabricating, building, visiting, picking at scenic sites around the inds, hiking,

    climbing, boating, enjoying one another¡¯spanionship and love.

    Valentia developed another specialty beyond magic; Mark found her to be an exceptionally promising

    student of the Ranger¡¯s skills and trade he had learned and practiced for most of his life. He taught

    regr sses in the trade that were attended by a few of the other children and citizens of the colony

    on an informal basis, letting the regrity of their attendance be decided by their interest. His young

    human cousins were among his most regr students, but only Valentia attended every session with

    him out in the forest, and the two of them often went out to the woods for more advanced study. He

    knew she was the only one of his students that showed the aptitude and interest to make a career of it,

    or even a second career.

    His abilities as a Ranger that he¡¯d learned at his father¡¯s side were supplemented and dramatically

    improved by the use of magic, and Valentia invented as many new techniques in this area as he did.

    They also developed incredible stealth. Within six months, she was as good a Ranger as he¡¯d been

    when he was invested as a professional, and knew most of what he¡¯d learned of it before living among

    the elves. Psionic teaching methods and adding his Rangers skills to the Skills of Visinniria spell had

    sped things up considerably. Valentia then suggested they take instruction from Theramin, to learn the

    elven versions of the skills of caring for a forest as well as the magical horticultural aspects of it, so they

    worked four hours per week with Theramin into their schedules.

    Ten months after the four children joined themunity war games, which was six years and eight

    months after the time-bubble was cast, they spent their weekend secluded in an emcement inside a

    mountain on the north coast of Hiliani, making ns. Valentia was five, the twins had recently turned

    six, and Karzog was nearing twenty-one.

    After breakfast on Firstday Reggie, Helemia, and Valentia began packing provisions, readying their

    armaments, and donning their armor.

    ¡°Going somewhere?¡± Mark inquired as he and his wives prepared to go to Yazadril¡¯s house.

    ¡°We¡¯re going out to y with the Sylvan kids.¡± Helemia replied, and she and her siblings burst out

    ¡°I see.¡± Mark nodded with a smile. ¡°I doubt you mean that you¡¯re going on a y date with some adult

    Sylvan and their dependant children, so you must mean you¡¯re going out to y with the ones that¡¯ve

    already been thrown out of the house because they¡¯ve be too dangerous for their parents to keep

    them around. The ones about fourteen to twenty-four years old, who are already serious warriors and

    wizards, who spend almost all their time killing one another in order to raise their status, reduce the

    ¡°The very ones.¡± Helemia giggled.

    ¡°And what exactly are you nning?¡± Talia inquired.

    ¡°We¡¯re gonna conquer ¡®em.¡± Helemia grinned. ¡°It¡¯ll be fun, and besides, only one in eleven of them lives

    to reach twenty-five, which is a huge waste of resources that we might need to help fight the demons.

    After we conquer all the crazy young ones and stop ¡®em from killing each other, we¡¯re gonna get all the

    adults together and teach them about the state of the world. They still don¡¯t know about The Just

    Alliance, or that Zarkog doesn¡¯t rule Serminak anymore, or about the gods ending the Withdrawal, or

    about the Triax, and most importantly, they don¡¯t know that the demons areing.¡±

    ¡°They deserve at least a chance to prepare to defend themselves against the demons, if ites to

    that.¡± Reggie stated. ¡°And they breed extremely quickly, faster than any other humanoid race. If we

    stop the kids from killing each other, there should be about a hundred thousand of them here when the

    time-bubble ends, and they could help a lot against the demons. If we can convince the adults to work

    with us, and we¡¯re sure we can trust them, we¡¯ll start training them with everything we know that they

    don¡¯t. And of course, we¡¯ll also learn everything they can do that we can¡¯t yet.¡±

    ¡°I admire the noble, practical, and adventurous nature of your endeavor, but I can¡¯t help questioning the

    wisdom of it.¡± Alilia stated. ¡°There are a few thousand of them, you know.¡±

    ¡°Oh Mother, you are such a mother!¡± Valentiaughed as she skipped over and gave Alilia a kiss on the

    cheek. ¡°We won¡¯t be in any danger and you know it! I mean sure, the oldest Sylvan here are a lot more

    advanced than the Sylvan on Serminak were before they got conquered, but their young aren¡¯t. The

    older ones are only better because their god makes them stop killing each other when they get to be

    twenty-five years old, so they have more time to improve. And they still don¡¯t use any of the modern

    spell techniques at all.¡±

    ¡°Besides, we know that if any of us actually get killed, you¡¯ll Resurrect us.¡± Reggie pointed out. ¡°And if

    Text content ? N?velDrama.Org.

    that happens, we¡¯ll thank you for having done so. But please don¡¯t interfere other than that. We want to

    do this ourselves, well us three and Karzog of course.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll take Stripe and Scout with us too.¡± Helemia added. ¡°They¡¯re great scouts, and they could use the

    exercise.¡±

    ¡°Here.¡± Mark said as he held out his hand, and a Truthstone of Falgaroth appeared in it. ¡°You¡¯ll want

    one of these. This one¡¯s a tagging stone; just touch ¡®em with it and they¡¯ll be sworn to justice.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll take it I guess.¡± Reggie said as he took it, and tucked it into a pack. ¡°It might be useful as ast

    resort if we really need it, and it doesn¡¯t weigh much, but we don¡¯t n on swearing them to justice

    unless we really have to.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Alilia inquired.

    ¡°They don¡¯t deserve it, so it would be an injustice to do it to ¡®em.¡± Reggie exined. ¡°Osbald was

    justified in swearing the northern kings by force, because of the threat of impending war and the

    evidence that supported that. Father was justified in swearing the Serminaki because they were a

    conquered enemy, and as such a legitimate threat.

    ¡°But these Sylvan haven¡¯t done anything except run away so they could live the lifestyle of their own

    choosing. They haven¡¯t threatened anyone else except when Vanakit made a bunch of them try to kill

    me and Helemia, but that was personal, it wasn¡¯t something the rest of them or their people as a whole

    wanted to do. So long as we think we can trust them to stay on Hiliani and not bother our people here, I

    don¡¯t feel right about swearing them to justice.¡±

    ¡°Besides, it¡¯ll be a lot more fun this way!¡± Helemiaughed.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ll be back for lunch.¡± Valentia giggled.

    ¡°What, you think you¡¯ll be done in four hours?!¡± Mark teased. ¡°I mean, you¡¯re an impressive quartet, but

    that may be a little ambitious!¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯ll take at least a month, we know that.¡± Reggie informed him. ¡°And we need something from you

    and Mother. We¡¯d like your legal authorization as reigning monarchs of this territory to act on your

    behalf in Hilian rtions with the Sylvan of Hiliani. Please?¡±

    Markughed. ¡°So you¡¯d be what, diplomats, generals, overseers?¡±

    ¡°Yes, all of those, as necessary.¡± Reggie nodded, in the same manner Mark always did. ¡°And for a

    while, Governors. I¡¯m pretty sure we can get it all done without killing any of them, but that¡¯s hard to

    say. If we¡¯re not swearing them to justice, then we have to y this by their rules, which basically

    means that there aren¡¯t any. We¡¯re not included in their god¡¯s restrictions against killing since we¡¯re not

    Sylvan, and they¡¯ll resist us just on general principles, just so it doesn¡¯t look like they¡¯re obeying us in

    any way. That would reduce their status in their estimation of things. We¡¯ll be as nice as we can, but

    you know that we¡¯ll have to force their respect or we won¡¯t get any, so we won¡¯t really be able to be

    very nice.¡±

 Chapter 63

    Chapter 63

    Part 12

    ¡°Maybe a few of the senior ones will have the sense to realize that what we¡¯re doing is smart for them,

    since the demons will do a lot worse to them than we will, and we¡¯ll help them be more dangerous

    against the demons.¡± Helemia theorized. ¡°But their god only said not to mess with the colony here. I¡¯m

    sure he didn¡¯t tell them not to defend themselves against four kids whoe to take them over, at least

    temporarily, so we expect a strong resistance from most of the adults, and of course there¡¯s no

    question that the young ones would fight, since it¡¯s basically all they do.¡±

    ¡°So really, you¡¯re going to do the same thing to the Sylvan here that they left Serminak to avoid?¡± Mark

    inquired. ¡°I mean really, it sounds like you¡¯ll be doing exactly the same as Zarkog did.¡±

    ¡°As far as what we¡¯re doing goes, that¡¯s true.¡± Reggie nodded. ¡°The difference is, Zarkog didn¡¯t tell the

    Serminakis that he was taking them over so he could prepare them to defend themselves against the

    demons, which is what we¡¯re going to do. He just said; ¡®do what I say, or you¡¯ll be beaten for it.¡¯ Once

    we¡¯re sure that they¡¯ve stopped letting their kids kill each other and that they¡¯re working hard to get

    ready to fight the demons, we¡¯ll relinquish our control over them and leave them alone.¡±

    ¡°And besides, it¡¯ll be fun!¡± Helemiaughed. ¡°We¡¯ll make some gains until lunch, then leave Karzog to

    keep an eye on things while wee home to eat. Oh by the way, can we use the backyard valley?

    We won¡¯t disturb the livestock or anything.¡±

    ¡°You keep them from being disturbed when you¡¯re sparring back there, and that¡¯s generally pretty noisy,

    so I don¡¯t see why not.¡± Taliaughed.

    ¡°So? Can we have your authorization?¡± Reggie asked.

    Mark smiled at Talia, and they shared a quick thought. ¡°All right, since this seems like a pretty good

    project, you can.

    ¡°But before I pronounce it, I want a better idea of your organization and ns.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m the political leader, Helemia is our General, Valentia is in charge of logistics, and Karzog will be in

    charge of discipline and moral among the conquered. Once we¡¯ve convinced a few of the more

    sensible young Sylvan of the reality of the threat of the demons and the futility of resisting us, we¡¯ll

    groom them for positions of leadership among their cohort.

    ¡°We¡¯ll capture the ones who are about to get killed first, and the ones who are about to kill them. As

    soon as we capture them we¡¯ll start turning them to our point of view. We¡¯ll start training them, and

    organize things to keep them fed. Along with training them to fight the demons, Valentia will get them

    started on taking better care of the forest and waters in the Sylvan area of Hiliani, so it can support their

    poption as it increases. Which it will, rapidly, once they stop killing each other.

    ¡°That¡¯s about all we have so far. We know we¡¯ll have to keep it flexible, and adapt to events as they

    happen.

    ¡°We¡¯ve told Quewanak that we won¡¯t be avable for the exercises until this is done, so that¡¯s okay.¡±

    ¡°Hm. All right.¡± Mark nodded. ¡°Prince Markhan Reginus Longstrider the Sixth, I do pronounce you

    Governor of Hiliani, with full power to act in regards to the Sylvan of Hiliani in the manner that you¡¯ve

    described to us here today, to promote and name to positions of authority such personnel as you

    require to assist you in those duties, and to draw upon the treasury of Hilia as necessary, all subject to

    our supervision and continued approval.

    ¡°And if it turns out that you need some help with it, don¡¯t be shy about asking for it. We¡¯ll give you as

    much help as you need, and we won¡¯t take it out of your hands unless you¡¯ve really made a stew of it.

    Even if you four are capable of doing this yourselves, you may find that it¡¯s worth it to speed up the

    process by getting some help once in a while.¡±

    ¡°Thank you Father, on behalf of myself, General Helemia, Vice-Governor Valentia, and Vice-Governor

    Karzog. We do solemnly swear to fulfill the duties you have entrusted to us with honor and diligence.¡±

    ¡°Carry on, Governor Longstrider.¡± Mark chuckled.

    ¡°As you will, Sire.¡± Reggie said as he and his sister offered a formal bow, then broke out in giggles as

    they looked under their shirts at their markings. Having just sworn to Hilia, they now bore the marking

    of the Sword-star of Hilia.

    They kissed their parents good-bye, then disappeared with their gear in a perfectly silent Translocation.

    ¡°Gods, they¡¯re such adorable little tykes, aren¡¯t they?¡± Aliliaughed. ¡°Five and six years old, and our

    little army is off to y with the Sylvan, and conquer them.¡±

    ¡°I assume you three will be following every second of our children¡¯s adventure with rapt interest?¡±

    Povon psionicly inquired. ¡°If so, Kragorram and I invite you to join us here, where we can all watch it

    together.¡±

    ¡°Thanks Povon, we¡¯ll take you up on that.¡± Talia replied as the trio Translocated to the dragons¡¯ main

    cavern. ¡°We were going to work with my father today, but I imagine he, Mother, and Hilsith will want to

    watch this as well.¡±

    She was right about that, Yazadril and his family did want to join them, and word spread quickly across

    themunity. By noon there were so many people in the den watching the Revealings and following

    the Readings that they moved the event to the gathering hall.

    Reggie¡¯s quad hovered kilometers above northern Hiliani, psionicly listening for the emotions of deadly

    violence. It was the easiest way to find those they were seeking.

    A fourteen-year-old Sylvan ran silently through the forest, cursing his luck. Only an hour since his father

    had thrown him out of the house, and already one of the other wild kids was stalking him. He¡¯d caught

    a glimpse of her and thought he recognized her; a seventeen-year-old who ran with one of the big

    packs, though he hadn¡¯t detected any of the rest of them yet. Well he wasn¡¯t afraid of any of them, and

    he knew he was smarter than any of them besides! Once he got out of their territory and built himself a

    hut, he¡¯d form his own pack among the other new wild ones and kill all those stupid¡­

    Please check at N/?vel(D)rama.Org.

    His thoughts were shattered as someone he didn¡¯t recognize stepped out from behind a tree just in

    front of him and cracked his Shields while thrusting at his throat with a spear. He was running too fast,

    there was no time to avoid it¡­!

    The world went dark.

    Five twenty and twenty-one-year old Sylvan were cornered on a tiny penins, with the sea behind

    and to either side. The boulder they were taking cover behind was connected to the shore by a sand

    bar, and they knew that at any second the pack of three dozen seventeen and eighteen-year-olds

    woulde rushing at them down the sandbar. They¡¯d called for help, and knew that if they held out

    for another minute or two, their own pack would surround the younger pack and drive them onto the

    sandbar, where they would be trapped between the two groups of older Sylvan. They hunkered down

    as a deluge of spells crashed against the boulder and their Shields, and cast a few spells back blind,

    casting around the rock without looking, just to keep their attackers cautious. They clutched their

    weapons tight, and waited for the wave of battle-cries that woulde with the rush.

    ¡°Hold on, we¡¯re almost right behind them!¡± theirrades told them.

    The tension built, then the shrieks and yells began with the charge, but they didn¡¯t know which group

    was yelling¡­

    Darkness fell, and consciousness followed the light¡­

    ¡°Wow! Eighty-seven of them at once! That was a good one¡±! Karzogughed as they Translocated with

    their unconscious captives to backyard valley, leaving them on the grass in neat rows of slumbering

    Sylvan.

    They checked their prisoners and Healed a few wounds, spent a few moments working together on a

    girl whose abdomen had been deeply shed, then went back to their hunt.

    As with anything they did, they weren¡¯t just hunting the Sylvan, they were striving with all their will to

    improve at it as quickly as possible, and they did. By lunchtime any one of them was capable of

    conducting the hunt by themselves, with only asional borrowing of the others¡¯ power for a big

    Translocation. But by that time, most of the young Sylvan knew that something strange was happening

    and that people were disappearing, and violence in their area dropped off to almost nothing.

 Chapter 64

    Chapter 64

    Part 12

    When the three siblings went home for lunch, Karzog was left to guard the sleeping prisoners and listen

    for violence. He was the logical choice for this duty, since one of the attributes that he possessed that

    his threepanions didn¡¯t was the inherent and legendary patience of his race, and he wouldn¡¯t

    hunger for another week so he didn¡¯t need lunch. His patience was still limitedpared to that of

    adult dragons, but it more than sufficed in this case.

    ¡°So, are you having fun?¡± Mark chuckled as his children sat down to eat.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay, but the real fun begins tonight, when we wake ¡®em all up and inform them of their new

    circumstances.¡± Helemiaughed.

    ¡°I take it you¡¯ve been following our progress, since you didn¡¯t ask how it was going.¡± Reggie stated

    around a mouthful of bread and soup. ¡°Anyments?¡±

    ¡°You should¡¯ve worked on the girl with the shed guts before you Healed the rest of that batch, not

    work.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll soon be out of room for prisoners in the backyard valley.¡± Alilia pointed out. ¡°Where will you

    move your operations then?¡±

    ¡°Here.¡± Valentia replied, speaking psionicly since her mouth was too full of sd to talk politely, as she

    cast an Illusory map of Hiliani over the table, with an ind on the north-west edge of the archipgo

    just to the west of the Sylvan area lit in blue. ¡°It¡¯s defensible, it has a good water supply, and the best

    ocean fishing in Hiliani is just offshore there, which we¡¯ll need for the food supply. We¡¯ll move them over

    tonight.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll have to work harder to catch ¡®em now.¡± Helemia stated. ¡°They know that they¡¯ve been

    disappearing and they¡¯ve mostly stopped fighting, but we¡¯re pretty well focused in on their psionics now,

    so we¡¯ll still be able to find ¡®em.¡±

    ¡°Did you notice we got two adults too?¡± Reggie asked. ¡°Presumably they were just fighting and wouldn¡¯t

    have tried to kill each other due to their god¡¯s ban on it, but that wasn¡¯t really obvious when we grabbed

    ¡®em. As soon as we realized it, we put ¡®em back and let ¡®em wake up, but they sure know something

    strange happened, so they didn¡¯t keep fighting. It increases the chance that the rest of the adults will

    figure out what¡¯s going on sooner than we thought they would, but if so, we¡¯ll just have to deal with it, I

    guess.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll be pretty busy with this for a while, but we¡¯ll stille back for lunch every day, and to sleep, and

    for time off.¡± Helemia added. ¡°But we¡¯ll be sleeping in shifts to keep an eye on things.¡±

    ¡°Oh by the way,¡± Mark said as he sliced meat for a sandwich, ¡°I was thinking about what you said,

    about not swearing the Sylvan to justice, but still needing to be able to trust them to stay on Hiliani and

    not interfere with us here. So if you fetch the Truthstone I gave you, I¡¯ll take the Compulsion and the

    automatic casting of Osbald¡¯s Oath off of it. Then if you reach an agreement with the Sylvan and you

    want to be able to trust that they¡¯ll stick to what they promised, you can have them swear to it on the

    stone. They¡¯ll probably want you to swear to keep your parts of it too, which would be redundant under

    your vows of justice, but it won¡¯t hurt anything.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good thinking, Father.¡± Reggie nodded as he Summoned the stone and handed it over.

    ¡°Povon, Talia and I made you up some rings while we were watching your exploits this morning.¡± Alilia

    said as she Summoned a small wooden box to the tabletop beside Valentia. ¡°They¡¯re based on the

    bracelet Povon wears, and they were her suggestion. Kragorram actually made them, but we cast all

    the spells. And of course the one that¡¯s big enough to be your headband is for Karzog.¡±

    ¡°Of course!¡± Valentia giggled as she slipped hers on and passed the box to Valentia. ¡°They don¡¯t look

    very impressive, but I can sure feel it tingling on my finger from all the power in it.¡± She added, eyeing

    the in steel ring with its single diamond cut into a simple octahedron, like two four-sided pyramids

    joined base to base.

    ¡°They¡¯re general-purpose focusing amplifiers, permanent and protected information storage of

    immense capacity, and excellent power batteries. And they¡¯re charged already.¡± Talia exined. ¡°The

    steel is the most durable alloy Kragorram¡¯se up with, they¡¯re self-sizing and practically

    indestructible, and the diamond¡¯s shape is a singleplete natural crystal. We¡¯ve found that cutting

    diamonds to look nice and sparkly not only reduces their storage capacity by reducing their size, it also

    drastically reduces their utility as spelled items by interrupting their crystal properties.

    ¡°And believe me, once you get used to having a handy information storage item, you¡¯ll never go without

    one again. Povon got us started on that in our first training with Quewanak. She stored all her notes in

    hers; notes on thousands of personnel on both sides of the conflict, notes on locations and their tactical

    and strategic properties, everything. And it was all still there for us when we came out of the training.

    It¡¯s way easier than always casting Readings on yourself to refresh your memory.

    ¡°I use my engagement and wedding rings, myself, though after we tested yours this morning, I think I¡¯ll

    get one of those too.¡±

    ¡°Thanks Mother!¡± the children chorused together, then giggled as they admired their rings with their

    magic senses.

    ¡°And thanks Povon and Kragorram!¡± Valentiaughed.

    ¡°You¡¯re wee.¡± came their psionic reply.

    ¡°Excuse me.¡± Karzog said as he Summoned his ring, and it disappeared from the box. ¡°I couldn¡¯t wait

    to try it on! Mmm, it¡¯s nice too! Thank you!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re wee.¡± Alilia chuckled, amused at his exuberance.

    ¡°Well, we¡¯re off.¡± Reggie dered as he pushed away from the table. And after a minute of hugs,

    kisses, good-byes, and love-yous, they went back to their task.

    It was far more difficult to find the young Sylvan now, but with a carefulbination of tracking, magic,

    and psionics, they were found, and steadily, despite the Stealth their god had endowed them with.

    By suppertime they had over eight hundred unconscious captivesid out in the little valley behind

    Mark¡¯s house.

    The three siblings settled on the grass at the center of the valley to eat from their provisions and watch,

    while Karzog struck a proud pose beside them and woke their prisoners.

    The Sylvan had beenid out with their feet pointing at the center of the valley and their heads up the

    slope. Now they woke and sat up, but that was all they could do. They could neither stand nor move

    their arms. Arranged as they were, the valley became a natural amphitheater, and the captive audience

    had no choice but to face their captors.

    A few began yelling, but Karzog over-rode them, his powerful voice augmented to an immense volume,

    speaking Blezogeth.

    ¡°You have been detained by The Governors of Hiliani.¡± the young dragon announced. ¡°I am Vice-

    Governor Karzog, and I will be your keeper and your overseer during our time together.

    ¡°Your continuous ughter of one another ends now. You¡¯ve lived in a state of ignorance, and we will

    now enlighten you.¡±

    He cast an immense Revealing in the air above himself. It showed a light-blue dragon on a dark, t

    mountaintop, gazing up at the stars beside a huge, strange tangle of metals and precious stones. The

    size of a Sylvan who attended him revealed that the dragon was very small for an adult, not much

    bigger than Karzog.

    ¡°This is Zarkog, before he became Lord of Serminak, before he increased his size and changed his

    color.¡± Karzog announced. ¡°The thing beside him is a device called the Psionic Distant Listener. He

    used it to find intelligent beings on other worlds in the distant void. What he¡¯s about to discover in this

    Revealing, which is based on Readings taken from him muchter, changed everything on our world.

    These are the crucial facts that he kept from everyone else until some seven years ago, by your

    Copyright by N?v/elDrama.Org.

    reckoning.

    ¡°He had discovered other worlds that bore life, and this prompted him to look for psionic emanations

    closer to Keran. He found two sources of such emanations, one of which he never identified exactly.

    What you¡¯re watching is the night he identified the second psionic emanation that he found.¡±

    In the Revealing, Zarkog suddenly cringed, then cringed again, drawing in upon himself until he was

    almost huddled on the t stone of the mountaintop.

 Chapter 65

    Chapter 65

    Part 12

    ¡°He knew that there is a rock almost five times as big as Hiliani approaching Keran.¡± Karzog

    Text content ? N?velDrama.Org.

    continued, ¡°And that night he realized that it is full of millions, or billions, of demons.¡±

    As they watched Zarkog suddenly jumped up and began raging about the mountaintop, roaring in

    anger as he tore wfuls of rock from the mountain and sting all about with his fire and destructive

    spells. He crushed the Sylvan who attended him to a paste against the rock with a single strike, and

    generally destroyed his observatory and everything near it except the Psionic Distant Listener.

    ¡°This led Zarkog to decide that Keran needed to prepare to defend itself against the demons, and to

    decide that he was destined to lead our defense. That¡¯s why a reclusive astronomer became Dragon

    Lord of Serminak, and tried to take over the world. And that¡¯s why your god brought your people here

    all those years ago.

    ¡°After taking over Serminak, he attempted to extend his influence to the other continents, and that¡¯s

    where he ran into problems¡­¡±

    The Revealing showed Zarkog fighting and speaking to crowds of Sylvan and dragons as Dragon Lord;

    he was now almost impossibly huge, and was ck with gold and silver ents. Then, as Karzog

    verbally summarized them, he showed events from The War of The Founding of The Just Alliance,

    Zarkog¡¯s downfall, the revealing of the Triax, the ending of the Withdrawal of The Gods, the

    organization of The Game of Status among the other Sylvan, and the establishment of the Hiliani

    colony.

    ¡°Your god made sure he was outside the time-bubble when it went up, and I¡¯m sure that by now he

    knows all that I¡¯ve revealed to you.¡± Karzog continued as the Revealing ended and faded away. ¡°But

    he¡¯s not here, he¡¯s trapped outside the time-bubble, and so he can¡¯t prepare you to face the demons.

    Therefore we will do so.

    ¡°We have only two objectives with you; we¡¯ll stop you from killing or disabling each other, since we may

    need every fighter we can get to defeat the demons. And we¡¯ll train you to fight the demons effectively,

    as a disciplined, co-operative force, equipped with many spells and techniques that you don¡¯t have yet.

    In order to fulfill these objectives, we¡¯ll build amunity for you, and you¡¯ll gain the benefits, safety,

    and pleasures of life that your elders presently enjoy, but you do not.

    ¡°When we¡¯ve aplished our two objectives, we¡¯ll leave the Sylvan of Hiliani in peace to run their

    own affairs, though you will be required to join our continuing battle training, so that our two peoples

    can co-operate and coordinate in the defense of our home inds.

    ¡°We four are not the most powerful or influential members of ourmunity. Some of you will consider

    it to be extremely bad luck that much of the elite of The Just Alliance have chosen these inds for our

    temporary withdrawal from the world. But we four have chosen to fulfill this responsibility, and we¡¯ve

    been authorized to do so by Prince Mark and Princess Talia, who are the rightful sovereign rulers of

    these inds. We will not shirk or falter in our duty in the slightest, and we think we¡¯re more than up to

    the job.

    ¡°Now some of you have very primitive thinking. Because of this, you¡¯re thinking to yourselves; ¡®If we

    could get free of this spell right now, we¡¯d obliterate you, because there are eight hundred and forty-one

    of us and only four of you.¡¯ You think you¡¯ve been tricked and trapped and that we¡¯ve used cowardly

    methods, and you¡¯re quite sure you¡¯re going to kill us slowly at the first opportunity, which you think will

    happen quite soon. You consider me to be the only real threat you face, and you think that if you kill me

    first, these other three will fall easily.

    ¡°We know that we¡¯ll have to prove how wrong you are about these things in a way you¡¯ll understand,

    before you¡¯ll obey us. And let there be no doubt; we do require your obedience during the first stages of

    your training. Therefore you¡¯ll be allowed to challenge us tobat.

    ¡°But before we get to that, I¡¯ll answer your questions. I¡¯ll allow you to raise one arm to indicate that you

    have a question, and I¡¯ll allow you to speak it so long as you remain civil.

    ¡°You, yes?¡± he asked as he used a quick sh of yellow light to indicate one of the many Sylvan who

    had raised an arm.

    ¡°How long will we be your captives?¡± she asked.

    ¡°That depends on how quickly you advance in your training, and what assurances you¡¯ll be willing to

    give as to your trustworthiness after that.

    ¡°You, yes?¡±

    ¡°What are those things?!¡± a younger male Sylvan asked as he pointed at the three children on the

    grass.

    ¡°Those ¡®things¡¯, as you so disrespectfully put it, are Governor Longstrider, General Helemia, and Vice-

    Governor Valentia. They¡¯re warlocks.

    ¡°Yes, you.¡±

    ¡°Are warlocks a separate race of people, like extra-small elves, or just a different school of magic

    casters?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re a new thing in this world, that¡¯s certain.¡± Karzog stated, then paused a moment to choose his

    wording. ¡°Warlocks draw power from a second source, one unavable to all others. The first warlock

    was Glup of the Zurb, who led a race of crustacean people beneath the sea some seven hundred

    million years ago, and he became the first god on Keran. Since then six warlocks have appeared

    throughout the long history of this world, each born to a different race in a different era. Though all were

    prominent figures, only Glup became a god. None of their descendants inherited their abilities.

    ¡°There were no warlocks on Keran for thest eight million years, until Prince Mark¡¯s power

    manifested some seven years ago. My three friends are his children, and they¡¯ve inherited his abilities,

    and perhaps exceeded them. Only time will tell if their descendants will be a new race. They¡¯re

    small because they¡¯re young and still growing, as are most of you, and so am I for that matter.

    ¡°Now, in order to prove to you that it¡¯s futile for you to resist us, we¡¯ll let you attack us with magical and

    projectile attacks. Those who wish to do so may begin now.¡±

    The Sylvan suddenly found they could stand up and move, but they couldn¡¯t leave their ces on the

    grass, not by flying, walking, or any other method. They could use their magic though, and two-thirds of

    them sted the four at the center of the vale with all their power, apanied by a few arrows and

    stones.

    The arrows and stones bounced off the quartet¡¯s Shields, and the power of the spells was absorbed.

    For almost half a minute the onught continued, creating a congration of light and noise. When the

    four at the center had stored and absorbed all the power that they and their batteries could hold, they

    simply ended the Sylvan¡¯s¡¯ ability to move and use magic again. Then they spent a moment Healing

    the injuries of a few Sylvan who were close to them and who had been hit by missed or ricocheting

    rocks and arrows.

    ¡°I think that proves the futility of you attacking us by magic.¡± Karzog stated. ¡°But I know some of you are

    thinking that we might not be so dangerous in physicalbat, especially my threerades here. So

    if we could have twenty of you who are very dangerous fighters and who wish to fight General Helemia

    raise your hands, you¡¯ll get your chance. Don¡¯t be shy; if you should injure or kill her during this

    challenge you won¡¯t be punished for it.

    ¡°All right, the twenty I¡¯ve indicated,e down to the center here. I¡¯ll allow the rest of you to move back

    a bit to make room. Combat will begin as soon as you¡¯ve moved back enough to clear a space twelve

    meters wide.¡±

    Some of the Sylvan were sluggish about moving, and a few were obviously trying to break free from the

    psionic grip that held them so they could escape while everyone was moving.

    ¡°MOVE BACK!¡± Karzog roared in a tone of fiercemand, then he speeded the slowest dozen by

    seizing them with Movement and tossing them up the slope a few meters.

    ¡°Why do we fight the smallest one?¡± a female asked Karzog, indicating Helemia. ¡°Just so we¡¯ll be more

    embarrassed if we lose? And who goes first?¡±

 Chapter 66

    Chapter 66

    Part 12

    ¡°You¡¯ll fight me because I insisted on it, because I enjoy this kind of thing even more than my

    fight all twenty of you at once, with no magic, and no psionic holds or attacks. You¡¯ll fight the same way.

    If any of you tries to cheat by using magic or psionics against me, I¡¯ll do the same to you, and I bet you

    won¡¯t like that a bit!

    ¡°And just to keep things fair, I¡¯m fighting you without my armor or my shield or my good weapons, since

    they have a lot of permanent magical enhancements. Just this.¡± she giggled as she held up a knife with

    a fifteen centimeter de. ¡°You can all use whatever you¡¯ve got for weapons or armor.¡±

    Content ? provided by N?velDrama.Org.

    ¡°You must be insane.¡± a male Sylvan said as he drew his sword.

    ¡°We¡¯ll know in a moment, won¡¯t we?¡± Helemiaughed. ¡°Whenever you¡¯re ready.¡±

    The Sylvan gave a snarl and chopped down at her with his sword. Helemia merely side-stepped just

    enough that the sword brushed her clothing as it whistled by and struck the ground, and poked him with

    her knife over his heart hard enough to draw a drop of blood.

    ¡°That¡¯s it for you.¡± sheughed as he winced and stepped back, clutching his chest to assess the

    damage. ¡°I¡¯d have stabbed you through the heart if I wanted to.¡±

    ¡°Get her!¡± the Sylvan yelled as he attacked again, and the twenty converged. Theyrgely got in each

    other¡¯s way, as only six of them at most could directly attack her at once without hitting each other.

    She danced among them, her expression grim as her concentration focused, and she set to disarming

    them with strikes on their hands. She had to deal out a few other blows and mild cuts as she did so to

    avoid injury, but most of her defense was dodging, deflecting, and blocking. She moved through them

    at their knee level so quickly and unpredictably that none managed an effective strike against her.

    When she¡¯d disarmed them by disabling one of their hands, they picked up their weapon in their other

    hand and kepting. She had to disarm most of them at least twice before thebat came to an

    end, with all of them standing in a circle around her with their weapons on the ground and their

    bleeding and broken hands held awkwardly before them. Though it had onlysted for four minutes, all

    of them were panting and sweating, including Helemia.

    ¡°And that¡¯s that.¡± Helemia grimly dered as she settled into a stance in the center of the circle.

    ¡°We¡¯ll Heal you now; some of you have some bad leg wounds.¡± Karzog dered.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t do those, they did those to each other.¡± Helemia pointed out as herpanions performed the

    Healings.

    ¡°You cheated!¡± A female Sylvan dered. ¡°You were psionicly Reading us as we were fighting! You

    knew what we were going to do before we did it!¡±

    ¡°I was, but it wasn¡¯t cheating.¡± Helemia responded as she suddenly grinned. ¡°I only said I wouldn¡¯t use

    psionics or magic as a weapon or to hold you, and I didn¡¯t. Still, if you want to go again without me

    doing that, we can do that. But I¡¯ll admit that I¡¯ll need some more serious weapons for that.¡±

    Her knife disappeared, and was reced by two light, twin-edged, tapering short swords about sixty

    centimeters long each. She waved them around for a moment in a veryplex swirling pattern before

    settling into stance again. ¡°Any of you who want to pick up your weapons and give it another try are

    wee to, and I promise not to Read you.¡±

    All twenty of them did so, then gingerly advanced on her. She was faced with a closing ring of steel

    points and edges, and the Sylvan slowly moved forward together, their weapons held as far forward as

    their reach allowed, to keep Helemia as far from them as possible.

    When the circle of points was two and a half meters wide, Helemia suddenly darted forward and swept

    a sword aside with both of hers. In a blink she was between two opponents (stabbing them both on the

    way by) and outside the circle of Sylvan, then attacking it. She became the aggressor, and the Sylvan

    found no way to effectively defend against her incredibly quick swirling des. This was a far bloodier

    round; she disdained potentially lethal strikes, but that was her only limitation.

    Finally thest three Sylvan panicked and tried to run, only to find themselves held fast.

    ¡°And that¡¯s it for that.¡± Karzog dered as the wounded were Healed again. ¡°I think we¡¯ve made our

    point.¡±

    ¡°That was fun!¡± Helemia suddenlyughed as she donned her armor again.

    ¡°You.¡± Reggie suddenly said, and pointed out a Sylvan female of about seventeen years with his finger

    and a yellow light. He¡¯d been lounging on the grass watching Helemia¡¯s fight, but now he stood and

    faced the girl he¡¯d indicated. ¡°You didn¡¯t attack us with magic when you could¡¯ve, and you didn¡¯t choose

    to participate in the fight. Why not?¡±

    She shrugged. ¡°I knew those idiots were kidding themselves. There¡¯s no way you¡¯d invite us to attack

    you if you thought there was the slightest chance that you¡¯d lose, unless you were being incredibly

    stupid, which you probably weren¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, but there¡¯s always some who have to see it for themselves.¡± Reggie nodded. ¡°Did anyone

    else who refrained have a different reason?

    ¡°You, state your reason.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve got us all psionicly.¡± The Sylvan he¡¯d selected responded. ¡°There¡¯s no use fighting with magic

    or steel when someone has you psionicly, and all of us together don¡¯t have enough psionics to beat

    you, even if we could co-ordinate our attack, which we can¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s clear thinking.¡± Reggie nodded again.

    ¡°Now, the first thing we¡¯re going to do is move you all to your new location, and get you started on

    building some decent homes for yourselves.¡± he continued. ¡°Until now you¡¯ve all lived like animals in

    tiny dens and hollows in trees and caves and such. You dared not build anything decent because it

    would make you easier to find, and it was too much work to give up if you were discovered and had to

    abandon it. You live off thend and make no effort to replenish what you take, and most of you keep

    yourselves half-starved so you can devote less time to hunting, gathering, and fishing, and more to

    trying to kill each other. Your social lives are almost non-existent, and none of you dared to have a child

    until you¡¯re twenty five because a newborn is a severe tactical disadvantage.

    ¡°These things will all change now. Since we will no longer allow you to kill or maim each other, you can

    have decent homes, you can gather around the fire at night and sing and dance andugh, you can

    have children and know that you and your family are safe. We will provide the females among you with

    a contraception spell so that you can have recreational sex without getting pregnant, or have a child

    when you choose to do so, and with the male you wish to be the father of your child. Rape will no

    longer be tolerated. If you want to fight each other, you will do so in an arena before the eyes of all, and

    only after a formal challenge has been issued and epted.

    ¡°You, you have a question?¡±

    ¡°Why should only females have the power to choose who has children?!¡± a young male asked. ¡°If they

    get to choose that our sex won¡¯t make babies, we should get to do the same. I don¡¯t want some stupid

    doe to bear my child without my permission just because I want to have sex with her!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a fair enough point.¡± Reggie granted, over-riding some angry yelling that started up. ¡°Helemia,

    you¡¯re our best Healer.¡±

    ¡°I coulde up with something that would allow the males to choose if they were fertile.¡± she granted.

    ¡°And I think I¡¯ll modify both of the contraceptive spells so that both partners always know if the other is

    fertile when you¡¯re having sex. That way neither can lie about it.¡±

    ¡°For the next month at least, none of you will be having children.¡± Valentia stated firmly as she stood

    and augmented her voice. ¡°We have far too much work to do until then, and none of you will be having

    children until you have decent homes and an establishedmunity. So we¡¯ll start off with casting an

    unalterable contraception on all females. By the time you have a situation where you can responsibly

    have children, we¡¯ll have the modified spells ready for both genders.

 Chapter 67

    Chapter 67

    Part 12

    ¡°And it¡¯s time we got to work. Prepare yourself for Translocation.¡±

    A momentter she Translocated the entire group, using the power she and herpanions had

    stored in their batteries, most of which they¡¯d received from the Sylvan magic attack.

    They arrived on a beach on the north-east coast of Hiliani. A line of small but jagged mountains

    paralleled the coast about a kilometer ind for as far as the eye could see, curving out of sight to the

    north-east and south-west. Between the beach and the mountains was fairly levelnd covered with

    forest.

    ¡°This will be your newmunity, from here to the mountains.¡± Reggie announced. ¡°The first thing we

    need istrine pits dug. A quarter of you will work on that with Karzog. A quarter will gather building

    materials with Valentia. Those who didn¡¯t choose to attack or fight us earlier are probably the smart

    ones among you, so you¡¯ll work with me onmunity nning. The remainder will work with Helemia

    on altering the courses of the streams and building bridges over them so you all have ess to water

    and we won¡¯t be fouling them with silt by walking in them.

    ¡°If you¡¯ve made good progress in two hours, we¡¯ll take a break for a meal.

    ¡°And by the way, if any of you even think of escaping, disrupting the work, or sabotaging anything, we¡¯ll

    know.¡±

    Soon Karzog, Valentia, and Helemia had chosen their teams, and work began. Since all of the Sylvan

    were capable wizards with about as much power as an equivalent number of elves, and were

    physically fit andrger than humans their ages by about a quarter, the work progressed quickly. Some

    grumbled andined, but most seemed to think their new circumstances weren¡¯t so bad, and a

    few actively supported the changes in their lives.

    Valentia¡¯s team scoured the area for driftwood, fallen trees andrge branches, and loose stone. By the

    time that was done, Reggie¡¯s team had decided on locations for eightrge long-houses in the forest

    near the beach with garden plots and livestock enclosures.

    The teams were re-organized and construction began, and proceeded with an eclectic mixture of elven,

    human, and Sylvan building techniques.

    When the building had been going on for an hour, Valentia spent a few minutes casting hundreds of

    automated spells and sent them out all over thend and waters of Hiliani. In a few minutes they¡¯d

    located and started retrieving foodstuffs from all over the inds; plucking fish out of water, picking

    berries, fruits, and vegetables, and digging edible roots from the soil and shellfish from the shoreline.

    These all flew back to her, and she had to cast a few more spells to protect her bounty from the local

    birds and insects as it was retrieved.

    Once the retrieval of food was dealt with, she recruited fifty Sylvan to help wash and prepare it and

    cook what needed cooking.

    The savory scents her team was producing wafted over the entire area, and when the supper break

    was dered they all set to with gusto. For most of the young Sylvan, it was the best meal they¡¯d had

    in years.

    As they were finishing up amidst a beautiful sunset, Karzog addressed them;

    ¡°You¡¯ve done well. We¡¯ll all take the rest of the night off and celebrate your new lives. First we¡¯ll cast the

    Contraceptions on the females, then we¡¯ll make some bonfires and provide some music.

    ¡°If there are any songs or musical pieces that you¡¯d like to hear, just let us know and we¡¯ll get them

    from you with a Reading. We¡¯ll provide all the music psionicly since we don¡¯t have any instruments, but

    we encourage any who know the words to sing along, and we encourage you all to dance.

    ¡°We¡¯ll mark a Challenge Circle on the beach for those who want to fight, and if any of you bear any

    grudges against one another, we encourage you to get them settled tonight. You can challenge one

    another to fights, and if you bear a grudge against one who is far mightier than you, you can ask

    someone who is about as dangerous as the one you hate to be your champion. I will referee all

    injured to continue. You can use lethal moves, but I¡¯ll end the match before death can ur, and I¡¯ll

    provide Healing to both fighters after every match.

    ¡°The festivities will end at midnight, and you¡¯ll have a half-hour to rx and clean yourselves up before

    bedtime. Since the shelters aren¡¯t finished yet, you can sleep on the beach, and we¡¯ll make sure none

    Copyright by N?v/elDrama.Org.

    of you get cold or wet as you sleep, so you won¡¯t have to worry about the chance of rain or dew.

    Soon the Contraceptions were cast, lively music was heard all up and down the beach, and the

    bonfires were zing. Like the cooking fires, the bonfires werepletely magic, since all the wood

    they¡¯d gathered was used for construction materials.

    The four Governors stationed themselves on the beach in the middle of the gathering, between the

    Challenge Circle and a bonfire.

    The Challenge Circle was busy from the moment it was cast, and soon there was a long queue waiting

    to use it and a big crowd gathered around it to watch and cheer or jeer the fighters, but there appeared

    to be very little socializing going on other than that. The crowding to see the fights soon became a

    problem, so Valentia cast a huge Revealing of the arena in the air above it, allowing any on the beach

    to watch the fights from wherever they were.

    ¡°They¡¯re all messed up from distrust and istion and constant chaotic warfare.¡± Reggie privately

    observed to his threepanions. ¡°They¡¯ve all forgotten how to have fun together except the youngest

    of them, and those ones are keeping to themselves because they¡¯re so used to not trusting the older

    ones.¡±

    ¡°Hmm. I might have something for that.¡± Helemia giggled. ¡°I¡¯ll cast it slow so it¡¯s not obvious.¡±

    Over the next fifteen minutes the Sylvan started to be more gregarious. They began mixing more,

    andughter was heard. Someone started to dance, and soon hundreds more joined in.

    ¡°Whatever you did is sure working good!¡± Valentia giggled. ¡°This is getting to be a party now! What was

    it?¡±

    ¡°Something Nek showed me.¡± Helemia giggled. ¡°She and Reen use it in the pub so they won¡¯t have to

    be bothered with making beer or wine, or suffer from the problems that alcohol causes. It¡¯s called

    Mandri and Dren¡¯s Moderate Drunkenness, ¡®cause it was their idea, but it was actually designed by

    Mandri, Nek, Hilsith, Dalia, and Bezedil. I love the human-style spell names; they¡¯re so much more

    colorful than the in descriptive names elves use.¡±

    ¡°Bah.¡± Valentia scoffed with a chuckle. ¡°If I did that, I¡¯d have had to have thought of about a thousand

    different spell names already, and they¡¯d all be Valentia¡¯s Vexing Vapor Vision or something equally

    silly.¡±

    They all got a chuckle from that, which encouraged a few of the closer Sylvan to approach them. They

    lounged on the sand facing the sea with the bonfire to their left and the Challenge Circle to their right;

    Karzog lying on his belly with his tail wrapped around him, and his three youngerpanions resting

    on lounges they¡¯d formed from the sand. Until then, the Sylvan had kept a respectful distance.

    Three giggling Sylvan females of about sixteen years of age came and sat on the sand facing them.

    ¡°So what¡¯s it like being a warlock?¡± one of them inquired.

    ¡°It¡¯s pretty good so far.¡± Reggieughed. ¡°Mind you, that¡¯s mostly due to the time-bubble. If it weren¡¯t for

    that, we¡¯d probably have been fighting the demons for thest four years already.¡±

    ¡°Well I¡¯m d we¡¯ve got time to train for it, but I¡¯m looking forward to fighting the demons! I¡¯m Meblit by

    the way, and this is Talvol and Lutimik.¡±

    ¡°Pleased to meet you.¡± Reggie nodded with a smile. ¡°And fighting the demons will be fun I suppose, as

    long as we¡¯re winning decisively. Losing and being burned by demon-fire are both no fun.¡±

    ¡°Ha, don¡¯t be such a dark cloud!¡± Meblit teased. ¡°This is the greatest opportunity for glory that we¡¯ll ever

    get! We¡¯ll destroy the demons and be immortalized in song and legend for our mighty deeds!¡±

    Reggie chuckled. ¡°I¡¯ve heard that Sylvan are eternal optimists, and it seems that it¡¯s true.¡±

    ¡°Damn right.¡± Meblitughed. ¡°The moment you think you might lose, you¡¯re already half beaten.¡±

 Chapter 68

    Chapter 68

    Part 12

    ¡°Do you want to mate with me?¡± Talvol asked Reggie, who blushed almost purple in the firelight in

    embarrassment, which was aggravated by his sisters and Karzog breaking outughing.

    ¡°Uh, I¡¯ve heard that Sylvan females gain status amongst themselves by being mated by males of high

    status.¡± Reggie stammered. ¡°I assume that¡¯s why you¡¯re asking me? Since we¡¯ve assumed control

    here, I¡¯m the highest status male?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Talvol smiled. ¡°And males gain status from mating more females than the other males.

    We don¡¯t mind that if the male has really high status like you, so if it¡¯ll help convince you, you can have

    all three of us.¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± Meblit agreed. ¡°It¡¯s nothing to be embarrassed about.¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t mind that you¡¯re small or anything.¡± Lutimik added. ¡°You¡¯re kind of cute in a really weird way.¡±

    Valentia, Helemia, and Karzog had been having trouble controlling theirughter enough to follow what

    was being said, and with thestment they lost inpletely. The girls rolled around on the sand,

    braying and squealing with hysterical mirth, and Karzog had to tell those fighting in the ring to pause

    until he could spare them some attention again. The Sylvan around them who were following their

    conversation chuckled a bit at Reggie¡¯s embarrassment, but they didn¡¯t really know why he was

    embarrassed, or what the three found so hriously funny.

    Reggie was so mortified that he covered his face with both hands until he had a grip on himself again.

    ¡°Look. I¡¯m ttered by your offer, but I¡¯m not going to be mating with you or with anyone else!¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡± Meblit inquired. ¡°We figured we had a better chance with you since we¡¯re smaller than the

    older girls.¡±

    ¡°Because I just turned six years old, that¡¯s why!¡± Reggie dered in exasperation. ¡°I¡¯m not interested in

    that kind of thing yet, and I¡¯m not going to be mating with anyone for at least ten years!¡±

    ¡°Eww. Now I¡¯m embarrassed.¡± Talvol muttered with a pinched face. ¡°Excuse me.¡± she said as she

    stood.

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Meblit agreed as she and Lutimik joined their friend in beating a hasty retreat.

    Now theughter of the rest of the Sylvan was as enthusiastic as that of Reggie¡¯spanions, and the

    three girls ran into the woods to escape it.

    That episode seemed to break the ice between the young Sylvan and their four conquerors. Soon a

    group approached bearing offerings. ¡°We¡¯ve made up a vat of juice from the leftover berries and fruit.¡±

    Copyright by N?v/elDrama.Org.

    their spokesman said as they approached with pitchers and sses they¡¯d fashioned from ck

    volcanic ss. ¡°Would you care for some?¡±

    ¡°Certainly, and thank you.¡± Helemia said as the three half-elves epted, and Karzog declined with a

    shake of his head as he re-started the interrupted fight.

    ¡°He said you were young, but we sure didn¡¯t think you were that young.¡± a Sylvan girl dered as she

    poured juice. ¡°You sure don¡¯t act like it. How¡¯d you get so smart so fast?¡±

    ¡°We spent a lot of time psionicly Linked with each other and with our parents, from before we were

    even born.¡± Helemia exined. ¡°And besides that, we work on getting better at everything as hard as

    we can, and we have the very best teachers.¡±

    ¡°And exceptional intelligence runs in our families.¡± Valentia added.

    ¡°I¡¯d say from the look of you that you¡¯re about thirty-five years old,¡± a young malemented to

    Karzog, ¡°And from what I know of dragons I¡¯d say you act like you¡¯re about eighty. But I bet you¡¯re

    younger than you seen too, like them.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m twenty, and you¡¯re right.¡± Karzog confirmed. ¡°I¡¯m told I¡¯m the biggest that any dragon has been at

    my age, and like my friends here, I¡¯m lucky to have exceptional parents. But to be honest, most of my

    ability is due to these three. They¡¯ve helped to train me, their friendship continually delights me, they

    constantly challenge me to be the very best I can be, and though they haven¡¯t said so, I think they¡¯ve

    subtly improved the physical state of my brain.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll have words about that when next we meet!¡± Povon psionicly dered so that only the four could

    hear her.

    ¡°And that¡¯s why we didn¡¯t announce that we¡¯d done it.¡± Helemia giggled. ¡°I think we¡¯ve already heard

    those words.¡±

    ¡°I couldn¡¯t help but notice that your name sounds a lot like Zarkog, and he¡¯s a big ck dragon too.¡±

    another girlmented. ¡°Any rtion?¡±

    ¡°Zarkog is my blood-father, but like most of his thousands of children, I¡¯ve never met him.¡± Karzog

    exined. ¡°And I¡¯m sure I won¡¯t like him when I do. I was very lucky when I was adopted by my mother

    Povon and my Father Kragorram, since they¡¯re exceptional in every way and they¡¯ve been very, very

    good to me. And when they aren¡¯t on vacation in time-bubbles, they rule Serminak as Dragon Lord

    Regent and Prince of Serminaki Draconia on behalf of Prince Mark, who is Lord of Serminak since he

    beat Zarkog.¡±

    ¡°So you¡¯re the royal brats of the whole world, basically.¡± the girl giggled. ¡°It¡¯s too bad we can¡¯t beat you.

    We could get a pile of ransom for you, I bet!¡±

    ¡°In that context, whether you can beat us is irrelevant.¡± Helemiaughed. ¡°Cause if you did take us

    captive, you¡¯d then have to deal with our parents, and there¡¯s no chance they¡¯d just pay the ransom

    and let you be. They¡¯re all sworn to justice, and they¡¯d never stop trying to bring you to justice for your

    crime. And they¡¯re among the most powerful people in the world, and are allied with all the rest of

    them.¡±

    ¡°Are you sworn to justice?¡± the girl pressed.

    ¡°Sure, Osbald¡¯s Oath.¡± Helemia answered. ¡°We swore to uphold justice, to not break the peace, and to

    defend the innocent. And your next question will be; if it¡¯s unjust for you to capture us for ransom, how

    do we justify taking all of you captive?

    ¡°And the answer is; the fact that we¡¯ve taken you captive is indeed unjust, for we¡¯ve taken your freedom

    and your choice, but that injustice is outweighed. All of you have lived in a state ofplete injustice;

    you all kill each other without provocation whenever you can, and without our intervention, only one out

    of eleven of you will live to twenty-five. We¡¯ll prevent most of you from dying unjustly. Also, we didn¡¯t

    capture you for ransom so we could take what we didn¡¯t deserve; we captured you so we could give

    you what you do deserve, which is a long and enjoyable life, and we won¡¯t be taking anything from you.

    ¡°Furthermore, only those who can take care of themselves deserve self-determination. If someone

    can¡¯t take care of themselves because they¡¯re too foolish to do so, because they¡¯re too young or too

    incoherent or insane or whatever, then it¡¯s no injustice to prevent them from foolishly harming

    themselves or others.

    ¡°And on top of all that, we¡¯re sworn to protect the innocent. None of you are innocents, but you¡¯re

    innocent of any crime against the demons, and you don¡¯t deserve to be destroyed by them. So we have

    to protect you from that if we can, and the best way to do that is to teach you to protect yourselves as

    much as we can.¡±

    ¡°Look around you.¡± Reggie told the girl. ¡°Are you less free than you were at this time yesterday? You

    can¡¯t leave here, but there were very few ces you could gost night without getting killed, so you

    didn¡¯t have freedom of movement then either. And other than that, you now haveplete freedom,

    and you can do whatever you want so long as it doesn¡¯t infringe on another¡¯s rights or freedoms. You¡¯re

    free to dance, to sing, to yell, to have sex or fall asleep in the open, none of which you could dost

    night.¡±

    ¡°Good point.¡± the girlughed.

    One of the youngest Sylvan there, a boy of no more than twelve, stood and moved to stand before

    Helemia. ¡°Would you like to dance with me?¡± he asked with a cocky grin.

    ¡°Sure, as long as it¡¯s a dance where we don¡¯t have to touch each other.¡± sheughed as she stood.

    ¡°What, you don¡¯t want me to hold you close and whirl you around?¡± the boy asked, feigning hurt

    surprise. ¡°Don¡¯t you trust me?¡±

    ¡°Are you kidding?!¡± Helemia retorted. ¡°You¡¯re an unsworn Sylvan, and I¡¯m fully aware of what that

    means! I know darn well that if you thought you¡¯d get away with it, you¡¯d love to kill me and eat me right

    now! I¡¯m sure I can deal with whatever you might do, I¡¯d just rather not be bothered with

    it.¡±

 Chapter 69

    Chapter 69

    Part 12

    ¡°Well actually, I¡¯m still pretty full right now, so I¡¯d probably save you to eatter.¡± he chuckled. ¡°But if

    you¡¯d prefer to dance apart, that¡¯s fine with me. To be honest, I don¡¯t know any close dances anyway.¡±

    ¡°All right then.¡± Helemia smiled, and followed him to the nearest open space on the dancing ground.

    Soon Reggie and Valentia were also asked to dance, and joined the throng who were bouncing and

    twirling to the music. Even Karzog was asked to dance, but he begged off so he could continue to

    supervise the fights.

    The three danced until they were tired of it, then rejoined Karzog to continue chatting with the Sylvan

    and watching the challenges. Most of the conversation was the Sylvan asking the four of them

    questions about themselves, their lives, theirmunity, and the world beyond Hiliani.

    After another half an hour, Helemia nudged Valentia. ¡°Thatst match was so good, watching it made

    me want to fight! And we didn¡¯t spar today. Care to go for a round?¡±

    ¡°Sure!¡± Valentiaughed. ¡°But a lot of those in the queue have been waiting to fight for over an hour. It

    wouldn¡¯t be fair to just butt into the line.¡±

    ¡°Unless they agreed to it.¡± Helemia grinned, and turned to the dragon.

    ¡°Hey Karz, when this bout is done, hold off a minute before starting the next one so I can ask those

    waiting for the circle if they¡¯d mind letting me and Val fight next.¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± Karzog nodded. ¡°What limits will you use?¡±

    ¡°Sword pairs?¡± Valentia asked her sister.Please check at N/?vel(D)rama.Org.

    ¡°Sword pairs.¡± Helemia nodded with eager satisfaction.

    The novelty of seeing two of their captors fight was indeed enough to convince most of those in line to

    allow the girls to fight next, and the few who dissented were shouted down by the rest. Word spread

    quickly, and by the time the fight started, most of those at the gathering were watching.

    The two young warlocks took their ces in the circle armed with two swords each, as Helemia had

    used against the Sylvan earlier. Their skills were exactly equal, since they both had The Skills of

    Visinniria, which made the contest one of physical ability, tactics, and strategy. What really made it

    interesting was the fact that Visinniria¡¯s offensive skill with a pair of swords had been slightly better than

    her defensive skill, which meant that if either of the two half-elves managed to gain the initiative, they

    had a real chance to press the advantage. It also meant that it paid to be aggressive, which produced a

    spectacr fight. The four light swords whirled and darted around so quickly that it was impossible for

    most of those watching to follow all of the moves, but enough could be discerned that all of the

    spectators were soon on their feet and screaming encouragement to their favorite, and the entire

    gathering was gripped with a palpable excitement as they watched.

    The crowd was about equally split as to who they were rooting for. Some of those who liked to see the

    underdog win cheered for Helemia since she was smaller, others cheered Valentia because she was

    younger. Those who wanted to see the strong crush the weak were equally divided for the same

    reasons. Some liked Helemia because her ck hair made her look more like a Sylvan, some picked

    Valentia because the ck streaks in her white hair gave her such a striking and exotic appearance.

    And they certainly weren¡¯t disappointed with the intensity of the fight. Itsted for almost nine minutes

    of constant furious action. Both of the tiny fighters sustained multiple wounds, some of which were

    quite serious, but they both Healed themselves as they carried on fighting. They didn¡¯t take time to

    clean themselves as they went along though, and both were soon covered in blood, sweat, and sand.

    The fight ended with two simultaneous strikes, as Helemia stabbed Valentia through the abdomen,

    while Valentia thrust her sword through Helemia¡¯s throat and out the back of her neck.

    At that moment Valentia, Reggie, and Karzog cried out and Healed Helemia in a sh as Valentia

    withdrew her sword, then Reggie and Karzog Healed Valentia.

    ¡°Valentia is the winner!¡± Karzog announced, while the two fighters stilly on the sand in their bloodied

    white under-armor wear, gasping and panting with one hand still held to where theirst wounds had

    been. The audience manically yelled and screamed their approval.

    Finally the twobatants slowly sat up and extended a hand to each other, and helped each other

    up.

    ¡°Sorry about cutting your spine.¡± Valentia said with a rueful smile. ¡°I was just going for your throat and

    the big artery, but I missed because you were stabbing me in the guts at the time.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s okay.¡± Helemia returned with the same expression. ¡°You were a fraction of a blink ahead of me.

    I missed anything vital because you made contact first. Otherwise I¡¯d have at least got a tie with a heart

    wound. Good fight, and congrattions.¡±

    ¡°Thanks.¡±

    They shared a hug, then left the ring to the next pair of fighters.

    ¡°Let me get that for you.¡± Reggie chuckled as the girls approached where Karzog reclined on the sand.

    He cast Clean on them, and the blood and sweat fell off them with the sand, leaving them pristine

    again, including their hair and their clothing. Karzog did his gentlemanly bit by casting Restore on their

    clothes to repair the many holes and shes.

    ¡°Wow, you girls don¡¯t fool around, do you?¡± a Sylvan femaleughed. She was one of the oldest there,

    at almost twenty-five. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen so many wounds taken in a fight between two people before! But

    then, I¡¯ve never seen anyone who could Heal as fast as you two! Do you block the pain of the wounds

    you take?¡±

    ¡°Yah, about a third of it.¡± Valentia nodded as she stretched to release some tension. ¡°It¡¯s not smart to

    block more than that. In the heat of battle, you might not realize when you¡¯ve been seriously wounded if

    you do. It still hurts like hell though.¡±

    ¡°Do you fight to the death like that all the time?¡± someone else asked.

    ¡°Generally.¡± Helemia nodded. ¡°To what would be a lethal wound without some fast Healing, anyway. We

    try not to go for the brain or the spine, because you usually lose the ability to Heal when you get a

    wound there, so that¡¯s pretty risky, even with another Healer or two watching out for you. And if you get

    a wound in the brain, you have to Heal it in less than half a second or the damage just cascades so

    fast, you have to call in a better Healer than me or there could be permanent damage. But we¡¯ve never

    done that yet. We have pretty good control, so even spinal wounds are pretty rare. I think we¡¯ve had

    four since we started seriously sparring, and that¡¯s the first one I¡¯ve taken.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve taken two.¡± Karzog snickered. ¡°Helemia almost cut my headpletely off once.¡±

    ¡°Wow.¡± a boy breathed in amazement. ¡°I¡¯ve seen enemies fighting to the death that weren¡¯t as serious

    about it as you two sisters were just now, fighting for fun. But it¡¯s still hard to believe any of you little

    half-elves could beat a dragon, even a young one like Karzog here.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯d be surprised.¡± Karzog snickered again. ¡°I constantly am. As you¡¯d expect, I can take all three of

    them at once in unarmed physicalbat. But give them a short sword each, and I can only take two

    of them, even if I also have a sword. If they have their full armor and weaponry, I can only beat one of

    them at a time, even if I have the same. All that assumes that we aren¡¯t using any magic except Flight,

    and I¡¯m not using my fire.

    ¡°But in a contest of magic Ie out a distant fourth, though I can keep up with one of the twins if I

    also use my fire. Valentia is our undisputed champion of magic.

    ¡°The twins are so dangerous in psionic warfare that it¡¯s almost unbelievable.

    ¡°And the fact of the matter is, we usually spar with no limitations, except we don¡¯tplete lethal

    attacks. No conventional Healing can save you from a really good magic or psionic attack, so when

    we¡¯re pretty sure one would seed, the loser concedes. And on any given day, when we¡¯re using all

    of our abilities and equipment, which one of us is likely to win is almost a matter of chance. We¡¯re pretty

    closely matched, all four of us.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m really looking forward to getting out of the time-bubble and attending some big tournaments.¡±

    Valentia grinned. ¡°By then we¡¯ll be some of the most dangerous people in the world, and I¡¯m eager to

    prove it.¡±

    ¡°Wow.¡± the boy repeated.

 Chapter 70

    Chapter 70

    Part 12

    ¡°I just got a message from my mother.¡± Helemia announced. ¡°Our parents are sending us some snacks.

    Clear some ground right here, about six meters square.¡±

    A few secondster a huge U-shaped table appeared, piled high with baked treats, cookies, whole

    fruits, iced fruit purees, and dozens of varieties of small hors d¡¯oeuvres.

    ¡°Thank you, we love you too!¡± the four conquerors called to their unseen parents.

    ¡°There¡¯s enough here for five items for each of you.¡± Karzog announced to the entire gathering. ¡°Form

    an orderly line, and no taking extras.¡±

    ¡°Ahh, that¡¯s so adorable!¡± a female Sylvanughed. ¡°The babies are out conquering, and their parents

    sent them treats!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be too smart about it, or I¡¯ll call you into the ring for a round or two.¡± Helemia warned.

    ¡°Of course, your mightiness!¡± the girlughed, and gave them a mocking salute before moving to get

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    into the line for the snack table before it got too long.

    ¡°These Sylvan do like to live dangerously, don¡¯t they?¡± Helemiamented, and fetched her selections

    of snacks from the table by Movement.

    By one hour to midnight, there was no one fighting in the ring anymore, and most of the gathering were

    having sex. Few of the Sylvan chose to seek a semnce of privacy among the trees or the unfinished

    constructions; most of them just covered a spot of sand with their clothes and went at it. The four young

    Governors observed this with some interest, and more than a bit of carefully-veiled disgust.

    ¡°I know for certain that I¡¯ll think that¡¯s a lot of fun in a few years.¡± Reggie privatelymented to his

    ¡°Or so smelly, for that matter.¡± Valentia added.

    ¡°Is my humanoid Trantion spell failing me, or are their facial expressionspletely ridiculous

    looking?¡± Karzog wondered.

    ¡°The spell isn¡¯t failing you.¡± Helemia reported. ¡°Though I find the ppy, squishy sounds to be the most

    ridiculous part about it. I¡¯m with Six. I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m ever going to think that¡¯s fun.¡±

    ¡°Most of them don¡¯t look like they¡¯re having fun, or sound like it either.¡± Karzog pointed out. ¡°It seems

    more like they¡¯re intent on hurting each other. And seeding.¡±

    ¡°Grown-ups are weird.¡± Valentia concluded. ¡°Even grown-ups as immature as these ones.¡±

    Midnight came and went, then half-past. Most of the young Sylvan were still engaged in the activity,

    many after switching partners, sometimes more than once.

    ¡°Almost all of you are past curfew, and you should all be cleaned up and ready for sleep now.¡± Karzog

    announced. ¡°Since this is our first night together and therefore a somewhat special asion, we¡¯ll let it

    go this once. But all of you who¡¯re still having sex had better take note; You¡¯d better start doing it earlier

    tomorrow night and be finished at midnight, because we¡¯ll be drenching any stragglers with cold water.¡±

    But it seemed like the Sylvan were unwilling to stop once they¡¯d gotten started. Their Governors got

    sick of listening to them about four hours after midnight, and did indeed drench every continuing

    fornicator with cold water. They used fresh water from the streams rather than sea water, figuring that it

    would at least clean the Sylvan somewhat, and they moved the water by Translocation so there would

    be no warning. Theyughed to themselves with quiet satisfaction at the chorus of surprised and

    distressed squeals, cries, and yells that erupted from all over the beach.

    ¡°If we have to do that again in one minute, we¡¯ll make the water ice-cold next time!¡± Helemia warned.

    ¡°Now we¡¯ll dry you off and you WILL go to sleep!¡±

    As things turned out, they learned that the young Sylvan loved to push the limits of authority, and were

    quite stubborn besides. The mass midnight drenching became a regr nightly event for weeks. Some

    fornicators would try to surreptitiously continue after the drenching, so the water was made colder for a

    few nights in a row, until it was found to bepletely effective at about eight degrees above freezing.

    To the surprise of the four governors, all the young Sylvan awoke within a few minutes of each other at

    dawn, which was about eight hours after midnight, and they seemed alert and chipper enough. They

    were to learn that the Sylvan were all used to doing with very little sleep, since sleeping had always left

    them very vulnerable to attack. Thereafter, since the Sylvan were forced to sleep shortly after midnight,

    the next day would begin about four hourster when they all woke up.

    On the second day they got the Sylvan fed, then set them to continuing the work on their settlement¡¯s

    construction under Karzog¡¯s supervision, and Valentia went home to sleep.

    The twins went out to catch more young Sylvan. In over an hour they only caught two, a thirteen-year-

    old boy and a fifteen-year-old girl. They wouldn¡¯t have found those two without the assistance of Stripe

    and Scout¡¯s finely sensitive noses, as the two Sylvan were well-hidden and were maintaining silence

    and immobility. Only their scents had given them away.

    Suddenly the twins were struck by an attack ofbined Lightning and Concussion that was so huge

    that only their automated defenses saved their lives. Their automatic counter-attacks could find nothing

    to aim at, and they Translocated away with the two animals in a fraction of a second, rather than risk

    that their Shields would be overloaded.

    ¡°Crap that was close!¡± Helemia cursed as they went to work.

    ¡°Too close.¡± Reggie grimly agreed. ¡°And way too big an attack for the resistance we expected. Either

    most of the remaining wild Sylvan are working together on this, or some of their adults are helping

    them, or both.¡±

    When the attack had urred, Stripe and Scout had both been a fair distance away from the twins,

    who had been the target of the strike. But the two animals had been protected by less Shielding, and

    there had been so much energy released that they¡¯d been caught in it and injured by it. The twins had

    to mp down on their anger with all their discipline and do some very quick and careful Healing to

    save their beloved pets¡¯ lives and return them to health.

    A momentter they gained control of most of Karzog and Valentia¡¯s power with draw spells, then

    seized control of most of their captive Sylvan¡¯s power with pull spells. They Sent the animals home as

    they Translocated to a position a kilometer above and a half kilometer south of where they¡¯d been

    attacked, and cast Simcrums of themselves and Stripe on the ground beneath them. They equipped

    the Simcrums with Shielding, and set them to creeping through the woods. They floated there with

    no protections for themselves except the Unseen spell, minimizing their power output to avoid

    detection, and psionicly ¡®listened¡¯ with every iota of their Linked concentration.

    Sure enough, a minuteter their Simcrums were sted by a simr attack.

    ¡°I think we found most of them that time.¡± Helemiamented as they let the Simcrums end. ¡°But

    we should do it again to make sure. None of them are moving anyway.¡±

    ¡°Right.¡± Reggie acknowledged as he Translocated them a half kilometer west and re-cast the

    Simcrums. He then cast a wide spell to help find their opponents by their body heat, and another to

    detect the vibration of their motion through the ground, then rejoined his sister in ¡®listening¡¯.

    Again their Simcrums were attacked by massed Lightning and Concussion spells.

    ¡°Hah! Found ¡®em all that time!¡± Helemia psionicly cried in triumph.

    ¡°And there¡¯s a lot of ¡®em!¡± Reggie noted. ¡°More than we nned on dealing with all at once. We¡¯ll have

    to borrow some power for this.¡±

    He Linked with their parents in case their adults didn¡¯t happen to be following their exploits at the

    moment. ¡°May we use some of your power? We¡¯ve got a bit of a situation here. We might even need

    some of Povon and Kragorram¡¯s¡±

    ¡°Sure Son.¡± came Mark¡¯s chuckling reply, then they felt the draw spell take effect through the Link.

    They cast Sleep on all their targets at once with about a fifth of the power they controlled, then used

    most of the rest to cast one of the biggest and mostplex mass Translocations ever done on

    Keran. Sylvan in hiding ces, dens, and homes all over northern Hiliani were Translocated to the

    beach at the new colony and deposited on the sand in neat rows just to the south-west of the existing

    constructions.

 Chapter 71

    Chapter 71

    Part 12

    ¡°Wow, over twelve thousand of them at once!¡± Karzog marveled as he appeared in the air beside them

    and surveyed their new catch. ¡°And almost a quarter of them are adults!¡±

    ¡°Yes, and almost all of them attacked us.¡± Helemia growled as she flew down andnded on the ground

    amongst the new captives. ¡°They almost killed Stripe and Scout. And this one was directing them!¡±

    She gave the unconscious adult male Sylvan a vicious kick in the head, then felt remorse for it and

    Healed him.

    ¡°I¡¯ve got to admit, when you two set out to find some people, you do a job of it!¡± Markughed from

    Yazadril¡¯s house, where he and his wives happened to be at the time. ¡°How did you find the ones that

    weren¡¯t attacking you?¡±

    ¡°They were following the attack psionicly, just so they could watch.¡± Reggie reported as he and Karzog

    joined Helemia on the sand and began inspecting their captives, temporarily confiscating a few magic

    items and the more dangerous enhanced weapons. ¡°That was all it took for us to find them. Our

    psionics really work better when we¡¯re mad at someone. Most of the adults and their dependant

    children weren¡¯t casting or watching though, so they¡¯re still out there.¡±

    ¡°Most people¡¯s best abilities improve when focused by controlled anger.¡± Aliliamented. ¡°And by the

    way, well done! We¡¯re very proud of you, and we do love you so very much!¡±

    ¡°Thanks, we love you all too, and thanks for the power.¡± Reggie sent.

    ¡°Karz, we¡¯re beat.¡± Helemia said as her anger faded and her fatigue andck of sleep registered. ¡°I

    know I¡¯m not scheduled for sleep until Vales back, and Six after me, but we¡¯re really leftovers.

    We¡¯ll leave these asleep until we get back. They should be fine. Will you be okay on your own until we

    get back with Valter?¡±

    ¡°Sure, go ahead.¡± Karzog nodded and gave them a dismissive wave. ¡°With this capture, we¡¯re way

    ahead of schedule anyway, and the ones we got yesterday sure aren¡¯t going to give me any trouble.

    You drained them pretty good just now. The work¡¯s ahead of schedule too, by the way.¡±

    ¡°Good to hear.¡± Helemia told him as she gave his ankle a quick hug.

    ¡°We¡¯ll see you in about six hours then.¡± Reggie said.

    ¡°Sure, take your time.¡± Karzog replied, and vanished as he went back to supervising the construction.

    Reggie and Helemia Translocated their armor, weapons, and outer clothing to the floor of their

    bedroom and themselves into bed with Valentia, all in one step. They were asleep in less than a

    minute.

    PART 13

    The three of them woke six hourster, and the twins let Valentia know what had happened that

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    morning while they washed up and dressed. They found their parents in the kitchen, and a hot meal

    was on the table already.

    ¡°Good afternoon, loves. Hungry?¡± Talia asked with a warm smile.

    ¡°Starved.¡± Helemia smiled as they sat down. ¡°And good afternoon to you too Mother, though it feels like

    morning.¡±

    ¡°I imagine it does.¡± Alilia smiled.

    ¡°Congrattions again on your fine work.¡± Mark told them. ¡°You must be ahead of schedule on bringing

    the Sylvan under yourmand, and your organization and socialization efforts were first-rate.¡±

    ¡°Thank you Father.¡± Reggie mumbled around a bite of chicken.

    ¡°What will you do with the adults you¡¯ve captured?¡± Alilia asked.

    ¡°Work ¡®em into the program with the younger ones, I guess.¡± Helemia mused.

    ¡°We sure can¡¯t just let ¡®em go after they tried to kill you this morning.¡± Valentia dered. ¡°I¡¯m sorry I

    missed that, by the way.¡±

    ¡°We managed.¡± Reggie smiled. ¡°The Sylvan¡¯s reliance on Stealth has it¡¯s disadvantages. They almost

    never fly, since it¡¯s easier to notice someone flying, so they don¡¯t tend to check the sky much either.

    And of course, their general distrust of each other and everyone else has crippled them psionicly,

    though I think it¡¯s only cultural. I think if you raised Sylvan babies in elvenmunities, their psionics

    would be just as good as elves, on the average.¡±

    ¡°The adults we caught were all younger ones anyway.¡± Helemia stated. ¡°None of ¡®em are older than a

    hundred. I¡¯m kind of curious as to why they attacked us like that, though I can think of a few good

    reasons. There¡¯s no use specting though, since we¡¯ll know in an hour anyway.¡±

    Conversation faltered as they concentrated on their meals for a while, then Alilia announced; ¡°By the

    way, we¡¯ve made some progress on the human longevity problem. We¡¯ll probably want your help with it

    in about three months. We¡¯d already found ways to reverse most of the signs and problems of aging in

    humans using modifications of conventional Healing techniques, but a lot of the true ageing in the

    internal organs and nervous systems persisted. Not to mention that they resumed aging again after the

    treatments.

    ¡°The breakthrough came when Hilsith¡¯s regr testing revealed that Nek and Mandri aren¡¯t aging.

    Mandri¡¯s a fine young wizard; one of the very best of her age among the humans, but Nek Sibook is a

    real phenomenon; at twenty-four years she¡¯s quite likely one of the ten best human wizards, and she¡¯s

    just as good at everything else she does, which is almost every field of endeavor. Particrly military

    pursuits. She learns everything quickly and retains it almost perfectly, both knowledge and skills, even

    without magical assistance. Of course she does use magical assistance, which speeds her

    advancement even more.

    ¡°At any rate, Nek and Mandri are the only two human wizards in Homestead, since Mark isn¡¯t

    technically a wizard, and the two have been working together closely since they came here. Mandri

    probably wouldn¡¯t be advanced enough to cease aging without Nek¡¯s help. Hilsith routinely tests

    everyone in Homestead, so she found that the two weren¡¯t aging, which reminded us that most human

    Master Wizards don¡¯t age either, or do so at a reduced rate. We¡¯re getting close to isting how they

    do it, and it turns out that it¡¯s pretty much the same way other long-lived races avoid aging. To be

    honest, it¡¯s more technical than I can exin, but using magic has a lot of beneficial health effects,

    including improving nerves and protecting against infections.¡±

    ¡°Homestead?¡± Reggie asked.

    ¡°We¡¯ve decided that ourmunity needs a name, now that there¡¯s contact between us and the

    Sylvan.¡± Mark exined. ¡°You¡¯ll need to refer to here when you¡¯re talking to them, and it¡¯ll be easier

    that way. Sana suggested Homestead, and it was the most popr suggestion, so Homestead it is.¡±

    ¡°And in three months?¡± Valentia prompted.

    ¡°In three months we¡¯ll probably know how to prevent aging in any person of any race who has the

    potential to use magic.¡± Mark stated. ¡°Then we¡¯ll want your help in isting why some humans can use

    magic and not others, and to try to find a way to give every human the ability to do it, at least enough to

    get the health benefits. Hilsith says the work you¡¯ve done on each other¡¯s brains, and the techniques

    you¡¯ve developed to do it, are probably the best avenue of research we can take to solve this problem.

    And of course, being able to give wizardry to all the humans and selkies and others whock it will

    have colossal benefits beyond solving the aging problem.¡±

    ¡°Oh. Well congrattions to all of you for your progress.¡± Valentia responded. ¡°Of course we¡¯ll be d

    to help. We should be done with this project by then.¡±

    ¡°Yah, but we¡¯ve got other stuff we¡¯re putting off while we do this.¡± Reggie mentioned. ¡°Especially my

    work with Kragorram on the void warfare project. So we won¡¯t want to work on the longevity thing for

    more than about four hours a day, unless we think we can finish it up pretty quickly.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll adjust the schedule as we go.¡± Talia smiled. ¡°The longevity project is important but not

    immediately urgent, like most of them I suppose. Our priorities and schedule tend to shift at least every

    week, depending on what¡¯s happening in our various projects, and in everyone else¡¯s schedules, of

    course.¡±

    Conversation faded again for a few minutes.

 Chapter 72

    Chapter 72

    Part 13

    ¡°You two seem a bit subdued today.¡± Talia said as she indicated Reggie and Helemia with a look at

    each of them. ¡°Is it anything we can help with?¡±

    The twins blushed bright pink, and shook their heads. ¡°Nah.¡± Reggie stammered after swallowing

    heavily. ¡°It¡¯s just that, ah, you know, as you¡¯re always psionicly aware of us, on a subconscious level,

    we¡¯re always aware of you too. Even when we¡¯re sleeping, it seems. And it seems our awareness of

    you is increasing, or maybe we were just sensitized to certain things by what all those Sylvan did all

    nightst night.

    ¡°Anyway, we had a dreamst night, or today actually, when we were sleeping, and when we woke up,

    we realized that it wasn¡¯t a dream. We were following you, psionicly, while we were sleeping. And you

    went to this pretty grotto on the west side of the ind and uh, well, you know.¡±

    There was a long moment of silence as the adults blushed redder than their children had.

    ¡°Went to the west side of the ind and what?¡± Valentia asked. ¡°I¡¯m the only one that doesn¡¯t know!¡±

    ¡°And had lots and lots of rough deviant sex.¡± Mark bluntly stated. ¡°I¡¯m sorry you two were aware of that.

    You¡¯re getting to be very, very hard topletely block psionicly. We could probably do it if we weren¡¯t

    making sure that we¡¯re always aware of you, but it¡¯s hard to keep a Link going in one direction while

    blocking itpletely in the other, and your psionics are very subtle.¡±

    ¡°The blessing we¡¯ve made from a curse has saved our lives on numerous asions, and given us

    many other benefits as well.¡± Talia carefully stated. ¡°Including Mark¡¯s ability to Resurrect Dalia and

    Bezedil. But asionally, thest aspects of the curse still make their demands on me. I know Mark

    would prefer not to, except that the curse is a part of him now, as it¡¯s a part of me, and it¡¯s deeply

    integrated.¡±

    ¡°If I¡¯d have known what I know now when we first dealt with the curse, I could have fixed this too.¡± Mark

    admitted with remorse. ¡°But it¡¯s toote now. The blessing is too integrated and too¡­ too broadly

    dispersed within us and within our power for it to be changed now.¡±

    ¡°We understand all that.¡± Helemia nodded. ¡°We know the story of how you met and the curses and all

    of that. We tried to not let the dream affect how we were acting, because we know it¡¯s none of our

    business, but Mother¡¯s pretty perceptive.¡±

    ¡°She is.¡± Mark nodded. ¡°I hadn¡¯t noticed you were acting any different, to be honest.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s just one thing I don¡¯t understand.¡± Reggie hesitantly revealed. ¡°I mean, I understand why you

    do it to Mother; because the curse makes you do it, but Alilia¡­?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve crafted aspects of my Link with Talia, and with Mark,¡± Alilia told him with an expression of

    thoughtful self-control, ¡°So that when the curse affects them, it affects me equally. I endure exactly what

    Talia endures, I insist on it. It salves my guilt and remorse for having cast the curse unjustly, and it lets

    me share fully and equally in our rtionship. And besides, Mark has gotten very good at giving a great

    deal of extremely pleasurable sensations and emotions in the midst of an experience that might not

    otherwise be very pleasant.¡±

    ¡°Do ya like it?¡± Valentia asked her with a nasty little smile.

    Alilia was surprised at the question, and at her daughter¡¯s tone and expression as it was asked, but she

    gave a straight answer. ¡°I¡¯m not sure if it would be true to say that I like it. Not the way I like our

    lovemaking when the curse is not upon us, which is absolutely heaven itself. But the times when the

    cursees upon us¡­ Well, it¡¯s gradual. We tend to be reluctant to begin it, so we wait until the urge

    of the curse is insistent and unignorable. When we do give in to it, we tend to be a bit fierce about it.¡±

    She paused for a few seconds to reflect. ¡°No, when all the pleasant and unpleasant aspects are

    weighed, I neither like nor dislike it. But there¡¯s no doubt that I¡¯m addicted to the intensity of it. It¡¯s like

    being in true battle that way. It¡¯s not a particrly fun circumstance to be in, but the intensity is

    incredible and exhrating, even when it hurts. Every part of you is brilliantly alive, and you¡¯re

    happening right then.¡±

    ¡°I absolutely love it.¡± Talia softly revealed, her gaze unfocused as she re-lived their day in her mind. ¡°I

    absolutely,pletely, damn well love it, every bit of it. When the urgees upon me, I don¡¯t hold off

    because I¡¯m reluctant, I let it build until I absolutely can¡¯t resist it anymore, just to maximize the intensity

    of it.¡±

    There was a pause, then she seemed to snap out of it as she considered the effect her words might

    have had. ¡°But I want you to keep in mind that I love our normal lovemaking without the curse a lot

    more. The experience of sharing the ultimate in physically pleasurable experiences with someone you

    deeply love while being deeply Linked with them is the best part of being a wizard, in my opinion. It

    may be the finest experience possible for any mortal being, without exception.

    ¡°Just remember that you won¡¯t have to worry about such things for years, and when you do, it¡¯s best to

    take it as slowly as possible, and to carefully savor every tiny aspect of your development.¡±

    ¡°We will, Mother.¡± Helemia assured her as she stood and carried her dishes to the sink. ¡°But now we

    have to go reorganize some Sylvan. We¡¯re not sure when we¡¯ll be back, so don¡¯t wait up.¡±

    ¡°And thanks for having a tasty meal ready for us. That was great!¡± Reggie grinned as he rubbed his

    belly. ¡°I¡¯m almost too full to move normally!¡±

    ¡°You better cast something on yourself to keep from throwing up, in case we have to take some action.¡±

    Valentia giggled.

    After exchanging loving goodbyes with their parents, the three children Translocated back their new

    settlement.

    After they were gone, Talia and Alilia moved over and sat on either side of Mark¡¯sp.

    ¡°Those three are pretty easy to raise.¡± Mark mused. ¡°But still, sometimes this parenting business isn¡¯t

    easy.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s some serious truth.¡± Alilia agreed.

    ¡°Hey Karz, how are things?¡± Helemia asked as the three appeared beside the young dragon.

    ¡°Ah, Fire, you startled me.¡± Karzog told her after a reflexive inhale.

    ¡°Sorry.¡± Helemia giggled. ¡°Good to see you¡¯re on your toes, though. It wouldn¡¯t do for you to me me

    in front of the detainees.¡±

    ¡°Thanks. The constructions are ahead of schedule, and yesterday¡¯s arrivals will be able to sleep

    indoors tonight.

    ¡°I noticed a few more wild ones poking around beyond the Wards of the camp. I wasn¡¯t sure if there

    were still any left out there after your work this morning, but apparently there are. I think I¡¯ve also

    detected some of the other adult Sylvan that are still out there trying to probe me psionicly without

    being noticed. I doubt they got anything from me though.

    ¡°We¡¯ll have to start gathering supper for these ones pretty soon, and for the new ones too if you want

    them to eat with the rest.¡±

    ¡°Well I¡¯d like to go hunting, but I suppose I can gather supper first.¡± Valentia mused.

    ¡°No, go ahead and hunt.¡± Reggie advised. ¡°We¡¯ll gather supper. We¡¯ll wake up the new recruits, and

    just y them a Revealing of yesterday¡¯s orientation while we¡¯re gathering.¡±

    ¡°If you take Stripe and Scout, do a better job of Shielding them than we did this morning.¡± Helemia told

    Please check at N/?vel(D)rama.Org.

    Valentia with some remorse. ¡°I almost thought we lost them for a second there. I doubt you¡¯ll face

    another attack like we faced this morning, but there are still a lot of adult Sylvan out there, so you never

    know. I sure didn¡¯t expect them to attack us all together like that this morning either, and it was a good

    reminder of how unpredictable they are.¡±

    ¡°Right.¡± Valentia nodded, and disappeared.

    ¡°Actually, we¡¯ll need to cast a few copies of the Revealing for all of these to see it.¡± Reggie stated as he

    surveyed the thousands of unconscious Sylvan who wereid out in tight ranks on the

    beach.

 Chapter 73

    Chapter 73

    Part 13

    Helemia had been psionicly scanning the working Sylvan in the construction crews as he spoke, found

    one who had viewed the orientation presentation from an ideal vantage, and had taken a Reading from

    him. She and Reggie converted in into a Revealing, cast it above the slumbering prisoners, then cast

    twenty-four more copies of it over the many Sylvan on the beach so that they¡¯d all be able to see one of

    them without having to turn their heads too far. The twenty-five Revealings floated above the beach

    showing identical frozen views of Karzog at the beginning of his speech to the Sylvan in Backyard

    Valley the previous day.

    They awoke the sleeping prisoners but left them immobilized, unable to move anything but their eyes

    and their heads. After a few seconds to make sure they were allpletely awake, Reggie announced;

    ¡°Watch this Revealing carefully. It¡¯s the orientation experienced by the Sylvan we captured yesterday.¡±

    Then they started the Revealing ying.

    ¡°You have been detained by The Governors of Hiliani¡­¡± the recorded Karzog proimed, and they

    turned most of their attention away from it and began casting the automated food-gathering spells.

    Over the next hour and a half much was aplished; The new Sylvan finished watching the

    presentation, were organized into teams, and set to building fifteen duplicates of the existing settlement

    up and down the coast from it. Reggie and Helemia finished gathering food and helped with the

    organization, including setting almost five hundred Sylvan to food preparation and cooking duties. And

    Valentia returned five times with unconscious prisoners, seventy-eight of them in total.

    ¡°They¡¯re getting harder to find, that¡¯s for sure.¡± she stated as she prepared to go out again. ¡°There can¡¯t

    be many more of them left. Unfortunately it¡¯s almost impossible to know when we¡¯ve got thest one.

    Beyond the Stealth they got from their god and their own talent at it, there¡¯s a few who¡¯re really gifted

    and creative at hiding from us.¡±

    Just then fourteen Sylvan appeared before them. They were the first Sylvan that the four young

    governors had seen or even heard of that looked old, with wrinkled faces, gaunt hands, and gray hair

    mixed in with the ck hair that all Sylvan had.

    ¡°Greetings.¡± one old female said in Blezogeth. ¡°We are the Elders of the Sylvan on these inds that

    you call Hiliani. We demand to know what you n to do with those of our people you¡¯ve captured, and

    we demand to know what your intentions are regarding the rest of us.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re not really here.¡± Karzog stated.

    ¡°No, but they¡¯re very well-done Projections.¡± Helemia said, then addressed the Projected neers.

    ¡°Appearing here in astral rather than corporal form does protect you from physical attack here. But you

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    should know that we can follow the psionic trace of your Projection right back to where you are, like

    this.¡±

    She, Reggie and Valentia Translocated to a clearing in a forest of gigantic old-growth fir trees. They

    were only there for a fraction of a second before returning, but that was long enough to see the surprise

    on the faces of the fourteen old Sylvan they faced in the flesh there, and to register that a few hundred

    other adult Sylvan were also gathered around, and that all of the trees in sight had well-camouged

    homes built into them, and to cast the same Revealing of the orientation that they¡¯d recently shown

    their new prisoners.

    ¡°That Revealing will answer most of your questions.¡± Reggie stated. ¡°Please contact us again after

    you¡¯ve viewed it.¡±

    With that, the three children psionicly blocked the fourteen old Sylvan from the vicinity, effectively

    ending the Projections.

    ¡°Not that smart of them to send their Projections from what appeared to be the town square of their

    abandoning their homes. They should¡¯ve gone somewhere remote before they sent that.¡±

    ¡°Damn, you are amazing!¡± Karzog marveled at the three of them.

    ¡°What, and you¡¯re not?¡± Helemiaughed. ¡°Right now you¡¯re actively supervising almost thirteen

    thousand young Sylvan! I¡¯d say that¡¯s pretty amazing. That¡¯s already more than we thought there were

    in total, by a lot.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right, I¡¯m amazing too.¡± Karzog grinned. ¡°But then I¡¯m a dragon, and it¡¯s expected of us. On the

    other hand, you could do what I¡¯m doing, and I couldn¡¯t do what you just did. That was well done, and

    the look on their faces was priceless!¡±

    ¡°It was pretty good.¡± Helemia admitted. ¡°And I¡¯d have to use a lot more automation than you¡¯re using to

    do what you¡¯re doing. For that matter, none of us could have done that alone, it took all three of us to

    do it that good, and if you¡¯d have been one of the three it would have worked just as good.¡±

    ¡°Are we quite finished kissing each other?¡± Reggie asked with a grin. ¡°We¡¯d better n for a few

    different eventualities before they finish watching that. I can¡¯t guess how they¡¯ll react, but there¡¯s a few

    possibilities that we really should prepare for.¡±

    ¡°Good point.¡± Valentia nodded, and they deepened their Link and started nning.

    A few minutester Helemia raised her head and closed her eyes for a second. ¡°They want our

    attention. They¡¯re trying to cast the Projections again.¡±

    They ended the blocking they were holding against psionic pration of their Wards, and the fourteen

    Projected elders appeared again.

    ¡°How will you hold these young ones captive without making them insane? How will you deal with their

    violent urges and tendencies?¡± the old woman who¡¯d spoken before asked without preamble.

    ¡°We¡¯ll keep them very, very busy with work and with fun, and we¡¯ll let them fight against each other in a

    supervised arena every night, if they want to.¡± Reggie told her.

    ¡°Huh. And how will we know we can trust you to keep your word about your people not retaining control

    over mine, beyond the training against the demons and keeping our young from killing each other?¡±

    ¡°Have you heard of The Truthstone of Falgaroth?¡± Reggie asked as he shucked his pack and dug into

    a side pocket of it.

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯ve heard of it. It¡¯s famous for being thergest spelled item on Keran.¡±

    ¡°Yes, and only truth can be spoken while in contact with it, only just vows can be sworn on it, and any

    vows sworn on it are unbreakable.¡± Reggie nodded, then showed them what he had. ¡°This is an

    extension of The Truthstone of Falgaroth. Touching this smaller stone is functionally the same as

    touching the great Truthstone itself.

    ¡°We¡¯ll swear on this stone to use the least cruel methods possible to prevent your young from killing

    each other, and to care for them as well as we¡¯re able while they¡¯re in our care. We¡¯ll swear to train all

    of the Sylvan on Hiliani with every method and technique we have for destroying the demons, and all of

    you will swear to teach us any physical, magical, or psionic warfare andbat techniques that you

    know and we don¡¯t.

    ¡°Everyone of both of our peoples will swear to co-operate and coordinate in defending Hiliani from the

    demons, and to not act against members of the othermunity or their interests in any way.

    ¡°Both of ourmunities will grow in poption as fast as possible until we¡¯ve fully dealt with the

    demons, but your poption is already muchrger than ours, and now that your young aren¡¯t killing

    each other, your poption will also grow much faster than ours. We will therefore reserve for our use

    the ind where Homestead; ourmunity, is located, and the three inds directly west of there,

    from Homestead to the west coast. The other twenty-three inds of Hiliani will be reserved for Sylvan

    expansion. In the future we might each choose to let some from the othermunity live in our areas,

    if everyone involved agrees to that.

    ¡°We¡¯ll teach you how to cultivate and intensify the life on thend and in the waters of Hiliani,

    increasing the number and size of every nt and animal evenly, to increase the number of people

    who can live on Hiliani¡¯s bounty without degrading the forest or the waters. We¡¯ll supplement this with a

    few small areas for gardens and some domestic animals. If we reach the maximum poption that our

    inds can support, we¡¯ll stop breeding until we can find a way to support more people with our

    resources, and we¡¯ll all swear to that.

 Chapter 74

    Chapter 74

    Part 13

    ¡°We intend to keep Hiliani as a preserve of the traditional Sylvan way of life as much as possible. Once

    the demons are dealt with, your young can even go back to killing each other if they want, and the only

    limitation on your behavior will be not offending against us. Your lives and your rtions with us can

    return to what they were the day before yesterday. But after the time-bubble ends, if any of you want to

    leave Hiliani, you¡¯ll be out in The Just Alliance, and you¡¯ll have to abide by the same rules that the rest

    of the Sylvan out there face. That means you¡¯ll be sworn to justice on The Truthstone with Osbald¡¯s

    Oath, and you¡¯ll have to swear to the rules and limitations of The Game of Status if you want to be able

    to act against others with unjust means. Which you will.¡±

    There was a long moment of silence, then one of the old male Sylvan spoke. ¡°If that stone can do what

    you say it can, why not just swear all these young to not kill each other and be done with it? Why all

    this mind-control and capturing and building?¡±

    ¡°Swearing on the stone is permanent, and we didn¡¯t want to do that until we had things more settled, in

    case this n proved to be impractical.¡± Reggie replied.

    ¡°And we need you all in the same ce to train you for co-operative warfare.¡± Helemia added. ¡°You¡¯re

    all effective warriors as individuals, but now we have to make an army of you to maximize your

    effectiveness against the demons, and we need you in one ce for that. Your adults can go back to

    their homes once their basic training isplete, which shouldn¡¯t take more than a few months, but

    first we need to train you to live and work and fight together in close quarters for extended periods of

    time, because that¡¯s what warfare usually calls for.¡±

    ¡°Huh. And if we should refuse you?¡± the old woman who¡¯d spoken before asked.

    Reggie shrugged. ¡°Then we¡¯ll just force you, though we¡¯d prefer not to. If we wanted to kill you, we

    would. If we wanted to enve you, we could do that too. We¡¯re being as nice about this as we can,

    and this is for your good even more than ours. The Sylvan race began when some demons altered

    some humans to make them ves to the demons. If you think it¡¯ll be fun to be ves to the demons

    again, I¡¯m sure you¡¯re mistaken. The demons may have made you to be helpless to disobey them, and

    if so, then finding and eliminating the w they¡¯ve created in you to make you obedient should be one

    of our highest priorities.

    ¡°And the demons areing. We have good enough astronomers among us here to be able to see

    their rock in the sky at night, and the worldlets of The Triax as well. Of course, it¡¯s possible that the

    gods could have put that in to deceive you when they made the time-bubble, so you¡¯ll just have to trust

    us on that. But we have no reason to lie about it, and I¡¯ll swear to it¡¯s truth on the Truthstone if you

    Content ? provided by N?velDrama.Org.

    want.¡±

    ¡°Huh. It alles down to the stone.¡± she stated. ¡°Give it to me and let me examine it. If it turns out to

    be what you say it is, we may agree to what you¡¯re proposing.¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± Reggie smiled as he casually tossed her the stone.

    She reflexively reached out to catch it, and he Translocated it just before it reached her Projection¡¯s

    hand. She gaped in surprise when it solidly smacked into her palm over thirty kilometers from where

    he¡¯d thrown it.

    ¡°Just remember this;¡± Reggie cautioned. ¡°My parents legally own these inds, as far as thews of

    every nation are concerned, and we¡¯re not going to give them up to youpletely. We¡¯re going to

    stay. And we¡¯re not going to risk having you act against us while we¡¯re at war with the demons. One

    way or the other, we¡¯ll have your trust or we¡¯ll have your deaths before the demons get here. And if you

    decide to go to war with us and somehow defeat us, then in another eighteen years the time-bubble will

    end, and you¡¯ll have to face the entirety of The Just Alliance, which now includes every nation on

    Keran, including the united might of the gods.¡±

    ¡°If we believe you about any of that.¡± the Sylvan retorted.

    Reggie shrugged again. ¡°You¡¯ll have a chance to see all of our preparations to fight the demons, if you

    want. And if that¡¯s not enough evidence for you, you can take a Reading from any of us. And of course

    once you¡¯ve verified the properties of the stone, we¡¯ll be d to swear on it as to the truth of what

    we¡¯ve told you.¡±

    ¡°Fine.¡± she said with a nod, and the Projections ended.

    After a moment Karzog shrugged and went back to concentrating on supervising the construction.

    ¡°Back in a while.¡± Valentia said as she disappeared.

    Reggie and Helemia set up the orientation Revealing for the new recruits that Valentia had brought

    back, then began scanning all the Sylvan to find the most intelligent and level-headed among them.

    They informed Karzog of their choices, and he re-assigned the two-hundred and neen they¡¯d

    chosen, directing them to gather with Reggie and Helemia in a clearing in the woods on the east side of

    the settlement, near the foot of the mountains. They were an older group on the average than the wild

    young Sylvan as a whole, but every age group was represented, including a few of the adults that had

    been captured, and one girl who was only thirteen.

    ¡°Congrattions.¡± Helemia announced to them. ¡°You¡¯ve been selected to be officers. You¡¯ll be the first

    to receive each of the lessons in warcraft that we¡¯ll be teaching your people. You¡¯llmand up to one

    hundred subordinates each, and you¡¯ll assist us in teaching and training them. You¡¯ll each be assigned

    a random number, and you¡¯ll take turns picking your troops in the order of your numbers until

    everyone¡¯s been picked.

    ¡°You will bear some responsibility for the quality of their performance. If youmand a group of

    fighters who perform poorlypared to the average, you¡¯ll be singled out for ridicule before the entire

    army, and if your group excels, you¡¯ll be singled out for praise. We¡¯re fully aware of how those

    eventualities would effect your status among your peers.

    ¡°All of you will be judged on your rate of improvement, rather than your absolute ability. Therefore, if

    your toon starts out with a lot of the poorest fighters, you¡¯ll still have a good chance to excel in the

    standings if they improve quickly. Some of the best fighters will have the talent to do well in an army

    and improve quickly, some will already be near their potential and won¡¯t improve as much. Some of the

    worst fighters are that way because they really don¡¯t have much potential, but some will show the

    greatest improvement, particrly if their inability is only due to their being among the youngest of you.

    However, you¡¯ll be prevented from telling your troops that they¡¯ll be judged on improvement until after

    their first round of training and testing. This is to prevent them from cking on the first test in order to

    show more dramatic improvementster. The standings after the first test only will be decided on our

    judgment of who tried their hardest.

    ¡°You¡¯re lucky in that Sylvan are a very uniform race, and the difference between the best and the worst

    of you is less than it is among the other races. You¡¯re therefore a lot less likely to end up stuck with

    Thatstment brought a round ofughs from those listening, and a slight rxing of the mood.

    ¡°Now, as some of you might expect, your first lessons will be on effective military organization, urate

    assessment of personnel, promotion of squad leaders, assigning squads to specialized training and

    missions, and efficient delegation of duties¡­¡±

    Forty-one minutester they felt the Sylvan elders casting their Projections again.

    ¡°Continue with what you¡¯re doing.¡± Helemia instructed their students. ¡°I expect most of you to be

    finished with those organizational charts when we get back.¡±

    ¡°Val, the elders are contacting us.¡± Reggie reported.

    ¡°I know. I¡¯ll be there.¡± she replied, and was back to the beach beside Karzog before the twins were.

    They allowed the Projection, and the fourteen elder Sylvan re-appeared. The same woman spoke for

    them again.

 Chapter 75

    Chapter 75

    Part 13

    ¡°We believe the stone is genuine.¡± she reported. ¡°We will agree to what you¡¯ve proposed. It seems to

    offer only benefits for us. But we want more than your oaths on the stone. We want every leader and

    spell caster among your people to also swear to the same terms on the stone, particrly the two who

    you say rule these inds; Prince Mark and Princess Talia of Hilia; Keys to The Just Alliance.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m reasonably certain that we can arrange that.¡± Reggie nodded. ¡°Shall we hold the swearing here at

    noon tomorrow? We¡¯ll arrange a nice asion with some entertainment and a feast for everyone. We

    should have every member of our people and every member of yours all meet here to get to know one

    another and to swear the oath together.

    ¡°Is that agreeable to you?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± She agreed. ¡°Such an event would be fitting on this asion.¡±

    ¡°You look disappointed.¡± another elder female said to Helemia.

    ¡°Sorry.¡± she shrugged. ¡°It all just seems a little too easy. There¡¯s a part of me that was hoping you¡¯d

    fight about it.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    Helemia shrugged again, and grinned. ¡°It would¡¯ve been fun.¡±

    Her questioner looked surprised for a moment, then she and a few of herpanions chuckled. ¡°A

    thought worthy of a Sylvan.¡± one of themmented.

    ¡°Noon tomorrow then.¡± the spokeswoman stated in conclusion, and their Projection ended.

    ¡°Spread the word about the agreement and the big gathering tomorrow to all the recruits.¡± Reggie

    instructed Karzog. ¡°If the officers we were instructing finish all their assignments before we get back,

    put them back on the construction details for now.¡±

    ¡°Actually, their supper will be served in less than five minutes.¡± Karzog reported as he considered the

    cooking crew¡¯s progress. ¡°You can resume the officers¡¯ training in the morning.¡±

    ¡°Right.¡± Reggie nodded. ¡°We¡¯re off to talk to our parents and make arrangements for the gathering here

    tomorrow. Hopefully we¡¯re not in trouble for over-reaching our authority in the agreements we¡¯ve just

    ¡°I¡¯ll be listening.¡± Karzog chuckled. ¡°I can spare the concentration, and I wouldn¡¯t want to miss it if you

    get chewed by your parents!¡±

    He looked down the beach as he made another assessment. ¡°All right, everyone wrap up your work for

    the night, then line up for supper!¡± hemanded, his booming psionic voice reaching all the Sylvan

    within their Wards.

    ¡°We should be back in time to help supervise the evening¡¯s merry-making.¡± Reggie estimated. ¡°By the

    time they¡¯re done eating, that is.¡±

    ¡°Right.¡± Karzog nodded, somewhat distracted, and the three children Translocated.

    They found their parents sitting around a table out in the front yard, doing some research with

    Theramin, Hilsith, Nek Sibook, and Mandri.

    ¡°Have you been listening, or would you like a Reading?¡± Helemia asked as suddenly as they appeared.

    ¡°We¡¯ve been listening, though you haven¡¯t made it easy.¡± Mark chuckled. ¡°We had to get Povon and

    Equemev to help us with it after you hardened your Wards to block those Sylvan¡¯s Projections. Fine

    work though, every bit of it!¡±

    ¡°Fine?!¡± Nekughed. ¡°I¡¯d have to say unbelievably excellent! I can¡¯t believe you¡¯ve got it all wrapped

    up already, with a party to celebrate it! I mean, I was one of the most outstanding child prodigies to ever

    about twenty thousand wild and unsworn Sylvan in two days! What will you do to top yourselves now?!¡±

    ¡°Yah, there¡¯s a lot more of them than we originally thought.¡± Helemia nodded. ¡°You¡¯ve noticed they¡¯re

    not hiding from us anymore. But it was still way easier than we thought it¡¯d be. To be honest, I¡¯m not

    sure what we could do to top that until the time-bubble ends. It¡¯s getting pretty hard to find a real

    challenge in here, except for the training for the demons, and even there our progress is slowing. We¡¯re

    getting pretty close to our potential when ites to battle, and so are a lot of the others here. We¡¯ll

    keep getting better, but mostly because we¡¯re still growing.¡±

    ¡°Ah, but now you¡¯ll have more to worry about than just your part in the exercises.¡± Alilia told them with a

    proud smile. ¡°Now you¡¯ll have tomand your Sylvan against the demons, and that¡¯s going to be a

    whole new set of problems. I think it¡¯ll keep you challenged for quite some time. There¡¯s a lot of

    difference between fighting as a quartet under an experiencedmander, andmanding an army

    of twenty thousand.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯d have usmand them in the exercises?¡± Reggie asked in surprise. ¡°We haven¡¯t even had a

    turnmanding the four hundred fighters in Homestead yet!¡±

    ¡°Then maybe you should have asked to do that before you took on this responsibility!¡± Markughed.

    ¡°Someone has tomand them until their ownmanders are ready to do it. Of course, I suppose

    one or more of the rest of us could do it, if you¡¯re saying that you¡¯re not up to the task¡­¡±

    ¡°Oh we¡¯re up to it all right!¡± Helemia fiercely dered. ¡°Quewanak and Ria are gonna need all of your

    help to simte enough demons to give us a challenge! Once we¡¯ve had at least two months for some

    basic training, anyway.¡±

    ¡°Good to hear!¡± Taliaughed. ¡°Seriously, if you need any help in any way, just ask. You¡¯ve all done a

    great and wonderful thing, and we¡¯re as proud of you as we possibly could be. And we¡¯ll take care of

    the feast for tomorrow. The fare you¡¯ve provided for your troops is hearty and healthy, but such an

    asion calls for some fancier dishes, I think.¡±

    ¡°Thanks.¡± Valentia smiled. ¡°That saves us a lot of work, and the Sylvan don¡¯t seem to have much of a

    tradition of fine dining, judging by the cooking skills they¡¯ve shown so far. And somehow, none of us

    four have gotten around to learning more than the most basic cooking skills, so we haven¡¯t been much

    help.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the least we could do.¡± Mark told her with a loving smile. ¡°Now give us a hug and get back to your

    project.¡±

    ¡°There won¡¯t be anything more done tonight except some nning, and a very big beach party!¡±

    Valentiaughed. ¡°We¡¯ll have the nning done by the time the Sylvan are finished eating, so if you¡¯d

    like toe join the party, you¡¯ll be wee.¡±

    ¡°No no, that would detract from the gravity of our big appearance tomorrow.¡± Alilia chuckled. ¡°There¡¯s

    the diplomacy of the event to be considered, after all. I¡¯m sure tomorrow night¡¯s beach party will be

    even better, and we¡¯ll get to enjoy that one.¡±

    ¡°All right then.¡± Valentia smiled as she gave her mother a hug.

    ¡°You two go ahead, I¡¯ll get some sleep and be back in five hours.¡± Helemia said as she Translocated

    out of her armor. ¡°That way we can all get that much before noon tomorrow.¡±

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    ¡°All right, sleep well.¡± Valentia said.

    After hugs and goodbyes all round, Helemia went to bed as the rest returned to their tasks.

    At fifteen minutes to noon the next day, everything was ready. At the center of the length of beach that

    they¡¯d imed, the four governors had erected a square wooden tform two and a half meters high

    and six meters on a side. Karzog sat on the sand beside it like a dog, with an elbow resting on the top

    surface where the three siblings stood waiting.

    Above the tform they¡¯d cast a gigantic Revealing over thirty-seven meters high. During the

    ceremonies it would allow everyone on the beach to see and hear what the principals were doing and

    saying, but right now it only showed the symbol of Hiliani that Valentia had designed. It was a stylized

    version of the map of the archipgo, but the coast had been smoothed a bit into a more symmetrical

    oval, and tilted a bit counter-clockwise from vertical as it would be on a map, with a blue outline and

    slim blue lines showing where the channels were. Valentia had admitted that it would have been more

    realistic to color the inds themselves the brownish-green of the dominant tree species¡¯ pine needles,

    but she¡¯d chosen the red of that tree¡¯s heartwood instead, simply because she thought it looked better.

    There was enough open space on the beach around the tform for the five hundred and twenty-one

    residents of Homestead, and for the rest of the Sylvan; those being most of the adults and the few

    youths they hadn¡¯t caught yet.

    The Sylvan they¡¯d captured were seated in neat squares up and down the beach beyond the open

    sand, arranged in their new toons facing the tform with their lieutenants seated before them, all

    sitting rxed and cross-legged with identical postures.

 Chapter 76

    Chapter 76

    Part 13

    The four governors looked like they were simply still, rxed, and waiting. In reality, they were

    ¡°They look pretty enough, I suppose.¡± Helemia mused as she considered the ranks of Sylvan. ¡°I wish

    we¡¯d had time to make up some uniforms though.¡±

    ¡°Bah! I can¡¯t believe how much time and trouble it was just to retrieve the clothes and possessions they

    already own!¡± Valentiained. ¡°Who¡¯d have thought that people living like fugitives in the forest

    could umte so much stuff?! I thought we¡¯d never get it done in time.¡±

    ¡°But you did.¡± Reggie acknowledged. ¡°And it¡¯s made a big difference. Now that they¡¯re all moved into

    their own rooms, they¡¯re a lot more epting of the situation.¡±

    ¡°The organization helped too.¡± Helemiamented. ¡°The lieutenants generally picked the packs they¡¯d

    run with before as the core of their new toons, so there¡¯s continuity of the social lives they had

    before. Forming squads and assigning sergeants seems to have helped a lot too.¡±

    ¡°Yah, that was good thinking, letting the lieutenants pick the troops for their own toons.¡± Karzog

    added. ¡°They¡¯re showing some real camaraderie and pride in their toons and squads now.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m surprised you let them form toons of such different sizes.¡± Valentia noted.

    ¡°Yes, well we¡¯d told them that the toons would have up to a hundred soldiers each,¡± Helemia

    exined, ¡°And some of them wanted the full hundred. But with the two hundred and twenty-one

    lieutenants we ended up with, there¡¯s only enough soldiers for about sixty per lieutenant. We¡¯d only set

    a limit of a hundred per toon to amodate future poption growth. But then Shebiteve, our

    youngest lieutenant, said she only wanted thirty-seven. She was shrewd too, she picked all the most

    promising fourteen-year-old and youngers. So we let those who wanted less than sixty pick first, which

    gave them smaller but generally more talented toons. Those who wanted the full hundred picked

    lieutenants make trades on Firstdays if they want to.¡±

    Reggieughed. ¡°A lot of Sylvan were upset that they hadn¡¯t been picked to be lieutenants. They

    argued that the best and most vicious warriors should¡¯ve been made officers, and when we told them

    that we¡¯d picked on the basis of intelligence, emotional stability, and pragmatism, they were disgusted.

    Their spokesman dered; ¡®Well that¡¯s just stupid!¡¯, and walked away in a huff.¡±

    N?velDrama.Org is the owner.

    They all got a silent chuckle from the thought.

    Mandri appeared on the tform beside them. ¡°Hi kids! Most of us are ready toe over now, and

    the rest¡¯ll be ready before noon, which is about eleven minutes from now. Alilia insists that Mark and

    Talia arrivest, and precisely at noon. Everyone¡¯s got the Tongues For Blezogeth spell that Povon

    made up, so you won¡¯t have to worry about trantion.

    ¡°I¡¯m surprised we were able toe up with a fancy feast for twenty thousand on such short notice, but

    we did. We can bring it over anytime you want.¡±

    ¡°Thanks Mandri.¡± Reggie nodded, and outlined an area of beach between the tform and the sea with

    a line of blue light. ¡°Everyone cane by now; that area there is reserved for Homesteaders.¡±

    ¡°All right.¡± Mandri acknowledged, and disappeared.

    A momentter the Homesteaders began appearing on the beach in family groups. They called and

    waved their greetings to the four young governors as they chose ces for themselves on the sand,

    and their greetings were cheerfully returned.

    A minuteter the first of the adult Sylvan and their dependent children emerged from the forest, and in

    seconds the trickle of them became a torrent. They¡¯d obviously set out from their homes some two to

    four hours earlier, and hiked or ran the thirty kilometers or so. It was notable that those who¡¯d run the

    distance were neither sweaty nor severely out of breath. About two hundred Sylvan arrived in canoes

    and small sailboats, a few arrived by Flight, and fewer still Translocated. They all wore their finest

    clothes and jewelry, which were simple in style but very well made, and they did indeed look

    impressive. Though none wore armor, many of them were equipped with swords and knives in

    beautifully decorated sheaths and scabbards. By the time thest of them arrived at one minute to

    noon over seven thousand of them had taken their ces on the beach.

    Povon, Kragorram, Quewanak, and the unicorns appeared then, on the edge of the beach near the

    water, which caused a stir and a wave of quiet exmations from the assembled Sylvan. Many of the

    humans and elves were relieved by their arrival. Being surrounded by thousands of Sylvan was a

    somewhat unnerving experience. With an average height of two hundred and thirteen centimeters, and

    all nearly identical except for what they wore, with pale skin, long ck hair, and glowing, slitted golden

    eyes, the Sylvan were an intimidating group, and the nearer ones reinforced this image with fierce

    expressions and arrogant stances. The arrival of the dragons and unicorns among the Homesteaders

    deterred most of the Sylvan¡¯s shows of aggression, and brought a sense of bnce to the casual

    confrontation between the groups.

    Mark and Talia appeared on one side of the tform precisely at noon, the fourteen elder Sylvan

    appeared on the other side a momentter, Helemia activated the great Revealing, and it began

    showing the scene on the tform.

    Like all the Homesteaders there that day, Mark and Talia wore clothes that were finely made and a bit

    formal in style, but not ostentatiously luxurious. She wore a simple white dress with delicate white

    leather sandals, while he wore a ck kilt and a white silk shirt with ck riding boots. At Alilia¡¯s

    insistence, they had worn the crowns of Hilia. Mark thought he looked a little ridiculous in his, though

    they were fairly modest as far as royal crowns went. Hepensated by wearing his at a jaunty angle,

    tilted forward a bit toward his left eyebrow.

    Reggie spoke in Blezogeth, his voice augmented to be heard by all.

    ¡°Greetings and good day. I am Governor Longstrider. Every one of us who live on these inds of

    Hiliani, formerly known as The Evergreen Inds, are gathered here right now. We meet to form

    agreements between our peoples, in order to maximize our ability to defend ourselves from the

    impending invasion of the demons, and to ensure peace between us.

    ¡°I am now proud to present the ruling Prince and Princess of Hiliani; Prince Mark and Princess Talia;

    rulers of Hilia, Lords of Serminak, Keys to The Just Alliance, and keys to the nexus of the world of

    Keran.¡±

    Mark and Talia smiled and waved as the Homesteaders all cheered, and Reggie turned to the Sylvan

    expectantly.

    ¡°Greetings and good day.¡± the older woman who¡¯d spoken for them before said as she stepped

    forward. ¡°I am Plozofen Barifatan Dolimatbene, Most Senior of the Sylvan of The Evergreen Inds,

    which you name Hiliani.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m pleased to meet you, Senior Dolimatbene.¡± Mark said, using his formal speaking tone. ¡°When we

    chose these inds as our retreat, we were convinced that they were uninhabited. Every spell and

    survey we used to check the inds failed to find you Sylvan. You¡¯re undoubtedly the most stealthy

    group of people in the world. If we¡¯d have realized you were here, we wouldn¡¯t have bought the ce

    and moved here. But here were are.

    ¡°A few months after we arrived, General Helemia here psionicly detected the presence of one Vanakit

    Lamitkeze. Vanakit realized he¡¯d been detected. and psionicly attacked General Helemia, and he was

    severely injured in the exchange. We Healed him as well as we could in the short time he was with us

    before a few of his friends among you came and took him from our Healer¡¯s home.

    ¡°Then we knew you were here, but we took no action against you.

    ¡°However¡­¡±

    ¡°Vanakit was first injured almost six years ago!¡± Senior Dolimatbene angrily interrupted. ¡°This person

    would have been no more than a babe in swaddling, if she was even born then!¡± she protested as she

    pointed at Helemia.

    ¡°Actually, she hadn¡¯t been born yet, but we¡¯d already been in psionic contact with her for a while, and

    she already had enough psionic ability to crush Vanakit Lamitkeze.¡± Mark told her with a small smile,

    and continued on in the face of her surprised disbelief.

    ¡°As I was going to say,¡± he continued, ¡°Vanakit held a grudge about it, and he convinced a bunch of you

    to help him try to get revenge. They failed in that attempt, and Vanakit¡¯s mind was destroyed. The rest

    of you were Healedpletely and sent home.

    ¡°We still took no further action against any of you.

 Chapter 77

    Chapter 77

    Part 13

    ¡°But these four fine young persons raised some important points recently; that most of your young

    killed each other before they became adults, that all of you could be trained to be much more effective

    in war against the demons than you presently are, and that we might need every bit of help we can get

    to prevent the demons frompletely destroying this world.

    ¡°Therefore they were given permission to prevent your young from killing each other, and to initiate

    efforts to train you to be an army, and to integrate your military capabilities with our own.

    ¡°You have given your verbal agreement to our terms. We are now gathered here to swear binding oaths

    to enforce our agreement.

    ¡°Governor Longstrider?¡±

    ¡°Thank you sire.¡± Reggie told him with a small bow, and turned to the Sylvan elders.

    ¡°Today marks a new beginning for your people and mine, and I¡¯m confident that our association will

    benefit both our peoples¡­

    ¡°What a pile of crap!¡± a Sylvan woman yelled from the audience. ¡°You¡¯ve enved our children and

    insulted our culture!¡±

    ¡°How have we insulted your culture?¡± Reggie calmly asked as he rose two meters from the tform so

    he could meet the eyes of the woman who¡¯d spoken.

    ¡°The winnowing is what makes us strong!¡± the woman yelled. ¡°The Sylvan have gained in ability far

    faster than any other race, ever since we began on this world! Generation after generation, we are

    stronger, faster, more powerful and more intelligent, because the weak are culled from our race before

    they can breed! It is a natural and necessary part of being a Sylvan! With our birthrate, we would

    consume everything on the world and then starve, without the winnowing! Furthermore, every adult

    among us has earned our ce in our society by surviving the winnowing! We deserve our standing

    because we have fought and suffered and killed for it, even under the restrictions of our god! And you

    cannot rece it without using constant spells of mind control, and stealing the freedom from our lives!¡±

    As the Sylvan spoke, Helemia had angrily walked over to the edge of the tform and red down at

    the woman. She yelled back as soon as the woman finished.

    ¡°All right first of all, the winnowing doesn¡¯t improve you in every generation, because who survives the

    winnowing and who dies is almostpletely decided by luck! More than half of those who die are

    killed in their first year away from their parental home, and in most cases it has nothing to do with any

    doesn¡¯t matter if some fourteen-year-old has the potential to be the greatest Sylvan who¡¯s ever lived

    when he gets hunted down by forty or fifty organized twenty-year-olds! Sure, over hundreds of

    generations, the winnowing does improve you, but it¡¯s the most costly and wasteful way to improve a

    race that I¡¯ve ever seen!

    ¡°And secondly, as to enving your children, who would probably have been uselessly killed anyway,

    let¡¯s ask your children what they think of their envement!¡±

    In a moment she was in the woman¡¯s mind and identifying her children; a seventeen-year-old female

    and a neen-year-old male, then located them among the toons and Translocated them and the

    woman to the surface of the tform.

    ¡°Give me the Truthstone.¡± Reggie tly demanded of Senior Dolimatbene, holding his hand out for it.

    After considering the somewhat chilling intensity of his manner, she Summoned it and gave it to him.

    He tossed it to Helemia, who rose a meter and caught it and pped it into the hand of the girl she¡¯d

    summoned in a single effortless motion, and held it there with a two-handed grip of surprising strength.

    ¡°The stone you¡¯re holding is an interface to The Truthstone of Falgaroth.¡± she growled at the girl. ¡°You

    cannot lie while in contact with it; Senior Dolimatbene has already confirmed this. Now tell your people

    and mine what it¡¯s like to be our ve.¡±

    ¡°Well, uh, the food¡¯s pretty good, we¡¯ve all been eating a lot better for sure, and the rooms are nice, and

    the work¡¯s okay because they don¡¯t work us too hard and we get to work with our friends. And the party

    every night is really really great! I¡¯m sure they¡¯re casting a spell on us to make it more fun, but I don¡¯t

    care because it works so good! And they¡¯re so good at Healing that we can do anything! I mean I

    challenged Barkovenest night, even though I knew he¡¯d beat me bad, and he did, but it was still

    worth it because I knew I¡¯d get to hurt him pretty bad before I went down, and I did, and I knew I¡¯d be

    Healedpletely one blink after the fight was over!

    ¡°And tomorrow we don¡¯t have to build anymore, and we¡¯re going to start having these really real-

    seeming war games against demons, which will be just like being in a war except we¡¯ll all be Healed

    and alive every night! What could be better than that?!

    ¡°I mean, being in a war every day and knowing you¡¯re going to be all right, and then being at a great

    party every night where you can fight and have sex as much as you want..! I mean really, this is as

    good as life gets. This is the best thing that could¡¯ve ever happened to us.¡±

    Everyone on the tform was surprised when the thirteen thousand young Sylvan in the toons all

    stood up and cheered.

    By the time it died down a few momentster, even the girl¡¯s mother was grinning and chuckling.

    ¡°So much for the very of your children.¡± Helemia snickered. ¡°They¡¯ve been enved in Sylvan

    paradise. Once the demons arepletely dealt with, we¡¯ll let you go back to your old way of life if you

    want, but I doubt you¡¯ll want to. Personally, I think that what we¡¯re offering is the real ideal and natural

    lifestyle for Sylvan; work and fight and kill and die all day, then party and fight and have sex all night.

    When we get out of the time-bubble, we¡¯re going to offer it to all the Sylvan in the world, and I¡¯m willing

    to bet a kilo of diamonds that almost all of ¡®em will take us up on it within a year.

    ¡°And beyond that, in a week we¡¯ll have improved your abilities more than ten thousand years of the

    winnowing would. The spells and techniques we¡¯ll be teaching you are better than anything that¡¯s ever

    been used on this world before now.¡±

    ¡°Hmm. I have three younger children at home right now, all younger than puberty.¡± the Sylvan woman

    revealed. ¡°What would you have happen to them?¡±

    ¡°The same as the rest of you, except I doubt they¡¯ll want to have sex at the parties.¡± Helemia chuckled.

    ¡°You and they will train together during the day, and party at night, and I doubt that children that young

    will need a spell to help them rx enough to have fun. You¡¯ll continue to assist with their training and

    education. When they get to be fourteen or so and they¡¯re thinking about killing you so they can steal

    your house and belongings, they¡¯ll have to settle for challenging you in the arena. When they¡¯re past

    puberty they can join the regr toons.¡±

    The woman nodded. ¡°All right. I can ept that.¡±

    ¡°Excellent.¡± Helemia grinned. ¡°I¡¯ll just put you back, and we¡¯ll continue with the asion.¡±

    She Translocated the three Sylvan back to their ces.

    ¡°There seems to be only one thing that you haven¡¯t considered.¡± Senior Dolimatbene asserted. ¡°And

    that is the reaction of our god to everything you¡¯re doing here. He made it in that our lifestyle was

    exactly what he wanted it to be, and I¡¯m sure he won¡¯t be pleased when he learns what you¡¯ve done

    Please check at N/?vel(D)rama.Org.

    with us.¡±

    ¡°Your god is a renegade among the Pantheon of Keran.¡± Reggie stated. ¡°When the time-bubble

    ends, the other gods will learn of his existence, and that he¡¯s hidden from them since he ascended,

    neither taking part in nor abiding by the resolutions that they have agreed upon among themselves

    after extensive and often acrimonious debate. If this hasn¡¯t urred already. I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll have bigger

    problems to worry about than what we¡¯ve done here. The other gods and the nations they¡¯ve formed

    are all sworn members of The Just Alliance now, and we do not fear The Sylvan God of Stealth.

 Chapter 78

    Chapter 78

    Part 13

    ¡°Now as I was saying, I¡¯m sure the rtionship between your people and mine will be beneficial to us

    all. Through us, you are joining the wider society in the world, and your istion can end when the

    time-bubble ends. You¡¯ll have the chance to travel the world, to see all the wonders of it, and to take

    part in society in any way you choose, within the limits of thews of The Just Alliance.

    ¡°Most important of all, we¡¯ll all have the best possible chance to defeat the demons.

    ¡°Now,¡± he said as he held out his hand and Helemia gave him the stone, ¡°We will swear binding oaths

    upon The Truthstone of Falgaroth.

    ¡°I swear that we of themunity of Homestead on the Inds of Hiliani, of the nation of Hilia and of

    The Just Alliance, will provide the Sylvan of Hiliani with the training and facilities to maximize their

    military potential, and will ensure their well-being as best we are able for as long as we are responsible

    for them. As soon as we have sufficiently trained enough senior officers among the Sylvan to allow

    them to assumemand of the Hiliani Sylvan, we will allow them to do so, contingent upon their

    continuation of the military and social systems we have emced, until the threat of attack by demons

    on Keran has been eliminated. We will abide by thend use agreement that was discussed

    yesterday, allocating twenty-three of Hiliani¡¯s twenty-seven inds for Sylvan use. All of this that I have

    sworn will be known among us of Homestead as Valentia¡¯s Vow, for Vice-Governor Valentia, who chose

    the wording. All of us will be able to conveniently swear this vow on the stone by stating; ¡®I swear

    Valentia¡¯s Vow¡¯, and every citizen of Homestead will do so, this I so swear.¡±

    There was a bright blue sh of light from the stone as the binding took effect, then he handed it to

    Senior Dolimatbene.

    ¡°I swear that we of the Sylvan of Hiliani will not act against the citizens of Homestead, and that we will

    abide by the military and social systems that you have emced.¡± she stated. ¡°We will abide by the

    permission. This vow shall be in power until the threat of the demons that now approach Keran has

    been eliminated. This vow shall be known among us of the Hiliani Sylvan as Plozofen¡¯s Promise,

    allowing us to conveniently swear this vow on the stone by stating; ¡®I swear Plozofen¡¯s Promise¡¯.¡±

    Mark held his hand out for the stone as the blue light shed again. ¡°I swear Valentia¡¯s Vow.

    ¡°I swear that the spell I am now casting on the stone will do no more and no less than to allow any

    citizen of Homestead who wishes to do so to swear Valentia¡¯s Vow upon it by merely touching the

    stone.

    ¡°I swear that the spell I am now casting on the stone will do no more and no less than to allow any

    Sylvan of Hiliani who wishes to do so to swear Plozofen¡¯s Promise upon it by merely touching the

    stone.

    ¡°I swear that the spell I am now casting on the stone will do no more and no less than to ce the mark

    of Hiliani upon the bodies of any who swear Valentia¡¯s Vow or Plozofen¡¯s Promise upon it, making the

    marking of the size and on the location preferred by those who have sworn, and making it known to

    those who observe them that they have sworn the vow.¡±

    The stone shed blue after every vow he swore, and the symbol of Hiliani that had been disyed in

    the big Revealing appeared on his left arm two centimeters high, close to the marks from the other

    vows he¡¯d sworn. Then he gave the stone to Valentia, who was holding her hand out for it. It shed

    blue as soon as it touched her.

    ¡°I swear Valentia¡¯s Vow.¡± she said anyway, then giggled.

    ¡°I swear that the spell I am now casting on the stone will do no more and no less than to make it fly

    around touching people until it¡¯s touched everyone on Hiliani, casting the appropriate vow and instilling

    the marking on those it touches, then return to Prince Mark.¡±

    It shed blue again and took off as soon as she released it, darting around and touching everyone

    else on the tform in a quick series of blue shes, then it was down in the crowd.

    ¡°Well that¡¯s efficient, I must admit.¡± Senior Dolimatbene smirked as she followed the trail of blue shes

    thorough the assemge for a moment, then turned to Reggie again.

    ¡°Now what?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Now we are united, and it is a great day for us all!¡± Karzog dered.

    ¡°Now we feast, and then we party!¡± Reggieughed.

    Please check at N/?vel(D)rama.Org.

    They were given a huge, rousing cheer that rose all up and down the beach.

    Reggie cast a quick spell that marked out arge area of the beach with a line of blue light. ¡°Can I have

    everyone move outside that blue line? We¡¯ll put the feast there as soon as it¡¯s clear.¡±

    ¡°Troops, you¡¯re off duty.¡± Helemia called. ¡°And since this tform makes a good stage, we¡¯re going to

    use it as a challenge arena tonight. The size and elevation of it will add a new element to the fights.

    Along with the regr ways to lose a fight, you lose if you get knocked off the stage. The winner of the

    first fight holds the stage and fights the next challenger until someone else wins, then the next winner

    holds the stage. There¡¯ll be a prize at the end of the night for whoever holds the stage for the most

    victories. We¡¯ll also have four other regr arenas up and down the beach, one for purely physical

    spelled items or weapons you have. The stage here is also an ¡®anything goes¡¯ arena. And that;¡± she

    said as she waved her hand and a transparent bubble of blue light sixty meters wide appeared in the

    sky, ¡°Is our first arena for aerialbat, and the queue to use it will form directly under it. As always,

    there¡¯s no flying or Levitation allowed in the other arenas, and the line to use them forms on the west

    side of each arena.

    ¡°In addition to dancing and fighting, we have games and contests set up under the edge of the trees all

    up and down the beach, including races, skill games, and strategy games.

    ¡°Have fun everyone! And for any non-adult Sylvan, remember that the party ends at midnight, same as

    every night. That gives you almost twelve hours of partying tonight, which had better be enough!¡±

    Their toons gave another great cheer as the formations dissolved.

    ¡°We have a ce reserved for thirty including ourselves, the head table you might say, and we¡¯d be

    pleased if you¡¯d join us there.¡± Reggie said to the rest on the tform, and Translocated them to their

    reserved area beside the feast, which had just appeared on tables, in barrels and bushel baskets, and

    on a colossal spit.

    ¡°What the hell is that?!¡± one of the Sylvan elders eximed as he pointed at the centerpiece of the

    feast.

    ¡°Roast whale.¡± Mark chuckled. ¡°The dragons caught it and roasted it. They thought that the feast might

    have to do us all for supper as well as lunch, and they didn¡¯t want us running short. If you need meat

    for forty thousand meals on short notice, roast whale is the way to go. They tell me that it tastes a lot

    like beef.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± the Sylvan said, too surprised to make any other response as they watched Kragorram and

    several of Mark¡¯s male rtives begin carving the whale. Kragorram carved off a chunk as big as a

    man with a three meter long knife andid it on a table with a rim to catch the drippings, where the men

    reduced it to steaks and served it onto tes as fast as they could. They had to be very careful as they

    did so, as the meat had been spelled to remain hot without bing overcooked.

    The ¡®head table¡¯ was arge semicircle of crude butfortable chairs and side tables fashioned from

    driftwood and palm fronds at the top of the beach. The thirty seats were taken by the fourteen Sylvan

    elders, the three half-elven governors, Mark, Talia, Alilia, and a constantly changing array of prominent

    members of bothmunities. The space immediately behind the chairs was constantly filled with

    those who knew the leaders personally, or who just wanted to overhear their conversation.

 Chapter 79

    Chapter 79

    Part 13

    Quewanak and Povon ambled over to the open side of the semi-circle of leaders and imed space on

    the sand for themselves beside Karzog. They then Summoned enormous knives and forks and began

    cutting off bite-size chucks of meat for themselves. For dragons, they ate in a manner that was so

    polite and fastidious that it was almost funny.

    The Hilian Volunteers chose to serve the leaders¡¯ group, and made sure they were first in line to do so.

    ¡°I think it would be just if you four youngsters were able to simply rx and enjoy this fine asion.¡±

    Quewanak said to the young governors between bites. ¡°So if you¡¯d like, I¡¯d be d to referee the fights

    in the arenas for you.¡±

    ¡°Thank you Quewanak.¡± Karzog said around an enormous bite of meat, then swallowed before he

    continued. ¡°I appreciate that. It was using quite a bit of our concentration.¡±

    ¡°As I suspected.¡± Quewanak chuckled. ¡°You four do push yourselves to your limits almost all the time,

    even when you¡¯re supposed to be rxing and having fun.¡±

    ¡°Usually when we¡¯re pushing ourselves to our limits, that¡¯s when we¡¯re having the most fun!¡± Helemia

    giggled.

    ¡°What is the nature of the spell you¡¯ve cast on our young?¡± Senior Dolimatbene suddenly asked. ¡°You

    obviously cast it slowly so that it¡¯s initiation isn¡¯t obvious, but I can already see that our children aren¡¯t

    acting normal.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s called Mandri and Dren¡¯s Moderate Drunkenness.¡± Reggie exined. ¡°I think it¡¯s a crucial part of

    the sess of our social program here, and I wish I could say it was brilliant nning, but using it was

    just a spontaneous idea. Your young were all so emotionally impaired that they were incapable of

    enjoying a good party, and half of them were incapable of socializing in any way. It simtes a

    moderate level of drunkenness, as one might reach if one drank alcohol until just before it started to

    have a negative effect on bnce and coordination.

    ¡°To be honest, I haven¡¯t even tried it on myself yet, none of us four have. I think I¡¯ll do so though, just to

    be fair. Tonight, but not right now.¡±

    ¡°It simtes the enjoyable parts of drunkenness, with none of the bad effects of alcohol. Which seems

    to be a fun thing.¡± Helemia giggled as she watched those cheering on the first fighters on the challenge

    stage.

    ¡°Huh. I¡¯ll have to get you to teach me that.¡± Dolimatbene decided. ¡°I¡¯m sure casting it is a lot less work

    than brewing mead, which is the only recreational intoxicant my people have had since we got here.

    Still, we do make very good mead. Though as you¡¯ve said, alcohol has its problems.¡±

    ¡°Sure. Here.¡± Helemia told her as she psionicly passed the spell. ¡°You¡¯ll need it soon anyway. I¡¯m sure

    you didn¡¯t get to be Most Senior among your people by ident, so I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll soon be one of the

    seniormanders of your people in our military system on the merit of your abilities. Then you¡¯ll need

    to be able to cast it for your troops every night.¡±

    ¡°Uhh, what?¡± Dolimatbene said as she tried to respond, obviously disoriented.

    ¡°Oh, sorry, I thought you¡¯d be able to handle that.¡± Helemia said as she removed the spell from the

    woman¡¯s mind. ¡°It looks like I¡¯ll have to give it to you a lot slower, or just teach it to you the old-

    fashioned way. Or ask my father to do it for me. Father, if you¡¯d be so kind?¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± Mark grunted around a mouthful, and set the spell into the woman¡¯s mind.

    ¡°No one can give you a spell in immediately usable form like my father.¡± Helemia proudly exined.

    ¡°Even the gods said he¡¯s better at it than they are. He can even do it with people with almost no psionic

    or magic talent at all. Maybe they won¡¯t even be able to use it, but they¡¯d still be able to understand

    every aspect of it right away. One of these days I¡¯ll have to study how he does it, so we can do it too.¡±

    ¡°I¡­ see.¡± Dolimatbene said in wonder as she considered the spell she¡¯d justpletely learned.

    ¡°That¡¯s amazing. Almost every aspect of it ispletely different from anything I¡¯ve ever done. And to

    just learn it in an instant like that is wondrous. That would normally be three months¡¯ work for me, to

    learn such an alien-seeming spell.¡±

    ¡°Well it¡¯s abination of human and elven wizardry techniques, so I¡¯m not surprised that a Sylvan

    wizard like you would find it a little strange.¡± Valentia smiled. ¡°It¡¯s pretty well-made. I¡¯ve thought of a few

    improvements to it, but I could only save one-eighteenth of the power requirement and a tenth of the

    concentration needed, so I haven¡¯t bothered with it yet.¡±

    ¡°You fourteen are likely the oldest and most experienced Sylvan in the world, since your god made you

    stop killing each other long before Zarkog did the same in Serminak.¡± Yazadrilmented. ¡°You¡¯re

    obviously very intelligent and capable individuals, yet you¡¯ve been isted here for quite some time,

    and you tend to live quite simple lives. So I wonder what you do to upy your time?¡±

    Dolimatbene smiled and considered for a moment as she chewed and swallowed before she

    answered. ¡°Like everyone, everyday tasks take up much of our days. Food needs to gathered and

    prepared, homes and possessions need to be maintained, children need to be supervised and

    instructed.

    ¡°As you might guess, much of our time is spent in trying to raise our social status; practicing and

    increasing our abilities, learning new skills, improving our homes and possessions, and maneuvering

    for advantage and alliances amongst ourselves. And a few of us spend time on artistic pursuits.

    ¡°Before our god left, his Blessings shone upon us all, and it was easier to be content. Even since he¡¯s

    been gone, we¡¯ve had a good life here.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a beautiful and bounteous ce, that¡¯s certain.¡± Yazadril agreed with a smile.

    ¡°It feels confining.¡± Helemia mused, seeming deep in thought. ¡°I¡¯m afraid that in a year or two it¡¯ll really

    start to bother us. By then there won¡¯t be any real challenge here at all. Even sparring and the war

    games are starting to pall a bit. I so yearn to see the rest of the world, and to take part in it.¡±

    ¡°Huh. In a year, we¡¯ll be ready to fully test our void craft.¡± Reggie thoughtfully revealed. ¡°But we¡¯ll be

    prevented from doing so by the time-bubble.¡±

    ¡°I bet we could call the gods and get them to let us out early.¡± Valentia opined. ¡°If we stored up a lot of

    power and just called them with sound and psionics as loud as we could, and slowed the message

    down to one one-hundred-and-forty-fourth speed to match the outside world, I bet they¡¯d hear us. I¡¯d be

    surprised to find that the time-bubble absolutely blocked all sound and psionics, especially if we made it

    really powerful. Then they¡¯d let us out.¡±

    ¡°I doubt most of us would want them to.¡± Hilsith stated. ¡°I want every minute I can get for research

    before we have to deal with the demons, and we still have so much to do. We¡¯ve made good progress,

    but I¡¯d say we¡¯re only a third of the way to solving the human longevity problem, and a quarter of the

    way to solving the elven fertility problem. When the time-bubble ends, I intend to ask that it be re-cast

    for at least another score of years, and I will ask as convincingly and as intensely as I must to see it

    done.¡±

    ¡°Not to mention that most of us would be unwilling to give up our lives here.¡± Sana emphatically

    dered. ¡°I nned on twenty-four years here, and I¡¯ll be ready to go back to Finitra then, but not

    before.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m staying until Hilsith solves the longevity problem.¡± Markhan the Senior chuckled. ¡°I¡¯ve gotten quite

    hopeful about regaining my youth in thest few years. I¡¯m still pretty fit, but the nagging problems of

    getting old are already making themselves felt. Or at least, they were. To be honest, Hilsith¡¯s treatments

    have eliminated most of that over thest few months. But it¡¯s still a long way from having my youth

    Please check at N/?vel(D)rama.Org.

    back, and Sana¡¯s.¡±

    ¡°I see no reason why those who want to stay couldn¡¯t stay, while those of us who want out get

    released.¡± Reggie proposed. ¡°The gods could just re-cast the time-bubble right after we left if you

    want.

 Chapter 80

    Chapter 80

    Part 13

    ¡°I mean, no offence, but we didn¡¯t choose to be stuck in here, unlike the rest of you. It¡¯s been

    wonderful, but I¡¯m sure that if we have to stay in here for another eighteen years without even word of

    what¡¯s happening out there, I¡¯m sure I¡¯m going to lose my mental stability.¡±

    ¡°Well you¡¯re not missing much, you¡¯ve only missed two weeks out in the real world so far!¡± Wittan

    pointed out.

    ¡°True, but still, not knowing is really bothersome.¡± Helemia dered. ¡°To us at least. I had a nightmare

    once where the demons came early while we were still stuck in here, and when the time-bubble finally

    ended there was nothing left alive outside it but billions and billions of demons. Unlikely I admit, but we

    don¡¯t know. That could¡¯ve really happened already, and we¡¯d never know.

    ¡°And as far as our military ability goes, we¡¯ve gotten about as good as we can get with the techniques

    we have here, and our improvement is really slowing. We¡¯re not inventing as many new techniques as

    we were before either. We¡¯re stagnating. I want to go out and learn from new people, and learn new

    spells and techniques.¡±

    ¡°And improve them.¡± Valentia giggled. ¡°Quewanak, do you think my n would work? Could we get the

    gods¡¯ attention and get them to let us out?¡±

    ¡°I think we could, though I¡¯m not positive, and there¡¯s no way of knowing without trying it.¡± the green

    dragon opined.

    ¡°Well. I didn¡¯t know this was bothering you kids this much.¡± Mark said with a bit of surprise in his tone.

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t really, until Nek asked us yesterday what we were going to do to top this.¡± Reggie said as he

    indicated the Sylvan settlement around them with a wave. ¡°This has all gone so much easier than we

    thought. Everything here is too easy.¡±

    ¡°Wanting out of the time-bubble didn¡¯t get to be a strong feeling until just now, actually.¡± Helemia

    revealed. ¡°It came with realizing that this is pretty much finished already. If we had to, we could have

    these fourteen ready to assumemand here in a week, then we could take a Reading of all the

    spells and military lore we want to teach them and put it in a diamond and give it to them. They¡¯d be

    able to teach it as fast as they and the rest here could absorb it. And that¡¯s it, done, we could just walk

    away and it wouldn¡¯t really matter. With another eighteen years to get ready for the demons, they won¡¯t

    need us.¡±

    ¡°Now that the subject has been raised,¡± Equemev interjected from a three hundred meters down the

    beach, where she and her family were running through the surf, ¡°I would like to say that we, the

    unicorns of Homestead, share the children¡¯s feelings. We find that being confined to an area the size of

    Hiliani feels very restricting, far more than we expected it to. Unicorns are a nomadic and migratory

    race, and it seems that traveling is a greater part of our inherent needs than we anticipated. I myself

    have run the beaches all the way around the perimeter of Hiliani over six hundred times, until I am

    bored of it, and I¡¯ve run the interior routes almost as much. All of us have. We yearn for the great ins

    of Xervia, and for thepany of our kin.

    ¡°Which is another issue. If I had it all to do again, I would make sure that we either brought far more of

    my people here, or none. Even with our new children, the fourteen of us are not near enough to fully

    fulfill our herd instinct. We increasingly feel our istion and separation from our people.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡± Mark nodded, seemingly mildly troubled. ¡°Then it seems we should follow the kids¡¯ advice, and

    try to get the gods to temporarily open the time-bubble so that those who want to leave can do so. And

    if any out in the world would like toe here to rece those who leave, we can do that too.¡±

    ¡°If you who want to leave can bear it, I would appreciate it immensely if you dyed your departure for

    at least two or three years.¡± Hilsith requested. ¡°The assistance of the unicorns has been very valuable

    in my research, and I had expected that the assistance of you children would soon be quite central to

    my work as well.¡±

    The three children and Karzog considered the question over their Link for a moment.

    ¡°That may be a lot to ask, now that we¡¯re getting our hopes up about leaving.¡± Reggie answered. ¡°How

    about this; We¡¯ll stay for one more year. We¡¯ll do as Helemia said and prepare the Sylvan to not need

    us for their continued militarization as quickly as we can. After that we¡¯ll spend as much time helping

    your research as we can possibly spare from our other projects for the rest of the year. We¡¯ll even cut

    back on sparring and our own training and devote that time to your projects too.¡±

    ¡°Hopefully we can either have your two major problems solved or have you well on the way to solving

    them by then.¡± Helemia added.

    ¡°Yes, I think knowing we would be released in a year would give my people the strength to continue

    here for that time without suffering any appreciable distress.¡± Sran agreed. ¡°And we will also

    contribute all we can of our time and resources to your research for that time.¡±

    ¡°Well I¡¯ll take what I can get, I suppose.¡± Hilsith smiled. ¡°My research is important, but certainly not

    more important than preserving your happiness and mental health.¡±

    ¡°All right, I suppose I¡¯ll let the Homesteaders know that they¡¯ll probably have a chance to leave Hiliani in

    a year, and take a quick survey of how many would like to go.¡± Mark decided, and did so psionicly.

    ¡°Okay, it seems that the only ones who really want to leave are you four and the unicorns.¡± he reported.

    ¡°A lot of The Hilian volunteers are undecided. I think they¡¯d really prefer to stay, but their vows to serve

    Please check at N/?vel(D)rama.Org.

    me make them also want to go wherever I go, and of course if you four are going, then Talia, Alilia,

    Povon, Kragorram, and I are going too.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll stay, to continue assisting with matters here.¡± Quewanak stated.

    ¡°When we go,¡± Alilia said to Bezedil with a warm smile, ¡°I would very much appreciate it if you and

    Dalia came with us.¡±

    ¡°Oh? For more than the obvious reasons?¡± Bezedil asked.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Alilia nodded, smiling a bit mischievously now. ¡°It¡¯s not just because I love you and would like to

    keep my only son near me. That wouldn¡¯t be a deciding factor, since I know that Dalia would also like to

    stay with her parents, who are staying here, since Hilsith is staying.

    ¡°I would like you and Dalia to co-rule our people as reigning Prince and Princess of The People of Life.

    Once they know how close and devoted my rtionship with Mark and Talia has be, they¡¯ll

    understand that I feel some conflict between my duties to Hilia and my duties to the People of Life, and

    they deserve dedicated leadership.

    ¡°If you agree, I¡¯ll train you both intensively for the duty over the next year, with the assistance of

    Yazadril, Quewanak, and Mark. I would abdicate in your favor. Your ascension would still be subject to

    the approval of The People of Life and their Senior Council, but I don¡¯t see any chance that they¡¯d

    disapprove. I can¡¯t see any other candidates being able to match the ability, character, attractiveness

    and appeal that the two of you would have as a co-ruling pair. And since you are my son and Yazadril¡¯s

    daughter, you¡¯ll appeal to those with dynastic tendencies.¡±

    ¡°Ah, give us a moment?¡± Bezedil asked as he and Dalia Linked, and Alilia nodded.

    They conferred for a moment, then he answered. ¡°First off Mother, we¡¯re very proud and ttered and

    grateful that you¡¯ve chosen to offer us this opportunity, and we would be d to assume the

    responsibility. However, we don¡¯t think one year of training would sufficiently prepare us for it,

    particrly when there¡¯s so much more time avable.

    ¡°We propose that we do the year of training, and then, assuming that the gods will hear the call and

    open the time-bubble, and that they¡¯ll be willing and able to re-cast it again, and that they¡¯ll be willing to

    give us at least a few hours out in the world before they re-cast it, we¡¯ll use that time to get as much

    more study materials and Readings from other experienced rulers as we can. Then we¡¯ll stay here in

    the time-bubble and study all of that for rest of the seventeen years.

 Chapter 81

    Chapter 81

    Part 13

    ¡°When the bubble ends at its scheduled time in eighteen years, it¡¯ll only be a month and a halfter out

    in the world, and we¡¯ll be far more prepared to be Prince and Princess of The People of Life.¡±

    ¡°Certainly, that seems both wise and practical.¡± Alilia nodded with a smile.

    ¡°Some of us would like to leave Hiliani in a year, if the time-bubble indeed does go down temporarily.¡±

    Senior Dolimatbene stated. ¡°Understanding that we would have to swear the binding vows sworn by

    other Sylvan in The Just Alliance, would you allow us to go?¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± Mark nodded. ¡°You haven¡¯t sworn allegiance to me or to Hilia, so you¡¯re free to do whatever you

    want, so long as you keep the peace between us and train as hard as you can to fight the demons. And

    if I did have the right to prevent you from leaving, I still wouldn¡¯t. I don¡¯t see any reason to keep you

    here if you want to go. However, if we have to fight the demons, I¡¯d ask you to fight with those you¡¯ve

    trained with here. There¡¯s no use training you all together as a unit if you¡¯re not going to fight with the

    people and procedures you¡¯re familiar with. That means we¡¯d ask you toe back here to help

    defend the ce if the demons attack here, and that you re-join your toons if the Hiliani Sylvan are

    assigned to fight elsewhere.¡±

    ¡°Ah.¡± Dolimatbene said as she epted some deserts from a tray that was being passed around. ¡°Our

    god brought us here so that we wouldn¡¯t be enved by Zarkog, but that¡¯s a moot point now. And it

    seems that what our god wants with us will also need to be determined, though that may now be moot

    as well, as you¡¯ve said. When the time-bubble goes down, our god will learn of what¡¯s happened here,

    we¡¯ll learn what he thinks about it, the rest of the gods will learn about him, and we should shortly know

    where we stand.

    ¡°But many of us want to see and experience the great world out there, which is something we could

    never do before The Just Alliance took over. And many of us would like to go back to Serminak, for at

    least a visit. The younger of us have never seen their ancestral homnd, and of us elders, most have

    only seen the small part of it that our god kept hidden for our use before Zarkog conquered the

    continent.

    ¡°And beyond all that, so far as I know, I am the eldest living Sylvan, and one of the most powerful and

    capable. I may very well be the most powerful and capable Sylvan, and I am very much looking forward

    to testing myself in the great Game of Status.¡± she finished with a grin that was matched by the other

    elders.

    ¡°So am I.¡± said a voice behind Mark¡¯s shoulder. He turned to see that it was Zayobod, informal leader of

    The Valiant Glory Seekers.

    ¡°Oh?¡± Dolimatbene asked with a chuckle. ¡°I¡¯d have thought that all elves were temperamentally

    unsuited to such an endeavor.¡±

    ¡°Evil is stupid.¡± Zayobod tly dered. ¡°It¡¯s the motto of The Just Alliance, and I believe it with all my

    soul. Evil is stupid, and me and a few of my friends intend to prove it. We¡¯ll enter The Game of Status

    andpete equally against those like yourselves who choose to use underhanded means, without

    using any unjust methods ourselves. We¡¯ll defend ourselves against the machinations of the other

    yers of course, but other than that we¡¯ll y without using violence, and without lying or cheating in

    any way, and we intend to inspire as many others as possible to do the same. After a sufficient amount

    of time we should be able to statistically prove that over the long run, unjust methods reduce

    productivity and advancementpared to just methods.¡±

    ¡°How can you say that?¡± Dolimatbeneughed. ¡°I can guarantee that I¡¯ll pay less taxes than you will, I¡¯ll

    have the advantage over you in every interaction because I¡¯ll withhold every bit of crucial information I

    can while feeding you disinformation, and if you really get in my way I¡¯ll just do away with you!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re living in a fantasy world.¡± Zayobod stated dismissively. ¡°There are conditions under which evil

    can thrive, but you won¡¯t be facing those conditions! Under a corrupt or ipetent government, it

    might be profitable to cheat on your taxes, but in a just society withpetent auditors you will get

    caught at it sooner orter, and when you get caught, the fines and penalties for cheating the taxman

    will cost you more than what you saved by cheating. Furthermore, evil only works really well in secrecy;

    when you can act with evil against the unsuspecting while pretending to be good. But you¡¯ll have to

    dere that you¡¯re in The Game of Status, and everyone will know it. No good people will do any

    business with you at all if they can avoid it, and if they have to do so, they won¡¯t trust a word you say.

    ¡°The Game of Status had already be apletely separate economy within The Just Alliance for

    that very reason, and within just three days of it¡¯s inauguration too. The people in the game don¡¯t have

    anything to offer that the good people can¡¯t get among themselves, so the good people have no reason

    to risk dealing with the yers, and they have the right to refuse to do business or to associate with

    anyone for any reason.

    ¡°The Game had only been running for a few weeks when we came here, but it was already obvious that

    it was a far less productive economy than the rest of the Alliance. The Game is an economy with a few

    big winners and a lot of losers, and only the division of the game into ten leagues of varying skill levels

    prevents the top ten or twelve yers from controlling everything. Whereas in the just society,

    everyone just keeps on winning, because we don¡¯t let anyone lose.

    ¡°If a good man gambles his business on a shipload of iron and it¡¯s lost in a storm, we¡¯ll help him get

    back on his feet again, and he and his family won¡¯t suffer from deprivation. The poverty rate in The Just

    Alliance is zero, and since most people who are sensible don¡¯t tend to take big risks, only a very few of

    them have suffered any setbacks at all. Almost everyone just keeps getting more sessful and more

    prosperous, steadily gaining in status as they do so.

    ¡°The poverty rate among yers in The Game of Status is seventy percent, and like I said, it would be

    a lot worse without the ten leagues. Many of the yers don¡¯t tend to produce anything if they can

    avoid it; they spend all their time trying to get what others have produced. Much of the wealth and

    resources that yers do produce is lost to destruction, since yers will destroy their rivals¡¯ works

    and possessions if they can¡¯t steal them. Everything that gets destroyed is a waste, and when a person

    is killed, all the time and effort they spent gaining skills and abilities is also wasted. Destroyers and

    killers are parasites on the productive, and most of them live in poverty and squalor or get killed

    because the people they¡¯ve wronged and their friends always try to get revenge.

    ¡°And the sheer inefficiency of distrust is staggering! When you deal with untrustworthy people, or if

    you¡¯re even just faced with the possibility of untrustworthy behavior, you immediately have to start

    wasting an incredible amount of time and resources on security and on checking what people say for

    N?velDrama.Org is the owner.

    truth. You can¡¯t do any transactions without constantly having to check everyone for cheating! The

    profit and benefit of everything you do is hugely reduced.

 Chapter 82

    Chapter 82

    Part 13

    ¡°Take a neighborhood food store for example. If you own such a store in Serminak you can¡¯t trust

    anyone, so there¡¯s a list of the store¡¯s products and prices on the front, and a little barred window so

    customers can tell the clerk what they¡¯re ordering. They have to write down what they want if it¡¯s more

    than about four items, or the clerk probably gets the order wrong. The clerk takes the order, locks a

    cover over the little barred window, and goes around the store gathering the items. The customer

    passes their payment through a two-door pass-through, and the clerk gives them their items the same

    way, and it takes extra time putting the payment and the items in the pass-through and opening and

    closing and locking the little doors over and over again. You can¡¯t offer credit because you can¡¯t trust

    anyone to pay it back, so if a customer needs a big order suddenly and doesn¡¯t have the money on

    hand to pay for it, they can¡¯t get the items and you don¡¯t get the sale.

    ¡°But if you own such a store in The Just Alliance, the customer can just walk into the store and pick

    what they want, because you can trust them not to steal the merchandise. If you have a new item that

    catches their eye, they may look it over and decide to buy it, even if they hadn¡¯t nned on buying

    such an item before they went in. You can offer credit and know it¡¯ll be paid back, so you make more

    sales. Most importantly, your clerk doesn¡¯t have to do anything but take money from customers, answer

    their questions, and maybe put a few items into bags or baskets to make them easier to carry. So with

    only one clerk working in your store, you can serve up to twenty times as many customers per day.

    ¡°Like I said, I think I could prove all that already. But by doing it while ying The Game of Status, my

    achievements and my status will be judged and scored and directlypared with those of the unjust

    yers of the game, which should make my point hard to ignore. Eventually I hope to convince as

    many yers as possible to give up the game. I know there¡¯ll always be some of you Sylvan who still

    choose to y, but over thousands of years, I expect them to be fewer and fewer. You¡¯ll all gain far

    more status if you choose not to y The Game of Status.

    ¡°And one more thing; If you really think it would be so easy to do away with me, perhaps you¡¯d care to

    ept my challenge tobat in the aerial arena. I may be a thirty-year-old elf and you a three-

    thousand-year-old Sylvan, but I don¡¯t fear you.¡±

    ¡°Hah, you¡¯re a feisty little flower, aren¡¯t you?¡± Dolimatbeneughed. ¡°And you obviously don¡¯t have a

    Sylvan¡¯s eye for status, or you¡¯d realize that your status as a fighter is far less than mine. Ask your

    elders here if you don¡¯t believe me. Since this is a somewhat diplomatic event, and I¡¯d gain no status

    from crushing one such as you, I¡¯ll refrain from tasting your blood today. Much as I¡¯m sure I¡¯d like it. I

    refuse your challenge.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s probably right, Zayobod.¡± Karzog stated. ¡°She and these other elders are all among the twenty

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    most dangerous Sylvan here, and she¡¯s the best. Among them I¡¯d rank you seventh. She wouldn¡¯t have

    much trouble with you.¡±

    Zayobod¡¯s face hardened a bit. ¡°My challenge still stands.¡± he stated.

    ¡°And it¡¯s still refused, though I¡¯ll admit that if the dragon¡¯s right, you¡¯d be a tougher challenge than I

    expected.¡± she smiled.

    ¡°If you truly are as dangerous as the dragon says,¡± a male Sylvan elder said, ¡°Then you¡¯d be a good

    match for me. I¡¯ll challenge you, aerialbat, anything goes.¡±

    ¡°I ept your challenge!¡± Zayobod answered with a cocky grin.

    ¡°You are the one hundred and thirty-sixth pair ofbatants waiting for the aerial arena.¡± Quewanak

    stated. ¡°I¡¯ve done away with having people wait in line to fight. I¡¯ll let you know when the pair before you

    are making their way to the arena, to give you time to prepare. That will likely be about four and one-

    half hours from now.¡±

    ¡°Thanks Quewanak.¡± Zayobod grinned. ¡°To be honest, I wasn¡¯t looking forward to waiting in line.¡±

    ¡°And as to your evaluation of The Game of Status, you¡¯re probably right, but I don¡¯t care.¡± Dolimatbene

    told him with a grin of her own. ¡°Maybe my efforts won¡¯t be very efficient, maybe I¡¯ll lose everything and

    end up in poverty, maybe I¡¯ll be killed, maybe it¡¯s all a big waste. I don¡¯t care. It¡¯s worth it for the chance

    to win it all, and be recognized as the very best, in the onlypetition that truly is ¡®anything goes¡¯.¡±

    ¡°But you¡¯d still have a better chance of winning it all and being recognized as the very best if you did it

    as an honest person!¡± Zayobod insisted.

    ¡°Perhaps so, but it wouldn¡¯t be near as much fun that way!¡± Dolimatbene countered.

    ¡°Take it easy Zayobod.¡± Markughed, cutting off the young elf¡¯s further retort. ¡°As you said, it¡¯ll take

    many thousands of years to really change the Sylvan.¡±

    ¡°Tell me Senior Dolimatbene, if I may ask,¡± Helemia inquired, ¡°Would you really rather be out in the

    world, fighting it out in the game of status, or here doing this; warring all day and partying all night?¡±

    ¡°Hmm. That is a tough call.¡± Dolimatbene smiled.

    ¡°Wait until you¡¯ve done it for a week or so.¡± Helemia chuckled. ¡°I¡¯m sure the decision will be a lot easier

    then, especially if you choose to partake of the Drunkenness spell.¡±

    Dolimatbene smiled, considered, and cast the spell on herself. ¡°We¡¯ll soon see.¡± she dered.

    ¡°Well if you¡¯re trying it, I will too.¡± Markughed as he cast it. ¡°I have no duties tonight, and I haven¡¯t

    been moderately drunk since before we came to Hiliani.¡±

    Soon everyone was trying it except the dragons, the unicorns, the young children and their parents,

    and the four young governors. Shortly after that the party really got going. Helemia had to increase the

    volume of the music twice so people could hear it over the multitude of exuberant voices. asionally

    some of those in the lead group got up to dance or enjoy some other activity for a while before

    returning to their seats.

    About three hourster a male adult Sylvan approached the twins, and stood staring at them.

    ¡°What is it?!¡± Helemia finally asked, irritated by his manner.

    ¡°I was with Vanakit Lamitkeze, the day he tried to get revenge on you.¡± the Sylvan stated in a strange

    tone. ¡°You killed me. You made me fall and I smashed my brains out on a rock. I died, I know I died; I

    felt it. And then you brought me back to life. And you were only babies at the time.¡±

    He paused for a moment. ¡°None of us ever talked about what happened that day. Not even to each

    other.¡±

    Three secondster he abruptly turned and walked away without another word. They watched him go

    until he was lost in the crowd.

    ¡°Well that was strange.¡± Helemia dered with augh.

    ¡°Is it true?¡± Dolimatbene asked. ¡°Did you kill him and bring him back to life?¡±

    ¡°He wasn¡¯t as dead as he thought he was.¡± Reggie chuckled. ¡°And we didn¡¯t Heal him, Quewanak did.¡±

    he added with a gesture at the green dragon.

    ¡°Huh. We always wondered what happened that day, when Vanakit never came back but the rest did.¡±

    she revealed. ¡°It¡¯s true that they refused to discuss it, and it wasn¡¯t worth trying to catch them and

    torture them to find out. Many of them were more than a little strange after that, and now we know why.

    Thinking you¡¯ve been killed and resurrected could do that to a person, I expect. I¡¯d imagine Vanakit¡¯s

    dead by now?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure. Quewanak?¡± Reggie asked.

    ¡°He¡¯s in storage, as preserved and unchanging as a pickle in a jar, andpletely mindless.¡± The

    ancient dragon reported with a shrug. ¡°If we ever find a use for him, I¡¯ll reactivate him and put enough

    of a mind into his brain to make him useful.

 Chapter 83

    Chapter 83

    Part 13

    ¡°He was an interesting research subject for a few hours after I first got him. I¡¯ve seen a great many

    psionic attacks, but I¡¯ve never seen a mind obliterated as thoroughly as his was without affecting the

    health of the rest of his body. His brain was not harmed, it was erased, and it was done with a unique

    and ground-breaking psionic attack. It was quite useful to study the results. I¡¯ve considered how useful

    it would be to be able to erase the mind of a demon and rece it with one of our own design. I can

    think of no more effective technique for turning them to spying, sabotaging, and even counter-attacking

    for us.¡±

    ¡°Eww.¡± Helemia went, and wrinkled her nose. ¡°I haven¡¯t thought about Vanakit in a long time.¡±

    ¡°Oh, a very long time indeed.¡± Quewanak teased.

    ¡°A hundred and twenty million years old, and that¡¯s the best joke you¡¯ve got?¡± Helemia retorted.

    ¡°Anyway, it bothers me that he¡¯s just¡­ stored, like a thing. It doesn¡¯t seem right.

    ¡°So I think I should fix him.¡± she decided, and Summoned him with a slight gesture.

    ¡°That¡¯s creepy.¡± Valentia said as she considered the vegetative nk stare of the naked Sylvan who

    now floated before them. ¡°At least put some clothes on him.¡±

    Helemia did, casting an illusory brown tunic on the limp body with only a moment¡¯s distraction from the

    spell she and Reggie were designing.

    ¡°Did you know where he was?¡± Bezedil inquired, curious but unable to follow what she was doing. ¡°Or

    did you search for him, or have Quewanak tell you where he was stored? I didn¡¯t detect you asking,

    and I¡¯m a bit curious.¡±N?velDrama.Org is the owner.

    ¡°She¡¯s just aware of him.¡± Reggie stated. ¡°Her awareness of him was pretty acute when she wiped his

    mind, and she¡¯s a good enough psionic that she¡¯ll always know where he is if she wants to, even with

    no mind inside him to keep track of. The uniqueness of his nervous system is enough for her to find his

    psionic aura.

    ¡°And to answer your next question, right now she¡¯s designing an automated Reading that¡¯ll Read her

    and me and everyone else here including Quewanak for everything that anyone ever knew or

    experienced of Vanakit Lamitkeze, and then it¡¯ll consolidate all that together to try to recreate his mind,

    then she¡¯ll try to put it back into him. I¡¯m helping her of course, because I can¡¯t help it. I couldn¡¯t not

    help her unless I put a lot of effort into blocking her, but she doesn¡¯t really need it.¡±

    ¡°Wow, that¡¯s really very good.¡± Mark marveled as he psionicly observed what they were doing. ¡°And it¡¯ll

    be an incredibly useful addition to the Resurrection spell.¡± he privately added to his family. ¡°If it works

    good enough, we might not have to be Linked with someone to Resurrect them. We might be able to

    gather enough information about them from everyone that knew them with this.¡±

    ¡°It worked.¡± Helemia dered with her eyes closed as she considered her results. ¡°But now that I¡¯ve got

    a chance to consider him again, I realize how much I dislike him. Even among Sylvan, Vanakit

    Lamitkeze was a very unpleasant person. I think I¡¯ll dilute this into a general Reading of every male

    Sylvan here. And make a few more minor changes too...¡±

    She fell silent for half a minute as she worked, while those around her who had the skills tried to follow

    what she was doing.

    ¡°There. Now to put it in him¡­ Hm. This is going to be a lot trickier than I thought.

    ¡°Father, without actually doing it, can you show me how you¡¯d do it?¡±

    ¡°Wow. This is a lot of work.¡± Mark said as he considered what she was showing him. ¡°Do me a favor;

    while I¡¯m working on how to give this to him without screwing it up, get a consultation from Quewanak,

    Povon, Hilsith, Equemev, Yazadril, and at least three of these senior Sylvan, as to whether or not the

    amalgamation you¡¯ve made of Vanakit and six thousand other Sylvan is going to be able to function as

    aplete and healthy mind. No one¡¯s ever done this before, and I don¡¯t want to take part in creating a

    monstrosity.¡±

    ¡°All right, here it is.¡± Helemia said as she cast a ball of light that roiled with subtle andplex color

    patterns. ¡°Aplete mind maintained as an energy field, exactly as it¡¯ll be when it¡¯s being maintained

    by his brain. Now you can just take a regr Reading of it.¡±

    ¡°Sweet missing gods!¡± Yazadril eximed. ¡°I haven¡¯t been this impressed since Mark altered the curse

    and saved Dalia! This is groundbreaking work!¡±

    ¡°Thanks.¡± Helemia acknowledged, her face set in concentration on the spells she was holding. ¡°Half the

    credit goes to Six, of course. He may not have had much choice about it, but he still did half the work.¡±

    ¡°Six?¡± one of the Sylvan asked.

    ¡°Governor Prince Markhan Reginus Longstrider the Sixth.¡± Valentia giggled, indicating him with a

    thumb.

    ¡°What do they mean about him having to help her?¡± the Sylvan pressed as he stared at the fascinating

    ball of light.

    ¡°They¡¯re twins, and became psionic when they Linked each other in the womb, about two-thirds of the

    way through their gestation.¡± Valentia replied. ¡°They can¡¯t turn off or block their Link with each other, but

    if they put some effort into it, they can block any information or energy from passing over it. The rest of

    the time they share a lot of each other¡¯s mental resources, and they haveplete ess to each

    other¡¯s memories and experiences. They each feel like they have their own mind and they have

    functioning individual personalities, even though in reality there¡¯s only one mind between them, or

    maybe there¡¯s three; hers, his, and the one they share. I get a little boggled when I think about it too

    much.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why we don¡¯t think about it too much.¡± Reggie chuckled. ¡°It works so we just ept it. If we pick

    at it too much it might not work as good.¡±

    Suddenly he turned to Quewanak. ¡°Hey, what are you doing?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m hiding what¡¯s happening here from everyone except the senior leaders of bothmunities.¡± the

    dragon tly stated. ¡°I¡¯ve erased the memories of everyone else here concerning everything we¡¯ve

    discussed since Mtik Saputebome approached Helemia and told her that she¡¯d killed him. I¡¯ve

    supplied them all with false memories and continuing false perceptions of what we¡¯re talking about now,

    and none of them perceive the Mind Field or the body of Vanakit Lamitkeze.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Dolimatbene asked.

    ¡°The implications of what these children have done are beyond profound, and these techniques will be

    considered to be matters of utmost military secrecy, at least until they can be discussed in a closed

    session of The Military Council of The Just Alliance. I expect that body to rule that they be kept secret

    at least until the demons are dealt with, and perhaps beyond that.

    ¡°I do this by divine prerogative, as Draconian God of Dreaming. A status which you will also keep

    confidential.

    ¡°Consider that with variations of what these four have done¡­ what these fifteen have done now that

    they¡¯ve all contributed something to the spells¡­ Anyway, now that it¡¯s stabilized, with variations of this

    spell skilled mortals could cast false minds to fool psionic searches, they could erase a person¡¯s mind

    and rece it with an altered version or apletely artificial construct, they could duplicate a person¡¯s

    mind and ce it in another person or in a Simcrum in order to make it seem like the first person

    was in another ce, doing things that they were not doing. These spells affect fundamental issues of

    individuality, and there¡¯s no end to the mischief that could be done with them, while I can see very few

    beneficial uses for the techniques.

    ¡°Until now, only the gods could do such things, and they haven¡¯t been able to give such divine abilities

    to mortals. But with this, any mortal with sufficient skill and power could do those things, and there are

    thousands of such mortals.¡±

    ¡°Well one benefit would be to fix Vanakit Lamitkeze!¡± Dolimatbene insisted as she pointed at the limp

    and nk figure. ¡°He may have been a shit, but he didn¡¯t deserve that! Kill him or fix him, but don¡¯t just

    leave him as a living corpse like that! It¡¯s bloody horrible and insulting to Sylvan in general! How would

    you like to see a dragon that you knew reduced to live meat like that?!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a good point.¡± Quewanak admitted.

 Chapter 84

    Chapter 84

    Part 13

    ¡°Yes, and here¡¯s another one! You¡¯re getting all wound up about possibilities, when we still don¡¯t even

    know if any of that is good for anything beyond making a pretty light!

    ¡°And how do you figure that fifteen people contributed to the spell?¡±

    ¡°Helemia and Reggie¡­¡± he began before Valentia interrupted.

    ¡°That¡¯s Governor Longstrider or Six, if you please.¡± she politely insisted.

    ¡°Fine.¡± Quewanak agreed with a show of patience. ¡°General Helemia and Governor Longstrider Linked

    and received input from Karzog, Valentia, and Mark, as well as the eight people Mark suggested they

    consult with. Including myself and you, though you didn¡¯t feel their Link. Mark Linked and received input

    from Talia and Alilia. Yazadril Linked and received input from Nemia and Hilsith. Helemia and Six

    incorporated all that input, including finalizing how to emce the mind into Vanakit Lamitkeze, and

    once they had a finalized spell, Valentia re-designed and simplified it.

    ¡°The entire process was a phenomenal disy of psionic ability, and you¡¯re right in pointing out that it

    needs to be tested before its implications can be determined.

    ¡°So, I will allow the procedure to bepleted. I see no other urgent short term uses for those spells,

    and any more experiments with them that involve living subjects will have to wait until they¡¯ve been

    discussed in the Councils of The Just Alliance.¡±

    ¡°Agreed.¡± Helemia nodded. ¡°All of you agree that this should be a healthy and functional mind, so long

    as it¡¯s still the same as this once it¡¯s in him. Father, Valentia, you two should be the ones to emce it.¡±

    ¡°Agreed.¡± Mark nodded. ¡°And it¡¯s very mature of you to say so. But could I get you to end your disy?

    It¡¯s a bit distracting.¡±

    Helemia let her energy-mind fade, knowing that her father and sister had a firm psionic grasp of the

    information set that it represented.

    ¡°Valentia, are we ready?¡±

    ¡°Yes Father. On your mark.¡± Valentia agreed as she sharpened her concentration.

    ¡°All right, here we go¡­ Now.

    ¡°Okay, I think that worked.¡±

    ¡°We think so too.¡± Helemia nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll wake him up.¡±

    The floating Sylvan spasmed a bit, then waved his feet around in a bit of a panic as he tried to stand.

    Helemia lowered him to the sand, and he found his bnce.

    ¡°Hello, Jo. How do you feel?¡± Helemia asked him.

    ¡°Hello Helemia. I feel fine.¡± he replied with a slight smile, and looked around.

    ¡°You understand that you¡¯re a new person, and that you¡¯ve been given the body of Vanakit Lamitkeze,

    and some of his memories, but you are not him. You¡¯re your own person; Jo Shann, Hilian citizen.¡±

    ¡°Sure, I understand that.¡±

    ¡°And you¡¯re okay with that?¡±

    He shrugged and smiled. ¡°That¡¯s the way it is, I guess. I might as well ept it.¡±

    ¡°Good. How would you like to be my assistant for a while, until you get your orientation at least?¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡±

    ¡°All right.¡± Helemia nodded. ¡°You¡¯re off duty right now, Jo. Have some of the feast if you¡¯re hungry, and

    join the party.¡±

    ¡°Thanks! I¡¯m starved, now that I think about it.¡± he said as he turned away.

    ¡°Have fun!¡± she called after him. ¡°And go to themissary for some clothes! The ones you¡¯re wearing

    are just an Illusion!¡±

    ¡°But they¡¯re veryfortable!¡± he tossed over his shoulder with augh, then was hidden by the crowd.

    ¡°That really was incredible.¡± Talia marveled.

    ¡°I suppose every Sylvan out there will remember having known Jo Shann their whole lives.¡±

    Dolimatbene stated, sounding a bit bitter.

    ¡°Right. And he¡¯ll never happen to talk about his origins. They won¡¯t ask because they already know

    him.¡± Quewanak stated, his eyes closed in concentration. ¡°It¡¯s a lot of work getting that many memories

    straight, even for me.

    ¡°I apologize for seeming maniptive, but I deem it necessary. If I didn¡¯t have the ability to do this, I

    would have refused to allow him to be re-animated. The only alternatives were to leave him an empty

    Content ? provided by N?velDrama.Org.

    shell or kill him.¡±

    ¡°Bah, I¡¯m tired of thinking about it, to be honest.¡± Helemia stated. ¡°Time for some exercise!¡±

    In a moment the four young governors had Translocated a hundred and fifty meters straight up,

    donning their armor and weapons in the process, and began sting away at each other with

    prodigious energies while swooping around andunching strikes with their weapons. In a moment it

    was apparent that the match was Reggie and Valentia versus Helemia and Karzog.

    Nek Sibook, who was standing about two meters behind Talia with her head tilted back watching the

    fight,mented; ¡°You know, some people¡¯s parents should have more kids.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure the world is ready for any more of those.¡± Reen chuckled as he watched, and gave her a

    one-armed hug.

    ¡°I¡¯m quite sure that the world is not ready for the four we have now!¡± Kragorram chuckled with a deep,

    throbbing rumble. ¡°They¡¯ll make a stir when they get out in society, that¡¯s certain.¡±

    ¡°I agree.¡± Talia giggled. ¡°So far parenting has been pretty easy, but we won¡¯t be having any more until

    these are grown and stable. I¡¯ll want to have as much time and resources avable for them as I can

    when they get to be teenagers. I found it to be a difficult time, and those who are greatly gifted often

    have problems then.¡±

    ¡°And often get into trouble!¡± Aliliaughed. ¡°How I hope that they don¡¯t lose their minds when puberty

    scrambles their brains, like it did to mine!¡±

    ¡°Why, what did you do?¡± Nek asked.

    ¡°Oh, I just forced an early marriage to my sweetheart on my parents with sheer stubbornness and

    obstinacy, against their strenuous objections. If they¡¯d have continued refusing, we¡¯d have just eloped.

    Then we ran away and lived like wealthy vagabonds for fifty years or so. Now I wish I¡¯d listened to my

    parents. My husband Gorsh turned out to be exactly the kind of fool that they warned me he was.¡±

    This brought a round of chuckles from everyone in earshot.

    ¡°Come, dance with us,¡± Markughed as he stood and pulled Talia and Alilia to their feet, ¡°And we can

    hope I turn out to be less of a fool than he was.¡±

    They seemed to spark a trend, and soon all the sand and air nearby was full of joyous dancers.

    Later, as Sana and her team were refreshing the feast for the evening meal, Reggie¡¯s face suddenly lit

    up and he augmented his voice to be heard by everyone within fifteen meters. ¡°Zubzubweeeet!

    Everyone remember the name Zubzubweeeet!¡± he yelled, pronouncing thest vowel with a very high

    note and holding it for an extra beat.

    ¡°Why, who is it?¡± Mark asked.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t a clue, but I know that a person named Zubzubweeeet will be the one to open the time-

    bubble.¡± Reggie proimed. ¡°It¡¯s the first prophesy I¡¯ve had that can be tested for uracy, and it¡¯s a

    good one, because we don¡¯t know who it is! If I¡¯d prophesized that Falgaroth or Visinniria or one of the

    other gods we¡¯re familiar with were going to open the bubble, it might just seem like a good guess. But

    if someone named Zubzubweeeet really does open the bubble, I¡¯d say that was pretty solid proof.¡±

    ¡°Ah. So we¡¯ll know in a year.¡± Mark nodded.

    ¡°I sure hope so.¡± Reggie said, unconsciously nodding with exactly the same motion as his father. ¡°But it

    doesn¡¯t say anything about that in the prophesy. Just that it¡¯ll be Zubzubweeeet, whether that¡¯s in a

    year or eighteen.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Well we¡¯ll remember a name like that for sure. Right now my stomach¡¯s telling me that it¡¯s time for

    another helping of that whale steak!¡±

    The meal captured the attention of many, and the celebration went on.

    Many of the Homesteaders wanted to start going home as early as four hours to midnight, when many

    of the young Sylvan started openly fornicating. But Helemia teased many of them into staying by telling

    them and the adult Sylvan that there would be something funny to see at midnight. So most of those

    who didn¡¯t have young children stayed and continued partying after Karzog cleared the center of the

    beach of fornicators, and they were all there to see the great drenching at midnight. Which did indeed

    prove to be quite hrious.

    At an hour after midnight, everything was cleaned up and the toons were bedded down. The young

    Governors asked Quewanak to keep an eye on things for them until the morning, then they went home

    with their parents and got a good night¡¯s rest.

 Chapter 85

    Chapter 85

    PART 14

    The next day Karzog trained troops, Helemia trained lieutenants, and Reggie and Valentia trained the

    fourteen Senior Sylvan, after naming them colonels in a quick ceremony.

    Only a weekter they promoted Dolimatbene to General, and the new Sylvan force took part in their

    first co-operative military exercise with the Homesteaders, facing a force of demons simted by

    Quewanak, Ria, Equemev, and Povon. Equemev and Povon had been recruited because even

    Quewanak and Ria needed help simting enough enemies for almost twenty-one thousand fighters.

    Having proved themselves and their Sylvan force in battle with a convincing and very aggressive

    performance, General Dolimatbene and the colonels were directed to report to Commander Yazadril for

    further training, and the four young governors relinquished theirmand and their posts.

    This freed them to throw themselves into their other projects, including assisting Hilsith¡¯s research.

    Twenty-one dayster Hilsith¡¯s research group, which included most of the best magic-users in

    Homestead, seeded in giving wizardry to a human whopletelycked the ability. This was the

    first time it had ever been aplished. Mark¡¯s grandmother Sana was the first, and a moment after

    the great Linking of wizards was finished with the operation, Mark taught her Movement by setting the

    spell in her mind. She lifted the pendant she¡¯d chosen for her first act of magic a moment after that, and

    everyone cheered their aplishment for the great victory that it was.

    Over the next two days she was thoroughly Healed, which reduced her apparent age to about twenty-

    three years. A monthter she was learning new spells rapidly, she had exhibited no side effects, and

    Hilsith¡¯s testing revealed that she was no longer aging.

    This prompted another celebration, and that night Valentia redesigned the spells. The next morning

    Markhan the Senior started receiving the improved treatments. He was a wizard by lunchtime, and had

    regained his youth by suppertime.

    By the time thest human in the vige had been made a wizard, the senior wizards who were casting

    the spells were so proficient at it that any six of them could do it. Mark, Talia, and Alilia could do it with

    just the three of them, as could Hilsith, Yazadril, and Nemia. Reggie and Helemia could do it as a pair.

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    Only Valentia could do it by herself.

    At that point Hilsith threw herself into the elven fertility problem with Yzell, while Mark, Talia, Alilia, and

    their children found themselves in the position of test subjects in that project.

    Yazadril started a team that used the techniques they¡¯d developed to make wizards of humans to

    improve the power of the weakest elves.

    Reggie, Helemia, Valentia, and Karzog continued to contribute to both of those projects, but they began

    putting much of their effort into the void warfare project with Kragorram and Povon.

    Over time, the Homesteaders and the Sylvan mixed more and more. They all fought simted demons

    together, some of the senior Sylvan began making contributions to the research projects, and a few of

    the younger adult Homesteaders took to training, fighting, partying, and living with the toons of the

    Sylvan. Trade was established as they learned what goods and services both groups had to offer. The

    most popr trade was Sylvan mead for specialized magic instruction.

    With seven months to go before the scheduled call to the gods, at a gathering of everyone held on the

    Sylvan beach after six strenuous hours of battling simted demons, Reen augmented his voice,

    called for attention, and made an announcement that surprised almost everyone.

    ¡°There¡¯s a new tradition in The Just Alliance; that you can marry whoever you want. You can marry

    outside your race, as Mark and Talia and others here have done. And if you can attract more than one

    spouse and keep them happy, you can marry as many as you want to. So it¡¯s fine that Yazadril is

    practically married to both Nemia and Hilsith, and Mark is practically married to both Talia and Alilia.

    ¡°In the keeping of this new tradition, my wife Nek Sibook and I would like to announce that in fifteen

    days, in the Homestead Gathering Hall, we will be married to Pn and Mika Longstrider!¡±

    As everyone gasped, cheered,ughed, or eximed, those two worthy young men stood with Nek,

    and the three of them moved to stand behind Reen.

    Pn and Mika were brothers, and were Mark¡¯s grandfather¡¯s younger brother¡¯s sons, but they tended

    to spend most of their time at the pub as either assistants or customers, so Mark and his immediate

    family didn¡¯t know them very well. Like all the Longstrider men except Mark, they were about two

    hundred and thirty centimeters tall, with muscr builds and brown hair, in their case lightened to light

    brown by the sun. They grinned as they hugged their new fianc¨¦s, whom they towered over.

    ¡°While Mark and Yazadril have two wives each, Nek will have three husbands.¡± Reen continued. ¡°Now

    some may wonder why I¡¯d let my wife marry two more husbands, but the truth is that Nek is our shining

    star. Her abilities and character are so incredible that in a few years, I intend to make her ruling

    Empress of the Human Empire of Sming. I still can¡¯t believe she settled for me when she married me,

    and Pn and Mika both know that she¡¯s better than what they deserve as well. But she loves them

    anyway, and she loves me, and they love her, and the two of them and I have grown to love each other

    like brothers. Nek gets three husbands because that¡¯s what she wants, and she deserves it, just for

    making us as happy as she does.

    ¡°And besides all that, she¡¯s sexually insatiable, and no one man could keep her satisfied! Oww!¡±

    Thatst was in response to the short punch she gave to his shoulder, but then she was hugging him

    and grinning as the four embraced, and everyone gave them augh and a cheer.

    The party that night was a particrly good one, and the one after their wedding fifteen nightster was

    just as fine.

    Just more than a month after Nek¡¯s second wedding, while Mark was putting away his dishes after

    breakfast, he noticed something in his yard.

    ¡°Hey, there¡¯s a big dead deer on thewn.¡± he remarked, but it vanished as he finished speaking.

    ¡°That¡¯s mine!¡± Helemia snapped, seeming more than a little defensive. ¡°I¡¯ll finish dealing with it after

    breakfast.¡± she added in a calmer tone, aware of how strident she had seemed.

    ¡°Why would you leave a dead deer on thewn? And when?¡± Alilia asked in a puzzled tone.

    ¡°What¡¯s the difference?!¡± Helemia yelled. ¡°It¡¯s mine and I¡¯ll deal with it!¡±

    With that she disappeared in a sudden Translocation.

    Her family were stunned with surprise for a moment, then Talia asked Reggie; ¡°Is she all right?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s fine.¡± he nodded reassuringly. ¡°Really, don¡¯t worry about it, it¡¯s not a problem.¡±

    He obviously wasn¡¯t going to say any more about it, and they didn¡¯t want to check on Helemia in case

    she felt they were prying, so they had to take his word for it.

    In a cave on the south-east coast of Hiliani, Helemia spent a few long moments calming herself,

    preparing herself, and staring at her dead deer. Then she spoke.

    ¡°Karzog?¡±

    The young ck dragon appeared in the cave with her, looking a bit flustered.

    ¡°Thank you for the gift, Karzog.¡± she told him in a friendly tone with a warm smile.

    ¡°Ah, you¡¯re wee.¡± he stammered. ¡°I¡¯m not sure why I did it. I had a dreamst night where I hunted

    for you and brought you prey, and it felt so nice that I woke up and did it. I¡¯m, ah, I¡¯m a bit confused

    about it, really. I know I should have had it butchered and wrapped for you, since you¡¯re a humanoid,

    but that just didn¡¯t seem right.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m honored and grateful, and I ept your gift most humbly, just as it is.¡± she smiled, and his broad

    smile beamed toothily in response.

    ¡°Does it feel as nice as it did in your dream?¡± she asked.

    His smile became a grin. ¡°Yes. Yes it does.¡±

    ¡°Good. I¡¯ll tell you what.¡± she said as she Summoned a short sword and some spices. ¡°Tear off a

    haunch for me and I¡¯ll skin and prepare it, then you can roast it for me. Then we can eat together, and

    go flying.¡±

    ¡°Sure!¡± Karzog enthused as he tore off the left rear leg and thigh. ¡°I think I¡¯d really like that.¡±

 Chapter 86

    Chapter 86

    Part 14

    They chatted about the same things they normally talked about as they cooked and ate. At her request,

    Karzog finished most of the cooked haunch as well as the rest of the deer, since Helemia couldn¡¯t eat

    more than a hundred and fifty grams of it right after breakfast. It didn¡¯t seem right to leave any of it

    uneaten.

    ¡°Mmm, that was so good, and I¡¯m so full!¡± Helemia chuckled as she cast a Cleaning on herself and her

    sword.

    ¡°Mmm, me too.¡± Karzog agreed with a huge grin as he rubbed his bulging belly. He released a huge

    burst of intense fire and kind of swirled it around his mouth as he did so, reducing any food particles

    between his teeth to ash, blowing them out, and freshening his breath. ¡°We¡¯ll have to take it easy on

    the flying, or I might just burst!¡±

    Helemia giggled. ¡°Good point. Maybe we should do the dragon thing and just lounge in the sun after

    eating. We can flyter if you¡¯d like.¡±

    ¡°Sure, I¡¯d prefer that, actually.¡± he nodded as he led the way outside.

    There was a ce in front of the cave that wasrge enough and t enough for him to rx on his

    belly, and he did.

    ¡°And now I have a surprise for you. Close you eyes.¡± she mischievously instructed.

    ¡°Okay.¡± heughed, and did as she asked.

    She cast a careful spell, and it took a few seconds.

    ¡°Okay, open ¡®em.¡±

    He did, and his jaw dropped in stunned surprise. He couldn¡¯t even talk for a few moments, while

    Helemia grinned and posed for him, turning this way and that, and fanning herself with her wings. She

    had be a young female dragon about three-quarters his size. Her belly and the underside of her

    neck and tail were the same very light, almost-white pink that her skin had been, while the rest of her

    was the same glossy ck that her hair had been, and her eyes were the same dark violet.

    Even when he finally could speak, it took him two tries as he started, stopped and reconsidered, then

    spoke. ¡°Helemia. Fire. You¡¯re prettier than anything I¡¯ve ever seen in my life.¡±

    ¡°Thank you Karz, that¡¯s sweet.¡± she giggled. ¡°Now just one more thing.¡± she said as she cast on herself

    again, then spoke in Draconian. ¡°Aplete, improved version of the Draconian Trantion for

    Humanoids spell.¡± she growled, then gave her wingtips the little wave that was a dragon¡¯s version of a

    giggle. ¡°Complete with bodynguage and non-vocalmunications.¡± she added as shey down

    and cuddled up to him. ¡°Of course I already knew how to do it, but I¡¯ve been working the knowledge of

    it that we got from Kragorram into a spell, and that was the first test-casting.¡±

    ¡°Hey, it¡¯s not an Illusion!¡± he eximed in Draconian as he felt her warm touch. ¡°What a great job of

    Shape-Shifting!¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s not Shape-Shifting yet.¡± she revealed. ¡°I got a lesson on that from Theramin. The size

    difference is a real challenge. If I was good enough to do aplete Shape-Shift already, which I¡¯m

    not, I could only be a little tiny dragon that weighed about eighteen kilos, the same as I normally weigh.

    ¡°You can¡¯t make the extra weight out of magic, it would take way, way too much energy. Ask Yazadril

    about it sometime, you won¡¯t believe how much magic it takes to make even a tiny bit of material.

    ¡°So that means that the easiest way to do it would be to just be a little dragon, and then eat a lot

    and grow bigger magically, but that would take a long time. Yazadril actually did that once to disguise

    himself as a Sylvan, and it took over a year just to triple his weight. It would really take a long time for

    me to grow to be a full-size dragon, and it would take just as long to shrink back to the normal me

    again.

    ¡°When we get out of here I¡¯ll have to find out how Zarkog grew so much, and how fast he did it. He

    might have a viable method I could use.

    ¡°The only other way to do it is to grow the body magically during the Shape-Shifting process by adding

    material to it with the same basicposition, basically from food products. Then when you change

    back you¡¯re left with this big pile of body material, and you want to put it somewhere safe because it¡¯s

    easier to use it again the next time you want to grow than to start from scratch again. And it¡¯s really,

    reallyplex. Quewanak says that one of the gargoyle gods knows how to do it, but no one here

    does, so that¡¯ll have to wait.

    ¡°Anyway, this is just a full-sensory Simcrum, only with my humanoid body held inside my dragon

    head, so it feels like my psionics areing from the right ce, and I don¡¯t have to worry about

    what¡¯s happening to my body when I¡¯m like this. I worked on it a lot to get it just right and to make it feel

    really natural, and I took a good Reading of Povon so I¡¯d have some idea of what it¡¯s like to be a girl

    dragon. It¡¯s¡­ It was the best I could do.¡±

    As she fell silent he realized that she¡¯d been babbling in an unconscious effort to cover her own

    nervousness, and it made him consider for the first time how she might be feeling about their situation.

    ¡°You¡¯re very beautiful, and you¡¯ve done a wonderful job of it.¡± he assured her. ¡°And I hope you don¡¯t

    mind my saying that you seem to understand how I¡¯m feeling more than I do. It seems like you were

    expecting my gift, and that you¡¯ve done a great deal of preparation and work on changing your form¡­¡±

    ¡°I was, and I did. Well I wasn¡¯t expecting a dead deer exactly, but I thought it was likely that you¡¯d do

    something like that soon. I¡¯m¡­ I¡¯m proud to be your special friend, Karz, and I hope we can share more

    private times together. But I¡¯d like to keep them just that; private. I¡¯m making sure that absolutely no-

    one knows where we are or what we¡¯re doing, not even Quewanak or my brother, and I¡¯d like to keep it

    that way for a few years.¡±

    ¡°Sure, but¡­ My special friend?¡± he cautiously asked. ¡°You¡¯re not saying what I think you¡¯re saying, are

    you?¡±

    ¡°Be serious Karzog, neither of us are close to puberty yet!¡± she protested,ughing but sounding

    scandalized.

    ¡°Ah, good, I hoped you weren¡¯t saying that yet too.¡± he stammered. ¡°And I¡¯m very d and proud to be

    your¡­ special friend. But you¡¯re saying that in the years ahead¡­?¡±

    She took a deep breath, and let it out in a ring of yellow fire.

    ¡°Oh well done!¡± he enthused. ¡°There¡¯s no way I could tell that wasn¡¯t real! And it was very pretty.¡±

    ¡°Thanks. And yes. In the years ahead. Six had a prophesy about it years ago, and now I¡¯m sure it¡¯s

    true. You¡¯ve dreamt about me, and I¡¯ve dreamt about you, and it¡¯s not just psionic leakage, I¡¯ve checked

    Copyright by N?v/elDrama.Org.

    for that every way there is. When a young male dragon leaves a gift of fresh prey for a young female,

    it¡¯s an instinctual act of courtship.¡±

    She took another deep breath, and turned to meet his gaze squarely. ¡°I am your destined mate. You

    are my destined love. Over the next few years, we will surely fall deeply in love with each other.¡±

    She held his gaze until he answered.

    ¡°You¡¯re right. Somehow, I know you¡¯re right.¡± he agreed.

    Then he suddenly stood and red his wings as he paced back and forth a bit. ¡°But I don¡¯t understand!¡±

    he eximed in confusion. ¡°How could this have happened, and what will we do? How can we have a

    life together like that?¡±

    She was silent as he paced for a few more seconds, until he stopped and looked at her again.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I¡¯m sorry Karz, but I really don¡¯t know. We¡¯ll just have to take it as slow as we can, and do

    our best. As strange as this seems to us, it¡¯s going to seem even stranger to everyone else. That¡¯s why

    I want to keep it secret. I¡¯m not ashamed of loving you, Karzog, and I wish we could proim it to the

    world. But you know a lot of people are going to take it the wrong way. Probably most of

    them.¡±

 Chapter 87

    Chapter 87

    Part 14

    In that moment she looked as scared and vulnerable as a young dragon could look, and hey down

    beside her and cuddled up to her again. ¡°I think you do know, and I think you¡¯re right.¡± He assured her.

    ¡°We¡¯ll take it slow, and do our best, and keep it secret. And that¡¯s all there is to it. It¡¯s a wonderful thing,

    and it¡¯s no one¡¯s business but ours.¡±

    They were silent for a while, and simply enjoyed the sun reflecting off the ocean and the beauty of the

    day.

    ¡°I bet no one knows every single living dragon, except maybe the gods.¡± Karzog suddenly stated. ¡°And

    once we¡¯re out in the world, no one will be able to keep track of us. You seem so perfectly real this way,

    if you did it in a different color there¡¯s no way anyone would guess it was you, especially if you did a bit

    of disguise on your psionics and aura. Everyone would assume you were just one of the millions of

    young dragons from Serminak that they don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°True.¡± she agreed. ¡°And if you also disguised yourself as another young dragon, we¡¯d really throw

    them off the scent. And when I learn how to do the increased-size Shape-Shifting, I might even be able

    to fool your family. Then we could just be a normal couple of dragons, and no one would ever know. It¡¯d

    be pretty damn hard to fool my family like that, but I might be able to pull it off. Except Six of course, but

    he¡¯s the only other person that already knows that you¡¯re my destined love anyway, and we can trust

    him to keep our secret. I might even be able to find a way to be in two ces at the same time, as a

    dragon and as a girl, by casting a Simcrum of whichever one of me that I¡¯m not being at the time.

    Though if I have to be two people in the same ce at the same time, it might get a little strenuous.¡±

    They both got augh at that thought, then fell silent for another few moments.

    ¡°Hm. If you¡¯re going to do such a great thing for me, I¡¯ll have to find a way to make it even.¡± he mused.

    ¡°Oh? How so?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll have to find a way to turn myself into a humanoid.¡± he chuckled. ¡°Or at least cast a very good

    Simcrum of one.¡±

    Please check at N/?vel(D)rama.Org.

    ¡°Ah. The reverse of the increased-size Shape-Shifting should work for that, once I learn it.¡± she

    spected. ¡°You could Shape-Shift and the use the Shrink spell, but you¡¯d be so dense that anyone

    would know as soon as they touched you. But as for the Simcrum idea, I can show you how to do

    that right now.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡± he smiled, and cuddled her a little closer. ¡°Maybeter. I¡¯m enjoying this too much to want to be

    distracted from it by more than pleasant conversation.¡±

    ¡°Mmm. You¡¯re right. This does feel very¡­fortable.¡±

    Another half hour passed before she spoke again. ¡°Link with me, Karz. Link with me real deep. We¡¯re

    too young to share our bodies, but we can share our minds, and we should get to know each other

    better.¡±

    And so they did.

    After that day they continued to spend as much time together as they always had, most of that with

    Reggie and Valentia, and they only chose to steal away together for private time about once per month.

    They knew that Hiliani was a smallmunity, popted by very intelligent and perceptive people, and

    they knew that keeping their liaisons rare was a necessity if they wanted to avoid having anyone realize

    what was going on.

    If any did realize, they never spoke of it.

    With three months to go before the call to the gods, Kragorram and Six led their team in conducting the

    first tests of their newlypleted void-craft, and everyone gathered to watch. Over the previous years

    they¡¯d made theponents of steel, stone, ss, and wood in Kragorram and Povon¡¯s front room,

    then assembled them in an isted valley on the ind to the west of Homestead. The great gleaming

    sphere rose almost twenty-five meters above the grass of the valley floor. Theramin¡¯s team had filled

    much of the space within with nts, and installed the water supply and recycling system, all of it

    grown from nts and tree species. Weeks had been spent on casting spells on variousponents

    of the craft, and on the hull as a whole, and in charging the spells to their maximum.

    Now Yazadril touched the tip of his sword to the hull and proimed; ¡°I hereby christen this The Just

    Alliance Warcraft; The Void Hunter!¡± as the huge thing rose slowly and majestically from its cradle for a

    few crucial centimeters, and hovered there amid the triumphant cheers of those assembled.

    ¡°Structural integrity is good.¡± Kragorram proimed a few momentster from his ce on the grass

    beside the hull.

    ¡°Confirmed.¡± Six psionicly dered from inside the craft. ¡°Proceed with the pressure test.¡±

    ¡°Silence please, everyone.¡± Kragorram called. ¡°Silence for the pressure test please.¡± He waited until all

    were quiet before he cast a Force Shield around the craft and tight against the hull, marked it with blue

    light, then slowly expanded it three meters beyond the hull, leaving an air-free space around the craft.

    They waited, silent and listening closely. Kragorram checked for air leaking out of the craft into his

    Shield, while Six checked for decreasing pressure inside the craft. A short creak was heard from deep

    inside the craft, and before the sound ceased, Six had pinpointed the location of its source and

    Translocated to it.

    ¡°Just a sealed door rubbing a bit as its frame expands.¡± he reported. ¡°Not a problem. The whole hull

    has stretched six millimeters wider as it took the pressure, but all the seals are holding.¡±

    ¡°Excellent. My tests show the same.¡± Kragorram told him. ¡°Ny-seven more seconds.¡±

    After that time he called; ¡°Pressure testpleted. Seal integrity is good. Proceed with the airlock and

    void-exposure tests.¡±

    ¡°Seal integrity is confirmed. Beginning airlock and void-exposure spells tests.¡±

    A minuteter a round door on the exterior of the craft opened, and Valentia floated out and Levitated

    in the vacuum just outside the hull as she closed the door.

    A minuteter Six reported; ¡°Function and seals integrity of the airlock are confirmed.¡±

    ¡°Void-exposure protective spells are operating as expected.¡± Valentia reported.

    ¡°Beginning void energy and void-grade sunlight tests.¡± Kragorram stated, and a maelstrom of light and

    energy erupted from the inside surface of the Force Shield, sting onto Valentia and the outside of

    the craft.

    A minuteter that was done, Valentia went back into the airlock, and they tested the craft¡¯s resistance

    to lightning. Then they tested its resistance to puncture and impact by mming the pointed end of a

    boulder against it in various ces, which left no more than a few minor scuffs in the surface.

    Finally the whole thing was flight tested. Kragorram and all the spectators flew along and kept pace as

    it rose to an altitude of a hundred and twenty meters, then headed west. six brought it to a halt over the

    ocean a hundred and fifty meters from the shore, just outside the reefs, then lowered it into the water

    until it was submerged.

    ¡°Commencing reverse-pressure test.¡± he announced as the top of the sphere was covered by the

    waves.

    ¡°Why test it for pressure from outside?¡± Bezedil asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s another good test of structural integrity, and it gives an indication of how well it would withstand

    Force used against it in an attack.¡± Kragorram told him absentmindedly, most of his attention on his

    monitoring spells.

    After the craft emerged from the water it underwent high-speed flight tests withplex and sudden

    maneuvers.

    Finally the entire craft was Translocated to the north coast of Hiliani, then to the south coast, then back

    to its cradle.

    All the test results revealed that the craft had performed perfectly.

    All-in-all, it was such a magnificent aplishment that the entire poption of Homestead and many

    of the Sylvan stayed there to celebrate long into the night. Hundreds of them were given a quick tour of

    the craft, and crews began training in it first thing the next morning.

    A few minor changes were made to the craft, and a few more changes were made to the design that

    weren¡¯t practical to make in the first craft.

 Chapter 88

    Chapter 88

    Part 14

    Having finalized the design, they set themselves the goal of building anotherplete craft in the three

    months remaining before the call to the gods. They seeded, but barely.

    Those three months passed amid a building sense of expectation among those who would be leaving,

    and a building sense of impending loss for the rest of them.

    With fifteen days to go, Mark¡¯s family began preparing their possessions for their impending move back

    to Hilia. Mark knew something was up that day because Talia and Alilia had been giggling together at

    every opportunity while blocking him from their minds.

    After supper that evening, the children were in the living room using Mark¡¯s crown to project a scale

    model Illusion of Hilia on the floor so they could familiarize themselves with the ce, and Karzog had

    joined them in his ¡®cute and fuzzy¡¯ simcrum. Mark, Talia, and Alilia were rxing with a cup of spiced

    tea. Mark endured the asional smirks of his wives with a patient smile, knowing that they¡¯d enlighten

    him when they were ready, and not before.

    Then Balen arrived. The elven young woman was dressed quite provocatively, being d only in a

    short and supple skirt and sandals, all in red that matched the color of her long flowing hair. Her shining

    red tresses were the only thing covering her from the waist up, and as she moved they sometimes

    failed to do so. She wore an intoxicating scent and her blue eyes sparkled with mischief, though her

    manner was that of a penitent. She epted a cup of tea and held it in herp as she sat with a

    demure posture, gazing at Mark with intensity from beneath loweredshes.

    ¡°Go ahead dear.¡± Alilia told her with an encouraging smile.

    ¡°My Lord, we who voluntarily swore to your service with binding oaths and spells, and who love you

    very much, have had difficulties in your service. Frankly, because you ask far too little of us, and

    because there¡¯s far too many of us. You can¡¯t spend very much time with each of us as individuals

    because there¡¯s eighty-four of us. And ever since we swore to you, we¡¯ve realized that quite often the

    very best way we could serve you was to leave you alone and let you live your life without being

    constantly distracted by us. We fought for you when we could, we¡¯ve watched over you from a

    distance, we¡¯ve helped you whenever we could do so without being pests, we¡¯ve taken part in building

    thismunity and preparing to defend it, and we¡¯ve made good contributions to the projects that

    we¡¯ve undertaken here. But mostly, we¡¯ve very carefully left you alone and stayed away from you, and

    it¡¯s been so hard, so very hard.

    ¡°We¡¯re going to stay here when you go. We¡¯re sure that what we¡¯re doing here serves your aims at

    least as well as anything we could do for you out there, and the fact still stands that we can aplish

    far more in seventeen years here than we could in a month and a half out there. We¡¯re building your

    realm and its capabilities and its poption, and that¡¯s important work, and thatforts us. And

    without you here, we won¡¯t have to face the constant temptation and need to be with you and serve you

    directly, or just share your time and yourpany.

    ¡°But we will miss you so terribly while you¡¯re separated from us. And so we ask a boon of you, My Lord.

    We ask that before you go, that you spend one hour with each of us, each of us alone. That would take

    you eighty-four hours, and Talia assures us that you can fit that into your schedule in the time

    remaining to us.

    ¡°The forty-one males among us would like to spend their hour with you doing various things; hiking or

    fishing or ying with magic or whatever, but most of them just want to be able to sit with you for an

    hour and talk over a mug of mead or a tea.

    ¡°But to be honest, being in your service has been far more frustrating for the forty-three females among

    us. Along with everything that the males feel for you, all of us desire you very powerfully. And those of

    us of The Devoted feel that we¡¯re deeply in love with you. It frustrates us a great deal that we buried

    our desire for you so that you could bond with your new wife Talia for a few years, but then Alilia

    seeded in bing part of your rtionship. Every one of us have thought to ourselves at least

    once; ¡®If I¡¯d acted before Alilia, maybe it would be me sharing Mark¡¯s bed every night.¡¯

    ¡°Anyway, every female among us wants to spend our hour alone with you in your bed. Most of us want

    your tender lovemaking, some want to be vigorously ravished by you, but all of us want to be your lover

    for that hour. We¡¯ve spoken to Yzell about it, and she said she¡¯ll give us the spells that Talia carries in

    her engagement ring that make it practical to be with you that way, so you can enjoy us as fully as you

    wish. She also gave us a spell to ensure that your performance won¡¯t be degraded by fatigue or

    diminished physical resources. I doubt you¡¯d need such a thing under normal circumstances, but there

    are forty-three of us.

    ¡°And all of us, male and female, ask that you take detailed Readings of us, and of yourself, for the hour

    that you spend with us, and give them to us. We recognize that you can take far better-quality

    Readings than we can. We¡¯ll have them tofort us while you¡¯re gone. It¡¯ll be seventeen years away

    from you, but we¡¯ll each have our perfect memories of the time we had alone with you, to re-live

    whenever we want.¡±

    Mark nodded slowly a few times before he answered. ¡°I see.¡±

    He turned to his wives. ¡°And what¡¯s your part in all this? I assume this is what you¡¯ve been giggling

    about all day.¡±

    ¡°Only that it gives me the courage to ask you something that I¡¯ve wanted to ask for a while.¡± Talia

    smiled. ¡°Did you know that the few times Dalia shared her bed with us after you saved her life are the

    only times that she¡¯s shared herself with a man other than Bezedil since they met? I found this to be

    very surprising, even shocking, considering that she was a champion promiscuous flirt before they met,

    who said on more than one asion that she dreaded the thought of a sexually monogamous

    marriage.

    ¡°When I asked her why she hadn¡¯t slept with anyone but Bezedil since the times she spent with us, she

    said; ¡®Because Bezedil is just that good. He keeps me so satisfied that I don¡¯t have any appetite left for

    anyone else.¡¯

    ¡°So of course, I¡¯d like to try that, and she¡¯d like him to have the chance to have both of us together, and

    of course he¡¯s wanted that since he met us as well.

    ¡°If you do this boon for your Volunteers, and you spend twelve hours a day at it, you¡¯ll be done in a

    week. I¡¯d like to spend that time with Dalia and Bezedil. Besides, they¡¯re staying here, so they won¡¯t

    see me for seventeen years from their perspective.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡± Mark nodded with a sheepish smile, and looked to Alilia.

    ¡°And what would you be doing during that week?¡±

    ¡°Oh, I also want to have Talia and Dalia together.¡± Alilia told him with a mischievous grin. ¡°I want them

    to do their hair and nails and coloring exactly the same, so they¡¯re as identical as possible. It¡¯ll be like

    having two Talias!

    ¡°And of course, I want to spend the time with my son, since he won¡¯t see me for seventeen years. And

    while I have no real sexual interest in Bezedil, not only because he¡¯s my son but more because he

    reminds me too much that way of my ex-husband Gorsh, I¡¯ll admit that I¡¯m curious to see what it is that

    he does to keep Dalia thatpletely satisfied.

    ¡°We¡¯ll probably spend some of that time over at Yazadril¡¯s house too. He and Nemia and Hilsith will

    miss us fiercely while we¡¯re gone, especially Talia.¡±

    ¡°Then we¡¯ll have another seven days to enjoy our normal life here before the day we leave.¡± Talia

    added.Content ? provided by N?velDrama.Org.

    Mark thought about it. ¡°All right. But that still leaves twelve hours a day, and no matter how vigorous

    and entertaining Dalia and Bezedil are, I still expect you two to be waiting for me in my bed every

    night!¡±

    ¡°Yes, My Lord.¡± Talia said with a polite curtsy.

    ¡°And don¡¯t start with that either!¡± heughed.

 Chapter 89

    Chapter 89

    Part 14

    ¡°Actually, you don¡¯t have anything important nned for the rest of the evening, so you might as well

    take care of Balen here and three more of her friends tonight.¡± Aliliaughed as she and Talia stood

    and put their jackets on.

    ¡°Oh? And where are you going?¡± Mark inquired with a raised eyebrow.

    ¡°Girls¡¯ night out.¡± she told him with a smile and a quick kiss. ¡°We¡¯re going to the pub to get drunk and

    flirt with young men. Don¡¯t wait up!¡±

    ¡°You kids be good, we¡¯ll be back in four hours.¡± Talia called into the living room.

    ¡°Where are you going?¡± Valentia yelled.

    ¡°To the pub to get drunk and flirt with young men!¡± she called back, grinning at Mark as he blushed.

    ¡°Can wee?¡± Helemia asked in an exaggerated pleading voice.

    ¡°What?! No!¡± Taliaughed in shocked surprise.

    ¡°Aww, we never get to go to the pub to get drunk and flirt with men.¡± Helemia whined in the most

    spoiled, irritating manner she could. ¡°You¡¯re mean!¡±

    This was so out of character that Talia just stood there for a second in outraged amazement with her

    mouth hanging open, before she realized that her daughter had to be teasing her, and she broke up

    into hystericalughter.

    ¡°Okay, whatever, take care, love you, bye!¡± Aliliaughed as she half-dragged Talia¡¯s hysterically

    ¡°Ah, I¡¯ll be busy for a while kids.¡± Mark called out as he met Balen¡¯s smoldering stare. ¡°If some girls

    ¡°Sure Father.¡± Reggie called back.

    ¡°My time doesn¡¯t start until we¡¯re both in bed!¡± Balen told him in an intense whisper, and Translocated

    Please check at N/?vel(D)rama.Org.

    both of them into his bedroom.

    Five days before the call, as the family was sitting down to the twins¡¯ birthday supper, Reggie

    announced; ¡°When we leave the time-bubble, I¡¯d prefer that I not be referred to as Reggie anymore. On

    formal asions I¡¯d like to be introduced as Markhan Longstrider The Sixth, and the rest of the time I¡¯d

    like you and everyone else to call me Six. Simrly, they¡¯d like to be referred to as Val and Fire.¡±

    Mark smiled as he appraised his children. The twins were seven, and looking more opposite every day.

    Reggie¡¯s¡­ Six¡¯s, he reminded himself, Six¡¯s blond hair and blue eyes both seemed equally lightened

    by the sun, and his growth seemed to be ever-elerating. He was already a hundred and fifty-eight

    centimeters tall; the size of an average Finitran twelve-year-old. Fire¡¯s ck hair and violet eyes only

    seemed to get darker and richer, and she was still only ny-one centimeters tall, the height of a four-

    year-old. Val¡¯s white and ck locks were thick and grew very quickly; she tended to tie a knot at the

    base of her pony-tail to keep the ends off the ground, and her violet eyes now seemed a touch lighter

    than Helemia¡¯s. She was a hundred and one centimeters tall, just a touch taller than average for human

    girls her age.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine.¡± he smiled. ¡°You¡¯re outstanding and aplished citizens, and I¡¯m sure you already know

    yourselves well enough to define you own identities.

    ¡°Have I told youtely how proud I am of my children, and how much we love you?¡±

    ¡°Yah, but that¡¯s okay.¡± Val giggled. ¡°You can tell us again if you want.¡±

    PART 15

    Finally the day came when the call to the gods was scheduled to be made. Seven years and eight

    months had passed since the time-bubble was cast.

    After considerable discussion, it had been decided that wording of the call would simply be; ¡®Open the

    time-bubble!¡¯, and that it would be done with psionics only. After a bit of mathematics, they¡¯d realized

    that unless a person or even a god was rtively very close to Hiliani, that there was almost no chance

    that anyone would hear any audible sound they made no matter how much power they used,

    considering that Hiliani was well over five thousand kilometers from the nearestnd.

    Every spark of magic power that the entiremunity of Homestead could store would be used to

    power the call¡¯s psionic spell, and every psionicist among them would simultaneously cast the call with

    their inherent ability and with all their strength. The one and a half second call had been recorded as a

    Reading and stretched to three and a half minutes in duration, making the frequency lower than

    detectability. Only an automated spell designed by Valentia would allow them all to make the call

    together with perfectly coordinated timing and perfect ¡®pronunciation¡¯, and most of the participants

    wouldn¡¯t even be able to detect that they were doing it.

    If no one responded to the call, they nned to take two days to recharge their batteries and then try

    again, and they would repeat this for a month. Any further attempts after that would depend on

    developing different methods of making the call, since the first technique would be considered futile at

    that point.

    Somewhat surprisingly, only thirty-nine Sylvan had chosen to attempt to leave Hiliani with them, and

    they¡¯d all sworn Osbald¡¯s Oath and the vows of The Game of Status and gotten the markings of the

    oaths. They were gathered on the beach at Homestead with Mark¡¯s family, the unicorns, Kragorram,

    Povon, Karzog, and all of the possessions they were bringing with them, having given away the rest or

    left them in their homes for the next upants.

    A space was left on the sand beside them so that whoever answered the call would have somewhere

    to arrive in if they chose to make a physical appearance.

    Around all of them were the rest of the poption of the inds, including all the Sylvan. They filled the

    Final visits and emotional goodbyes had filled most of thest three days, and now those who were

    leaving and those who were staying were all as prepared for the separation as they could be.

    Talia cast a huge Illusion of an hourss above her to show the time remaining. At noon precisely the

    final grain of sand fell through, the hourss turned, and Valentia announced; ¡°The call begins, and will

    Almostplete silence fell as the call was sent. Slowly the sand in the hourss trickled down, and

    the tension slowly built.

    Less than one second after thest grain of sand had fallen, the sun leaped across the sky, making the

    time of day suddenly change from noon to about five hours to midnight, and judging from its location

    the season had changed from early winter to mid-summer. A being appeared on the open sand from a

    race that they had only seen once before, and that had been at the victory celebration at the end of The

    War of The Founding of The Just Alliance, when the gods had appeared for the first time in millennia

    and announced the end of The Withdrawal.

    It was a god of a race that were the ocean-going equivalent of the selkies; she was almost five meters

    long, and she looked like a cross between an otter, a seal, a dolphin, and a whale, having some

    characteristics of all of those. ¡°Yes, what is it?¡± she psionicly asked.

    Reggie was quickest, and spoke before anyone else had a chance to do so. ¡°You are Zubzubweeeet?¡±

    ¡°Yes, though your pronunciation is poor.¡± she answered. ¡°I am Zubzubweeeet, Fifth God of The Mer. Do

    you require assistance?¡±

    ¡°We have urgent news for the Gods. There is a renegade Sylvan God of Stealth, and there were almost

    twenty thousand practically undetectable Sylvan living here when the time-bubble was erected. We¡¯ve

    dealt with the situation in a practical way, but if there were other hiddenmunities of Sylvan within

    any of the other time-bubbles, their upants might not have fared so well.¡±

    ¡°Also,¡± Mark added, ¡°Some of our young and all of our People of Morning have found being confined

    within the time-bubble to be unbearably restricting, and it¡¯s very likely that some of themunities in

    the other time-bubbles might also be psychologically stressed due to the istion.

    ¡°We strongly suggest that you open the other time-bubbles to confirm that all is going well within them.

    ¡°We¡¯d like you to re-establish this time-bubble, but we ask that you wait a few days before doing so.¡±

 Chapter 90

    Chapter 90

    Part 15

    Falgaroth, Amirgath, and Visinniria appeared, floating in the air above the gathering. Those beneath

    them immediately began clearing room on the beach for them, but Amirgath spoke as soon as they

    appeared.

    ¡°You have voluntarily left the time-bubble? You will immediately assume your work on bing

    divine?¡± he insistently asked in his thunderous voice.

    ¡°I was given two months, and I¡¯ve voluntarily left the time-bubble due to unforeseen circumstances.¡±

    Mark replied. ¡°I may start that work in a few days, or I might decide to wait until the two months have

    passed, and I may still choose to spend more of the two months in the time-bubble here, if that¡¯s

    practical. In any case, I¡¯ll still start that work at the end of the two months, if not before. When I do start

    it, I may choose to do that work in this or another time-bubble, to speed the process.¡±

    ¡°eptable.¡± Amirgath pronounced. ¡°Excuse me, I go to join the effort to find the renegade.¡± With that

    he vanished.

    ¡°Good day.¡± Visinniria called with a warm smile as she looked around the gathering. ¡°You¡¯re certainly

    not the group I expected to find! This should be an interesting story!¡±

    ¡°May we take a Reading?¡± Falgaroth inquired, then took one from everyone who agreed before they

    could say so.

    ¡°By the stars!¡± he eximed upon considering it for half a second. ¡°You¡¯ve been busy, haven¡¯t you?!

    You¡¯ve already aplished almost everything you set out to do in a bit more than a quarter of the

    time you were allotted! Including producing some amazing children! We congratte you!¡±

    ¡°And as far as military preparedness is concerned, you¡¯ve far exceeded your goals.¡± Visinniria added.

    Copyright by N?v/elDrama.Org.

    ¡°Not only have your abilities developed far more than we expected, you¡¯ve multiplied that advantage by

    integrating with these Sylvan. Well done. Well done indeed.

    ¡°We¡¯ll give you four days for all of you to do what you wish in the world, then we¡¯ll rece the time-

    bubble.¡±

    ¡°Thanks.¡± Mark grinned. ¡°Sran¡¯s family will be going back to Xervia, the rest of us who aren¡¯ting

    back here this week will be going to Hilia to catch up on what¡¯s been going on in the world.

    ¡°Beyond that, we¡¯re still off duty, though Alilia has some business in Debivin. We¡¯ll be concentrating on

    helping our kids get oriented in the world and introducing them around for the next little while.¡±

    ¡°Quite so.¡± Falgaroth told him, then addressed the crowd. ¡°I¡¯ll be d to help any of you with

    transportation to anywhere you want to go for the next four days. Simply call my name and state your

    destination.¡±

    They¡¯d all said their goodbyes and didn¡¯t want to go through the emotional turmoil of repeating them.

    So with one more wave and a smile for those around them, Mark and Talia Translocated their family to

    the patio outside their home on Hilia, and Kragorram¡¯s family came with them.

    ¡°Ahh, it¡¯s such a cute little house!¡± Val cooed as Stripe ran off down the slope of the volcano and Scout

    took to the air.

    ¡°It is, though of course it¡¯s only a small part of our home here.¡± Taliaughed. ¡°The rest of it¡¯s inside the

    mountain. Though I¡¯m sure you knew that, now that I think about it.¡±

    She took a deep breath of the moist tropical air, and realized how much she¡¯d subconsciously missed

    the scents of Hilia.

    ¡°I¡¯ll call Sheramiv and get an update.¡± Mark said as he enjoyed the view for the first time in over seven

    years.

    From here he could see a few people of every race already ambling onto the beach in the early

    morning sunlight, a few more walking the jungle paths, the crew of a sailboat readying their craft at the

    end of the dock, and a handful of Gargoyles flying slow and low over the water, slim spears at the

    ready, watching for fish.

    ¡°I¡¯ll get us some lunch.¡± Talia decided.

    ¡°We¡¯re going exploring.¡± Fire stated. ¡°Call us when lunch is ready.¡± The four youngsters disappeared.

    Sheramiv appeared, smiled, and made a respectful bow. ¡°Good day Mark, Talia. You¡¯re home early.¡±

    ¡°Yes, well things went somewhat not as we expected.¡± Taliaughed as she cast a Speaking to the

    nearest restaurant¡¯s proprietor, and a momentter plucked a menu out of the air.

    ¡°How are things in our principality, First Minister?¡± Mark asked with a smile as he Summoned a twelve-

    seat table and its matching chairs from a storage room near the Throne Room.

    ¡°Much as they were seventeen days ago, my Prince." she reported with a smile. "Things are

    progressing apace as west discussed. Would you like a detailed report?"

    ¡°No, that''s okay.¡± Mark chuckled. ¡°And it''s sure good to be back."

    Talia had been reading the menu while silentlymunicating with the restaurant. Now she Sent the

    menu back as she privately dictated her order.

    ¡°Would you care to join us for lunch?" she asked Sheramiv. "It''ll be ready in fifteen minutes.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Sheramiv smiled. ¡°And while it¡¯s a bit early for lunch for me, I¡¯d be d to join you and

    consider it breakfast. I look forward to meeting your children.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s good to be back out in the world again.¡± Povonmented as she and Kragorram cuddled

    together on the highestwn, basking in the morning sunlight. ¡°The loss of psionic awareness of most

    of the world was irritating, if only subconsciously. It¡¯s alling back now, and it¡¯s rather nice.¡±

    Visinniria and Falgaroth appeared, and Visinniria spoke as if she¡¯d been part of the conversation all

    along. And perhaps she had. ¡°To be honest, we considered opening the time-bubble early, though not

    for the same reasons you had for it."

    The Governors, sensing the gods'' arrival on Hilia, decided to cut short their sightseeing and rejoin their

    parents to take part in the discussion. They arrived as un-noticeably as possible, so as to not interrupt

    the conversation, and quietly seated themselves close to their parents.

    Visinniria gave them a nce and a quick smile, but continued addressing the gathering. ¡°When we

    began the time-bubble projects, it had an unexpected negative effect on the morale of the popce.

    The people felt to some extent that you and the other notable persons who entered the time-bubbles

    were abandoning them in some minor way. Many felt it unfair that those in the bubbles should have an

    extra score of years in safety and peace before the demons arrive, when the rest did not. We even

    considered putting the entire world in a time-bubble in order to appease them, but it proved to be

    impractical. So as I¡¯ve said, we considered opening the time-bubbles early, but we held off, hoping

    things would stabilize.

    ¡°We¡¯ve announced to the entire popce that you¡¯ve returned early with your children, and that you¡¯ll

    need a brief time to prepare before you resume your public activities. As a result, the mood of the

    popce is improving significantly. Most of that benefit is due to your return, Mark, far more so than

    these others who havee out with you.

    ¡°Whether you choose to admit it or not, you are the chosen leader of most of the people of Keran.

    Your people have missed you far more than any of us expected them to, and they rejoice at your

    return. It would be best if you made some kind of public appearance fairly soon.¡±

    Mark had no immediate response to that, so Falgaroth changed the subject .

    ¡°There have been other developments as well. The Game of Status seemed to function as we hoped,

    before the time-bubbles were cast. But since then, it seems the yers have been taking advantage of

    your absence, particrly that of Povon, who as Lord Regent of Serminak is responsible for refereeing

    The Game, and who is far more effective at doing so than the subordinates she left in charge in her

    absence.

    ¡°It¡¯s true that when Zarkog was Lord of Serminak, he often took long sabbaticals from his duties in

    order to engage in astronomy. But during those sabbaticals, the popce of Serminak never knew how

    long he would be gone, and they knew that he might return at any moment.

    ¡°On this asion, the yers of The Game knew that Povon and yourself would bepletely

    isted and out of contact for two full months. It seems that they were therefore emboldened to

    increase the level of their nefarious activities during your absence.¡±

 Chapter 91

    Chapter 91

    Part 15

    ¡°Before we get to that, we should fill you in on some of the other major developments in The Game of

    Status.¡± Visinniria put in.

    ¡°Three days after you entered the time-bubble, Zarkog appeared in the Hall of The Just Alliance. No

    one, god or mortal, knows how he learned its location, or how he evaded all of its security measures.

    He swore the oaths of The Game of Status on the Truthstone, and left before anyone could question

    him.

    ¡°Four hourster, Zwak Deathbringer announced that he was no longer Prince of The Sylvan Nation,

    he was now second inmand in that nation and second in the standings of The Game of Status,

    and that Zarkog was now Prince of The Sylvan Nation and first in the game. The fact that Zarkog is not

    a Sylvan seems to be irrelevant to everyone involved. Our investigation revealed that Zarkog had done

    nothing to earn the position beyond asking for it while being extremely intimidating. He¡¯d spent a couple

    of hours intimidating his way up the ranks of the top league before he did so, just to solidify his position.

    ¡°He then delegated all of his duties to Zwak, and returned to astronomy. He¡¯s been watching the

    demons as closely as possible, and has provided us with excellent observations. You might think he

    could achieve no more than the gods in this regard, but the fact is that the gods are no more

    intellectually creative than mortals, and we often tend to be very set in our ways and in our

    thinking over the eons, and that diminishes our creativity even more. While Zarkog is proving to be a

    Copyright by N?v/elDrama.Org.

    very creative and capable astronomer indeed, and is constantly inventing new techniques, despite

    being the eldest living mortal and being quite set in his own ways in many aspects of his behavior.

    ¡°Thenst week, the positions of Prince of The Sylvan Nation and first in The Game of Status were

    taken by one Kovink Seg Mivtz, a fourteen-year-old gnome. Zarkog and Zwak both publicly

    acknowledged this change in status, and they are now second and third. Kovink also delegated all of

    the administrative duties of Prince of The Sylvan Nation back to Zwak, and the new Prince immediately

    returned to further increasing his status as quickly as possible, mostly in the form of increased wealth.

    ¡°It¡¯s almost unbelievable that Zarkog and Zwak were so thoroughly bested by a fourteen-year-old-

    gnome. This sequence of events was so astounding that I investigated as thoroughly as I could without

    breaking thew or invading anyone¡¯s privacy. I still don¡¯t know how it was done specifically, but I know

    generally. Little Kovink Seg Mivtz has a brilliant and evil mind, but that¡¯s not what allowed him to gain

    so much so fast. His true stroke of genius was to appeal to the racial pride of the gnomes, and to ask

    them for their help in his efforts to be first in the game. In order to ensure that one of their own sits atop

    the standings, almost all of the gnomes are helping him.

    ¡°By this I mean all the gnomes who are not registered yers of The Game of Status, almost two billion

    of them. Though they aren¡¯t ying, they still send him every nasty idea and evil n that they think of,

    and he has a staff of hundreds to sort through all the submissions and categorize them and prioritize

    them for him. They also help him in every legal manner, from gifts and contributions to low-interest

    loans and information of every kind. Most of the other gnomes who are registered yers work for him

    directly, almost ny thousand of them.

    ¡°He also has a unique perspective on the game. He has no dealings with non-yers other than to

    ept the help of the gnomes, but he does deal with yers in the nine lower leagues of the game.

    He¡¯s never been caught doing anything illegal to them, so he¡¯s still within the rules, but he uses his

    money and power against them in every legal way. In this way he is quickly amassing everything that

    was formerly owned by every other yer of the game, leaving them on the edge of poverty. He then

    makes sure they at least have a bed in a barracks and enough food to stay healthy, so he cannot be

    charged with causing dissent in the ranks or diminishing the effectiveness of the military.

    ¡°These developments, along with the absence of yourself and Povon, have lead to an increase in the

    viciousness that the rest of the yers are using in their dealings. Increasingly, they aremitting

    crimes against each other that the mortal authorities have been unable to solve. yers have been

    turning up dead in greater numbers every day, and the perpetrators have been escaping the

    punishment they are due under the rules of the game; that being a beating of simr duration and

    severity to what Zarkog would have given them for the same offence when he was Lord of Serminak.

    ¡°They have also taken to manipting their standings. The yers are ranked into ten leagues

    ording to their status and how dangerous they are, but many would rather be first in a lower league

    thanst in a higher one. Thus when they reach the top in any given league, they will attempt to make

    no more visible gains in order to avoid being ranked up into the next higher league. Meanwhile, their

    skills, abilities, and hidden assets continue to improve, making it harder for the other yers in their

    league to topple them. They seek to remain atop the standings in their league until they can make a

    great move that vaults them to the top of the standings in the next-higher league.¡±

    ¡°We of the gods could have solved all of this, but we do not have the legal authority to do so.¡± Falgaroth

    exined. ¡°And even if those in charge of the game at present were to ask us and authorize us to do

    so, we would still refrain without very strong reason. For any of the gods to assume direct authority

    over any mortal would go against the spirit of the withdrawal, and of our ban on religion since the

    withdrawal ended.¡±

    ¡°Though there are factions among us who disagree.¡± Visinniria added. ¡°That doesn¡¯t matter though,

    they¡¯re in the minority, and the council of the gods will allow no change in our policies regarding our

    interactions with mortals withoutplete consensus among us.

    ¡°The other problem that¡¯s presented itself is that many non-yers have suffered as a result of the

    actions of yers. Many non-yers are calling for an end to the game outside Serminak, and the idea

    is gaining poprity. I¡¯ll show the Revealing of the interview with Nepetin Gob that wasrgely

    responsible for poprizing the idea; over half the people in the world have seen this. She¡¯s the

    informal leader of the movement, and started the petition to support it.¡±

    She cast a small Revealing, which showed a florid and gray-haired dwarf woman sitting in a public

    square in Kletiuk at a table with huge stacks of papers on it. A long line of Kleti stood in line to sign, and

    many more stood around, all of them stridently discussing the issue.

    The female voice of an unseen interviewer spoke in Kleti, and was echoed half a secondter by a

    slightly louder trantion in Trade Common. ¡°Goodwife Gob, can you tell us why you decided to

    start this petition?¡±

    ¡°My damned fool husband decided to join The Game of Status, over my objections.¡± Nepetin Gob

    angrily dered. ¡°It was his right to do it, and I had no right to stop him. An hourter he¡¯d been

    swindled out of our house and our business, and an hour after that he died from a heart cramp at only

    seventy-nine years of age. Maybe he had the heart cramp because he lost everything we had, but I

    think he was murdered somehow, not that it matters. My children and grandchildren and myself were

    left homeless and penniless, and he was buried in a pauper¡¯s grave. My rtives have helped us out,

    but the loss still hurts just as much.

    ¡°The rules of the game say that they won¡¯t kill any yer with dependent children. My children are all

    adults, but they and their dependant children shared our home and our business. Maybe it was my

    husband¡¯s right to join the game, but me and my children and grandchildren did nothing to deserve the

    loss we¡¯ve suffered. Those who¡¯ve done this to us deserve at least a monumental beating for causing

    dissension, because I¡¯m feeling a lot of dissent right now! But even that won¡¯t bring back my house and

    my business, and nothing can bring back my husband!

 Chapter 92

    Chapter 92

    Part 15

    ¡°By my vow of justice, I will bring an end to this evil among us! Let it stay in Serminak, and let any who

    want to y The Game of Status go there and leave the rest of us alone! And they can damn well sign

    over their homes and businesses to their wives before they go! A divorce might be in order as well!¡±

    ¡°I want a list of every non-yer who¡¯s suffered a loss of property or wealth to a yer of the game,

    directly or indirectly.¡± Mark growled as the Revealing ended. ¡°And one of everyone who¡¯s been killed in

    an unsolved murder or suspicious death.¡±

    ¡°Certainly.¡± Visinniria smiled. ¡°Would you like that on paper, or can I just give it to you psionicly? There

    are several thousand names on the lists, after all.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll take it psionicly.¡±

    ¡°What will you do?¡± Falgaroth asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to form a task force of the finest investigators and psionicists on Keran, and we¡¯re going to

    catch those responsible for causing dissension, diminishing production, and reducing the effectiveness

    of the military.¡± Mark growled, bing visibly angrier. ¡°And we are indeed going to administer some

    monumental beatings, and get those people¡¯s property back!

    ¡°All this is happening under my authority as Lord of Serminak, so I¡¯m entitled to fix it wherever it¡¯s

    happening, though I¡¯ll be co-operating with local authorities as well.

    ¡°This crap isn¡¯t the almost-undetectable ying of the game that Zwak told me about when he

    proposed it, and it¡¯s going to end!¡±

    ¡°Good.¡± Visinniria dered with a smile of satisfaction. ¡°For psionicists, you can¡¯t do much better than

    those you have right here, though you might want to ask Somonik and Grakonexikaldoron if they can

    spare the time to help.¡±

    ¡°Agreed.¡± Mark nodded, and looked around at the group. ¡°I hope you¡¯ll all agree to join me in this.¡±

    After receiving their assent, their eager assent in the children¡¯s case, he turned to Sheramiv. ¡°I¡¯ll ask

    Somonik and Gran myself. Can I get you to invite everyone who was in The Anti-conspiracy Brigade

    before the war? That should do us for investigators.¡±

    ¡°Certainly, my Prince.¡±

    Mark thought for a moment, shook his head, and turned to Povon. ¡°Look, I¡¯m being an idiot. I don¡¯t

    even know how you or Zarkog managed to police billions of Sylvan and dragons and so on before all

    this happened. You¡¯re Dragon Lord Regent of Serminak and referee of the game, and as far as I¡¯ve

    seen you do a damn good job of it. I don¡¯t think we could have foreseen all this, and you wouldn¡¯t have

    been in the time-bubble anyway if we hadn¡¯t asked you.

    ¡°We¡¯re your team in this, and that¡¯s only if you really think you need our help anyway. I realize that you

    could probably fix all this without having us interfering in your systems.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, and you¡¯re right.¡± Povon nodded with a proud smile. ¡°While I could definitely fix this with

    the resources I already have avable to me, it would probably take weeks to get it finished. With all of

    your help and the Anti-conspiracy Brigade, we should be done in a day or two.¡±

    Somonik and Grakonexikaldoron appeared flying, and settled gracefully to the stone beside the patio.

    ¡°Hello!¡± Somonik called in greeting. ¡°We heard you were back, and we couldn¡¯t help noticing when you

    mentioned us a few times.¡±

    ¡°Good to see you again, both of you!¡± Mark returned with a grin. ¡°We were just informed that the Game

    of Status has gotten a little messy, so we¡¯re going to help Povon clean it up quickly.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯d be d to have you if you¡¯d care to join us.¡± Povon added.

    ¡°We have a few hours we can spare.¡± Gran chuckled. ¡°It¡¯s good that you¡¯re back to deal with it. Some in

    the Council wanted us to intervene, but the question of legal authority wasrgely ambiguous, and we

    could reach no consensus on a n.¡±

    ¡°Who else do you n on having on your team?¡± Somonik asked Povon.

    ¡°All of us here except Sheramiv, and the former members of The Anti-conspiracy Brigade.¡± she

    answered.

    ¡°Might I suggest one more person?¡± Gran asked, then continued without waiting for an answer.

    ¡°Empress Honey. She¡¯s be quite useful in The Just Alliance recently, and she¡¯s a masterful

    psionicist.¡±

    ¡°Certainly.¡± Povon agreed, just as the monarch of The Swarm appeared, along with a few dozen of her

    forty centimeter soldier-drones, who immediately dispersed and began scouting the area.

    She and her drones bore the white and blue Marking of The Just Alliance between their antennae,

    while the rest of their wasp-like bodies gleamed with a coppery-bronze sheen, and their great

    transparent wings whirred busily and shimmered like a rainbow. She gently alighted on a low rock wall

    around a garden patch at the side of the patio opposite the newly-arrived dragons, and fanned herself

    with her iridescent four-meter wings.

    ¡°Thank you. I appreciate being invited to join such a project, and I am honored to work with such

    luminous persons again.¡± she psionicly told them.

    ¡°A masterful psionicist indeed!¡± Taliaughed. ¡°Wee, Empress. You and your soldiers look very

    beautiful today. Though it was very patriotic when you colored your peoples¡¯ entire bodies with the

    Marking, I do think you¡¯re much prettier in your natural colors.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± the great insect replied. ¡°I agree, though that is not what decided me. My workers found

    our new coloring to be quite disconcerting, and it was reducing their effectiveness. They¡¯re rather

    simple little darlings, and it was too different for them to adapt to.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m d and honored to have you on the team.¡± Povon told her, just as a blue light appeared over the

    table Mark had fetched.

    ¡°Lunch is ready, stay clear of the table top.¡± Talia announced.

    Everyone seated there leaned back, and aplete dinner setting appeared, including cutlery, dishes,

    cold pitchers of juice, and several steaming containers.

    ¡°How do you police several billion Sylvan and other yers?¡± Alilia asked Povon.

    ¡°Most of it is done by subordinates.¡± Povon answered. ¡°Sergeants, guards, officers, investigators,

    they¡¯re all watching for infractions and punishing the guilty with a moment¡¯s notice.

    ¡°Most of the thefts, scams, and schemes of the yers don¡¯t result in what I think of as a ¡®critical loss¡¯.

    If a yer loses some of their excess wealth or loses some rank or position, they seldom report it, it

    doesn¡¯t cause any open dissention or a loss of productivity or military effectiveness, and I don¡¯t have to

    worry about it.

    ¡°Most of the crimes that cause a loss of production are caught by teams of skilled auditors and

    ountants, and the militarymand structure is hard to fool about decreased effectiveness.

    ¡°I left crimes by yers outside Serminak to the local authorities, and gave them assistance if they

    asked for it. All the yers recognize that once they¡¯re out of Serminak, they¡¯re not only subject to

    Zarkog¡¯s three limitations, they¡¯re still subject to all the localws. For instance, if a yer outside

    Serminakmits a theft and the victimins, then the perpetrator gets a beating under the rules

    of the game, as well as the punishment mandated by the localws. And, the local authorities may

    choose to prosecute the crime if they find out about it, even if the victim chooses not to enter a

    ¡°Beyond all that, I¡¯ve gotten very good at listening for certain thought patterns. I only have to act when a

    crime has been detected and not solved, but I¡¯m more assertive about it than that, so I listen for the

    trauma of victims as well as the triumph of perpetrators.

    ¡°From what I¡¯ve heard so far, Kovink Seg Mivtz hasn¡¯t done anything that requires my intervention.

    There¡¯s nothing in the rules that says that non-yers can¡¯t help yers so long as they don¡¯t break

    thew while doing so, so the gnomes can help him as much as they want. And if the rest don¡¯t like it,

    that¡¯s too bad for them. If they can entice others to help them, they¡¯re wee to do so.

    ¡°The rest of this is a problem of enforcement, rather than being the result of any major w in the

    system. If those who are overseeing the game were doing their jobs well, then none of the non-yers

    would have been inconvenienced. Killing anyone obviously reduces production and military capability,

    so we have to prevent that. And as the dwarf woman pointed out, losses to non-yers cause

    dissention in the ranks.

    ¡°After we¡¯ve cleaned up all the messes, I will most definitely be re-considering the ying of the game

    outside Serminak. I may drastically increase my enforcement of the rules on the other continents, or I

    may do as the petitioners ask and limit the game to Serminak.N?velDrama.Org is the owner.

 Chapter 93

    Chapter 93

    Part 15

    ¡°The most important thing is to prevent injustice to the just, closely followed by maximizing our

    preparedness for war against the demons. The right of people to y the game outside Serminak does

    not exist except on our sufferance, and it¡¯s a very low priority as far as I¡¯m concerned.¡±

    ¡°Lord Regent Povon,¡± Fire formally began, ¡°We would like to make a contribution to this project that is

    ¡°We would therefore appreciate it if you let us deal with the murderers, beyond letting us take a good

    Reading of you while you spend a moment psionicly listening for rule-breaking. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve

    developed an excellent technique for doing so, and it would save us a bit of time if you would allow us

    to incorporate that technique into our solution.

    ¡°Dealing with the non-yers who¡¯ve been wronged by yers is a far more subtle problem, and we¡¯ll

    dly leave that to the rest of you.¡±

    ¡°My, what a bold little thing you are for your age!¡± Gran chuckled.

    ¡°Yes, and they¡¯re capable enough to justify their boldness.¡± Mark agreed, joining her chuckle. ¡°By the

    way, Somonik; Speaker of the Ny-Nine, and Grakonexikaldoron of the Ny-Nine; our neighbor in

    Xervia, and Empress Honey; Monarch of The Swarm, and Sheramiv of the Atoned; First Minister of

    Hilia, I am very proud to formally introduce my daughter with Alilia; Princess Valentia Longstrider;

    known informally as Val, my son with Talia; Prince Markhan Reginus Longstrider the Sixth; known as

    Six, and my daughter with Talia; Princess Helemia Longstrider, known as Fire.

    ¡°They, along with Prince Karzog here who you met before the time-bubble and who¡¯s known informally

    as Karz, are The Governors of Hiliani. Since the four of them are an inseparable team, we¡¯ve taken to

    referring to them collectively and informally as The Governors. They were entirely responsible for the

    design and execution of the program for integrating the Hiliani Sylvan into our military efforts there, and

    I think the social system they¡¯ve designed for young Sylvan is the best there is; allowing them a very

    fulfilling and enjoyable life while preventing them from killing each other. As far as I know, the system

    Zwak has in ce in Serminak works, but the young Sylvan there don¡¯t like it very much.¡±

    Each of the four young stood and bowed as they were introduced.

    ¡°We are very d and proud to meet you.¡± Somonik dered as he, Sheramiv, Honey, and Gran

    returned their bows with smiles.

    ¡°We¡¯re extremely honored to meet you, Most Noble Somonik.¡± Six told him with another bow of great

    respect. ¡°We¡¯re honored to meet you all, including you gods, who truly need no introduction. But Fire

    and I are really your enthusiastic and devoted fans, Most Noble. Of all the people outside the time-

    bubble, you¡¯re the one we most wanted to meet. We¡¯ve studied your exploits with great interest, and it

    seems in to us that of all the intelligent beings still living on Keran, mortal or divine, you are truly

    the most noble of character; the most just, the most determined, the bravest, the best. It¡¯s our opinion

    that this fact isn¡¯t as widely recognized as it should be, and we intend to correct that situation.¡±

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m ttered and surprised, and I haven¡¯t been surprised for a long time!¡± the ancient white

    dragon told him with a grin. ¡°Thank you!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± Fire giggled. ¡°We intend that you¡¯ll have legions of devoted fans, as you richly deserve,

    but we know you¡¯re very busy so we¡¯ll do all we can to prevent them from being an inconvenience to

    you.¡±

    ¡°Thank you again.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m surprised that you consider Somonik to be Most Noble,¡± Gran smiled, ¡°When most of the people in

    the world would nominate your father for that honor.

    ¡°Oh, Father¡¯s very noble, and of course we love him dearly.¡± Fire said with a warm smile for Mark. ¡°And

    if the question is of who¡¯s gained the most nobility in the shortest time, he¡¯d win that easily. But it¡¯ll still

    take him at least thirty million years to equal Somonik¡¯s umted record of incredibly noble

    behavior. And besides, Father¡¯s nobility is already universally and fully recognized, whereas most of

    Somonik¡¯s incredible achievements are so far in the past for most people that they¡¯vergely been

    forgotten.

    ¡°He¡¯s gained in world-wide recognition and respect since he helped form The Just Alliance, but still, we

    think most people fail to realize how incredible he really is. He¡¯s very humble in his public affairs and he

    doesn¡¯t promote himself or tend to talk about his past, and we think that everything he¡¯s done to help

    others at great cost to himself over thest sixty-five million years deserves to be known and

    recognized and honored.¡±

    ¡°I couldn¡¯t agree more.¡± Gran grinned as she cuddled against Somonik a little closer. ¡°I¡¯m one of those

    who are already aware of his incredible achievements and his unmatched nobility, and that¡¯s why I love

    him with all of my soul.¡±

    ¡°Who else do you wish to meet, now that you¡¯re out of the bubble?¡± Somonik asked, bing a bit

    abashed at the praise and seeking to change the subject.

    ¡°We¡¯d like to meet a lot of the great figures of the world.¡± Six replied around a mouthful of roast pork.

    ¡°Osbald, Emeroth, Senchak, Wosea, and Tokibimina are high on the list, as was Empress Honey,

    whom we¡¯re honored to meet here.¡±

    ¡°I look forward to spending some time with you on spell design, if I may.¡± Val told the great insect.

    ¡°Father got a lot of spells from a lot of people before we were born, and of all of them, I found the ones

    he got from you to be the most interesting. My team-mates here are all good spell-casters, but I¡¯m our

    magic specialist, and you¡¯re the person I was most looking forward to meeting. Your spells are

    absolutely unique and distinct from anything else I¡¯ve learned, and I¡¯ve finally gotten good enough to

    have something of value to contribute to our exchange of thoughts and techniques. If I may share

    something with you psionicly right now, I¡¯d love to give you a portfolio of some of mytest work, since

    I¡¯ve already got some of yours from Father.¡±

    ¡°I am honored, thank you. I would also dly give you such a portfolio.¡± Honey responded. ¡°Your father

    is very adept at learning and teaching spells psionicly, but he is not the theorist that you seem to be,

    and he chose from my repertoire with a different criterion than you would use, I think. Since I

    exchanged spells with him, I have learned spells and techniques from many in The Just Alliance, and I

    have integrated some of their techniques with my own, and made new advances in technique while

    working with my daughters. This is, as you say, ¡®mytest work¡¯ in the field.

    ¡°I will likely require at least two weeks to fully study what you have given me, judging by the volume of

    the information, and given the other responsibilities and demands on my time that my position entails.

    But I must admit that my curiosity requires that I take a quick look now¡­

    ¡°By the zing Source! This is the work of a six-year-old being?!!¡±

    ¡°Not entirely, of course.¡± Val giggled. ¡°I take what everyone else shows me, then I work on it, then I

    work on it with my team, then we teach what we¡¯ve done to everyone on Hiliani, including the senior

    Sylvan there, who are quite aplished at a few things. It all gets passed around and improved by

    everyone, over and over. Father¡¯s really handy for showing everyone thetest stuff. Only a couple of

    those are developments of things that I originated, but that¡¯s my most recent work, the rest haven¡¯t had

    a chance to learn that or work on it yet. I focus on improvements in casting time, concentration

    required, energy efficiency, and automation.

    ¡°It¡¯ll only take about an hour for the four of us toe up with an automated spell-set that¡¯ll detect and

    punish every murderer on Keran. Mind you, even with all the delicious power there is out here, we¡¯ll

    need to get some power from elsewhere to get it all done in a reasonable amount of time. But it should

    all be over by suppertime. Hilia time, that is.

    N?velDrama.Org is the owner.

    ¡°Now, I¡¯ve got to look at your stuff too¡­ Ooooh, this is so deliciously weird! I¡¯m sure d youbeled it

    all in Trade Common!¡±

 Chapter 94

    Chapter 94

    Part 15

    ¡°Here.¡± Talia said with augh as she Retrieved and handed over a pair of nes to Six, who was

    the closest of the Governors. Each had a t stone mounted on a gold ne, one stone eight

    centimeters wide and the other four, both the same color and outline as the Truthstone.

    ¡°These are power stones.¡± she exined. ¡°Therger one transmits warlock power from another stone

    that floats in the focus at Focus Mountain. The smaller one transmits wizard¡¯s power from Las

    Valley. The wizard¡¯s power varies a bit with time of day at Las, with the minimum just before dawn

    there, and the warlock¡¯s power varies from nothing when it¡¯s night at Focus Mountain to maximum

    when it¡¯s noon there. It¡¯ll be noon there in an hour, so be careful. Beyond what they transmit, they¡¯re

    both batteries with a lot of capacity, and they¡¯re fully charged. We¡¯ve put safeties on them that turn

    them off onmand, and they only work for whoever they¡¯re keyed to, so I¡¯ve keyed them to the four

    of you.

    ¡°If you need more power beyond that, just let us know.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Six stated for his team. ¡°Once we¡¯re done with the spells to deal with murderers, we¡¯ll

    spend some time meeting a few people, if they have time for us. If not, we¡¯ll probably meet them at the

    next gathering of The Assembly of The Just Alliance. Assuming we can get an invitation.

    ¡°But after meeting people, we have a lot of work nned. We assume you¡¯d like our assistance in

    showing the rest of the world the military techniques and spells we¡¯ve all developed on Hiliani, and in

    learning what the rest of the world came up with while we were away, and integrating it all.

    ¡°And we intend to go to Serminak and set up training camps for the young Sylvan there, along the lines

    of our system on Hiliani.

    ¡°And then we and Kragorram are going to test our void craft and void survival spells up in the real void.

    If all goes well with that, then we¡¯ll need to set up systems to build a lot more of the craft, to teach the

    spells to those who¡¯ll fight in the void, and to train everyone to do so.

    ¡°If we can get all that done before Father decides to start working on gaining godhood, well, we have a

    few ideas for that too.

    ¡°And if we can get all of that done before we have to fight the demons, then we have another project in

    mind. But we¡¯re going to keep that confidential for now.¡±

    ¡°Very confidential indeed, considering that you¡¯re psionicly shielded so thoroughly that even Falgaroth

    and I can¡¯t see through!¡± Visinniriaughed. ¡°Truly, you are a most impressive quartet of youngsters!¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Six grinned. ¡°It¡¯s really nice to meet you both, by the way. We¡¯ve only met one other god

    before today. You¡¯re a lot more different from Ria than I expected.¡±

    ¡°I did a lot of changing after her personality was set.¡± Visinniria smiled. ¡°Not least of which was

    bing Elven Goddess of War. But she¡¯s a darling and I love her.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, My Lady.¡± Ria said as Talia touched her hilt and she manifested.

    ¡°Goddess, could you alter Ria again, so that she can be aware or manifest whenever she wishes?¡±

    Talia asked. ¡°Without me or Quewanak having to touch her hilt, that is? And it would be nice if I didn¡¯t

    have to touch it to Link with her, as well.¡±

    ¡°I can do that.¡± Visinniria nodded with a warm smile. ¡°And it is done.¡±

    ¡°My Lady, thank you, you are most generous.¡± Ria smiled as she gave her stiff bow. ¡°And if I may be so

    bold, I would also like to impose on your generosity for a further alteration.¡±

    ¡°Oh? Of what sort?¡±

    ¡°The only moment of true physical pleasure I have felt in this manifestation was the moment I was

    allowed to share hugs with you and the Six of Hilia, on the asion of our victory over Zarkog. It was

    as nice as feeling your hand on my hilt and my de slicing through the flesh of our enemies. It was

    truly heavenly. I wish to be able to have the aspect of flesh as I did that day, when I choose it.

    ¡°And if you would gift me with your embrace again, I would truly treasure it.¡±

    ¡°Ah, my darling, my truest friend, I would be d to do so.¡± Visinniria smiled, and waved her over with

    outstretched arms.

    N?velDrama.Org is the owner.

    Ria¡¯s stiff but smiling form flew over to her with palpable eagerness, and settled into the arms of her

    goddess.

    ¡°You know Ria,¡± Talia giggled as she hugged her sword¡¯s hilt to her bosom and gently caressed the

    de, ¡°If I¡¯d have realized that you were capable of perceiving the sensations of touch through your

    steel, I¡¯d have hugged you regrly.¡±

    ¡°Oh! Oh my!¡± Ria giggled as both of her physical forms were simultaneously hugged and caressed by

    the two people she cared for most in the world. ¡°Thank you, excuse me, I am overwhelmed!¡± she

    eximed, then her elven manifestation disappeared.

    ¡°Simply call me whenever you¡¯d like another hug, my dear.¡± Visinniriaughed, and all understood that

    Ria had heard her.

    After a round of warm chuckles had gone around, Mark said to his children; ¡°I think I¡¯ll call for The

    Assembly of The Just Alliance to meet tonight. It¡¯ll be my public appearance as Visinniria asked for, and

    you can meet the leaders you¡¯d like to meet, we can all show what we¡¯ve done for thest seven years

    and get what others have developed, and you and Kragorram can make a presentation on the void

    craft and on the void warfare techniques we¡¯ve got.

    ¡°And perhaps most important of all, we¡¯ll announce the techniques that we¡¯ve developed to end aging

    and needless death from natural causes by those who¡¯re vulnerable to it.

    ¡°We might not get every member of the Assembly to attend, since it¡¯ll be on short notice and nothing

    we have to deal with is of immediately critical importance. I have no idea how many of the gods will

    show up, but then, they don¡¯t have to be there to pay attention to the proceedings anyway. At any rate,

    if we don¡¯t fill the room with leaders, we¡¯ll invite a few extra sub-leaders. It wouldn¡¯t do to have the ce

    look half-empty in the Revealings.¡±

    ¡°I doubt very much that you¡¯ll have to worry about that.¡± Somonik chuckled. ¡°Shall we say at three

    hours after midnight, standard time?¡±

    Mark produced his time-sight and considered it. Val also considered it, and immediately produced a

    fully functional duplicate.

    ¡°That¡¯s about three hours before midnight here.¡± Mark stated. ¡°Sure, that sounds good.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll announce it.¡± Somonik stated as he psionicly did so. ¡°I¡¯m already receiving many confirmations of

    attendance. We may have more attendees than we have room for, in which case I¡¯ll ask the dragons

    and otherrger attendees to appear in smaller-sized Simcrums.¡±

    ¡°Good thinking!¡± Markughed. ¡°Though if we keep adding to the members of the Assembly, eventually

    we¡¯ll either have to make a bigger room, or have everyone attending in Simcrums the size of

    sprites!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯d be fun!¡± Fireughed as she leaned back, closed her eyes, and cast a fifteen centimeter tall

    Simcrum of herself on the table-top. ¡°Wow! This really looks different!¡± she eximed as she ran

    through the dishes to the edge of the table and looked down, then jumped off and flew over to Karzog

    andnded on the tip of his nose. ¡°Let¡¯s all do it tonight!¡± she proposed as she danced a bit of a jig.

    Karzog went cross-eyed for a moment as he looked at her, then shook his head and shook her off.

    ¡°Let¡¯s not.¡± he smiled as he rubbed his nose where she¡¯d danced. ¡°That tickled you know.¡± he told her.

    ¡°I¡¯ll have to remember that.¡± Fireughed as she dismissed the Simcrum and opened her eyes. ¡°I¡¯d

    never have guessed you could tickle dragons, let alone do it by dancing on their noses!¡±

    ¡°You know,¡± Gran mused, ¡°This is the very first instance I¡¯ve ever seen of the children of dragons being

    raised with the children of other races. Never before have I seen our children treat each other with such

    unthinking trust and camaraderie. It¡¯s as if the differences in their races don¡¯t even exist.¡±

 Chapter 95

    Chapter 95

    Part 15

    ¡°Love and trust and familiarity have much to do with it.¡± Karzog smiled. ¡°The rest is due to equality.

    These three developed so quickly that they soon were as above me in intellect and psionics and power

    as I was above them in strength, until they improved me. I spend my life pushing myself to keep up with

    them, and I love it. The other human and elven children of Hiliani weren¡¯t capable of having such a

    friendship of equals with me, and so I was never really that close with any of them. And I don¡¯t think

    any young unicorn will ever be capable of being friends with any dragon until they¡¯re at least forty years

    old.

    ¡°Another important factor was the quality of my parents. Mother and Father are both young adults with

    close rtionships with smaller folk, and they¡¯re a lot more open-minded than most dragons. And as

    first-time parents, they were willing to do things differently and to put in a lot more effort than most

    draconian parents. I know most dragons simply don¡¯t let their young meet any small folk that need to

    remain uneaten, until their young are about eighty years old. Mother and Father let me get to know

    these small folk and their young when I was still very young and impressionable, and they were willing

    to monitor my thoughts and behavior constantly, so that they knew I was never that tempted to eat

    someone. When I first met them I was often mildly tempted to eat one of them, but I was never really

    that hungry since it was ensured that I¡¯d always eaten recently, and I knew Mother was always

    monitoring me anyway. Being a single child probably helped a great deal as well. I¡¯m sure things would

    have been much different if Mother and Father had a brood of thirty young to care for.¡±

    ¡°My son, you don¡¯t realize how exceptional you are.¡± Kragorram told him. ¡°Asking that we raise only you

    was one of the wisest things that the Ny-Nine ever did. If you had been hatched and weaned with a

    clutch of other young dragons, you¡¯d most likely have killed and eaten the rest long before you were

    even capable of thinking. That¡¯s what usually happens when one hatchling is much more capable than

    the rest.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s right.¡± Povon smiled. ¡°Furthermore, while you have been improved by these magnificent but

    impetuous brats, you were already the most exceptional young dragon the world had ever seen. You

    didn¡¯t need these three for that, and I don¡¯t think they¡¯ve improved your potential any. You¡¯d have still

    developed the same abilities, though I admit that without their interference, you wouldn¡¯t have

    developed as quickly. For now, you follow their lead, but most of their development will be finished in

    half a century, when you¡¯ll still only be halfway through your childhood.¡±

    ¡°Thank you Mother, but your pride in me is making you foolish.¡± Karz snickered. ¡°It bothers you that I¡¯m

    not the leader of my quartet, but it doesn¡¯t bother you at all that you¡¯re not the leader of The Six of Hilia.

    Not only do you follow Mark without question, though he¡¯s not even fully mature yet and you are, you

    generally defer to Father as well, simply because you prefer thefort of his leadership.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Well those are two very good points.¡± Povon smiled as she gave Kragorram a scratch on the

    inside of his left arm. ¡°I¡¯ll admit that my maternal pride isn¡¯t alwayspletely rational. Nor is

    leadership my strength.

    ¡°I¡¯m themander of all in Serminak, but I¡¯m not their leader, and I very much prefer it that way.

    Kragorram is the leader of Serminaki Draconia, and as Mark predicted, they give him their fervent

    loyalty for the shining nobility of his character alone. And some of them give their loyalty to Mark

    directly.

    ¡°Sylvan aren¡¯t really capable of giving loyalty to any leader, so they don¡¯t have any leaders, just

    ¡°If you want amander that can crack the whip and get things done, I¡¯m a good choice. But if you

    want a leader to inspire loyalty and greatness in his followers, Mark is unbeatable. And your Father is

    deal as a leader.¡±

    ¡°Since I learn leadership from Mark, I am indeed improving at it.¡± Kragorram admitted with a proud

    smile. ¡°And you¡¯re right about another thing, son. For there to be a close friendship, it helps if there¡¯s a

    feeling of equality. We have very close rtionships with small folk, but that¡¯s only possible because

    they¡¯re so exceptional. I never once worried that I would identally move the wrong way and crush

    Mark or Talia or Sran, since they¡¯re more than capable of preventing themselves from being injured

    that way, unlike most of the small folk.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a humbling thought to be reminded that the dragons consider all the rest of us to be ¡®the small

    folk¡¯.¡± Mark chuckled. ¡°And it always seemed that your awareness of your own body¡¯s position and of

    everything else around you prevented those kinds of idents.¡±

    ¡°Generally yes, but the movements of small folk are quick and sudden, so there¡¯s always a danger of

    crushing one when they¡¯re around.¡± Kragorram admitted as he scratched his chin. ¡°Believe me, before I

    was a thousand years old, I would never have allowed any humans to be within arm¡¯s length of me, let

    alone let their children climb on me like I did at Homestead. I¡¯d have been too terrified of squashing

    one. At least with elves you know they¡¯ll probably live if you don¡¯t break their heads.¡±

    That got a goodugh from Mark.

    ¡°And now, thanks to our work with Hilsith, humans will be just as hard to kill as elves.¡± Fireughed.

    ¡°Friendly dragons everywhere will be a lot less nervous.¡±

    ¡°That work should apply just as well to dwarves, giants, gnomes, selkies, and some of the hidden

    races.¡± Alilia pointed out with a smile. ¡°Truly, it¡¯s our most magnificent achievement.¡±

    ¡°So far.¡± Six nodded with a grin. ¡°And I think giving magic use to every member of all those races

    counts as much as making them hard to kill.¡±

    ¡°Sweet missing gods!¡± Sheramiv eximed. ¡°If you¡¯ve aplished all that, your names will be

    praised forever!¡±

    ¡°It was mostly Hilsith and Yzell¡¯s work, though we all helped with it.¡± Talia insisted. ¡°But yes, they do

    deserve to have their names praised forever for their achievement.¡±

    ¡°That one¡¯s mostly Hilsith¡¯s actually, I think.¡± Fire mused. ¡°Yzell will get more credit if they solve the

    fertility problem though; that one¡¯s her special project.¡±

    ¡°True.¡± Talia nodded as she started sending empty dishes away. ¡°And now that we¡¯ve all finished lunch,

    we might as well start work.¡±

    ¡°We already started.¡± Val giggled.

    ¡°The former members of The Anti-conspiracy Brigade report that most of them are presently avable.¡±

    Sheramiv informed Povon. ¡°They have rmendations for other investigators you may wish to recruit

    as well, should their muster prove insufficient for the task.¡±

    ¡°Excellent.¡± Povon nodded as she turned to Somonik and Gran. ¡°Could you have them report to my

    Administration Center in Serminak in fifteen minutes?

    ¡°Meanwhile let¡¯s all Link, and I¡¯ll show you how I listen for rule breakers.¡±

    They all closed their eyes in concentration, and silence fell among them.

    Fifteen minutester all but the four youngsters Translocated to Serminak. There they liased with their

    vast team of investigators, Linked with them, and went over all the reports of the incidents they wished

    to investigate. An hourter thousands more psionicists and investigators had been recruited and

    integrated into the effort, and an hour after that they had all been divided into teams with assigned

    cases, and sent out to work in a two-pronged attack. Each team had both investigators and psionicists,

    Please check at N/?vel(D)rama.Org.

    all of whom were sworn to justice, and since they were dealing with registered yers and had no need

    to deal with legal procedure beyond satisfying themselves as to the facts of the case and the identities

    of the guilty, many of the cases were solved within minutes. Most of the convicted were remanded to

    Serminak for suitable punishment.

    The lead investigative team,posed of Povon and the others who had been at Hilia, along with

    Zone Inspector Rayn from Belinhome Finitra and several of his subordinates, cast Trantion for Kleti

    in preparation, then arrived in Kletiuk to deal with their first case. That being the case of Goodwife

    Nepetin Gob, who had started the petition against The Game.

 Chapter 96

    Chapter 96

    Part 15

    They found her, her family, and many of her neighbors in the street in front of her sister¡¯s family¡¯s

    house, where she presently lived. She and all the rest of the dwarves present were gathered around a

    two meter high yellow cube that floated a meter above the street. Though many of them were struck

    dumb by the sudden appearance of many of the world¡¯s most elite, bowing and gaping and a few

    pressing their foreheads to the pavement, Goodwife Gob stood straight and proud.

    ¡°Prince Mark, I want to thank you and your children for your quick response to myints.¡± she

    stated in Kleti. ¡°I know you¡¯ve only been out of the time-bubble for less than a hand of hours, so I didn¡¯t

    even expect my husband¡¯s murder to be confirmed so soon. For his killer to actually be caught and

    delivered to me so quickly is a great satisfaction to me.¡±

    ¡°Actually, I¡¯m only here as part of the team helping Lord Regent Povon, here.¡± Mark told her in the

    samenguage with a warm smile. ¡°We¡¯re here to recover your home, your business, and your

    possessions for you. I¡¯m very sorry for your misfortune, and I assure you that I never expected this kind

    of thing to happen to good people like yourself when I authorized The Game of Status.

    ¡°Now, if this cube is indeed the work of my children, it will be the work of Povon and Kragorram¡¯s son

    Karzog as well, since our kids always work as a team. Can I ask you all to step back so we can

    examine it? Our kids were working on the problem of murderers separately, so I¡¯m not sure what we

    have here.¡±

    ¡°Oh?! Be my guest!¡± the goodwife urged as she stepped back. ¡°You¡¯ll find that your children have left

    you little enough work to do here!¡±

    Once within a few meters of the cube it could be seen that there was fine red writing in Trade Common

    in the center of each yellow face. Every side said the same thing. It read: ¡°The inmate of this

    Punishment Cube; Flebzam Nuj, registered yer of the 9th League of The Game of Status, stands

    convicted of the murder of Belnim Gob by nefarious spell-mongery, under the authority of Prince

    Markhan Reginus Longstrider the Fifth, Lord of Serminak, and of Lord Regent Povon; Referee of The

    Game of Status. The crimes of Flebzam Nuj have resulted in a reduction in the military capability of

    The Just Alliance, a decrease in productivity, and dissention among the popce. Details are As

    Follows:¡±

    Content ? provided by N?velDrama.Org.

    It then gave aplete ount of everything that Flebzam Nuj had done to swindle and murder

    Belnim Gob, and all the consequences thereof, followed by; ¡°This act of justice was done by The

    Governors of Hiliani;¡±

    It gave the four youngsters¡¯plete formal names and titles, and ended with;

    ¡°Those who wish to witness the punishment of the prisoner may touch the Punishment Cube.¡±

    Mark touched it and the cube seemed to be invisible, and the cries of its upant became

    audible to him, though obviously not to those around him who weren¡¯t touching the cube. A bearded

    dwarf was writhing and screaming in pain on the bottom of the cube. It appeared he had soiled himself,

    and his excrement was gradually escaping from his pantaloons and smearing over the bottom of the

    cube.

    ¡°A neat solution, this.¡± the Goodwifemented with a nasty smile. ¡°I get to see the punishment as

    long as I want, without it bothering the neighbors.¡±

    ¡°How long has it been here?¡± Povon asked.

    ¡°It floated down the street and stopped there almost an hour ago. A team of Kleti Justicers has already

    been and gone, and they said that with the information on the cube, their auditors would have no

    trouble getting my home and business back. Overlord Senchak himself came by to see it, you know.

    Said it was fine work.¡±

    ¡°It is.¡± Povon smiled. ¡°We¡¯ll check with your local Justicers, and give them any help they need to

    recover your property. Other than that, it seems our work here is done, as you¡¯ve said.

    ¡°I do apologize for the loss of your property and for the suffering you¡¯ve endured. I¡¯ve not yet decided

    whether I¡¯ll put systems in ce to prevent simr things from happening to good people such as

    yourself, or whether I¡¯ll fulfill your petition¡¯s request and end The Game of Status outside Serminak.

    Either way, steps will be taken to ensure that such things will not happen again.¡±

    ¡°Well you know where I stand on that.¡± Goodwife Gob insisted, refusing to be intimidated by the

    silver dragon. ¡°Thank you and good fortune, Lord Regent.¡±

    ¡°And to you, Goodwife.¡±

    ¡°Having your property back doesn¡¯tpensate you for the suffering you¡¯ve endured.¡± Mark told her.

    ¡°The cube details his crimes in this case, but we¡¯ll also investigate all of his criminal activities and

    assets. Everything else he owns will be confiscated and awarded to yourself and other non-yers

    who¡¯ve been affected by his crimes.¡±

    Zone Inspector Rayn had been standing with his hand against the cube while he Read the dwarf within

    it. Now he turned and addressed Goodwife Gob. ¡°In your case, that shoulde to the equivalent of

    about thirty thousand gold OverMarks, to be divided among your family.¡±

    Her eyebrows rose as her face lit up. ¡°Thank you. That amount will be more than sufficient to

    Nothing can bnce the loss of my husband, but that was his own damn fault, and I get to see his killer

    punished, which is a fine thing. I think justice has been satisfied.¡±

    ¡°Good.¡± Mark nodded with a smile. ¡°Good day to you and yours, Goodwife Gob.¡±

    ¡°Good day to you and yours, my beloved Prince.¡± she returned with a warm smile. For the first time

    since they¡¯d arrived, she rxed from her proud posture as she graced him with a deep and elegant

    curtsey.

    Mark epted Povon¡¯s Link and her lead as she directed her team to the local Hall of Justice for a

    quick stop, before dealing with the next case on her list.

    It had taken over an hour for The Governors to formte the automated and self-duplicating spells for

    detecting, catching, and punishing murderers. They¡¯d only managed to finish it so fast because they¡¯d

    asked Sheramiv to arrange a few hundred volunteers from around Hilia who weren¡¯t intellectually busy

    and were willing to lend a bit of their intellectual capacity for a few minutes. Each volunteer was left with

    the memory of a few dozenplex sub-spells that weren¡¯t really of much use on their own.

    The four had used every candle¡¯s worth of power they had avable to them to cast the spell, including

    all that was stored in the power-stones they¡¯d been given, and they¡¯d had to add seven minutes to the

    process while thest of the required power was collected from Las Valley and Focus Mountain.

    Finally they unleashed their creation upon the world, and followed its progress until they were certain

    that it was functioning as designed. Then they took a moment to bask in the satisfaction of a difficult

    task done well.

    ¡°All right, we got that done pretty fast, and our parents should still be busy for at least a couple of

    hours.¡± Six stated. ¡°So this is the time for Karz¡¯s visit. We follow your lead, Karz.¡±

    ¡°All right, thanks.¡± Karz nodded. ¡°Much as we may not wish to, it would be smart for us to be diplomatic.

    So you should use full simcrums and trantion. I¡¯ll use a Simcrum too, I think, just for the

    psychological advantage, and the safety it provides. About average size would be best.

    ¡°Are we ready? I¡¯ll bring us in about four hundred meters out.¡±

 Chapter 97

    Chapter 97

    PART16

    In the skies over south-western Serminak, above a forbidding range of volcanic mountains, four

    dragons emerged near the mightiest peak in the region, the crater of which had been filled in and built

    up to a point with a t top only five hundred and fifty meters wide. A cone of darkness expanded

    upward from the mountaintop, obscuring what was urring there and blocking the mid-morning

    brightness for as high as the eye could see. But they knew what was within the darkness, since they¡¯d

    seen it in Readings.

    Each of the four was about forty-six meters in length from tail-tip to snout. Karz looked the same only

    adult andrger; still uniformly glossy ck over every part of him.

    Fire had colored herself to match her nickname, being red on her legs and belly, varying in streaky

    patterns through orange to light yellow along her spine and on the top of her head, with glowing orange

    eyes. Though not realistic enough to convince anyone that she was actually on fire, it was done well

    enough to provide an amusing facsimile of it, particrly when she was moving quickly, while

    simultaneously entuating the lines of her muscles and contours.

    Val had kept close to her true coloring, being ck on her wings and along her sides, silver on her back

    and belly, and her eyes were still a vivid dark violet.

    Six had colored every part of himself that same dark violet, with a reflective metallic sheen to his scales

    that made him emit cascades of violet sparkles in the sunlight. ¡°I just love the color of your eyes.¡± he

    privately mentioned to Val, and she privately giggled back.

    It didn¡¯t escape her mind that he had excluded both Karz, and Fire, whose eyes were normally the

    same color as her own. It pleased her a little, in an indefinable way, but there was no time to think

    about that now. She mentally filed it away for future consideration as Karz psionicly announced their

    arrival in Grande High Draconian, and with considerable volume.

    ¡°I am Karzog. You are my blood-father. We would speak with you.¡±

    A momentter the response came in the samenguage, and just as loud. ¡°You may approach.¡±

    They flew forward and entered both the cone of darkness and an Illusion that epassed the same

    volume, making everything within seem to glow just enough to be seen, without producing any real

    light. The stars and moons overhead glittered and glowed like it was midnight.

    Zarkog reclined upon the stone with his eyes pressed to the twin eyepieces of a great device. They

    recognized theponents of the Psionic Distant Listener, but thoseponents were now only a

    small part of a greater device. The immense hundred and eighty meter long bulk of the eldest mortal

    dragon filled a significant portion of the mountaintop. His physical, magical, and psionic presence was

    impressive and intimidating. He was nowpletely t ck, having removed the gold and silver

    ents he¡¯d worn as Dragon Lord of Serminak and the glossy reflectivity that had gone with them.

    Even with the Illusory glow, it was difficult to physically see him in the darkness.

    In a moment of mild panic, Six checked to see if Zarkog was still sworn to justice, and detected the

    Marking of The Just Alliance only six millimeters wide located just beneath the base of his tail. The size

    and location of the Marking said much about Zarkog¡¯s opinion of his involuntary vow of justice, but the

    vow was still in effect.

    ¡°I havee to ask you what changes you made to me while I was still in the shell.¡± Karz bluntly

    stated, snarling and growling even more aggressively than thenguage required, waving his wings

    and writhing his tail for emphasis.

    ¡°You are me, reborn.¡± Zarkog returned just as bluntly in his awesomely thunderous voice, without

    looking away from the eyepieces. ¡°Not as I was when I was born, but as I was when you were

    conceived, with all of the improvements I have made in myself over thest eighty-seven million years.

    You think Tekritimaki is your blood-mother, but she is not, for you did not have one. She was merely the

    female whose body created your egg andid you. You inherited none of her traits or characteristics in

    any way. You are me, younger.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡± Karzog stated. ¡°So I ask again, what are the changes you have made in yourself, and in me?¡±

    ¡°My size is obvious, beyond that I will not say specifically.¡± Zarkog answered, still gazing through the

    device. ¡°To do so would reveal the details of too many of my own advantages, which would be tactically

    and strategically unwise for me. Suffice to say that you are inherently superior to every other dragon

    who has ever lived, in every way, with the obvious exception of myself. Beyond that, you will have to

    discover your capabilities for yourself.¡±

    ¡°I thank the Source that I did not inherit your personality.¡± Karz growled. ¡°I realize that your

    observations of the demons are important to all of Keran. None-the-less, you are being discourteous.

    I think you could spare me a nce as a sign of basic respect.¡±

    Zarkog waited a long and leisurely moment, making an obvious point, before he turned from the device

    and considered his son. ¡°What a ridiculous costume. You earn no respect for trying to appear more

    impressive than you are in this immature way. You are a barely-born infant, and you are verging on

    serious disrespect yourself. We agree on one thing. You have not inherited my personality, more¡¯s the

    pity.¡±

    ¡°The appearance of this Simcrum is no more mature than my abilities, which are far more advanced

    than you would expect from me at my age. Mypanions chose to wear such things as a courtesy,

    so that they could converse fluently in thisnguage. We chose this size so that you wouldn¡¯t have to

    strain your tired old eyes to see the subtleties of ourmunications.¡±

    Zarkog stared at him for a moment, then suddenly rocked forward and back with his tail raised a bit a

    few times; theughter of dragons. ¡°My tired old eyes can see you with sufficient acuity still. But now

    you have piqued my interest, and I have considered you with almost half of my attention. You are

    indeed correct. You have emerged from the time-bubble early, and you have only experienced twenty-

    two years. Your determination and your eloquence are both far beyond your age. And your mind¡­¡±

    Zarkog trailed off as he Probed the youngster psionicly, and met a nk wall of Shielding. He pushed

    harder, then harder still, to no avail.

    ¡°Amazing. You have the finest Psionic Shielding of any being I have encountered beyond the gods.

    Now I am truly curious. I ask you with all due respect and courtesy. Remove the silly costume and let

    me see you, and share your surface thoughts.¡±

    Copyright by N?v/elDrama.Org.

    ¡°I will let you see what I really look like.¡± Karz stated as he altered his Simcrum to have his true

    appearance. ¡°But that is all. When you have given me the specifics of how you have altered me, I will

    share more with you.¡±

    ¡°Hmm. You look as I expected you to.¡± Zarkog stated, and turned his attention to his son¡¯s three

    ¡°That is very attractive. If I were still Lord of Serminak and that was more than a costume, I would rape

    you quite vigorously.¡±

    ¡°You might have tried.¡± Fire returned derisively. ¡°One of us would have died before that happened, and

    it might not have been me. And if it was, you would still have to fornicate my corpse.¡±

    ¡°So you think.¡± Zarkog snorted, with the equivalent of a chuckle. ¡°Many others thought the same, and

    were proven wrong.¡±

    ¡°None were me.¡± Fire shot back, and snorted two rings of fire from her nostrils.

    He considered her again. ¡°You know, I think you are not really a dragon. And if that is the case, you are

    more fluent in Draconian than any other small folk I have met.

    ¡°Why are you here? To provide this cub with moral support, or to marvel at my magnificence? Or

    perhaps to try to protect him from me, should I ovee the vow of justice?¡±

    ¡°We each have our own reasons for wishing to speak with you.¡± Fire stated. ¡°My own personal reason

    is to marvel, not at your magnificence, but at the most colossal failure in the history of Keran. You

    could have had it all, you could have ruled the world, you could have been the greatest person who

    ever lived, you could have saved us from the demons. You could have ensured it!

 Chapter 98

    Chapter 98

    Part 16

    ¡°If you had announced your discovery of the approaching demons and spheres of the Triax to the entire

    world when you discovered them, and offered your ns and your leadership, I estimate that fifty-six

    percent of all the intelligent beings on Keran would have taken you up on it initially. With the fear of

    the demons fresh in their minds, and the capabilities that you could disy, they would have been

    eager for a leader of your stature, particrly one with a good n. With the support of those fifty-six

    percent it would only have taken you three years to pacify Serminak, and once that was done, an

    overwhelming majority of the rest would have fallen in behind your banner.

    ¡°The entire world would have had two hundred and seventy-three years to prepare for the demons, not

    the two years that you left us with your distrusting stupidity! Your failurey in your contempt for the

    smaller races, and your resulting failure to learn to understand them sufficiently!

    ¡°The Just Alliance and the enforced vows of justice would both have been unnecessary, curse it all!¡±

    ¡°You are entirely correct.¡± Zarkog calmly agreed, surprising his young visitors. ¡°And now it is your party

    who are being discourteous. You have admitted that you are disguised, and you have had ample time

    to introduce yourselves, yet you have failed to do so. If you wish to continue speaking with me here,

    you will reveal your identities. While your use of the Draconiannguage is impressive and appreciated,

    it is not necessary.¡±

    ¡°Fine.¡± Fire said in Trade Common as she altered her Simcrum to be identical to her real

    appearance, and her siblings followed suit a secondter. ¡°Know that we are the children of the Key to

    The Just Alliance. I am Princess Helemia Longstrider, known as Fire. He is my twin brother Prince

    Markhan Reginus Longstrider the Sixth, known as Six. Our mother is Princess Talia of The Nine

    Valleys. She is Princess Valentia Longstrider, known as Val, daughter of Princess Alilia of The People

    of Life. And we are the new warlocks. With Karzog, we are The Governors of Hiliani.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡± Zarkog noted in Common, and chuckled a bit, emitting some smoke from his nostrils. ¡°I¡¯m

    surprised that you seem to share my opinion of The Just Alliance, considering your parentage.¡±

    ¡°The Just Alliance is a fine thing, but it was formed in response to the unjust and unnecessary killing

    and destruction that you initiated, and the War of The Founding was a huge and unnecessary waste.¡±

    Fire retorted. ¡°Aside from the fact that every death in the war was a needless tragedy to everyone who

    lost someone close to them, there¡¯s the fact that everyone who died in the war will not be fighting the

    demons. Though thebatants and civilians killed on both sides were small portions of the totals, it

    still means that almost two hundred thousand fighters will be missing from our military, and that¡¯s a

    significant force!

    ¡°As to forcing the vow of justice on those who had no wish to swear it, it had to be done. But everyone

    in The Just Alliance knows that it was the best of a list of very bad choices, and it would have been

    better avoided.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡± Zarkog nodded, and turned to her two siblings. ¡°And what are your personal reasons for

    wishing to speak with me?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m here to see that you¡¯ve been sufficiently punished for the deaths of my paternal grandparents, and

    my aunt and uncle.¡± Val bluntly announced. ¡°We¡¯ve been told that you¡¯ve been punished, and that the

    sentence was agreed upon by a great circle of justicers, and by the surviving rtives of those who

    were killed in your try for global domination. But that sentence has not been made public, and it seems

    to me that you¡¯ve suffered no punishment at all that I can see. If I find that your punishment is

    insufficient to satisfy my sense of justice, I¡¯ll seek to punish you further.¡±

    ¡°What audacity.¡± Zarkog snorted. ¡°I¡¯m tempted to let you think that I have been mildly punished, just to

    satisfy my curiosity as to how such a tiny person who appears to be less than ten years of age could

    possibly think to inflict any punishment upon me, of any sort.

    ¡°But the temptation is small. So, in order to satisfy your sense of justice, I¡¯ll allow you to Read my

    physical sensations.¡±

    Val did so in a blink, then cringed a bit, despite her best efforts to resist the urge to do so. Her

    constantly changing and affects every part of his body.¡±

    Please check at N/?vel(D)rama.Org.

    She considered the great ck dragon again, then told him. ¡°I¡¯m surprised you can still function. You

    must have a great deal of self-control.¡±

    ¡°Yes I do, but in this case it makes no difference.¡± Zarkog returned. ¡°The pain is an automated spell,

    and its severity is always enough to almost incapacitate me. On days when my will is stronger, the pain

    increases until it is almost more than I can stand. When my resistance is less, the pain decreases until I

    am again fully able to function. But just barely.

    ¡°I will suffer this for twenty years. Though the situation is to my benefit, I consider it an incredible

    stupidity that The Just Alliance let me live. To allow a conquered but formidable enemy such as myself

    to remain a danger to them was the height of strategic foolishness on their part.¡±

    ¡°So I suppose that you must not have considered any of the dragons and Sylvan in Serminak to be

    formidable, either singrly or severally, since you let them all live.¡± Val stated, with a touch of derision.

    ¡°That is correct.¡±

    ¡°Well I¡¯ll have you know that my father might just have let you die. No one knows if he would have or

    not, not even him. You live because Visinniria, Elven Goddess of War, suggested that he spare your

    life, on the grounds that you may prove useful. I agree with the assessment. To quote you, killing you

    would have been a waste of a useful tool that can be repaired. I¡¯m certain that you¡¯re destined to kill a

    great many demons, and for now, that¡¯s all that really matters.

    ¡°You may think that someday you¡¯ll ovee your vow of justice and take revenge upon us all, even

    though you¡¯re sworn on The Truthstone of Falgaroth. Even though Falgaroth, Eighth God of Unicorns,

    poured his power into the stone for tens of thousands of years, in order to ensure that it would be

    binding on the gods themselves. Any hope you may entertain of escaping the vow is futile, and even if

    you did, it would do you no good.

    ¡°The Withdrawal is ended, and all the gods of Keran live among us as fully-sworn justice-bound

    members of The Just Alliance. Your loss to my father decided that. Even if you could ovee all of

    The Just Alliance, including all the gods of Keran, you¡¯d then have to face all the people and gods of

    the Triax. They¡¯re the sworn allies of The Just Alliance, and I¡¯d guess they¡¯re pretty tough, considering

    they¡¯ve been hunting worlds full of demons out in the great void for eons.

    ¡°No, I¡¯d say that in rtion to those you¡¯d face if you seeded in attempting to rebel against The Just

    Alliance, you aren¡¯t significantly formidable. They¡¯re quite safe in letting you live.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps.¡± was Zarkog¡¯s only reply to that, then he looked to Six. ¡°And what is it that you want with

    me?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m here to tell you that we¡¯re offering you a chance to redeem yourself.¡± the boy replied.

    ¡°We believe in the meritocracy system of the giants, and we think that The Just Alliance¡¯s present

    militarymand structure may prove unwieldy in the war we¡¯re facing with the demons. We intend to

    propose the greatest tournament that Keran has ever seen, with the prize being nothing less than the

    rule of The Just Alliance.

    ¡°We think we can lead this world in warfare against the demons more effectively than anyone else, and

    we want a chance to prove it. In order to ensure that there¡¯s no favoritism toward us, we¡¯re not going to

    ask Quewanak to referee the tournament and set the scenario that will be our arena. We¡¯re going to

    ask Amirgath.

 Chapter 99

    Chapter 99

    Part 16

    ¡°If this goes ahead, he¡¯llpose a simted scenario of warfare with the demons, to take ce all

    over the world and out in the void as well. Eachpetitor or team ofpetitors will fight exactly the

    same scenario, with exactly the same conditions, inmand of The Just Alliance. Whoever has the

    best result at the end of the scenario gets to rule the alliance, at least until the demons are dealt with.

    There should be another tournament with a peacetime scenario to see who¡¯ll rule after that.

    ¡°There are a lot of people who realize that you very well could have ended up ruling Keran if you¡¯d

    yed things differently. Regardless of your past crimes, there¡¯s nothing in your sentence that says you

    can¡¯t still rule The Just Alliance if everyone agrees with it. If you really are the best, and you really can

    lead us against the demons better than anyone else, then I want you inmand. If you¡¯re not the

    best, but you don¡¯tpete in the tournament, the winner willckplete credibility. There¡¯d always

    be someone saying that you¡¯d have won it if you¡¯dpeted.

    ¡°And there¡¯s another thing. If we¡¯re still alive after the war with the demons here, we n to go with the

    Triax to hunt the demons throughout the great void, hopefully to eventually destroy their homeworld

    and exterminate thempletely. I¡¯d like to have you with us in that venture, and if you ce higher in

    the tournament than anyone else who¡¯sing with us, then I want you inmand.¡±

    ¡°Well.¡± Zarkog said as he sat up on his haunches like a dog. ¡°Now you have surprised me. Twice.

    ¡°On the matter of hunting demons in the void after they are eliminated from our sun system, you¡¯ll have

    to ask me then. My decision will depend on what urs between now and then.

    ¡°As to the tournament to rule Keran; if you can truly cause such a thing to ur as you have

    described it, be assured that I will indeed participate. And I would be in your debt.¡±

    He paused for a long moment as he considered the four young beings before him. ¡°It is difficult to

    believe that any of you are as young as you seem. And you truly believe that you would win the

    tournament, and prove yourselves most capable of ruling Keran?¡±

    ¡°We do.¡± Six nodded.

    Just then Amirgath and Quewanak appeared hovering above them, thennded on the mountaintop,

    and both dragon gods were grinning.

    ¡°You¡¯ll get your chance, impetuous youth!¡± Amirgathughed, shaking the mountain with his thunderous

    mirth. ¡°Of course we¡¯ve been listening since we were mentioned, and we both think your tournament is

    a fine idea! We¡¯ll both co-operate on conducting and judging the tournament, and we¡¯ll likely recruit a

    few more gods from every faction to assist with it, so that the scenario can be justifiablyplex while

    allowing the tournament to bepleted in a reasonable amount of time.

    ¡°We can¡¯t say if The Assembly of The Just Alliance or the populous of Keran will agree to naming the

    winner the ruler of all, but we will most certainly hold the tournament!

    ¡°The tournament will be held in six weeks, which will be two days after the time-bubbles end. Those in

    the time-bubbles will not be informed of it until forty days before they re-emerge, so they¡¯ll have the

    same six weeks in which to prepare, should any of them wish topete.

    ¡°Be aware that while in the scenario, only the dered members of thepeting team will be able to

    contribute creativity. Every other person on Keran will be represented in the scenario, but they¡¯ll

    strive only to obey your orders as exactly and as literally as possible.¡±

    ¡°As it should be.¡± Zarkog nodded.

    Falgaroth and Visinniria appeared.

    ¡°It¡¯ll be an interesting project.¡± Visinniria stated to Six with a smile. ¡°I wonder, what limitations would you

    ce on the number of members of apeting team, and what assistance would you allow each

    team to receive from others?¡±

    ¡°What Amirgath said about only having team members make decisions during the scenario parallels

    our thinking on the subject.¡± Six told her. ¡°But we envisioned allowing the teams to get any assistance

    they can get to train and prepare for the tournament, including the assistance and training of the gods,

    if they can get it. We nned on asking Quewanak¡¯s help toplete our training. We estimate that we

    need about six years of training in his dream-time to maximize our present potential for the task, and he

    can do that for us in an hour or so of real time. But if others want to do more, we wee them to do

    so. If they wish to spend a million years inside a reverse-stasis field to train for it, that¡¯s fine. We¡¯d take

    more than the six years if we though it would do any good, but I doubt it would. It¡¯s just diminishing

    returns after that. We mostly just want it so we can familiarize ourselves with the characteristics of the

    ¡°It¡¯d be different if we knew exactly what the war with the demons will really be like,¡± Fire stated, ¡°Then

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    it¡¯d be worth it to practice for it a million times. But since we don¡¯t know, over-training would just reduce

    our effectiveness after a while. So there¡¯s no need to wait to tell those in the time-bubbles about the

    tournament. Let them train for it the whole time if they want.¡±

    ¡°Very well.¡± Amirgath chuckled, then told Zarkog; ¡°If you want my help with your training, I will give it.¡±

    ¡°And I will ept it, my Lord.¡± Zarkog acknowledged with a nod.

    ¡°Theposition of teams may be problematic.¡± Falgaroth stated with a toss of his long blue mane and

    a shake of his horn. ¡°For instance; I am certain that Emperor Osbald of Thon will wish to enter a team

    under his overallmand, and that he will want Empress Emeroth of Verzaclon and Overlord

    Senchak of Kletiuk on his team as consulting members. But it is also certain that both of those

    monarchs will wish to form teams under their ownmand, and will want to include the other two on

    their teams as consulting members.¡±

    ¡°Then let them.¡± Six said with a shrug. ¡°Let each individual who wants to lead a team do so, and if

    someone is chosen to be a subordinate member of more than one team, then the only thing that should

    constrain them from serving on every team they¡¯re invited to is the tournament organizers¡¯ ability to

    manage the scheduling and the logistics. The same¡¯s true of the number of teams you¡¯ll allow to

    with entrants who have no real hope of winning. But I think that every team that has any real chance at

    winning should be allowed topete, if it¡¯s practical to hold the tournament with that many entrants.

    Same with the permitted number of team members; if you can handle theplexity of it, let each

    team leader have as many team members as they wish.

    ¡°The only important thing is that we have the most provably capablemand team in ce when we

    fight the demons. All else is details. And beyond that, I truly respect the determination of the gods to

    not control or rule the mortals of Keran, but it¡¯s a luxury that we may not always be able to afford. If it

    bes obvious to you in the midst of war that we need you to takemand in order to avoid

    disaster, then I expect you to fulfill your responsibilities and takemand. As I said, we need to have

    our best where they can do the most good, mortal or divine. I think the Triax¡¯ culture is very effective

    that way.¡±

    ¡°Hmph.¡± Amirgath snorted. ¡°That may be the first time that a mortal has asked a god to exert authority

    while having no real religious sentiment, no hero worship, and no emotional exaltation of our power at

    all. Simply recognizing that we are more capable, and asking out of practicality. It¡¯s very refreshing.¡±

 Chapter 100

    Chapter 100

    Part 16

    ¡°Meritocracy is the most just method of choosing leadership.¡± Karz insisted. ¡°Perhaps in peacetime, the

    huge difference in power and perception between gods and mortals may make it less practical for the

    gods to exert direct leadership over mortals. But those considerations fade to insignificance during

    warfare for the survival of Keran. Under battle conditions amander needs to be able to assess,

    react,municate, make decisions, and issuemands as quickly as possible and with the greatest

    awareness possible, and by those criteria, there¡¯s no doubt that the gods should make better

    ¡°That¡¯s the other side of the coin.¡± Val interjected. ¡°Unless yourmand ability is vastly superior to

    that of any mortal and is urgently needed at the time, it may be better to leave a mortal inmand so

    as to not waste any of your immense potential as front-line fighters.¡±

    ¡°Personally, I think you should all take part in the tournament, if that¡¯s possible.¡± Fire stated. ¡°And

    regardless of whether or not you¡¯re inmand, the rest of us need to know exactly what you¡¯re

    capable of. About how many average Journeyman wizards is a god equal to on the field of battle? Or

    how many well-equipped soldiers, or ships full of sailors? What spells can you cast, and how quickly,

    and how many at once?

    ¡°Because there are three broad choices for you when the wares; either you¡¯ll actpletely

    independently from us, or you¡¯llmand us, or you¡¯ll be under ourmand through the Assembly

    and military structure of The Just Alliance. You tried acting independently during the first demon war,

    and look what that got you; you lost the chance for victory early in the war because there were people

    in the way when you could have sted the demons to bits otherwise. Any rational assessment of that

    war has to conclude that your conduct during the entire affair was far less than optimum. And that¡¯s

    putting it as politely as it¡¯s possible to say it.

    ¡°So, you should all decide now; either try formand and enter the tournament, or give us enough

    information on your abilities to allow us to effectivelymand you. At the very least we¡¯ll need far

    more effectivemunication and co-ordination between the gods and mortals than we hadst time.¡±

    ¡°To be honest, we still don¡¯t know our capabilities.¡± Falgaroth exined. ¡°In all of history, the first

    demon war was the only asion when any of us truly exerted ourselves, and even then we were very

    careful not to tear reality. None of us had ever done it, and we thought it might destroy all of reality in

    an unending chain reaction if we did. So none of the gods have ever fought one another, and only the

    demons ever presented any challenge to our power.

    ¡°Now we know from the Triax that tears in reality are self-limiting and self-healing. Almost every one of

    the gods of the Triax have utilized far more power on one asion by themselves than all of the gods

    of Keran exerted together at any given time during the first demon war. That is despite the fact that

    Triax gods inherently have far less power as individuals than we do, because of the fundamental

    differences in their natures. Most of their biggest battles have been fought in the deep void, far from

    any inhabited world, and they¡¯ve been willing to strike with their utmost, and to cause immense tears in

    reality in doing so.

    ¡°We have been carefully testing our limitations in co-operation with the Triax, but it¡¯s difficult to do so in

    a way that would not be obvious to the demons, even at their great distance. And we don¡¯t want them

    to know our true abilities until we strike them.

    ¡°Beyond that, we know with great certainty that your father and others will soon be joining us in divinity,

    and that will change the bnce of power and influence among our pantheon immensely. So it¡¯s

    difficult to say whether we¡¯ll lead, follow, or fight independently.

    ¡°Be assured that we won¡¯t make the same mistakes we madest time. However we proceed, our

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    every major action will be fully discussed and agreed upon by The Assembly and the military

    ¡°For now, we assume that the war will begin in the void, and will be conducted there by the Triax, the

    gods, and the senior mortal spell casters. We hope that it can be ended there, without directly affecting

    Keran or any of the mortals on it.

    ¡°If the demons reach Keran while warfare still continues in the void, we expect that most gods and

    the Triax will continue fighting in the void, while a few of us and a few gods of the Triax will join all

    mortal Kerani in defending the world.

    ¡°If all of the demons reach Keran, all of us and the gods of the Triax will fight them here, while the

    mortal Triax fire down upon the demons from their worldlets in the void.¡±

    ¡°Your ns are about to change.¡± Six firmly stated, and cast a detailed cut-away model Illusion of The

    Void Hunter, while psionicly revealing to the gods and Zarkog the details of its workings. ¡°I intend that

    we¡¯ll have several million of these built and staffed with trained crew within the next ten months. With

    these, the people of Keran will be able to bring most of our Strike Force to bear against the demons

    in the void, and if the fightes to Keran, these will make fine aerial dreadnoughts.¡±

    ¡°This is most strange.¡± Amirgath growled.

    ¡°Oh? How so?¡± Six asked, considering the model anew.

    ¡°Not that.¡± Amirgath stated as he looked at each of the four youngsters and Zarkog in turn. ¡°That is

    actually brilliant work, so much so that I wondered if you were Candidates for Divinity, and I checked

    you for it. I cannot tell. I have never encountered any beings like you, though you share traits with your

    father and with Glup of the Zurb. You may be Candidates, but if so, you are unlike any that have been

    before.

    ¡°Zarkog, you are most definitely a Candidate, but I cannot tell how strong your Candidacy is or how

    soon you may ascend. That may be due to the unique influences of these four youths.¡±

    ¡°With respect, Lord, I doubt it. My interaction with them has been minimal, and I doubt very much that

    their mere presence could cloud your evaluation. I think it far more likely that it is my own unique

    characteristics that have led to your uncertainty. As you will assist me, so I will share all with you, so

    that you may evaluate the question further.¡±

    Even Amirgath required almost two full seconds to take aplete Reading of Zarkog.

    ¡°I am impressed.¡± Amirgath stated. ¡°Though the strength of your Candidacy is no more clear, I am very

    impressed. If my religion were still intact, I would make you my First Disciple. As things are, I offer you

    my friendship.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, My Lord.¡± Zarkog replied, and bowed his head a little deeper than he had thest time.

    ¡°I¡¯m curious, Amirgath.¡± Fire giggled. ¡°If I share all with you, will you offer me your friendship?¡±

    ¡°That would depend on how impressive you are.¡± Amirgath replied, with a chuckle of his own. ¡°And I

    would refuse your offer until after the tournament. Since I am alreadymitted to helping Zarkog with

    that, it would be unjust of me to do so. If I gave Zarkog what I learned from you, it would be unjust to

    you, and if I failed to do so, it would be unjust to him.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Then I¡¯ll have to wait until after the tournament.¡± she grinned. ¡°Thank you for your most honorable

    response.

    ¡°You¡¯re a very incredible being, Amirgath, and while we¡¯d like to get to know all the gods eventually,

    your status as the second-eldest god, and the eldest that we can actuallymunicate with effectively,

    along with the strong possibility that you¡¯re the most powerful of the gods, make you especially

    fascinating to us. Besides, you¡¯re the most beautiful dragon, mortal or divine.

    ¡°Like most of the gods, as well as the eldest of the mortals of the long-lived races, your exploits have

    never been well-known outside your own race, and even to most of the dragons your adventures have

    been lost to the far-distant past.

 Chapter 101

    Chapter 101

    Part 16

    ¡°After the demon war, and before we go to hunt them in the void, we intend to publicize a great many of

    the achievements of those who are Great Elders, including the gods. We''ll start with Somonik, who is

    Most Noble, at least as far as we know, though I doubt very much that we¡¯ll find anyone who can match

    his record of altruism and self-sacrifice, even among the gods.

    ¡°There¡¯s too much history for any mortal to learn all of it, but still, we think that the most important

    events of the distant past should be known, so that those of us of every race who are younger can

    enjoy and learn from those great histories.¡±

    ¡°A most admirable n.¡± Amirgath admitted with a smile. ¡°And I am very surprised that you are so

    eager to have my friendship, considering that I and my faction supported Zarkog against your father

    and The Just Alliance during the War of The Founding.¡±

    Fire shrugged. ¡°We know you were doing what you thought was right for your people and for all

    Kerani. And your positions make a lot of sense to those who know how to think like a dragon.¡±

    ¡°And you know how to think like a dragon?¡± Amirgath asked in amused surprise.

    Fire shrugged again. ¡°Me and Six became fully psionic while still in the womb, and one night while our

    parents were sleeping we sent our awareness out and went exploring. I met the mind of a Sylvan, and

    he attacked me. I didn¡¯t know what I was doing because I was still an unborn babe, so I broke his mind

    rather thoroughly in defending myself, and I took all that I found there. While I was doing that, Six met

    the mind of Kragorram, broke his shields, and took all that he had. Since we were still so undeveloped,

    these experiences had a far more powerful effect on us than they would have otherwise. And Six and I

    fully share all that we are. So yes, I know how to think like a dragon.¡±

    She resumed her fiery-looking dragon Simcrum in a quick sh and continued in Grand High

    Draconian. ¡°And we know how to converse properly in The True Tongue as well.¡± she snarled.

    ¡°Well spoken.¡± Amirgath observed in the samenguage, and turned to Quewanak.

    ¡°You have remained uncharacteristically quiet on this asion. I wonder how much of these

    youngsters¡¯ development is your doing?¡±

    ¡°Almost none.¡± Quewanak stated, a bit smugly. ¡°I have spent about two hours training them in their

    dreams, but it was nothing that I could not have aplished in a month as a mortal before my long

    slumber. And I have given them a few hours of conventional training. Still, they are my prot¨¦g¨¦s, even

    more so than their parents, so I thought to let them make their own impression on this asion.¡±

    ¡°And they have.¡± Amirgath chuckled. ¡°Even without Reading them, they are impressive. more so

    considering their ages. While I doubt that they will win the tournament, I will admit that they do seem to

    be legitimate contenders. And that is high praise for beings such as these.¡±

    Surprisingly, Falgaroth suddenly grew blue dragon wings and held his tail out almost horizontally so

    that he could properlymunicate the bodynguage of Draconian while he psionicly ¡®spoke¡¯ that

    tongue. ¡°They are magnificent, the four of them. They cast a great shadow on the future, I can see that

    much quite clearly. But not much else concerning them.¡±

    Not to be outdone, Visinniria cast a small white simplified dragon figure only a meter long beside her to

    convey Draconian gestures, but managed to reproduce the difficult vocalponent with no apparent

    magical augmentation at all. Seldom had that snarling, growlingnguage been pronounced by such a

    high-pitched voice, but she was very fluent and easily understandable.

    ¡°It is as if the four of them are a nexus, all on their own.¡± she dered. ¡°Everything and everyone they

    apprehended every murderer who was atrge, and in two days it will have eliminated uwful murder

    anticipate that urring any time soon. It is truly original, brilliant, and vicious spellcraft. As well as

    being fiendishlyplex.

    ¡°Their second act in the wider world was this meeting with Zarkog, and see what has be of it. All

    of us have been affected, and we will initiate their tournament at their request, which may significantly

    alter the bnce of power on Keran. Simply because it is such a good idea. They are the only official

    Governors serving on Keran right now, since that term has fallen out of favor in political circles over

    thest few centuries, so I suggest we call it The Tournament of Governors, in their honor.¡±

    ¡°I agree.¡± Amirgath stated with some obvious amusement, then addressed Six.

    ¡°I feel that this meeting is almost at an end. There are still almost ten hours remaining before the

    scheduled meeting of The Assembly of The Just Alliance. I am curious; what will you do during that

    time?¡±

    Six resumed his dragon simcrum and continued the use of theirnguage. ¡°We will have a meeting

    with Father, Povon, and Zwak Deathbringer, since he is still the administrator of the position of Prince

    of The Sylvan Nation, even if he does not actually hold the position anymore. We will consult with those

    three and borrow some money from our parents, then we will go to Serminak and take over the youth

    training programs there. We will reconfigure them to match what we have on Hiliani. Once we have

    them running reliably, we will expand them to include as many of the adult Sylvan as we can entice to

    join. Hopefully all of them. That will also relieve the social pressure that has been building since the

    Sylvan started losing everything to a fourteen-year-old gnome.¡±

    ¡°And meeting that gnome is high on my list of interesting things I want to do!¡± Fire growled

    enthusiastically. ¡°Since he is presently Prince of The Sylvan Nation, I hope he will be at the Assembly

    tonight!¡±

    ¡°I imagine that the encounter may prove to be quite amusing.¡± Visinniria opined, and added an elven

    ¡°Can I have a hug?¡± Val asked in Common, smiling and holding her arms out.

    ¡°You may!¡± Visinniriaughed and stepped over to hug the girl. Six and Fire changed back to

    Simcrums of their normal selves and joined their hug, as did Karz in his small and fuzzy

    Simcrum.

    ¡°Until tonight then.¡± Visinniria smiled as she stepped back, then disappeared.

    ¡°Thanks, that was really nice!¡± Val stated. Though the goddess was already gone, she didn¡¯t even raise

    her voice. She knew she¡¯d been heard.

    ¡°It¡¯s been an honor meeting you all.¡± Six stated with a polite bow. ¡°Amirgath, Falgaroth, it¡¯s been

    wonderful sharing your presence and speaking with you. We thank you most sincerely for agreeing to

    organize the tournament.

    ¡°Zarkog, it¡¯s been most interesting. While I doubt we will be close friends due to your being responsible

    for the deaths of our rtives, you are serving your sentence responsibly, so I¡¯ll strive to forgive you

    and let the past be the past. You¡¯re a being of incredible capability and you¡¯re obviously Keran¡¯s pre-

    eminent astronomer, and it¡¯s been a pleasure to meet you. Good luck in the tournament.¡±

    ¡°I agree; it has been most interesting.¡± Zarkog replied in Draconian. ¡°You three are the first humanoids I

    have met who truly intrigue me. By your fundamental natures, you are as distinct from other humanoids

    as giants are from gnomes; that is obvious in your auras. Though it is still a difficult concept for me to

    ept, I do grant that you may ce highly in the tournament, and I wish you good fortune in it. I offer

    my sincere thanks for your conception and initiation of The Tournament of Governors, and for your

    invitation to me to take part.¡±

    He turned to Karzog and considered him for a moment before he spoke. ¡°I will give you this truth; You

    were conceived at the suggestion and under the direction of Kirimgat The Ice, who resides in North

    Eastern Xervia, and he is a prominent Draconian researcher of Healing and rted matters. He asked

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    to be allowed to initiate the process at my next mating, as an experiment. I allowed it out of curiosity,

    since it did not inconvenience me. Some eight dayster he examined Tekritimaki and reported that the

    procedure had been sessful, and he took no further interest beyond that.

 Chapter 102

    Chapter 102

    Part 16

    ¡°I gave no parental attention or affection to any of my offspring. I have no emotional inclination to do so,

    and it would only have made them a target for dominance and maniption by those who sought

    influence with me. I had nned to continue that policy in regards to you, but I was confident that you

    would quickly rise through the ranks on your own merit.

    ¡°I had nned that when you became First me; which was second-inmand in my power

    structure, I would either kill you in order to eliminate the only true contender for my power, or take you

    under my wing as my prot¨¦g¨¦, and be your mentor in order to ensure the continuation of my

    efforts in case I should fall to the demons. I would have taken a deep Reading of you in order to judge

    your loyalty, and based my decision on the result.

    ¡°Beyond that, I gave the matter no further thought until you arrived here today. And now my ns are

    moot. But I find that meeting you and speaking to you gives me a feeling of¡­ pride, I think. As well,

    though it may have been happenstance, your visit here today has led to my meeting and gaining the

    sponsorship of Holy Amirgath, and that is the finest treasure I have ever received.

    ¡°I am not offering to act as your parent, and I am certain that you do not wish it in any case. But if you

    wish to meet and speak again, I would wee that. I am always here. Until the tournament, that is.¡±

    ¡°Huh. Perhaps I will, some time.¡± Karz allowed. ¡°After the tournament.¡±

    He paused and puffed a bit of ck smoke before he continued. ¡°It is not ttering to know that I was

    conceived as a research experiment, but it is better than thinking that I was the result of some

    nefarious machination of yours.

    ¡°Come what may, I am certain we will meet again soon, due to the tournament and the uing war.

    Fare well until then.¡±

    Zarkog gave him a respectful nod, which was returned. Val and the twins gave another bow, then the

    four youngsters ended their Simcrums.

    Falgaroth considered Zarkog. ¡°You¡¯reing along well enough.¡± he judged, and disappeared.

    ¡°Zarkog.¡± Quewanak nodded.

    ¡°Quewanak.¡± Zarkog nodded in return. ¡°I am not surprised to learn that you have Ascended. You

    reached the eldest age ever attained by any Draconian mortal, and six of the previous eldest nine

    became gods. I expect that I will also Ascend soon, within ten years at most.¡±

    ¡°I agree. And as Zwak said, your astronomies have shown us that all of Keran is ying in a greater

    game now. It is a new age. We will let the past be the past.¡±

    ¡°I agree.¡± Zarkog nodded, and gave him the bow to a military superior.

    Quewanak knew that it was as close to an apology as he was ever going to get from Zarkog. So he

    returned the bow, and disappeared.

    Alone with his new student, Amirgath considered Zarkog for a moment before he spoke. ¡°We have both

    changed a great deal since taking the vow of justice on Falgaroth¡¯s stone. But there is no reason for us

    to be any less for it.¡±

    ¡°I agree, Lord. I have been concentrating on astronomy and biding my time since my recent fall, but this

    tournament presents a most unexpected opportunity.¡±

    ¡°It does. And though I have offered you my friendship, know that I have offered to help you for the sake

    of my Draconian pride. If one mortal is to rule all of Keran, I prefer that it be one of us, and you are

    still the most capable dragon. If you thought I chose to help you for more personal or sentimental

    reasons, I am sorry to disappoint you. My friendship is sincere, but that has nothing to do with making

    you ruler of Keran.¡±

    ¡°On the contrary, my Lord. Choosing a potential ruler for Keran should never be left to sentiment, and

    I deeply dislike every instance of the emotion. To the strong goes the prize, now as always. Let the

    sentimentalfort the weak.¡±

    ¡°Excellent.¡± the eldest of the dragon gods dered with the Draconian equivalent of a grin. ¡°Then we

    begin¡­

    PART 17

    The four young Governors emerged from Translocation in the earliest childhood home Karz

    remembered; The Lair of The Lord Regent. The actual den they arrived in was Povon and Kragorram¡¯s

    home in Serminak, but it was only a small part of theplex that was The Lair, which included the

    smallerplex that was The Lair of The Prince of Serminaki Draconia, where Kragorram and his staff

    attended to his governmental responsibilities. The offices of The Prince of The Sylvan Nation were also

    housed here.

    All of it had been excavated and constructed out of the mountain of g and rubble that had once been

    Zarkog¡¯sir, before the recent war. The entire instation was the product of Kragorram¡¯s engineering,

    Povon¡¯s d¨¦cor design, and theirbined architecture. They had insisted it be so, in order to ¡®put their

    mark on things¡¯.

    ¡°Wow, nice ce!¡± Firemented after taking a look around. Though built to dragons¡¯ huge

    dimensions, it seemed far more a pce than a den; with huge straight-walled rooms, doors that

    opened and closed onmand, and fine furniture sized and shaped for those of every race scattered

    about in odd groupings, some of which sat on shelves on the walls that were essed by stairways

    and ramps with no handrails. It was predominantly white marble with red streaks, ented with orange

    marble with ck streaks. The furniture was mostly Elven Redwood, grown into shape and padded

    with upholstery cushions adorned with magnificent embroideries and tapestries of scenery and

    cityscapes from all over Serminak.

    They sent their parents a quick psionic note saying where they were, and asking to meet them there

    when it was convenient.

    All five of their parents appeared less than half a minuteter.

    ¡°Sorry to keep you waiting, my son.¡± Povon told Karz with a grin and a quick hug, which seemed like a

    strange mannerism for dragons, but they both obviously enjoyed the embrace.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be silly, Mother.¡± Karz chuckled. ¡°We know you¡¯re all busy now that you¡¯re out in the world again,

    Please check at N/?vel(D)rama.Org.

    and it was only five breaths anyway. You could have taken hours if you wanted. We¡¯d have gotten

    started without you.¡±

    ¡°Oh I¡¯m sure you would have, and while I do trust you, my love, I think I¡¯d like to be able to keep an eye

    on you while youpletely disrupt and rebuild the entire social order of my continent!¡± Povon

    pleasantly retorted.

    ¡°Fine work on the Punishment Cube spells, by the way.¡± Mark grinned as he scooped his daughters up

    in his arms and gave them each a kiss on the cheek. ¡°I really am incredibly impressed.¡±

    ¡°It must be a veryplex spell-set.¡± Alilia smiled as she gave Six a quick hug. ¡°How many spells are

    in it?¡±

    ¡°Two thousand, seven hundred and six.¡± Val proudly announced. ¡°In up to sixyers. That is, sub-spells

    of sub-spells, up to sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-spells. Plus of course there¡¯s two thousand, seven hundred

    and six fail-safes, one for each of the functional spells. If even one sub-spell doesn¡¯t work right, its fail-

    safe will turn the whole thing off and alert us. That¡¯s to make it tamper-proof, mostly. I wouldn¡¯t use that

    many fail-safes just to be sure of the spells.¡±

    ¡°Is this a secure facility?¡± Six asked as the group ambled over to the nearest grouping of furniture.

    ¡°That is, can anyone overhear us right now?¡±

    ¡°The possibility is extremely remote, though of course it always exists.¡± Povon conceded. ¡°And of

    course, none of us can be sure if we can maintain an effective Privacy Shield against the gods, so they

    might always be listening. We can block them from our minds, if we use enough power, thanks to

    Quewanak¡¯s psionic techniques. But we¡¯re not sure if we could effectively protect an entire facility like

    this that way.¡±

    ¡°We can¡¯t even be sure if we can block them from our minds.¡± Fire insisted. ¡°For one thing, there¡¯s gods

    of every race, including most if not all of the hidden races, and we don¡¯t even know what all of those

    races are yet. Who knows what their gods can do? Not to mention that gods are as unique and

    individual as mortals are, we sure learned that today. Quewanak and Amirgath are both dragon gods,

    but they might as well be different races for how different they are, and their capabilities are just as

    different. That¡¯s obvious even without Reading them.¡±

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    ¡°Well now I¡¯m very curious!¡± Talia chuckled. ¡°How is it that you got to know Amirgath?¡±

    ¡°Oh, we were talking about asking him and maybe some of the other gods to do something for us, and

    he showed up and said they would.¡± Fire giggled. ¡°Along with Quewanak, Falgaroth and Visinniria. I

    Content (C) N?v/elDra/ma.Org.

    think they¡¯re giving us quite a lot of their attention, though it might have been because we were chatting

    with Zarkog at the time.¡±

    ¡°And you¡¯re doing a fine job of seeming nonchnt about it, too.¡± Markughed as he set her down.

    ¡°Are you going to tell us about it, or just keep us in suspense with cryptic hints?¡±

    ¡°Well I¡¯d sure like to, but it would take a while and we still have things to do before the Assembly

    meeting tonight. So here;¡± Six grinned as the children Linked with their parents and shared the

    experience, and gave them a moment to consider it.

    ¡°I hope you don¡¯t mind that we n to take over running the world from you after we win the

    tournament.¡± Val giggled to Mark as she hugged his thigh. ¡°But really, you don¡¯t seem that interested in

    running it anyway. Will you even enter the tournament?¡±

    ¡°More important than that, will you speak in the Assembly in favor of letting the winner of the

    tournament assume the leadership of The Just Alliance?¡± Six insistently inquired.

    ¡°Well.¡± Mark said with a proud smile, and paused before he continued. ¡°I suppose I¡¯ll have to field a

    team. My supporters wouldn¡¯t stand for it if I didn¡¯t.

    ¡°And I¡¯m going to suggest that we hold the tournament, then ask the Assembly if they¡¯ll approve the

    winner as Leader, and if they agree, then we¡¯ll ask the people. All of them. If there¡¯s strong support for it

    all the way down the line, then I¡¯ll go along with it and give the new Leader my full and honest support.

    And that¡¯s all I¡¯m willing tomit to.

    ¡°Even with the gods running the tournament, and even with all of them sworn to justice, it¡¯s still too big

    a risk to guarantee that the winner will get the Leadership. If Zarkog or Zwak Deathbringer or someone

    like that wins, and a major part of the Assembly or the poption disagree with it, it could throw

    everything into chaos just when we¡¯re facing the demons. There¡¯s no use having the most technically

    qualified Leader if no one wants to follow him. Then you just have amander, and maybe a bunch

    of disobedient or mutinous subordinates.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Good points there, Father.¡± Six nodded. ¡°So really, if we want to lead The Just Alliance, we have to

    win the tournament, and before the tournament is held, we need to win over the Assembly and the

    popce.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s about it, Son.¡± Mark chuckled as he gave the boy a pat on the back and a momentary firm rub.

    ¡°We¡¯ll definitely need a nning session on that.¡± Fire decided, then changed the subject.

    ¡°How are your efforts at recovering innocent people¡¯s propertying along?¡±

    ¡°The process is running, the teams are working, and we can take our attention from it for now.¡± Povon

    told her. ¡°Over half the cases have already been dealt with.¡±

    ¡°Which brings us to your ns for the Sylvan, I think.¡± Alilia interjected with a smile. ¡°I¡¯m interested in

    how you think you¡¯ll pull it off. You managed to control the Sylvan youth on Hiliani by overwhelming

    them psionicly. But as formidable as you are that way, I don¡¯t see how you could do it to four billion of

    them.¡±

    ¡°We won¡¯t have to.¡± Val chuckled. ¡°We¡¯re only epting volunteers this time. And even if most of them

    y in The Game of Status, they are sworn to justice on the Truthstone, unlike the Hiliani Sylvan. So

    all we have to do is get them to promise to follow the rules, and they¡¯ll have to do it because of their

    vow on the stone. We¡¯ll hire good psionics to supervise things, plus we¡¯ll have a lot of big automated

    spells helping to keep things running smoothly.

    ¡°The really hard part will be lining up enough Healers to work the challenge arenas, but I have an idea

    for that too. Automated Healing spells. It¡¯s still tooplicated to make a spell-set that can rece a

    Healer in most situations because diagnosis is so hard, but I think we can make one that observes

    what happens in the challenge arena and notes exactly what injuries are inflicted. Then it¡¯ll know

    exactly what to do at the end of the match, because it¡¯ll know it only has to reverse the injuries that it

    just saw inflicted.

    ¡°Come to think of it, if we can do that, we can cast an automated Healing spell on every soldier that

    Heals every wound they take in battle as soon as it¡¯s inflicted. That would work really good. It¡¯d be like

    Father¡¯s Resurrection spell, except it wouldn¡¯t wait until you were dead before it saved you.¡±

    She took a short pause before she continued. ¡°Wow. That¡¯s a really good idea, if I say so myself. I can

    do it too, both of ¡®em, the one for the arenas and the one for the soldiers. Mind you, the one for the

    soldiers won¡¯t be as necessary once everyone has magic and knows how to Heal themselves, but

    that¡¯ll still take a while, and this could be really quick. We can have it cast on every fighter in the world

    by tonight, about an hour after we get it started copying itself.¡±

    She nced around at Karz and the twins. ¡°I¡¯ll need your help, of course, but I know how to do it. I just

    figured it out.¡±

    ¡°After the Sylvan project, before the campaign to win support for our leadership.¡± Six nodded.

    ¡°And after the meeting of The Assembly, probably.¡± Karz pointed out. ¡°We have nine hours before the

    meeting, and we¡¯ll be lucky to get the basic structure of the training program in ce by then. And that

    only if we get started soon.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right.¡± Six nodded, and turned to Povon. ¡°If this works as good as we hope it will, and we get

    most of the Sylvan and all the most violent Serminaki dragons, we¡¯ll need a lot ofnd, but thatnd

    shoulde avable as trainees join the program. We¡¯ll just expand our area of control into where

    they live and convert their existing facilities, so they won¡¯t have to move. But we¡¯ll definitely need to

    work with you and Zwak Deathbringer on the logistics of all this.¡±

    Povon was about to speak when Alilia interjected. ¡°Excuse me, I know I have no legal standing in this

    conversation. Mark is Lord of Serminak, and it¡¯s his decision as to what goes on here, while Povon,

    Kragorram, and Zwak have actually been running things. But they¡¯ve only had to maintain the systems

    that Zarkog built over hundreds of years, with minor adaptations.

    ¡°What you¡¯re talking about is a dramatic re-organization of the lives of billions of Sylvan and dragons in

    only a few days. This makes the work you did on Hiliani seem like an infant¡¯s project.

    ¡°Now, I am by far the most experienced ruler here. And I don¡¯t think you¡¯vepletely thought it

    through.

    ¡°Val¡¯s Healing spells need to be in ce before you even start recruiting, and so do a great many other

    matters. The Sylvan on Hiliani lived as simple hunter-gatherers. You almostpletely reced that

    work with automated spells when you took them into your training program, so you could keep them

    fed. But there¡¯s nothing to hunt or gather on Serminak; the continent subsists on huge andplex

    systems of fishing, farming and livestock. As impressive as you are, I doubt very much that you can run

    all those systems with automated spells.

    ¡°You¡¯ll need to have every bit of your nningpleted before you begin to act on this. You¡¯ll have to

    make sure that you still have systems in ce to provide all the material needs of your trainees, and

    you have to make sure all the maths of it bnce, with a healthy safety margin. Managing the transition

    from one system to another will be the most difficult part of the project, when you¡¯ll be dismantling

    systems at the same time that you¡¯re building new ones, while still keeping the products of those

    systems flowing without interruption. Any break in the flow of work due to mistakes, mis-

    everything backs up and piles up upstream of the break, while those downstream from the break

    experience sudden shortages.

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    ¡°Now, I assume that you mean to recruit trainees with public Revealings. Those should be done in

    Content (C) N?v/elDra/ma.Org.

    three stages. The first would announce that you¡¯ll be initiating the new system and show the benefits

    and attractions of your program, to build interest without announcing when your opening day will be.

    That should be the first thing you work on. Once your nning is advanced enough that you can say

    with confidence when you can start operations and how many recruits you can take in the initial

    opening, you can say so with your second stage of Revealings. After you¡¯ve begun operations you

    release your third stage Revealings to recruit for your expansion.¡±

    After a moment, Fireughed, then spoke. ¡°And of course, the sentence you were too polite to add is;

    ¡®And while you¡¯re at it, you might want to reconsider whether you really are experienced and mature

    enough to rule Keran¡¯!¡±

    ¡°Just so.¡± Alilia nodded with a smile.

    ¡°I understand your concern.¡± Six smiled. ¡°We should have rified what we have nned already. I

    admit that we¡¯ve been keeping things to ourselves a lottely, and maybe we¡¯ve been overdoing it. But

    we knew that when we left the time-bubble, we¡¯d suddenly be psionicly aware of a lot more, maybe

    even everything in the world, like Quewanak could do even when he was still a mortal. And we knew

    that unless we were very disciplined, a great many powerful psionicists in the world would suddenly

    be aware of us. To young psionicists like ourselves, who grew up in psionic istion, both those

    thoughts were somewhat intimidating. And both those things have happened. We¡¯re not aware of

    everything in the world yet, but we keep seeing and feeling and hearing things from all over the world,

    and we¡¯ve been probed several hundred times already. That we¡¯re aware of. We¡¯ve blocked all the

    probes, as far as we know, but the experience has perhaps left us a bit paranoid. So maybe we¡¯ve

    overdone it on keeping things private.

    ¡°Anyway, our obvious first step as far as we can see is to convert Zwak¡¯s existing training programs for

    unruly young Sylvan over to our system, and that¡¯s all that we nned to aplish today. As for the

    rest; as I¡¯ve said, we knew we¡¯d need Zwak and Povon¡¯s help with all the logistics. I¡¯ll admit that if you¡¯d

    not spoken we¡¯d probably have found those logistics to be a moreplex problem than we expected,

    but I think we know when to seek the assistance of others and when to delegate, as well as when to act

    ourselves. Perhaps we¡¯re not ready to rule the world, but we still think we are, and we¡¯ll know one way

    or another after the tournament.

    ¡°Good point by the way on getting Val¡¯s Healing spells finalized before we begin operations. If we¡¯re

    going to use them, and we are, we should use them from the beginning. We had nned to use other

    methods that would have worked, at least for the systems we¡¯re putting in ce today, but you¡¯re right;

    it¡¯s a smarter order of operations to go with our best methods initially when it¡¯s practical to do so, rather

    than following through on an existing n and then altering it after with new and improved methods.¡±

    ¡°Well spoken.¡± Aliliaughed. ¡°You¡¯ve obviously thought this through a bit more thoroughly than you

    made it seem before. Still, I think the advice of the point I was trying to make is still valid; Don¡¯t be in

    too much of a hurry. You¡¯re capable of aplishing things much faster than most anyone else, I grant

    you that, but don¡¯t overdo it to the point where you¡¯re creating problems for yourselves.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s good advice, and I thank you, Heart-Mother.¡± Six said with a bit of a bow. ¡°We¡¯ll try to heed it, and

    hope that any problems we create by working so fast are more than bnced by the benefits of doing

    so, which will be many and obvious.¡±

    He turned to his father. ¡°To be honest, I¡¯m d we won¡¯t be running the world over the next six weeks.

    Because we¡¯re obviously going to upset a great deal of The Just Alliance¡¯s recently-established social

    order. Other than the obvious changes we n to make in Serminak; it¡¯s obvious to me that in two

    weeks, Val here will be the most influential person in the world, as far as initiating rapid change goes.

    Her talent with automated spells is really taking off, and she¡¯ll change everything with them. With the

    spell-set she conceived of just now, along with the solution to the longevity and wizardry problems that

    Hilsith and all of us came up with on Hiliani, most of the Healers in the world will soon be out of work.

    ¡°Do you think she¡¯s paying any attention to this conversation right now? She¡¯s not, or not very much.

    Ever since Alilia said she doubted that we could run the continent¡¯s food production systems with

    automated spells, Val¡¯s taken it as a challenge. Her awareness is out there right now,piling a list of

    every task performed in agriculture here, along with the procedures used. If she concentrates on it, I¡¯d

    guess it will take her less than six hours to have the basics of the spell design finished. Then she¡¯ll

    need our help to build up all theplexities of the actual casting without taking a year at it, but she

    could do it all herself if she took the time, and we couldn¡¯t.

    ¡°I¡¯d guess that in six weeks, by the time we take part in the tournament, she might be able to do all the

    work that gets done by everyone in every society on Keran with automated spells. If she decides to

    profit from her work, which is her right, she could own a significant portion of everything by the time the

    entire economic system copses. And it won¡¯t matter when it does. With her work, we¡¯ll be able to put

    every living able-bodied person on the fighting line against the demons if we have to. And after we beat

    the demons, the entire world will enter a new age of leisure,pletely free of any unpleasant work.

    Thanks to Val.¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t need help with it anymore.¡± Val stated absent-mindedly as she stared off into space. ¡°I just

    came up with an automated spell to help me deal with theplexity ofpiling automated spells.

    And now that I think about it, I should be able to rece the entire military with an army of automated

    spells. I just need Father to teach me that thing he did to Zarkog with the energy collecting fields so I

    can power it all.¡±

    Everyone except her took a moment to consider the implications of that. She just kept working.

    ¡°Sweet Mother of All.¡± Mark muttered under his breath.

    Ne appeared before him, her gleaming ck hair flowing over a white gown. ¡°I keep telling you,

    that¡¯s an inurate term for me.¡± she giggled.

    ¡°And I keep telling you, I¡¯m still not used to there being real gods in the world, let alone having them

    appear when they¡¯re mentioned.¡± Mark chuckled. ¡°But it¡¯s good to see you, Ne.

    ¡°I¡¯m pleased for you to meet my children, and Povon and Kragorram¡¯s son.¡±

    Val turned her back to the goddess, and the distraction of her presence. ¡°Sorry, I¡¯ve gotta concentrate

    on this right now.¡± she muttered.

    ¡°Quite understandable; it¡¯splex and important work.¡± Ne nodded, and contained her aura out of

    consideration.

    ¡°May I ask how you know that it¡¯splex and important work?¡± Fire inquired.

    ¡°The second time I was Mark and Talia¡¯s lover, I shared all with them, and since then they have held no

    Shields against me, so I know what was just said here.¡± Ne exined.

    ¡°You shared all?¡± Fire marveled, then cocked an eyebrow at her mother. ¡°That must have been a lot to

    absorb.¡±

    ¡°Well of course we don¡¯t remember all of it.¡± Talia responded. ¡°But I retain her entire life as a mortal

    pretty well, and herst few years up to when she shared with us, and the important events in between.

    I¡¯d have had to cast a serious memory spell to retain it all, and with the skill I had then it would have

    taken an hour, and we were rather upied at the time. But yes, she shared all; I have no doubt of it.

    She¡¯s a good and loving person, and either very cautious or very indecisive, depending on your

    viewpoint on the matter.¡±

    Ne smiled and shrugged. ¡°I made a mistake when I was young as a goddess, and my people

    suffered for it for millennia, perhaps for eons indirectly, and I had to watch it all. There¡¯s no escaping

    your mistakes once you leave mortality behind.¡±

    ¡°What was the mistake?¡± Fire asked.

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    Ne considered her. ¡°I don¡¯t know you well enough to feelfortable with telling you that yet. And

    while I¡¯ve no wish to hurt your feelings, I¡¯ll be honest in telling you that I share such things with very few

    people. They must have certain characteristics that touch my heart, and from what I know of you, you

    don¡¯t have those characteristics. You¡¯re a good person, Helemia Longstrider, and admirable in every

    way. But Mark and Talia have a pure goodness of heart and a kind of simple brilliance that I find very

    attractive, whereas your mind has Sylvan and Draconian characteristics that give you a dark side that

    is¡­ not as cute as the rest of you, shall we say.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s understandable.¡± Fire grinned. ¡°I imagine that you didn¡¯t share their bed while the curse was

    upon them. Their dark side is somewhat distinct and artificial, whereas mine is a cherished part of my

    core. From the way your aura felt, you¡¯re a sweetie, and a softie, but neither of us are the type that

    would choose the other as a lover, or even as a personal deity. I¡¯m more attracted to Visinniria, Elven

    Goddess of War. On the other hand, I haven¡¯t met the human god of war yet, or the Sylvan or

    Draconian ones, so I¡¯m not choosing yet.¡±

    Ne gave a delightedugh. ¡°You¡¯re adorable, Princess Fire. But I¡¯m grateful that you¡¯re bound to

    justice on Falgaroth¡¯s stone. You might really be a problem, otherwise.¡±

    ¡°Why thank you Ne, I¡¯ll take that as apliment.¡± Fire grinned.

    ¡°Good.¡± Ne nced around the group with a smile. ¡°I just wanted you all to know that we of the gods

    are very proud of you for your aplishments in the time-bubble. And, we¡¯ve all heard what was said

    at the meeting at Zarkog¡¯s observatory today, and of course we¡¯re aware of your fine efforts to correct

    injustices this morning. Valentia¡¯s breakthroughs in automated spell casting are absolutely

    breathtaking, and I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll be fully as significant as Prince The Sixth here predicts.

    ¡°Creativity is the most crucial resource we have, and we of the gods have no more of it than mortals.

    Intellect, power, awareness, knowledge, ability, these we have in abundance, but without additional

    creativity, it¡¯s no easier for the gods to create new solutions and decide to implement them than it is for

    mortals. And as Mark so effectively pointed out once, being immortal is no guarantee of wisdom.

    Though having thousands or millions of years of experience can help with that, it can also produce

    stagnant and inflexible thought patterns.

    ¡°It takes millions of creative minds to build a new society for a poption asrge as Keran¡¯s, and we

    gods are still very few. It also takes a few geniuses with new creativity and new wisdom. In those

    respects, you are all among the best we have, and we cherish you.

    ¡°Therefore, many of us stand ready to provide you with further assistance, all of you, within reasonable

    limits. For assistance beyond reasonable limits, you¡¯ll need a consensus in The Assembly of The Just

    Alliance.¡±

    ¡°Wow.¡± Six marveled. ¡°We realize the full value of your offer, and we thank you and every other who

    offers us their assistance.¡±

    ¡°Well said, my son.¡± Mark nodded. ¡°You speak for all of us in that.¡±

    ¡°I for one ask for knowledge;¡± Six stated with a formal bow. ¡°And an intercession with the Triax; their

    gods and their people. I wish to know all that is known about travel, navigation, and warfare in the void.

    I don¡¯t want to start working on it for another eight days, but at that point I¡¯ll want to learn it as quickly

    as possible.¡±

    ¡°I share his request, and have no wish to dy starting work on it beyond tomorrow.¡± Kragorram stated.

    ¡°I am particrly interested in the Triax¡¯s knowledge of the construction and propulsion of void-craft. I¡¯m

    d we had the chance to design our craft in istion, as we may havee up with different

    solutions, but now that I have ess to it, I want their knowledge and the benefit of their experience.¡±

    ¡°I wish to learn from the gods and mortals who are most skilled at Shape-Shifting.¡± Fire stated.

    ¡°I wish to know, in full, the Prerequisites for Divinity.¡± Mark stated. ¡°All the gods are different, it seems,

    but there must be a set of standards that you use to decide who¡¯s Ascended and who hasn¡¯t.¡±

    A moment passed, but there were no more requests.

    Povon gave the dragon equivalent of a shrug. ¡°I think we can do everything else we want to do without

    the help of the gods. Maybe you could help us get it done a little quicker, but we¡¯re already worried

    about achieving things faster than we can properly manage the change, so we might as well pass on

    that.¡±

    ¡°Most excellent.¡± Ne stated with a smile. ¡°As you know, we still encourage mortals as a whole to be

    as self-sufficient as possible. Your requests are reasonable, easy to fulfill, and could only be granted by

    the gods, for the most part.¡±

    She addressed Fire and produced a small t oval silver te with several lines of text engraved on it.

    ¡°There¡¯s an abundance of knowledge about Shape-Shifting avable from mortals. I offer you the

    names and addresses of the most skilled twelve. If they cannot or will not give you the knowledge or

    techniques you need to fulfill your goal, whatever it may be, then call upon me again and I¡¯ll see what

    we can do.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Fire said with a military bow, then epted the te.

    ¡°The Prerequisites for Divinity, as they¡¯remonly known.¡± Ne said as she handed another

    engraved silver te to Mark. ¡°But the term is inurate. Only some of the gods have every single one

    of the Prerequisites, and almost all of them have other, individual abilities that are certainly divine in

    magnitude, yet are not considered Prerequisites. Often there¡¯s been debate among the pantheon as to

    Content ? provided by N?velDrama.Org.

    whether a Candidate has achieved divinity, and Glup of the Zurb is the final arbiter. Sometimes he¡¯ll

    decide when the question has barely been raised, and at other times he lets the rest reach consensus,

    and sometimes he lets the debate rage on until it¡¯s obvious that no consensus will be reached before

    he decides.¡±

    ¡°Then I¡¯d like to talk to him, if I can.¡± Mark said as he read the te. ¡°I understand that I¡¯ll need another

    god to trante for him, as well.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll pass on your request, though no one can say whether Glup will decide to ede to it. He wasn¡¯t

    one of the gods who offered to help you.¡± Ne told him, then turned to Kragorram and included Six

    with a look.

    ¡°I¡¯ll arrange for the gathering of the little knowledge we Kerani have of void warfare, and arrange for a

    liaison with one or more of the Triax to give you what they know of it. You¡¯ll be contacted to arrange a

    time and ce to meet once they¡¯ve decided who they¡¯ll send.

    ¡°You should understand that the techniques that the gods and the mortals of the Triax use for warfare

    in the void are usually very different. We anticipate that this will be true of the Kerani as well, so

    some of our gods have been learning from theirs the techniques that our mortals couldn¡¯t use.

    ¡°Also, Commander Yazadril had already arranged for a few of his bright young officers to learn mortal

    void warfare from the Triax some weeks before he entered the time-bubble, and he¡¯s actually receiving

    their report as we speak.

    ¡°However, many of us feel that the sessions with Yazadril¡¯s officers didn¡¯t go as well as we¡¯d hoped, so

    we certainly do encourage you to make the attempt again.

    ¡°The Triax think very strangely, and while Yazadril¡¯s officers were bright, it¡¯s difficult to pick students

    who are talented in a field that¡¯s new to our world. The mathematical requirement was especially

    troublesome, and unexpected. Not only did we learn that navigation in the void requires a surprisingly

    difficult level of mathematics in branches of the study that we haven¡¯t yet developed on Keran, but

    the numerical system of the Triax is based on the number three, rather than ten. Compared to our

    number system, when a Triax counts, it counts one, two, ten, eleven, twelve, twenty, twenty-one,

    twenty-two, one hundred, you understand? You may want to take a while to prepare yourselves for this

    before you meet them, and review the report of Yazadril¡¯s officers, in order to maximize the usefulness

    of the time you spend with the Triax.¡±

    ¡°Agreed, and thank you.¡± Kragorram nodded.

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    Part 17

    ¡°I cane up with a quick spell to convert their numbers to ours and back.¡± Six mused. ¡°After we¡¯ve

    reviewed the officers¡¯ report, we¡¯ll know what mathematics we have to review or learn.¡±

    ¡°Agreed.¡± Kragorram nodded again.

    There was silence for a moment, then Fire spoke.

    ¡°May I ask how you became a goddess?¡±

    Ne chuckled. ¡°Ah. You must understand that our race developed quite quickly for a naturally

    developed animal, in what was a very isted ce. The world was very empty then, and most of it

    was uninhabited by thinking beings. All of it was hunted by dragons, of course, but the hunting territory

    of a dragon is often many hundreds or thousands of square kilometers, and they already knew how to

    Translocate by then, so many didn¡¯t have a den in the territory they hunted. Sond that was included

    in such a territory was not always inhabited.

    ¡°So, we had almost forty thousand years of istion, and we learned that the secret to co-existing with

    dragons was to make sure that there was always something easier for them to hunt than us. So we

    made sure that there was always an abundance of undefended domesticated animals near us, and we

    defended ourselves vigorously. Under those conditions, few dragons would bother with us.

    ¡°But eventually, they spoke of us to the unicorns, who eventually investigated us, then made contact.

    Through The People of Morning, we learned of the other older intelligent races, and we learned that

    those races all had gods. And we didn¡¯t. What we wanted most of all was a god to protect us from the

    dragons. They usually took our animals rather than us, but dragon attacks were still the recurring and

    ongoing nightmare of our existence.

    ¡°We also learned of magic from the unicorns, but we werepletely incapable of learning or using

    their magics. None-the-less, based on their example, within a few decades one of us stumbled upon

    human magic powered by the heat of the stone rather than the light of the Source, as you say, and he

    became the first mage. His name was Beenbi, and I was his student and prot¨¦g¨¦. I became the first

    mage to extend my lifespan, but Beenbi died from sudden bleeding in the brain when he was only forty-

    seven.

    ¡°It was then thought by the unicorns and the other races that their magic came from their gods, and

    their gods were content to leave them with the facy. So when we discovered magic, we took it as

    certain evidence that a god of humans had ascended from some other, unknown tribe of humans

    elsewhere in the world. We rejoiced in knowing we were not alone, that there were others of us out

    there somewhere, and that we had our own deity, but it was all a facy. He or she was known to us

    then as the unknown god, and though we didn¡¯t know who we were praying to, we prayed anyway.

    ¡°I became the wisewoman and priestess of my tribe, which by then numbered over thirty thousand and

    had separated into sub-tribes, but we were still all in regr contact with each other. We supposed that

    our deity was testing us, and that he or she would be revealed to us when we were judged worthy. So I

    struggled mightily for more than two thousand years to increase my wisdom, my power, the prosperity

    of my people, and the devoutness of my faith in my goddess, for I was secretly convinced that she was

    female, though I had no evidence that it was so.

    ¡°There came a day when I was meditating in a ce that felt holy to me, I was holding all my power,

    and striving for perfection. I had been meditating there without moving for twenty-three days. And it

    just¡­ happened. I knew that I had changed fundamentally, and been improved dramatically, though I

    still didn¡¯t realize what had happened to me. So I called out to my goddess in a great wordless shout of

    joy and pleasure and fulfillment.

    ¡°I was answered by a goddess, but not the one I had expected. Instead there appeared before me

    Minatif, Second Goddess of The People of Morning, a very pretty chestnut unicorn with an obvious

    aura of divinity. She was there to trante for Glup of The Zurb, who had also appeared, and who

    promptly dered me the first goddess of humans, and disappeared. Luckily for me, Minatif stayed and

    exined the truth of things to me, and often helped me as I re-established myself over the next couple

    of millennia.

    ¡°I wish I could exin the process of achieving divinity more exactly, but for me, it was an entirely

    subconscious process that happened while I was trying to empty my mind of all thought.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Thank you.¡± Fire responded.

    ¡°You¡¯re most wee, and Val, yes you can all have a hug.¡±

    Valughed at her unspoken question being so easily perceived, then they shared the second

    goddess¡¯s embrace that day.

    After hugging the three children, Ne shared embraces with their parents, then gave each of the

    dragons a quick caress on whatever part of them was easiest to reach, with a warm smile. They all

    enjoyed the experience with equal and profound pleasure. Then she was gone.

    These was a moment of silence before Povon spoke.

    ¡°I¡¯m calling Zwak Deathbringer.¡± she stated, and a momentter Zwak appeared.

    ¡°You¡¯ve requested my attention, Lord Regent?¡± he asked with a sardonic half smile.

    ¡°Yes. I would rate your program for training the youth of the Sylvan between fourteen and twenty-four

    years of age as effective but not outstanding at preparing them for life and for war. I would rank it as far

    less than satisfactory when based on the trainees¡¯ opinions of the experience.

    ¡°Would you agree with that assessment?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Zwak nodded. ¡°They¡¯re being trained, they¡¯re working within the system without causing

    disruptions or dissention, and none of them have lost their minds from repeated beatings since we

    instituted the program. In those respects I¡¯ve fulfilled my responsibility to our Lord here, and improved

    drastically on Zarkog¡¯s system.

    ¡°It¡¯s true that the youth don¡¯t like it very much, but then, that¡¯s nothing new. Throughout our history, our

    N?velDrama.Org is the owner.

    parents have simply thrown their children out when they became too dangerous, usually with no more

    than they could carry, to face the dangers of Serminak on their own. Most of those newly-independent

    youths killed each other, and many more were killed by dragons and adult Sylvan. The time of life that

    our trainees are going through has always been difficult for Sylvan.

    ¡°Other than the loss of their independence, there¡¯s no doubt that their quality of life and their life-

    expectancy were drastically improved under Zarkog¡¯s system, and improved again under mine. But

    they still don¡¯t like it much, so they¡¯re right on the edge of insubordination all the time, which is why their

    performance is less than that of the older Sylvan who¡¯ve gained some focus and some pragmatism with

    their maturity. Until they gain that maturity, their sense of justice is often somewhat self-centered and

    skewed, which makes their vows to justice less effective.

    ¡°The system only works because we have only three trainees assigned to each supervisor in squads of

    four, and the supervision is constant and close. We don¡¯t have to beat them to keep them in line like

    Zarkog did, simply because we watch them so closely that they can¡¯t possibly get away with anything. If

    they openly rebel they get solitary confinement with no food or water until they decide to rejoin the

    program with a more co-operative attitude, which never takes very long.¡±

    ¡°How much of your military force ismitted to supervising youths at the present time?¡± Kragorram

    inquired.

    ¡°More than a quarter.¡± Zwak reported with a shrug. ¡°Thanks to Zarkog¡¯s breeding program, there¡¯s as

    many youths as adults, and even more children than that.

    ¡°I¡¯m certain you know all this, Lord Regent. Little has changed in our youth training program while you

    were in the time-bubble.¡±

    ¡°True, but I wanted these others to hear it, including our Lord.¡± Povon responded. ¡°Allow me to

    introduce The Governors of Hiliani; who will be assuming responsibility for the Sylvan youth training

    program under contract to our Lord¡­¡±

    After formal introductions were made she continued. ¡°They will first present a Revealing to the trainees

    showing the benefits of their new systems, which they developed on Hiliani, and the trainees who wish

    to join the new system can do so. We expect full voluntarypliance, based on their results on

    Hiliani, and rapid expansion into the adult Sylvan poption shortly thereafter.

 Chapter 107

    Chapter 107

    Part 17

    ¡°Give us all the relevant information you have on your program, including facilities, the rosters of

    trainees, supervisors, and other staff, and the logistics of your supply systems. Have the trainees

    gathered to watch the Revealing in one hour.¡±

    Zwak frowned, but he passed her the information psionicly, and she immediately passed it to Karz, who

    passed it to his team-mates. ¡°May I ask the terms of their contract?¡± he inquired.

    ¡°We haven¡¯t discussed it yet,¡± Povon admitted as she turned to the children, ¡°But the essence of a just

    contract is that both parties should benefit equally. On that basis, Mark should award you half the value

    of thebor, costs, and resources that we¡¯ll save under your system, plus a payment for your

    improvement in the quality of our training.

    Content ? provided by N?velDrama.Org.

    ¡°On the other hand, that would mean we¡¯d owe you the value of about a billion Sylvan¡¯s continuous

    liquid assets. We could give you a few hundred tons of gold as a down payment, but you would have to

    take the rest in goods, services or resources.¡±

    The four young simply stared at her a moment, then broke upughing.

    ¡°That¡¯s a pretty good offer, Povon, considering that we¡¯d nned to contribute the entire program at our

    own cost, including borrowing from you five as necessary.¡± Sixughed. ¡°Give us a second to consider

    it.

    ¡°All right, we¡¯ll emce and oversee the training program for the next year for only eighteen tons of

    gold, on the condition that you pay the cost of having it minted into Hilian Crowns. With that to start

    with, we¡¯ll be able to make as much money as we want, so there¡¯s no use in us charging you any more.

    We know that Serminak isn¡¯t producing a huge surplus, and besides, it¡¯ll be a good thing to have the

    government of Serminak owing us a big favor.¡±

    ¡°But we¡¯ll take the favor in writing, in case there¡¯s a change of regime here sometime before we choose

    to collect on it!¡± Fireughed. ¡°And that¡¯s not ament on instability here, but on how soon I think

    we¡¯ll need to collect the favor!¡±

    ¡°Done!¡± Markughed, offering his hand to Val, who was closest.

    The Governors shook his hand in turn, feeling quite pleased with themselves.

    ¡°We¡¯ll have your gold to the mint in Hilia within the hour.¡± Povon told them with a smile.

    ¡°And I¡¯ll have the writ of favor within a week.¡± Mark grinned. ¡°I want to see how the ounting works

    out before I decide on the wording.¡±

    ¡°Been a rough month, hasn¡¯t it Zwak?¡± Fire asked the Sylvan with a smirk. ¡°First demoted by Zarkog

    and then by Kovink Seg Mivtz, and now relieved of responsibility for the youth training programs. With

    the corresponding loss of status.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯ve had better months, and my status has fallen while yours has risen.¡± Zwak told her. ¡°But to be

    honest, I¡¯m d I won¡¯t be responsible for the training programs anymore. It was a thankless,

    frustrating, andplex task that consumed a great deal of time while conferringparatively little

    status. Now that I¡¯m free of it, I¡¯ll have the time I need to find a way to deal with the damn gnome.

    Zarkog¡¯s move was purely symbolic and everyone knows it, so that didn¡¯t cost me much, but the damn

    gnome¡­¡± he paused and gnashed his teeth for a moment. ¡°Well, let¡¯s just say that he and I don¡¯t see

    eye to eye, and leave it at that.¡±

    ¡°I suppose our status has indeed increased, as Sylvan judge such things, and it will continue to do so.¡±

    Fire told him. ¡°But we don¡¯t really care about that. The only thing that matters is beating the demons.

    Until then, gaining status for its own sake is shallow and irrelevant.¡±

    ¡°I disagree.¡± Zwak insisted. ¡°As I understand things, we still have long enough before we face the

    demons that it¡¯s still worthwhile to take some time to enjoy our lives, particrly if we can do so while

    engaging in activities that help prepare us for the war. And while my dedication to the cause may be

    less than yours, I can assure you that it¡¯s far more than that of the damn gnome. His status is all he

    cares about; the results of his activities actually decrease our preparedness far more than they

    increase it. Great missing gods above and below, how I hate that damned gnome!¡±

    ¡°Hold on there.¡± Mark interjected. ¡°If he¡¯s decreasing our preparedness, he¡¯s decreasing the

    effectiveness of the military, which is a contravention of one of the primary rules of the game. If that¡¯s

    the case, how is it that he¡¯s escaped being beaten for it as the rules decree?¡±

    ¡°He decreases our preparedness bypletely demoralizing every Sylvan and every adult of every

    other race that he crushes in The Game of Status by utilizing the assistance of billions of non-yers of

    his race! Tiny as they are, no one can beat the billions of them unless billions of us band together to do

    it, which ispletely against the spirit of the game! All the damn gnomes are acting against us with

    everything they¡¯ve got, but since they¡¯re non-yers acting through him, we can¡¯t strike back at them!

    It¡¯s bloody cheating, is what it is! They should take part as yers, or stay the hell out of it!¡±

    ¡°Or, the Sylvan could abandon The Game of Status in favor of a system that offers them far greater

    fulfillment, of a much more fundamental nature.¡± Six countered, and cast the Revealing that he¡¯d been

    helping to prepare with some of his attention during the conversation.

    The sound and sight of interviews with Hiliani Sylvan trainees was cleverly interspersed and

    ovepped with views and sounds of their training. They enthusiastically extolled the merits of battling

    demons all day without worrying about being killed, then partying all evening with the perfect level of

    drunkenness and none of the side effects, including being able to fight anyone in the arenas with

    guaranteed perfect healing right afterwards, and the opportunity to have endless sex with no worries

    about sexual diseases or unnned pregnancy. They extolled the quality of the food and thefort of

    the amodations, and their pride in having built their new homes themselves.

    ¡°Ah. You had me worried for a moment.¡± Zwak said with a smile as the Revealing continued. ¡°They¡¯re

    still Sylvan. The informal, instinctual game of status continues among them, in the new circumstances

    you¡¯ve created for them. And I must admit, they¡¯re tempting circumstances. I doubt I could live the rest

    of my life like that, but it would be a very pleasant vacation.¡±

    ¡°Sure, it¡¯s the best way you¡¯ve got to have some fun and sharpen your skills against the best demon

    Simcrums there are.¡± Six grinned. ¡°And maybe after you¡¯ve tried it, you¡¯ll decide that returning to the

    stress of your present duties isn¡¯t as important as you¡¯d thought. You¡¯re still Zwak Deathbringer, the

    most experienced fighter and general among all Sylvan, and quite likely the most dangerous among

    them, though we now know that you¡¯re not the eldest, or even close to it. The unknown Sylvan God of

    Stealth forbids his people who are twenty-five or older from killing each other, and he has for almost

    three millennia. There are Sylvan on Hiliani who are almost that old. Anyway, many of your most

    impressive abilities go unused in your present duties, and your status would be at least as high under

    our system as it is now.

    ¡°And it might interest you to know that while the Hiliani Sylvan have to follow their deity¡¯s restriction on

    killing, and we keep them in line with overpowering psionics, none of them have been sworn to justice

    on The Truthstone of Falgaroth, or on any other item of power.

    ¡°If you help us emce our system and get it running smoothly, and then you join it, we¡¯ll see what we

    can do about getting you released from your vow. We can¡¯t promise anything, because we haven¡¯t

    asked Falgaroth about it and we don¡¯t even know if it¡¯s possible. But we¡¯re against keeping anyone

    under an involuntary binding oath if there¡¯s any other practical way to guarantee the reliability of their

    behavior.¡±

    ¡°By Gvetwa¡¯s balls!¡± Zwak cursed under his breath, then was silent for a moment before he spoke up.

    ¡°You hit me hard with that one. I¡¯d do a lot to be released from the vow; to truly have it gone from my

    mind. Even with the freedoms allowed us under The Game of Status, the vow is an aggravating and

    constant irritant. Not to mention that it was the instrument of my own humiliating defeat.

 Chapter 108

    Chapter 108

    Part 17

    ¡°I tell you; I¡¯d have done all I could to help with this n, even without this offer. With it, you¡¯ll have my

    devoted enthusiasm.¡±

    ¡°Excellent.¡± Six grinned. ¡°All right, we¡¯ll dy showing the trainees the Revealing until five hours after

    noon here, and we¡¯ll try to hold the first of the nightly parties for everyone who joins right after that.

    That¡¯ll give us time to make sure we have the spells all finalized.

    ¡°For now, Link with us and we¡¯ll work on the logistics.¡±

    Zwak looked down his nose at the boy. ¡°Most Sylvan do not Link. Those of us who will, only do so with

    those we know and trust very well indeed.¡± he dered.

    Six considered the elder Sylvan who towered over him, and his eyes darkened with tightly controlled

    anger. ¡°You do now. I think I have the authority to crack your shields if I want to, and I can. Easily. You

    wouldn¡¯t like that.¡±

    ¡°You think so, boy?¡± Zwak replied, his own anger rising in response. ¡°As I understand things, you don¡¯t

    have the authority to assault me psionicly or in any other way. But if you¡¯re willing to get as good as you

    give, I¡¯ll let you try it.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re challenging me to psionicbat? I¡¯m understanding you correctly?¡± Six demanded as he

    quickly rose in the air up to Zwak¡¯s eye level, then continued without waiting for an answer. ¡°Because if

    you are, I¡¯m epting!¡±

    N?velDrama.Org is the owner.

    ¡°Oh, I wouldn¡¯t saybat.¡± Zwak told him with a nasty grin. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t want to earn your parents¡¯

    disapproval, after all. Shall we call it a friendly duel? We¡¯ll agree to not kill one another or inflict

    anything permanent, or ept outside help.¡±

    ¡°Agreed.¡± Six said with a tight little nod. ¡°Someone say go.¡±

    ¡°Go!¡± Fire said with augh.

    In a blink, Six and his hundreds of automated psionic attack spells cracked Zwak¡¯s psionic shields,

    shredded his defenses, took over his bodily functions, and stopped his heart.

    Zwak screamed and flopped to the floor, clutching his chest and shoulder.

    Six floated over him, his face ame with anger, monitoring his thrashing opponent closely. He waited

    until only a fraction of a second remained before Zwak¡¯s brain would begin to die, then he Healed the

    Sylvan¡¯s body and mind, rebuilt the defenses and Shields he¡¯d wrecked, firmly set his Link in ce, and

    Read all there was to find there. There was enough that he chose to store it in a Memory spell. Then he

    suddenly cast Movement, raised the gasping Sylvan to his feet, and steadied him.

    ¡°You¡¯re mine now if I want you, and you always will be.¡± Six quietly growled through clenched teeth. ¡°I

    have what I want from you, and you have your orders. You are dismissed.¡±

    With that, he Translocated Zwak back to his offices.

    ¡°Victory.¡± he quietly stated with a nasty grin.

    A secondter Alilia, Povon, Karz, Val, and Fire burst outughing.

    ¡°Woooo hoo! That was something!¡± Fire whooped as she gave Six an affectionate p on the back.

    ¡°Ha! You think the boy is the quiet diplomatic one, but not always!¡± Povon brayed.

    ¡°He is The Storm!¡± Val dered with a grin as she gave him a quick hug. ¡°Those who¡¯re lulled by the

    calm before the storm are always gonna get a big nasty surprise!¡±

    ¡°I do see the amusing aspects of the situation, but that was still a sudden and worrisome confrontation.¡±

    Kragorram dered with furrowed brows.

    ¡°I agree.¡± Mark nodded, and considered his son. ¡°He was right, you know. You didn¡¯t have the right to

    crack his shields, or even to order him to participate in a Link. Your rtive positions in the hierarchy

    here hadn¡¯t been officially established yet, so you didn¡¯t even have the right to demand that he work

    with you, beyond the fact that Povon had already ordered him to do so.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± Six grinned. ¡°But I wasn¡¯t over the line; you can check my wording. He¡¯s a Sylvan, and he¡¯d

    just seen how good our n was. Suddenly he realized just how big of a threat to his Status we could

    be if we wanted to, so he confronted me to see how far he could push me. I recognized it and provoked

    him into issuing a challenge. I felt it was smarter to correct his attitude now, rather than let it fester any.

    The fact that the subject at hand was psionics, which is what I¡¯m best at, offered an opportunity that I

    couldn¡¯t resist.¡±

    He shrugged and smiled; his anger dissipated. ¡°That¡¯s the way it is with Sylvan; if you don¡¯t force their

    respect, you don¡¯t get any.¡±

    Talia could finally smile as her racing heart calmed. ¡°I just about had a heart cramp there, you know. It

    was all I could do to not dishonor myself by striking at Zwak as Helemia said go. It¡¯s not easy for a

    mother to stand by and watch while her son risks his mind.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry Mother.¡± Six said with a smile as he came over and gave her a hug. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to worry

    you, and I really wasn¡¯t risking anything. I¡¯d already stealthed past his Shields and Read him without

    him realizing it, right after he said that Sylvan don¡¯t Link. I knew exactly what I was facing, and he never

    really had a chance. It was still fun though.¡±

    Kragorram leaned in and down so he could inspect Six¡¯s facial expression from close range, the tip of

    his snout only a meter from the boy. ¡°You young warlocks are scary little beings sometimes. I don¡¯t

    think you needed to be quite that nasty to adjust his attitude.¡±

    ¡°Thanks.¡± Six shrugged again, still smiling. ¡°And maybe I didn¡¯t, maybe I did.

    ¡°Besides, Karz is just as nasty as us, and he¡¯s not a warlock. He just hasn¡¯t had much opportunity to

    show it off.¡±

    ¡°He may not technically be a warlock, but he has your attitudes.¡± Povonughed, giving her adopted

    son a nice scratch on the base of his neck.

    ¡°What can you expect?¡± Karz mused. ¡°None of you adults were born to do anything. There was nothing

    that really demanded your dedication until the war with Zarkog came along, and none of you were

    children then.

    ¡°We were born and raised to wage war against the demons. We four may seem to have unique

    attitudes now, but that¡¯s only because we¡¯re the first children to grow up under the threat of the demons

    and reach any kind of maturity since that threat became known, thanks to the time-bubble and our

    elerated development. But from now until the demons are gone, every child grows up knowing we¡¯ll

    have to face them, and fight them. It makes a difference, in everything we think and do.¡±

    ¡°So it understandably makes you a bit nastier, and less likely to suffer fools.¡± Aliliaughed as she

    swept Fire up in a hug and spun her around, simply because she was closest. ¡°And I¡¯m so proud of the

    four of you I could just burst!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re all very proud of you kids.¡± Povon smiled. ¡°But if you want to meet your objectives for today, we

    need to get working now.¡±

    ¡°Agreed.¡± Six nodded. ¡°I think Karz and I should work on facilities and logistics, while Fire helps Val with

    the spells. If you adults want to help, you can join whatever team you think you¡¯ll be best in.

    Mark and Alilia chose to help with the spells, Kragorram and Talia helped with the organizing, and

    Povon split her attention between the projects about equally.

    After an hour and a quarter, the two teams melded their efforts and their minds as they matched spell-

    sets to tasks, then modified one or the other or both in sessive waves of innovation. asionally

    they called others into the Link for a few minutes, from races and ces all over Keran; Master

    Healers; administrative specialists, magic users, Master Fishers, Farmers, and Ranchers. At one point,

    Mark even called in themander and the senior instructor of the Finitran Rangers.

    Finally they came to thest step; powering it all. They spent almost half an hour working on it before

    Val announced into the Link; ¡°Hold on, I¡¯m losing concentration from fatigue andplexity overdose.

    Let¡¯s store all this in memory spells and take a break.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s all stored in my bracelet.¡± Povon announced as they withdrew from the Link.

    ¡°And in this powerstone.¡± Six added.

    ¡°Good.¡± Val said as she flopped back on the sofa she was sitting on and rubbed her temples.

 Chapter 109

    Chapter 109

    Part 17

    ¡°Wow. That was really great. You grown-ups are really good.¡± Fire marveled as sheid down on the

    carpet she¡¯d been sitting on and started her favorite stretching routine. ¡°It¡¯s one of those wonderful

    things that you learn and you know, but every time you experience it you learn it again. You¡¯re all such

    great wizards, and that was the best brainstorming Link I¡¯ve ever been in. I mean, it still seems to me

    that you do things in really old-fashioned ways, but each of you have at least one really incredible kind

    of genius.¡±

    ¡°Thanks for saying.¡± Talia smiled as Mark massaged her shoulders with his left hand while massaging

    Alilia¡¯s with his right. ¡°And you¡¯re right,pared to you four, we are old fashioned, even though we

    instituted all the newest cutting-edge techniques just a few weeks ago in real time. You kids are

    absolutely breathtaking in your brilliance and creativity. You use magic in ways that I¡¯d have never

    considered in a million years.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not that damn brilliant.¡± Val groused. ¡°I still don¡¯t get how Father did what he did with the power

    fields at the end of his battle with Zarkog. It¡¯s making me crazy! He¡¯s done really minor versions of it

    since then, like when I was born, but they¡¯re not the same and they don¡¯t scale up evenly. We¡¯re all

    Linked with Father, we¡¯re all studying his Reading of what he did, including everything he thought and

    felt at the time, and still, none of us get it! Not even him!¡±

    ¡°That was the only time in my life I ever held all the power I could hold.¡± Mark mused. ¡°I mean, all the

    power I could hold, of all three kinds; I really pushed myself past any kind of safe limits out of

    desperation. And that¡¯s what made the difference. That¡¯s what we¡¯re not doing now. It was really

    shocking how much better and faster I could think when I did that. You can really see that in the

    Reading, but without doing the same thing, we can¡¯t understand what we¡¯re seeing. Not even me, and

    N?velDrama.Org is the owner.

    I¡¯m re-living my own thoughts and experiences.¡±

    ¡°Well then, let¡¯s get as much power as we can hold, and hold it.¡± Val said as she sat up, stating the

    obvious with some exasperation. ¡°It¡¯s still not much past noon at Focus Mountain, and we can get a lot

    more warlock power by going there than we can get through the power stone. We can get others to

    pass us as much wizards¡¯ and sorcerers¡¯ power as we can hold.

    ¡°Not only do I want to get this problem solved now, but I want to know how to use collection fields for

    everything I do, and, I really want to know what it¡¯ll feel like and what kind of thinking we¡¯lle up with

    if we all do this while we¡¯re all deeply Linked. It might lead to some big breakthroughs.¡±

    ¡°We should ask Equemev and Sran if they can spare some time to join us in that.¡± Talia suggested.

    ¡°Unicorns always bring apletely different perspective, and I miss their influence and their thoughts.

    And I miss theirpany and friendship too. It¡¯s too bad that parenting and young unicorn¡¯s instinctive

    fear of dragons have interrupted our friendship for a while.¡±

    Equemev made her psionic awareness known; the unicorn equivalent of politely clearing her throat, to

    let them know that she¡¯d been aware of the conversation since her name had been mentioned. ¡°We

    can spare some time today for good friends, in perhaps twenty minutes?¡±

    ¡°That would be fine.¡± Talia replied with a smile. ¡°But you¡¯ll need to use some of that time to familiarize

    yourselves with the project as it stands right now. I doubt you¡¯ll be able to keep it in mind all at once, I

    sure can¡¯t, so Povon can give you ess to her record of it from her bracelet, and you can store it in

    something and look it over for parts you¡¯d like to contribute to.

    ¡°Right now we¡¯re stuck on understanding Mark¡¯s breakthrough with the power fields. Since he had it

    when he was holding his very limit in power, we¡¯re all going to try Linking and working on it while we do

    that.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡± Equemev responded. ¡°Then we¡¯ll use the Kejaz reflector; it focuses the Source as the Focus

    Mountain reflector focuses warlock power, and the two reflectors are rtively close, since Kejaz is in

    west-central Xervia. It¡¯ll be easier to participate in the Link over such a distance than to have the power

    passed to us from another over the same range.¡±

    ¡°I will simply ask for some volunteers among the Serminaki Draconians to pass us all the power that

    Povon, Karz and I can hold.¡± Kragorram decided.

    ¡°Talia and I and the kids should go to Las Valley first, to get charged up on wizard power.¡± Alilia

    suggested. ¡°We¡¯ll bring the wizard¡¯s power stone to get a final top up at Focus Mountain after the

    Translocation.¡±

    ¡°All right, I might as welle with you.¡± Mark said, and turned to the Dragons. ¡°We¡¯ll meet you at

    Focus mountain in about thirty minutes.¡±

    ¡°Agreed.¡± Kragorram nodded. ¡°And we are nine. It just seems right.¡±

    ¡°Well with Equemev and Sran, we¡¯ll be eleven.¡± Mark pointed out.

    ¡°True, but they won¡¯t be physically present, so that doesn¡¯t matter.¡± Kragorram quietly insisted.

    ¡°Father, you are such a traditionalist.¡± Karz chuckled.

    ¡°You mean I¡¯m a superstitious old relic?¡± Kragorram asked with a grin. ¡°I like to think I¡¯m still a bit young

    for that.¡±

    ¡°Hey, you said it, I didn¡¯t!¡± Karzughed, as Alilia Translocated her family to Las Valley.

    They arrived high in the air, and as Talia answered the local Sentry¡¯s challenge, Alilia Levitated the

    children a moment until she was sure they had it themselves, but it turned out to be unnecessary. Their

    training ensured that they always cast Flight, Pure Breath, and full automated Battle Shields whenever

    they detected themselves being Translocated.

    They floated in the dark of night, though it was so clear that they seemed surrounded by a dome of

    stars and moons from horizon to horizon, with the sky bisected by the bright band of the gxy.

    It was bright enough that they could clearly see blue reflections of the stars glinting off the collection

    stone that floated about twelve meters away from the center of their group, below them and to the west.

    ¡°Mmm, this is so nice!¡± Firemented as they basked in the power and the view, and the others

    smiled as they shared her response.

    After looking around a moment, Val inquired; ¡°Have you tested the efficiency of that collection stone?¡±

    ¡°How do you mean?¡± Mark asked.

    ¡°I take it you haven¡¯t, and I mean conducting some test to determine how much of the wizards¡¯ power

    that the collection stone intercepts from the valley below and around us actually gets delivered from the

    power stone in usable form.¡±

    ¡°Uh, all of it, I think.¡± Mark told her.

    ¡°That¡¯s physically impossible.¡± she stated. ¡°No transfer or transduction of energy is ever perfect, even

    the very best spells always lose a tiny bit of energy to heat, and sometimes to light and sound as well.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I knew that.¡± he nodded. ¡°But I think it¡¯s pretty close to all of it.¡±

    She Retrieved the power stone from Six¡¯s pocket and considered it, then Translocated a thousand

    kilometers west for a second, then came back.

    ¡°Assuming that the collecting stone has no collecting field of its own, and that it only collects the energy

    that it physically intercepts, my own collecting field is either muchrger than the stone, or far more

    efficient, or both. I gain charge in wizards¡¯ power over ten times faster just floating here by myself than I

    can get from the power stone. But that¡¯s just going by feel, I don¡¯t have any way to quantify it.¡±

    She suddenly descended almost ny meters, then zoomed back up again.

    ¡°Would all of you except Father pack in around me as close as you can?¡± she asked. ¡°Try topletely

    block my ess to the power emitted from the valley with your bodies and your collection fields.

    There¡¯s no use having Father do it since he doesn¡¯t collect this kind of power anyway.¡±

    With some giggling, theyplied with her request. When Talia, Alilia, Fire, and Six were all hugging

    her and covering as much of her body with theirs as they could, she waited a moment before she said;

    ¡°Okay.¡± They released her and floated back an arm¡¯s length or two.

    ¡°All right, when you did that, my power collection decreased, but only slightly. Obviously our collection

    fields aren¡¯t very efficient, and even our bodies only block a small portion of the power, the rest passes

    right through.

 Chapter 110

    Chapter 110

    Part 17

    ¡°But when Father fought Zarkog, he cut Zarkog offpletely, blocking his ess to both the wizards¡¯

    power from the stone and the sorcerers¡¯ power from the Source. So Father not only found a way to

    make collection fields for two kinds of power that he doesn¡¯t even use, he drastically increased the

    efficiency and¡­ density, of both fields to the point that no power was getting through. Or so little power

    was getting through that Zarkog could no longer maintain any spells, which is practically the same

    thing.¡±

    ¡°I did more than that, and I didn¡¯t even realize it until now.¡± Mark mused.

    ¡°How so?¡± Talia asked.

    Mark shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s obvious from the Reading that I not only cast efficient collection fields for wizards¡¯

    and sorcerers¡¯ power, but I could hold and store and use that power as easily as I could my own

    warlocks¡¯ power, or power that I got from you or Equemev. And I can see in the Reading how I did it,

    but without holding my limit of all three kinds of power like I did then, it¡¯s like exining eighth year

    mathematics to a second year student. I¡¯m just not getting it, and I can¡¯t really remember exactly what I

    did to do it.¡±

    ¡°When we get to Focus Mountain, you should have Somonik set up a big Link with a bunch of magic

    users of both types to give us all as much of all three kinds of power as we can hold, like you were

    doing then.¡± Fire suggested. ¡°We all know how to hold and cast each other¡¯s power, so we should all

    hold as much of all three kinds as we can, to increase our chances of sess.¡±

    ¡°I agree, and I am recruiting volunteers to lend power as we speak.¡± Somonik told them from the far

    side of the world. ¡°Tithian, Yazadril, and the other researchers think that this may be the most important

    experiment ever conducted, and they will be passively following the process through Equemev.¡±

    ¡°All right, but try to keep it on a need-to-know basis until it¡¯s done.¡± Mark requested. ¡°We don¡¯t want any

    curious minds sneaking in and disrupting things. And we don¡¯t want the public¡¯s attention on it until it¡¯s

    all over, in case it blows up in our faces. If it does they¡¯ll need to be told, but they won¡¯t need to see it.¡±

    ¡°Agreed.¡± The ancient white dragon stated, then psionicly withdrew.

    A few minutes passed, as they floated and thought on what they were about to do.

    ¡°I think I¡¯m about full.¡± Six announced. ¡°Of wizards¡¯ power, that is, or very close to it. I¡¯m starting to

    sweat.¡±

    ¡°Me too, but I think Mother still needs to marinate for a few more minutes.¡± Val agreed. ¡°Let¡¯s go down

    and see the chapel.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m still not done.¡± Fire told them. ¡°We¡¯ll let you know when we¡¯re ready.¡±

    Val and Six nodded and disappeared, appearing a meter above the center of the dais, in the center of

    the most revered ce in Elven culture: The Las Valley Site of Joining, or Wedding Chapel. They

    gently alighted on the broad, tiered marble dais and looked around at the huge dim circr clearing. It

    was floored with deep, firm moss, and ringed by the tallest trees in the world; the colossal Las

    Redwoods. Over a third of all elven weddings in the entire history of that race had been performed

    here, and it had be highly charged with the magic of their many loving vows.

    Six gave Val a sudden spontaneous hug, and opened a Link with her. ¡°There¡¯s something I know about

    you that you don¡¯t know, and that¡¯s not fair. I¡¯ve been waiting for the right time to tell you, and this is it;

    the right time, in the right ce.

    ¡°I know that it¡¯s not yet the right time for us to act on this, but you should know it.¡±

    He gave her his memory of being the first to contact her psionicly, when she was still in Alilia¡¯s womb,

    and when he had subsequently had the prophesy that he and she were destined lovers, and what her

    name would be.

    She gave him no response for what seemed like many long moments.

    ¡°Excuse me, I need a little privacy while I think about this.¡± she murmured, and gently but firmly closed

    the Link. But she kept the hug.

    He had to bolster his resolve to remain patient before she spoke again.

    ¡°I suppose you predicted Fire and Karz too?!¡± she quietly asserted with a soft giggle.

    ¡°Wow, that was some stealthy Reading!¡± he marveled. ¡°I thought I could keep that private from anyone.

    I only hid it because it wasn¡¯t my secret to reveal.¡±

    ¡°Aha, now you¡¯ve confirmed it!¡± sheughed. ¡°Not only that they¡¯re a couple, but that you predicted it! I

    didn¡¯t Read it off you, I just guessed. I got the idea that they were sneaking off to be together a while

    ago, but I never tried to find out for sure.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± he said, for want of a better response.

    Finally she relieved his anxiety.

    Please check at N/?vel(D)rama.Org.

    ¡°As for us being destined lovers¡­ Well, it¡¯s a big, big surprise, that¡¯s for sure. But it¡¯s a nice thought. It

    feels nice. Except when I think about what everyone else in the world is gonna say about it.¡±

    ¡°When the timees, we¡¯ll keep it secret, same as Fire and Karz.¡± he assured her. ¡°Though we

    should tell them about us; Karz that is, Fire already knows. And now you know about them, and he

    doesn¡¯t know about us, and they don¡¯t know you know about them. I don¡¯t know if he knows that I know

    about them. Fire knows I know, of course, but I don¡¯t know if she¡¯s let him know that I know. And they

    don¡¯t know that you know about us.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right, we obviously have to tell them.¡± sheughed. ¡°The present state can¡¯t be allowed to

    continue! It¡¯s too confusing to deal with!¡±

    He grinned. ¡°Our parents know about us, but they don¡¯t know about Fire and Karz yet. They know she¡¯s

    destined to love someone, and that she got upset when she learned about it, but that¡¯s it. Povon and

    Kragorram don¡¯t know about any of this, as far as I know. And by the way, I¡¯m pretty sure I¡¯m blocking

    this conversation from everyone.¡±

    ¡°Me too.¡± she nodded emphatically. ¡°Let¡¯s just¡­ just hug till they call us.¡±

    ¡°All right.¡±

    High above them, Fire approached her limit in holding wizard¡¯s power. Rather than leave or move away

    from the diffuse focus of the valley, she cast a tiny me to vent the excess she was gathering. It slowly

    grew to an intense fireball over two meters wide, then stabilized at that size.

    ¡°That¡¯s exactly how much energy my wizard¡¯s power collecting field gathers here.¡± she stated. ¡°I¡¯m

    putting everything I¡¯m getting into this, except a little bit for my Levitation and a few maintenance and

    monitoring things. I¡¯m at my maximum, so I can¡¯t absorb any more without sustaining some damage.

    But wow, does it ever feel great! I can¡¯t wait to see what it¡¯ll feel like when I¡¯m charged up on warlock¡¯s

    power too!¡±

    Though it was veryte at night by the local time, a few curious elven onlookers flew up to within a

    couple of hundred meters of them to observe, while politely ying a game of mid-air catch to lend

    some discretion to their observation. No one was fooled into thinking that they just happened to decide

    to y catch over a kilometer in the air in the middle of the night while coincidentally close to visiting

    celebrities, but it was a matter of elven decorum for them to behave as though this was so.

    Fire cast an air-tight Shield around her Fireball, (it needed no air to burn, since it wasn¡¯t really fire) and

    with the wind thus blocked from it, she took off flying at high speed going straight north and level. She

    took careful measurements of the diminishing size of the Fireball as she flew. When she passed over

    the rim of the valley she flew straight up until she was twice as high above the valley floor as she¡¯d

    been when she started.

    ¡°I¡¯m graphing the power avability of the valley in three dimensions.¡± she exined as she flew down

    and across the valley at forty-five degrees from vertical. She continued criss-crossing the valley at

    various angles with the zing Fireball held before her, and a few of the local elves tried to keep up

    with her, butcked the speed.

 Chapter 111

    Chapter 111

    Part 17

    ¡°I¡¯m full.¡± Talia stated as she floated, turning in ce to watch her daughter¡¯s zing flight. ¡°Alilia, are

    you close?¡±

    ¡°No. I¡¯ve never tried to find my limits that way, so I don¡¯t know what they are.¡± Alilia responded with a

    shrug. ¡°I found them by ident when I was young of course, when I developed fevers that could only

    be cured by casting the excess power, one way or another. But I haven¡¯t let that happen for millennia,

    and I¡¯ve never tried to measure it in any way.¡±

    ¡°I may as well pass you my excess then.¡± Talia told her as she started passing power to her trio-mate

    with a Push spell.

    ¡°This may take a very long time, even with what you¡¯re giving me.¡± Alilia frowned. ¡°And I¡¯m running out

    of patience.¡±

    She cast a Speaking to Smogin; Regent of The People of Life, and had him arrange for a few hundred

    volunteers from her people to pass her some of their spare power. He had them ready in a moment,

    and she cast a Pull spell to draw the energy.

    ¡°Ahh, that¡¯s nice. I¡¯ll be ready in a minute.¡± she reported.

    ¡°We¡¯re almost ready.¡± Talia announced to the children. ¡°When we are, gather here and I¡¯ll cast the

    Translocation with power I¡¯ve got stored in items. That way we¡¯ll be fully charged when we get there,

    and we¡¯ll be sure that we can get enough power from the wizard¡¯s power stone to run our Levitations

    and Pure Breath and what-not, and keep us topped up. I¡¯d rather we didn¡¯t have to take power from

    others for this; I think that might be a dangerousplication.¡±

    The children sent the psionic equivalent of a nod, and Fire hurried toplete her survey.

    Soon Alilia wiped her brow and stated; ¡°All right, that¡¯s it.¡±

    The children rejoined them in a blink, and Talia Translocated the six of them with a quick farewell to the

    local Sentries.

    They emerged over the immense blue ss bowl of the Focus Mountain reflector. It was a windy day,

    but the only clouds visible were hovering above distant volcanoes.

    Povon, Kragorram, and Karz had already arrived, and were hovering beside the research facility on the

    north rim of the crater, where Povon and Kragorram were conversing through a huge open window with

    some of the researchers who were gathered there.

    Content (C) N?v/elDra/ma.Org.

    They could all hear the asional distant thumps, roars, and various other sounds of huge destructive

    spells being tested on the weapons range in the valley beyond the north rim, but Alilia quickly became

    irritated by it and blocked the noise froming past the rim.

    Mark cast the spell that allowed him to see the reflected warlock¡¯s power directly, and his children

    copied him a momentter, then they all followed him as he flew toward a location about six meters

    above the focus.

    The reflected power looked like two blue cones of light that met at their points, one pointing up and the

    other pointing down. The upper, down-pointing cone was blocked by Mark¡¯s warlock-power collecting

    stone, which floated two meters above the focus, until Mark Moved the stone a few meters to the side.

    Then the upper cone shone up into the sky until it faded into invisibility about a kilometer above them.

    The cones were a bit asymmetrical, since it was almost two hours after noon here. The focus itself;

    where the two points met, was so bright that it was difficult to look at directly.

    ¡°You don¡¯t want to be right in the actual focus.¡± Mark exined as he flew. ¡°It¡¯s way too intense there.

    But if you stay at the right distance from it, you should really enjoy this.¡±

    They entered the upper cone of blue light, and it was like stepping into a perfectly warm shower after

    being chilled by a cold day, only even more pleasurable. Mark found he was a bit too low, and rose

    thirty centimeters to decrease the intensity.

    ¡°Ahh, this is really nice!¡± Val cooed as she closed her eyes to concentrate on the sensation.

    Six slowly dropped down two meters or so until the intensity of the power was ufortable, then rose

    back up thirty centimeters. Val and Fire imitated his motions, with Fireing to rest with her head

    about fifteen centimeters higher than his, and Val about thirty centimeters higher than that.

    ¡°Apparently, the less warlock power you can use, the greater the intensity of it you canfortably

    absorb.¡± Sixmented. ¡°Our rtive heights above the focus are close to corresponding to how

    much warlock power we were able to cast on Hiliani.¡±

    ¡°If we all reach capacity at close to the same time, then our lesser warlock casting ability may only be

    due to a less efficient collecting field for warlock power.¡± Fire spected. ¡°By absorbing power at a

    greater intensity for the same amount of time, or at the same intensity for a greater time, we may all be

    able to cast warlock power with the same strength as Father.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll test it after the Linking experiment.¡± Mark smiled with his eyes closed, reveling in the pleasure of

    the power. Talia and Alilia floated beside him just outside the cone, Linked with him and smiling as they

    shared the pleasure.

    Val cast a Link among the nine of them, and Talia extended it to Equemev and Sran, while Alilia

    extended it to Somonik, Grakonexikaldoron, Yazadril and Nemia, who were among those observing

    from the research facility, having interrupted their nned activities to do so.

    ¡°You¡¯re right, Fire.¡± Val announced. ¡°Insofar as we appear to be approaching capacity at very close to

    the same rate, at these distances from the focus. We¡¯ll be done soon.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m already noticing my thinking improving.¡± Mark announced.

    ¡°Me too, and I noticed it with the wizard power as well.¡± Fire agreed.

    Their three dragon friends flew over from the north rim.

    ¡°We¡¯re holding our limit in power, and being constantly replenished from Somonik¡¯s Link to cover our

    output on flying and whatnot.¡± Povon announced.

    ¡°You five should have Father show you how to hold warlock power.¡± Six suggested to Talia, Alilia,

    Povon, Kragorram, and Karz. ¡°Once we¡¯re full, we¡¯ll start passing you our excess, and start charging up

    on what we don¡¯t naturally have; Source power for us three, and Source and Wizard¡¯s power for

    Father.¡±

    ¡°Povon, Kragorram, and I already learned how to hold and cast Mark¡¯s power during our training with

    Quewanak.¡± Talia told him. ¡°So did Equemev and Sran. Only Alilia and Karz need to learn that.¡±

    Mark cast a quick teaching Link with Alilia and Karz and gave them the techniques, and they both

    grasped it right away. Then he and his children began passing warlock power to the rest.

    ¡°Once we¡¯re all fully charged, and before we really start working on the problems, we should form a

    circle above the geometric center of the bowl.¡± Kragorram suggested. ¡°And we should intersperse

    ourselves as evenly as possible. I know it¡¯s only Draconian tradition, but it would feel right to me.¡±

    The rest agreed without a word. When all the active participants were holding as much power of all

    three kinds as they couldfortably hold, they moved to their positions with the center of their heads

    in a perfect circle about thirty meters wide at the height of the focus, all of them well clear of the cones

    of power from the reflector. Povon chose the north position, and clockwise from her were Talia, Fire,

    Kragorram, Alilia, Six, Karz, Mark, and Val. A few hundred kilometers east of southeast from them,

    Equemev and Sran were trotting in the air in a tight circle in the more-diffuse focus of the Kejaz

    reflector.

    ¡°Somonik, please make sure that the air above us remains clear.¡± Fire requested as they finalized their

    positions. ¡°I¡¯ll be releasing power a few hundred meters up. The sun¡¯s pretty bright at this altitude and

    location, and the wizard¡¯s rock around here is pretty good quality too. I¡¯m still absorbing a lot of power,

    even with being outside the cones, so I¡¯ll need to vent it to avoid overloading. If anyone else needs to

    vent some, you might as well do the same.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡± Somonik acknowledged.

    High above them, a magic Fire began burning, and was joined by another of a different color, then

    another, then four more. Six used his excess power for Movement as he set the mes and the air

    around them to swirling and turning, while Val used some of hers to contain it all and direct it upward

    when the heat radiating from it became apparent to them, hundreds of meters below.

    There was a moment thick with anticipation from both the participants and the observers, then Mark

    deepened their Link and called up his Reading of the end of his fight with Zarkog.

 Chapter 112

    Chapter 112

    Part 17

    ¡°Sweet gods this is beautiful¡­¡± Alilia quietly eximed, then they all fell silent and still for minutes.

    ¡°Damn it, I¡¯ve almost got it¡­¡± Mark muttered, and drew more power until he was sweating freely and

    having to strain to hold it all. The other participants did the same.

    He had just started to think; ¡°That¡¯s it, I¡¯ve got it! I understand what I did to Zarkog with the collection

    fields!¡± when Val, Six, and Fire had the same realization.

    ¡°Okay, now we¡¯re getting somewhere.¡± Val said to herself, and a minuteter she announced. ¡°All right,

    I understand what I wanted to know about the collection fields. But there¡¯s still a lot of things I want to

    figure out, and we¡¯re not getting it. Most importantly, how to prevent us from losing this understanding

    andprehension when we¡¯re not holding all this power.¡±

    ¡°Try this:¡± Fire suggested as she carefully cast a cooling spell on herself, concentrating on monitoring

    and maintaining the temperature of her brain, and adding the excess heat to what she was venting

    above them. Then she drew and held even more power; almost half again as much.

    ¡°And this:¡± Six said as he showed what he¡¯d done while Fire was casting the cooling spell; he¡¯d cast a

    constant Healing and monitoring spell on his own nervous system, then drawn and held almost twice

    the power, trusting the spell to fix any damage this caused as it happened.

    A blinkter they¡¯d copied each other¡¯s techniques, adding them to their own, and Val and Karz had

    copied both spells.

    ¡°I¡¯m not doing that!¡± Talia dered. ¡°It¡¯s too dangerous!¡±

    ¡°I will.¡± Mark decided, and did so.

    None of the others joined him. Soon they were being left behind, and could no longer keep up with the

    psionic conversation.

    A couple of minutes after that it became obvious that while Mark and Karz could keep up with the three

    young warlocks, they were only following the thoughts of the three, while Val, Six, and Fire led the

    process with a continuous series of incredible breakthroughs.

    After a few minutes more, Mark Retrieved his power stone and Moved its collecting stone back into the

    upper cone of power. He gritted his teeth as the extra energy flowed into him, and he added most of it

    to the heat he was venting above them, but he managed to increase what he was holding by an

    intuitive process that none of the others could grasp.

    Soon he was keeping up with his children again, and contributing to the discussion. Karz fell behind,

    while the others were rapidly reaching a state ofplete confusion.

    ¡°Look, you seven are not helping us, and this is bing unpleasant for you.¡± Val stated. ¡°I propose

    that you concentrate on monitoring our well-being, and let us use the rest of your intellectual capacity. I

    have a nice spell set for that now.¡±

    Val, Six, Fire, and Mark deepened their Link to a greater extent than they ever had before, and became

    a single mind.

    The rest gave Val their agreement and did as she asked.

    A few momentster Fire had a big breakthrough, and Six and Val started helping her with it.

    But her breakthrough triggered Mark to have a sudden inspiration that was apletely different

    solution to the same problem, so he politely co-opted the excess mental capacity of Talia, Alilia, Povon,

    and Equemev, and carefully withdrew them from his children¡¯s Link while keeping only a trace of that

    Link active between the young warlocks and himself. Then he let his awareness epass the

    observers, and invited Yazadril, Nemia, Somonik, and Gran to gather as much power as they could

    hold, join his Link, and allow him to use some of their intellectual capacity.

    They agreed, and did so.

    Inspired by this, Val reached out to the observers Linked through the unicorns, and simrly added

    Tithian and nine of her people¡¯s researchers to her Link.

    That was all the minds they could maintain in both Links at that level of psionic intensity, but it was all

    they needed. The two loosely-Linked groups continued to develop what they were working on, then

    moved on to rted problems.

    High above them, the FireStorm they¡¯d created with their excess power was a zing hurricane almost

    three kilometers wide.

    Almost forty minutester, Val announced to all: ¡°We haven¡¯te up with anything really new for the

    experience I¡¯ve ever had.¡±

    ¡°Same here.¡± Mark agreed as he fully re-opened the Link with his children. ¡°On both those points. But

    some of us are getting to be mentally fatigued, and we¡¯ll have to get ready for the meeting soon.¡±

    ¡°Yes, but before we end it, let¡¯s all have a big hug!¡± Val giggled, and everyone agreed.

    A momentter there were five dragons, twelve unicorns, four elves, Mark, and his children, all

    clumped together in mid-air, all carefully hugging, nuzzling, and caressing each other while deeply

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    Linked, all of their minds fairly sizzling with power and intelligence and a thousand thoughts every

    second, all of their senses and awareness heightened as they gloried in the experience.

    Finally Povon was the first to withdraw her touch and her Link, and she vented much of the power she

    was holding in a mighty explosion amidst the FireStorm overhead. One by one, the others did the

    same, and the FireStorm dissipated.

    ¡°Ahh, I hated to let that go, but I¡¯m burnt.¡± she said as she did a long, slow stretch in mid-air. ¡°We got

    what we wanted though, didn¡¯t we? All we wanted and more.¡±

    ¡°A lot more.¡± Mark nodded.

    ¡°But we don¡¯t have time to do anything with it now, or to implement anything in Serminak.¡± Talia noted.

    ¡°This took a lot longer than we anticipated. We have to get ready for the meeting of the Assembly.¡±

    ¡°Hah.¡± Val said, and in the time it took her to speak the syble she¡¯d cast spells to clean herself, style

    her hair, Retrieve her finest armor and weapons, and don it all. ¡°I¡¯m ready, let¡¯s go early. There¡¯s a lot of

    people I¡¯d like to meet before the business gets started.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m with you there.¡± Fire said as she duplicated her sister¡¯s preparations.

    ¡°Now hold on!¡± Yazadril insisted, even as Nemia took care of his preparations for him. ¡°You must at

    least give us a summary of what you¡­ Of what we¡­ Damn.¡±

    ¡°A harsh realization, isn¡¯t it?¡± Somonik chuckled. ¡°We¡¯ve already lost what we had when we were

    Linked and held the power. We knew what they¡¯d done, if not exactly how they¡¯d done it, and now we

    either can¡¯t remember it or can¡¯tprehend it.¡±

    ¡°Please tell me that it¡¯s not lostpletely!¡± Yazadril said as he turned to Mark in exasperation.

    ¡°My stuff¡¯s not.¡± Mark said as he considered the warlock¡¯s power stone. ¡°I reduced everything we came

    up with in my side of the Link to fourteen spells, and put castable versions of them into this stone.

    Along with a whole bunch of locked personal keys and fail-safes. I don¡¯t understand it anymore either,

    but it¡¯s all ready to go.¡±

    Val giggled. ¡°We did a little better than that, I think. We figured out that only a very small part of all the

    power we were holding was actually helping us think better. Then we figured out exactly how it worked.

    Then we figured out how to cast a power field on our own brains and nervous systems that does the

    same thing. It doesn¡¯t actually take much power.¡±

 Chapter 113

    Chapter 113

    Part 17

    ¡°So right now, your thinking is as advanced as it was when we were all Linked and holding all that

    power?!¡± Yazadril asked, bbergasted at the thought.

    Please check at N/?vel(D)rama.Org.

    ¡°No.¡± Val responded with a shake of her head. ¡°For one thing, even with all the safety measures we

    came up with, I think it¡¯s too dangerous to keep that much extra energy in your brain all the time. But

    it¡¯s all automated, so if I¡¯m trying to figure something out and I¡¯m not smart enough to get it, the spell

    will charge my brain up until I get it done, then release the extra charge when I don¡¯t need it anymore. It

    works really fast too, so we won¡¯t notice it happening, we¡¯ll just be as smart as we need to be whenever

    we need it. The other thing is; the benefits of the Link can¡¯t be duplicated. No one can be as smart by

    themselves as we all were together, not with the kinds of brains we¡¯ve got.

    ¡°So. Can we go?¡± she finished.

    ¡°There¡¯s only twenty minutes left until the Assembly will be called to order.¡± Nemia said as she soothed

    Yazadril¡¯s impatience. ¡°There¡¯s no use having these young ones make all their big announcements

    twice, is there?¡±

    ¡°I suppose.¡± he admitted. ¡°Somonik, if you¡¯d be so kind?¡±

    ¡°Certainly.¡± The ancient white dragon nodded as he clicked his ws together, and then they were all

    elsewhere.

    PART 18

    The space they arrived in appeared in many ways to be the Hall of The Just Alliance. It was

    constructed of the same white marble, they¡¯d arrived beside the same low, round podium at the center

    with the Truthstone of Falgaroth embedded in it, the floor sloped gently upward from the center of the

    room in all directions, and it was lit by the same sourceless white light. But this was muchrger.

    ¡°Damn, this is big.¡± Mark quietly muttered as they all looked around.

    He¡¯d seen some big rooms, including the one in Kraka where the council of dragons had met before

    they¡¯d abandoned the city, and The Stadium of The Empire in Verzaclon City, which was built to seat

    eighty thousand giants plus thrice that number of gnomes. Zarkog¡¯s Hall in Serminak had been most of

    a kilometer wide, before it was destroyed. But this dwarfed them all. It was so big, none there could

    even estimate it¡¯s size without measuring. Mark thought it might be less than a kilometer wide and less

    than three hundred meters high, but he wouldn¡¯t have bet so much as a copper on it.

    There were several renovations beyond the increase in size.

    About a sixth of the room appeared to be walled off with ss and two-thirds filled with water, both of

    which were supernaturally transparent. At first nce it seemed the same as the rest of the room, and

    only the slightest reflection on the clear wall¡¯s surface, the rippling line at the water¡¯s surface, and the

    sight of Selkies, Mer, and other beings swimming around in it showed it for what it was.

    There were glowing blue Translocation circles of every size scattered about all over the vast floor

    space. They were marked with glowing blue letters in Trade Common in the air above them; either

    Iing, Outgoing, Privacies, or Facility Staff Only. Thetter were busy with a constant stream of

    Xervians carrying trays or pushing cartsden with food and drink for the attendees.

    An area along a third of the room¡¯s vast perimeter and a hundred or so meters deep appeared to be

    filled with dense tropical forest.

    ¡°May holy Amirgath preserve me.¡± Kragorram softly marveled.

    ¡°Why yes, I may, since you asked.¡± Amirgath stated as he appeared beside them, then chuckled like an

    avnche at his own joke. After a moment to adapt to the surprise and the novelty of the situation, his

    joke got them too, and they chuckled along with him.

    ¡°So, you like the improvements we¡¯ve made here?¡± he asked as he looked around.

    ¡°It¡¯s very impressive, thank you.¡± Somonik nodded, and indicated the forested part of the perimeter. ¡°I

    take it that the woond area was provided for thefort of the representatives of The Hidden

    Nation. Very considerate of you.¡±

    ¡°All of us gods co-operated on it.¡± Amirgath exined. ¡°It didn¡¯t require us all to do it, of course, but it¡¯s

    meant as a tangible gift from the Pantheon of Keran to the rest of The Just Alliance, so we all helped

    a bit.¡±

    ¡°And we all thank all of you for it.¡± Mark smiled.

    Fire nudged Six and nodded towards her left. ¡°Herees Emperor Osbald¡¯s group.¡± she said as that

    monarch approached with Empress Emeroth, Overlord Senchak, and various associates.

    ¡°Why call it Osbald¡¯s group?¡± Karz asked. ¡°The other two are his equal in power and ability, by any

    measure. I¡¯d actually put Senchak ahead of him in power, and Emeroth ahead of him in ability.¡±

    ¡°Any measure but initiative in international affairs; the quality by which he leads them.¡± Fire exined.

    ¡°He initiated the diplomacies that led to their bteral alliances before the war, he called for their formal

    three-way alliance and then helped bring them into The Just Alliance, which he wasrgely responsible

    for initiating. Emeroth and Senchak actually show more initiative than him in domestic affairs as well,

    but not internationally.¡±

    ¡°Ah.¡± Karz nodded.

    ¡°It seems that everyone is arriving early.¡± Somonik noted as the influx of dozens of Translocations per

    second elerated all around them, and the colossal room filled rapidly from the center outward. ¡°All

    the national leaders are already here with their senior advisers andmanders. Those arriving now

    are leaders of populous provinces andrge cities, and mid-level officers. Also several dozen

    professional news-mongers and criers. And a surprising number of what seem to be random citizens

    from everywhere on Keran in groups of four to eight.¡±

    ¡°And why not, since we have the room?¡± Markughed as Osbald¡¯s group arrived within speaking

    distance.

    ¡°I¡¯m pleased to see you again, Prince Mark.¡± Osbald dered as he extended his hand with a wide

    smile. ¡°I trust your vacation was pleasant?¡±

    ¡°Quite pleasant indeed!¡± Mark agreed as he shook the man¡¯s hand and returned his smile. He

    introduced the human Emperor, the giant Empress, and the dwarf Overlord to his children, then

    introduced his children to the monarchs, including their parentage, full names with titles, nicknames,

    and major achievements, and finished by adding that he, Talia, and Alilia were now a bonded trio.

    ¡°Congrattions on your amazing family!¡± Emerothughed as she returned their bows.

    ¡°Thank you!¡± Markughed.

    ¡°Somonik, I wonder if you¡¯re on duty?¡± Senchak asked. ¡°It appears that you¡¯re not, but with your

    breadth of concentration, it¡¯s sometimes hard to tell! And there¡¯s a great deal being done here tonight.¡±

    ¡°For once, I am as rxed as I appear to be.¡± Somonik chuckled. ¡°Tonight the vouching of attendees,

    their Translocations, and apparently a great many of their invitations, are all being handled by the gods.

    I¡¯m unsure how many of them are co-operating on it, but I do know that Amirgath here, among others,

    is not as unupied as he appears.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s going to be a big night, in every way.¡± Amirgath stated as he looked over the crowd with a bit of a

    mischievous smile. ¡°We wanted to do something appropriate to the asion.¡±

    ¡°A big night?¡± Senchak inquired with a raised eyebrow.

    Amirgath fixed his gaze on the dwarf, and the Overlord of over a billion Kleti had to gird his loins to

    calmly return the first dragon-god¡¯s inspection. ¡°The spell of Falgaroth¡¯s stone gives an interesting

    sensation when it forces me to do something, or to refrain from doing something, like Reading your life

    from your day of birth as a reflex action.¡± Amirgathmented.

    ¡°At any rate. Are you aware that we are gathered here to hear what Prince Mark and hispanions

    have achieved in the time-bubble?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Senchak replied. ¡°I only know we would gather to wee him and his family back to the world,

    knowing that it¡¯s been a long time, for them. I imagined he would speak, and exin why they had

    emerged early.¡±

    ¡°That much is true.¡± Amirgath nodded. ¡°First to announce shall be the Healer Hilsith. Then Prince Mark

    and his mates will discuss what he discovered today. Then these children will address us.¡±

    Though everyone expected him to continue, he said no more.

 Chapter 114

    Chapter 114

    Part 18

    ¡°You didn¡¯t decide that.¡± Fire suddenly stated. ¡°Who¡¯ll do what when, that is. You precogged it just now,

    along with knowing that it¡¯ll be a big night, right?¡±

    Amirgath cocked an eyebrow at her. ¡°If by ¡®precogged¡¯, you mean precognition, including foreseeing,

    soothsaying, and prophesy, then yes, you¡¯re right. How did you know?¡±

    She shrugged. ¡°I just got a feeling off you like I get when Six does it.¡±

    ¡°Interesting.¡± Amirgath nodded, then turned and looked at something to his left.

    ¡°Excuse me, my prot¨¦g¨¦ arrives.¡± he announced, and appeared three hundred meters away beside a

    vast Translocation circle just as Zarkog appeared within it.

    The space Amirgath had vacated was filled almost immediately by Grakonexikaldoron, and the gold

    dragon exchanged greetings with the group as she gave Somonik a hug with one arm and her tail.

    ¡°Strange to see him here.¡± growled Osbald, whose eyes hadn¡¯t left Zarkog since the instant the great

    ck dragon had arrived.

    ¡°He put his mark of justice right under his ass, six millimeters wide.¡± Six revealed with a giggle.

    ¡°Typical.¡± Osbald growled, then couldn¡¯t help but smile at the humor of it. ¡°Though he¡¯s sworn,

    sentenced, and punished, he¡¯s seen the error of his ways, and he¡¯s even apologized, he¡¯s still

    unrepentant.¡±

    ¡°He is a bit of a character, isn¡¯t he?¡± Fire chuckled.

    ¡°He is, to say the least.¡± Osbald chuckled. ¡°You seem more¡­ tolerant, of him, than I¡¯d expect you to

    be.¡±

    She shrugged and smiled. ¡°We have uses for him. For one, he¡¯s gonna kill a lot of demons, I expect.

    ¡°You have uses for him.¡± Osbald repeated with a grin. ¡°Well that¡¯s lucky for us, since I have no use for

    him whatsoever!¡±

    Val floated up and gave him a hug around his neck and a kiss on the cheek. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Osbald. We

    have uses for you too.¡± she giggled.

    Heughed, then abruptly stopped when he realized that they werepletely serious, despite their

    warm smiles. Then heughed even harder.

    The rest chuckled along with him, until Senchak¡¯s gaze was drawn to new arrivals. ¡°I find it damn

    strange seeing Zwak Deathbringer and his Sylvan here in The Hall of The Just Alliance!¡± he grumbled.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it though?¡± Emeroth mused with a raised eyebrow as they watched the Sylvan take their ces.

    Fire nced to her left, her attention drawn by a ten-year-old human boy who was desperately trying to

    hide the fact that he was weeping. He was apanied by his mother who surreptitiously tried to

    meters, embarrassed by her brother¡¯s loss of control. All of them were openly watching the group

    around Mark with open and rapt fascination.

    ¡°Excuse me a moment.¡± Fire said as she turned to approach the weeping boy. She stopped quite close

    to him so she wouldn¡¯t have to raise her voice over the constant noise of the thousands of

    conversations.

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± she bluntly inquired.

    ¡°Nothing.¡± he sniffed as he wiped his nose on his sleeve.

    Fire frowned up at him. ¡°Don¡¯t be silly. Something¡¯s obviously wrong, and I can probably fix it whatever

    it is, and I will if I can. Don¡¯t pass up the chance.¡±

    He did his best to pull himself together and re-assemble his dignity, assisted by a bit of angry

    resentment at her attitude. His family nced back and forth between their conversation and Mark¡¯s

    group, who were also watching and following Fire¡¯s conversation with the boy. His father swallowed at

    a lump in his throat brought on by the sudden attention of the mighty, and the girl moved to stand with

    her family again to share in it.

    ¡°I¡¯m Baym Shgongshtip.¡± the boy stated. ¡°We¡¯re from Bhia. I¡¯m a wizard. I¡¯ve been one for four years,

    and I¡¯ve worked like a ve at it since I was six, sixteen hours a day with one day off a week. I¡¯m one

    of the best wizards my age in Bhia. And I can only do six spells. Six measly spells, with almost no

    power.

    ¡°But I¡¯ve got good senses. I can tell when a wizard¡¯s casting a spell, and I can tell that right now, you¡¯re

    casting a lot of ¡®em, with a lot of power. It doesn¡¯t even seem like you¡¯re even thinking about it. And

    you¡¯re only seven.

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    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I know I¡¯m being petty. I wouldn¡¯t¡¯ve said anything if you hadn¡¯t insisted. But it sure seems

    like I¡¯ve wasted four years of my life somehow. I could¡¯ve had a lot of fun in those four years.¡±

    ¡°Hmm. You mind if I Read you?¡± she inquired.

    When he hesitated, she grew impatient. ¡°Look, Hilsith¡¯s team on Hiliani have found a way to give every

    human alive the ability to use magic, and everyone¡¯s gonna get some instruction. But if you¡¯re as good

    as you say you are, you can handle more than the basic instruction. Let me Read you and Link with

    you, and I¡¯ll give it to you. I can guarantee that I can make you capable of casting a lot more than six

    spells. Or you can go somewhere beyond my sight.¡±

    ¡°Okay, go ahead.¡± he quickly decided, and his mother nudged him. ¡°And thank you.¡± he added.

    She cast her psionics, then considered the results, and nodded. ¡°You¡¯re right, you¡¯re as good as you

    say you are. And believe me, you haven¡¯t wasted four years. You¡¯re instructor isn¡¯t thatpetent, but

    you did the best you could with the best instruction you could get, given your family¡¯s circumstances.

    You¡¯ve developed a lot of discipline, except for your littlepse here tonight, and more importantly, while

    your ability to cast magic hasn¡¯t progressed much, your intellectual and intuitive grasp of the process

    has been advancing nicely.

    ¡°Because of that, I figure you can handle this much.¡±

    She cast on the boy again, and he froze, then slowly gained a rapturous expression.

    She was about to turn away when Six privately reminded her that they intended to win the hearts of the

    populous.

    She smiled at each of the boy¡¯s family and gave them a little bow, and said; Good day to you all then. I

    hope you enjoy the proceedings.¡±

    They smiled and bowed in response, and she took her leave of them.

    As these things had been happening, Mark had remonstrated her with an irritated psionic rebuke.

    ¡°You¡¯ve prematurely announced Hilsith¡¯s news! Now she¡¯s going to have to announce it immediately, or

    everyone here and everywhere else will know it in about five minutes by word-of-mouth before she can

    do so!¡±

    He appeared on the center of the dais, actually standing on the Truthstone of Falgaroth, and Spoke to

    the huge gathering with magical augmentation. ¡°Good people of The Just Alliance¡­¡± He paused a

    moment to allow everyone to give him their attention as a gigantic Revealing lit above him, showing his

    front view to the audience all around him, and the room¡¯s ambient light dimmed somewhat. Soon every

    eye was upon him, and the clear surface that walled off the water-filled section was lined from floor to

    water-line with attentive spectators. ¡°Good people of The Just Alliance, thank you for gathering to hear

    what we¡¯ve aplished on Hiliani while we were away.

    ¡°For us, it¡¯s been more than seven and a half years, and everyone on Hiliani has contributed to great

    aplishments. None more so than Hilsith; Master Healer, whose focus has been on solving one of

    the most intractable problems on Keran.

    ¡°To exin further, I present Hilsith of The Warm People, of The High People, of Hilia and Hiliani, and

    of The Just Alliance Fast Response Force¡¯s Healers¡¯ Contingent.¡±

    Hilsith appeared beside him, floating in the air at the right height to give him a warm smile and a quick

    hug.

    He stepped back with a grin and disappeared, and she settled to alight upon the Truthstone. She

    slowly turned all the way around, then sped her hands behind her back and looked down. Those

    who expected a grand presentation were surprised when she spoke to the entire world in the tone of

    one chatting in a kitchen over tea.

    ¡°When my love for Yazadril and Nemia was new, and we were still living in First Valley, there was a

    morning when we were eating breakfast. And Yazadril shared a Reading with us of his first

    conversation with Mark, when they¡¯d first met. Though much of it was pleasant conversation, I was so

    saddened by what I heard that I began to cry a bit. Nemia thought that I was saddened by the horror of

    the deaths of Mark¡¯s entiremunity, and I was, but that wasn¡¯t what made me cry.

 Chapter 115

    Chapter 115

    Part 18

    ¡°The part that made me cry was something Mark had said with a heartyugh. Yazadril had stated how

    proud he was of Nemia, his beautiful young new wife, who was only two hundred and fifty-eight years

    old. Mark found it funny that Yazadril considered her at her age to be his beautiful young new wife,

    N?velDrama.Org is the owner.

    when the oldest person Mark had ever known up to that day had died of old age at the age of seventy-

    six.¡±

    She paused a moment, and took a deep breath. ¡°Dead from ageing at seventy-six years old, and the

    eldest person Mark had ever known. The sadness of that struck me so deeply, and I found it amazing

    that such people still lived most of their lives with great joy, despite knowing that they were cursed to

    live without the use of magic, and doomed to an early death. Knowing that everyone they cared for

    were going to sicken and die, and very soon, and there was nothing that they or anyone else could do

    about it.¡±

    She paused, then raised her gaze with fierce determination, and almost shouted her next words, so

    great was her intensity; ¡°Well that will not happen again! We have beaten death by old age in every

    thinking mammalian race, and in the process, we¡¯ve found a way to give the use of magic to all who

    She stopped and actually flinched a bit as the huge cheer from the many thousands all around her

    reached her and washed over her with palpable force. She waited for it to quiet before she continued,

    but it just went on and on, and only seemed to get louder. Almost everyone present from the short-lived

    races seemed to try to talk to their neighbors at the top of their lungs at once, their joyful yelling

    interspersed with new cheers.

    After a few moments of unending cacophony, she decided that she¡¯d already said everything that

    needed saying, so she smiled and gave a simple bow before walking back to her party.

    This prompted an even louder response as the crowd realized that she was leaving the podium, and

    they cheered her mightily for her aplishment.

    She was barely off the podium when she was overwhelmed by the crowd. Every human, dwarf, gnome,

    giant, Selkie, and gargoyle who was near her wanted to thank her, touch her, shake her hand, hug her.

    As the full significance of what she¡¯d announce set in, almost all of them began either weeping with joy

    orughing hysterically as they realized that they were all delivered from early death, and granted the

    power they¡¯d always envied in those who had it. She began to panic as they all closed in around her,

    but Yazadril cast a Force Shield tight around her skin, then quickly grew it to a two meter sphere,

    pushing the people away from her.

    ¡°Just smile and wave and walk back to us, Love.¡± Yazadril advised her. ¡°I¡¯ll keep the Shield moving with

    you.¡±

    So she did, while Yazadril cleared her way through the crowd as gently as possible.

    The frenzy of joy and the incredible din of the crowd went on and on, long after Hilsith had returned to

    her party and been safely ensconced within Yazadril and Nemia¡¯s protective arms.

    ¡°I¡­ hadn¡¯t really considered their reaction.¡± she revealed to her party. ¡°I¡¯m overwhelmed!¡±

    ¡°This is really too much.¡± Mark decided, and cast a spell that blocked most of the incredible noise from

    his party and those they¡¯d been speaking with before Fire had spilled Hilsith¡¯s news.

    ¡°Well, thank you, that¡¯s much better.¡± Osbald said with a smile at conversational volume.

    ¡°You know,¡± Emeroth chuckled as she looked around at the scene, ¡°If someone doesn¡¯t do something

    soon, this is going to be nothing but a huge party, and it¡¯ll be hard to get anything else

    constructive done here tonight.¡±

    ¡°Well, I suppose I should talk to them.¡± Mark decided. ¡°But first I¡¯d like to talk to the gods.¡±

    Visinniria and Falgaroth appeared as he said it, and he continued speaking without pause, like they¡¯d

    been there all along.

    ¡°Did you find any problems in the other time-bubbles when you opened them, and what¡¯s the situation

    with the renegade Sylvan God of Stealth?¡± he asked.

    ¡°No.¡± Visinniria told him with a smile. ¡°We didn¡¯t open the other time-bubbles, we just looked inside

    them. It was less effort than re-casting them all again. None of them contained any hidden Sylvan, and

    none of their residents wanted to leave early. None of their children have disyed exceptionally fast

    development, so they¡¯re just infants. The only other bubble that had People of Morning was the one

    they organized on the ins of Xervia. There¡¯s over six thousand unicorns in it, as well as a few

    hundred gargoyles and a few dozen from The Hidden Nation. None of them were ufortable with

    their situation.¡±

    Falgaroth continued as she finished. ¡°The Sylvan God of Stealth was found and¡­ apprehended by

    Glup, Kee the Dwarven God of War, Thless the Human Goddess of Learning, and six Sylvan gods,

    about fourteen seconds after you told us of him. Most of us were looking for him. Fourteen seconds is a

    very long time for such a group to take toplete any task. The God of Stealth was not easy to find,

    or to catch. Since then the other Sylvan gods have kept him secluded, and they¡¯ve been arguing with

    him. That¡¯s all the rest of us of know about it.¡±

    ¡°Okay, thanks.¡± Mark told them with a nod. ¡°Since Amirgath predicted I¡¯d speak next with Talia and

    Alilia, I¡¯m a little tempted to do it without them, just to see what would happen. But I won¡¯t.¡±

    He smiled at each of his beloveds and offered them his arms. ¡°Ladies?¡±

    They returned his smile as they rose into the air to take his arms, Talia on his right and Alilia on his left.

    Rather than walk or Translocate, they floated up and over the heads of the other attendees to the

    center of the dais and settled down on it. The huge Revealing above them re-activated, and Mark

    waited for most of a minute for the room to notice them and to give him their attention.

    When almost everyone was looking to him, and only the murmur of a few quietments amongst the

    crowd remained of the cacophony of moments before, Mark spoke. Like Hilsith, his tone was casual

    and intimate.

    ¡°I know a lot of you expected us to make brilliant discoveries and do great new things while we were in

    the time-bubble, and we haven¡¯t let you down. A lot of you expected me personally to do great things,

    but I didn¡¯t, not in the time-bubble anyway. I only helped a lot of other brilliant and hard-working people

    do great things. A few of the goals we set for ourselves haven¡¯t been met yet, but I¡¯m sure they will be

    after the Hiliani time-bubble has resumed and run for it¡¯s full duration.

    ¡°We made big advances in our ability to wage war against the demons. We helped Hilsith with the

    research that led to her discovery of longevity and magic for every member of every major race on

    Keran. And we¡¯ve had a wonderful life for thest seven and a half years, but not an easy one.¡±

    He paused for a moment, and smiled at Talia as he continued speaking to the world. She smiled up at

    him in adoration as he spoke. ¡°When I went into the time-bubble, I thought my life was as full of love

    and happiness as it could be, and I thought I was as in love as a man could get. I was wrong.¡±

    He looked out at the crowd again. ¡°Our main purpose for going in the time-bubble was to have children

    and raise them before we began a task that the gods wanted us to do. Talia and I knew she was

    expecting twins before we left Hilia, and having children and raising them with her has made me love

    her, and fall far more deeply in love with her, than I ever thought possible.

    ¡°But my incredible good fortune had more in store for me.¡± he continued as he smiled down at Alilia,

    who met his smile. ¡°A wonderful love grew between me and Talia and Alilia, and she also bore us a

    child.¡±

    He spontaneously hugged them both, and they returned it as he took a long look around at the crowd,

    who represented all the people in the world, most of whom were watching and listening via public

    Revealings all over Keran.

 Chapter 116

    Chapter 116

    Part 18

    ¡°Raising children has been the most wonderful and beautiful part of our lives, and it¡¯s also been our

    greatest aplishment. As parents, we hoped to produce children who were greater than ourselves,

    and we did. Though our children are only seven years old, already they¡¯ve surpassed us in most areas

    of endeavor. They¡¯ll aplish more, and help all of Keran more, than we ever will.

    ¡°But I¡¯ll return to the subject of our children in a few minutes. For now, suffice to say that today they and

    others helped me fulfill the task that had been set for me by the gods.

    N?velDrama.Org is the owner.

    ¡°Before The War Of The Founding really got going, after I Healed Dalia and Bezedil, a bunch of us

    went to Hilia to rx for a few minutes, and we were visited by the gods. The gods told us that we were

    Candidates for Divinity, that we might be gods ourselves, and that I¡¯d probably have to get it first

    for it to work for the rest of us. They encouraged us to try to attain divinity as soon as possible, so that

    Keran would have more gods when we faced the demons. But they couldn¡¯t tell us how to do it

    without thousands of years of study.

    ¡°Today, with the help of my family and closest friends, I discovered how to be a god. And I

    discovered how to help anyone who has the potential for it to be a god as well. Soon, there will be

    new gods of Keran.¡±

    The crowd had been silent and attentive, but now a murmur of many quiet speakers began. Mark

    continued as the sound and excitement of the people rose with his every word.

    ¡°I also discovered how to tell if a person has the potential to be a god, and I designed a spell that

    will automatically check every person in the world, and give me the identities of everyone who has that

    potential.

    ¡°When we¡¯re all done speaking here, I¡¯ll cast the spell that detects those who have divine potential.

    Three minutes after that, I¡¯ll know who all of them are except those in the other time-bubbles, and each

    of them will know that they¡¯ve been selected.¡±

    The buzz of the crowd was getting loud now, but Mark just increased his own volume and kept going.

    ¡°It¡¯s a big step, bing a god. And to be honest, I¡¯m still a little hesitant about taking that step. I

    made an agreement with the gods where I didn¡¯t have to start working on it until the end of the two-

    month duration of the time-bubbles, and I¡¯m sure they expected me to take at least a week to get it, so

    I¡¯m going to wait until then. When the time-bubbles end, we¡¯ll take a week to wee their upants

    back to the world, and to start integrating what they¡¯ll have discovered with our efforts to prepare for

    war against the demons, and check them for the potential.

    ¡°So most Candidates will have about seven weeks to prepare themselves. One week after the time-

    bubbles end I¡¯ll call them to me, and we¡¯ll all be gods, unless they absolutely refuse it. And those

    who refuse had best prepare to be extensively debated by the Pantheon about it. If any need more time

    before they agree, the gods might provide it for them in another round of time-bubbles. But one way or

    another, we have to maximize our capabilities before we face the demons.¡±

    He took a long pause to give them a chance to absorb what he¡¯d said.

    ¡°Now I¡¯ll return to the subject of our children. Like all parents I suppose, I could go on for hours and

    hours about their abilities and aplishments, but they deserve to present their own

    aplishments, so I¡¯ll merely introduce them. And in this case, our children includes Povon and

    Kragorram¡¯s son.¡±

    He paused for a moment as the three moved away from the center of the dais and were joined by a

    beaming Povon and Kragorram, then raised his hands and announced with a booming voice and a

    joyous smile;

    ¡°Good people of Keran, we most proudly introduce; The Governors of Hiliani!¡±

    The four youngsters appeared in formation on the center of the dais facing their parents, and bowed to

    them with happy smiles.

    Mark formally introduced them with their full names and every honorific they had, and each bowed

    again as they were introduced.

    Then the parents bowed to their children, and Mark finished by saying; ¡°Governors, you have our

    attention.¡±

    ¡°Thank you Father.¡± Six acknowledged with a smile.

    Mark returned it with a nod, and the five parents Translocated back to their ce on the floor.

    Six stepped forward a bit, sped his hands behind his back as he struck a thoughtful stance, and

    spoke. His boyish voice rang with confidence.

    ¡°We were incredibly and undeservedly blessed with the parents,panions, and circumstances that

    we were born with, and we¡¯ve always felt a certain responsibility because of it. We wanted to do

    something to deserve all that we¡¯ve been given, so we¡¯ve worked very hard to aplish something

    worthwhile.

    ¡°We were proud to take part in ourmunity¡¯s development of new methods of warfare, Shielding,

    and Warding, and we¡¯ve made important advances in spell design and psionic techniques.

    ¡°We¡¯ve designed and implemented a better life for Sylvan, especially their youth, and we¡¯re convinced

    that soon, all Sylvan will choose to take part in it, instead of ying The Game Of Status. That will have

    a very significant and immediate effect on the state of society on Keran, both among the Sylvan and

    among the rest of The Just Alliance.

    ¡°We cast a spell today that apprehended and punished every murderer still atrge in The Just

    Alliance, almost all of whom were yers of The Game of Status. If anyone else murders anyone from

    now on, the spell will be hunting them in less than a second.

    ¡°And we helped Hilsith with her discovery of longevity and magic for those whocked it. We know that

    soon there¡¯ll be a lot of new magic users who need training, and we think the existing training programs

    could be a lot more efficient, so we¡¯ll be establishing training programs among the general public, as

    well as among the Sylvan.¡±

    He gave them a moment to absorb the import of that, then stepped back, and Val stepped up.

    ¡°Today I designed a spell that can do everyone¡¯s physical work for them.¡± she stated without preamble.

    ¡°When we face the demons, it will allow us to put every able body into the fight, and after the war, if we

    survive it, it can eliminate unpleasant work from our lives.

    ¡°I also designed a spell that can Heal any wound as soon as it¡¯s taken, almost instantaneously. Can I

    have a brave volunteer to¡­ Ah, thank you Zayobod.¡± she nodded as that worthy elf appeared on the

    dais in front of her with a huge grin and a sweeping bow.

    ¡°You are most wee!¡± he responded.

    ¡°This is Zayobod of The High People, of The Hilian Volunteers, Leader of The Valiant Glory Seekers,

    and a Sergeant in The Hiliani Defense Forces.¡± Val stated.

    Zayobod grinned and bowed again, to the audience this time.

    ¡°Please stand with your chin high and your shoulders low, Zayobod.¡± Val instructed as she reached out

    and drew his sword from its sheath at his side, rose a little in the air, and held the middle of the de

    against his throat. ¡°I¡¯m now casting The Healing of Valentia upon you. You¡¯ll want to hold still for this.

    The Healing will still work the same if you move, but it¡¯ll probably hurt less if you don¡¯t.¡±

    She drew the sword all the way back and made a slow practice swing, ending with the edge against his

    throat again, so that there could be no doubt that she nned to cut his head off. She drew back again,

    then struck with an incredibly quick two-handed swing. The de passed through Zayobod¡¯s neck and

    out the other side, his blood was whipped from the end of the de to spatter on the dais in an arc that

    almost reached the first rows of the audience, and he cringed and yelped a bit a fraction of a second

    after the fact. His hands pped onto his neck in panic and found it intact as the audience reacted to

    what they¡¯d seen with flinches and cries, and he released his held breath in a deep sigh. Then he

    grinned and bowed to Val again as she handed him his sword.

 Chapter 117

    Chapter 117

    Part 18

    ¡°Thank you Zayobod,¡± Val said with a smile, ¡°That was indeed very brave and trusting of you. How do

    you feel?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine now, but that did actually hurt quite a lot for a moment, and as the sword passed through my

    spine I got a feeling like lightning was striking in my brain.¡±

    ¡°Interesting. Thank you.¡± Val told him with a smile and a nod of dismissal.

    He returned the smile, then returned to his ce.

    Val cast a meter wide Revealing in front of her, knowing that it would be shown in the great Revealing

    above her.

    ¡°Let¡¯s look at that again, shall we?¡± she said as she reyed her view of her strike through Zayobod¡¯s

    Content ? provided by N?velDrama.Org.

    neck. ¡°Now let¡¯s watch it very slowly, focusing on the area of the spell¡¯s effect.¡±

    Her Revealing zoomed in until she was showing only the trailing edge of the de and a few

    millimeters behind it.

    ¡°You can see that the wound is closed a hair¡¯s breadth behind the de, even at the speed I was

    swinging, and the damage ispletely healed three millimeters behind that. If the de didn¡¯t have

    blood channels, he might not have lost a single drop of blood.¡±

    She dismissed her Reading, and paused a moment.

    ¡°Now I feel what the gods must have felt, when they decided upon The Withdrawal. I can cast these

    two spells right now. I can do all of your work for you, and I can save you from most injuries. The

    Healing spell can¡¯t save you if you¡¯re torn apart, dispersed in an explosion, burned constantly and

    head off with a big battle axe wider than his neck,pletely separating his head from his body with a

    seconds.

    ¡°But still, casting those two spells on everyone right now would have a revolutionary effect on everyone

    on Keran. And we can¡¯t predict what the effect would be. Like the gods, we worry that people will

    stagnate without useful physical work to do, and that they¡¯ll lose the habit of being careful if they know

    they¡¯re protected from almost any injury. We worry that everyone will grow too dependent on the spells,

    and on us.

    ¡°So I¡¯m not going to cast those spells today, or most of the other new stuff we came up with either. I¡¯ll

    cast them when we start fighting the demons, but I won¡¯t cast them on anyone else before then unless

    the issue has been discussed and voted on by all the rulers, leaders, and gods of The Assembly of The

    Just Alliance, and they tell me I should do it.¡±

    She paused another moment as she looked around, considering those watching, then she stepped

    back beside Six.

    Fire stepped forward.

    She paused, then considered the great Revealing above her, showing the four of them on the dais. She

    concentrated on it, seeking control of it, felt the extra energy flowing into her brain as she engaged in a

    contest of wills and skills with the initially-unknown person controlling it. After Locating and Identifying

    Edsda the Kleti Goddess of Entertainment as her opponent and sessfully wresting control of the

    Revealing from her, Fire gave her a polite psionic; ¡°Excuse me a moment.¡±

    This was achieved in a bit more than a tenth of a second, and the Pantheon of Keran were aware of

    it a hundredth of a secondter, as were the other three children on the dais. None of them revealed

    their knowledge of it to the assembled mortals in any way.

    She concentrated the Revealing on her own face, slowly shrinking the viewpoint until her seven-year-

    old half-elven features were revealed to the Hall of The Just Alliance two hundred and fifty meters high,

    and to the world. She gave them a moment to consider what she was showing; long enough for most to

    recognize that she was not a human or an elf, she was not like the other rare half-elven children. She

    was something different, and her expression of grim and mature determination seemed at odds with

    her young age. Her gaze held a mind of such intense ferocity that it overpowered the emotional

    reaction to her pretty childish features. Some of those watching were chilled by her unflinching gaze,

    others were simply struck with wonder.

    ¡°Excuse me a moment while I take a quick surface Reading of all of you, if you don¡¯t mind.¡± she said,

    and did so.

    She waited a moment to let that sink in as well.

    ¡°As I expected. Most of you expected us to be brilliant but cute, to stand up here and bask in the glory

    of our moment in the public eye.

    ¡°We have no time for basking in glory.

    ¡°Let me show you something. This is a memory from seven million years ago. It was experienced by

    Bukpuk of the Tgek, and recorded by Somonik as part of his Chronicle of The Demon War. I¡¯ll cast it as

    a Reading too, so those here in the hall can feel the emotion of it, as well as seeing and hearing it. This

    was the very first demon attack on Keran.¡±

    The Revealing began showing a vige of gargoyles, built on a steep cliff face, being assaulted by

    demons. It was twilight on a cloudy day, and it was apparent that the gargoyles had beenpletely

    caught by surprise; none of them had been expecting the demons¡¯ attack, and none were prepared for

    it. The demonsid waste to them as they panicked, almost incapacitated with fear and shock.

    Bukpuk was a young adult gargoyle, and one of their most promising clerics. He had been eating the

    evening meal with his family when the attack came. The stone wall of their home was suddenly ripped

    away with a deafening cracking, crunching roar, and the demons were among them and killing them

    with shocking suddenness. In a second his father, brother, and his uncles were burned to death, his

    mother was bitten in half, his younger sister was grabbed and shovedpletely into a huge demon¡¯s

    mouth and chewed.

    Bukpuk Translocated out in an absolute panic, using a transportation medallion his temple had

    received from the unicorns, and he emerged in the air outside the vige. He could neither force

    himself to attack them nor allow himself to flee and abandon his people. But in seven seconds there

    was almost nothing left of the vige, and one of the demons noticed him floating in the air behind

    them. Bukpuk fled before he could be attacked again; Translocating as far south as he could.

    The great Revealing reverted to the view of Fire¡¯s face, and she looked around for a moment, noting

    the shock, disgust, fear and nausea on faces all around them.

    ¡°Now some of you think that was a bit harsh for this asion, knowing that your children are watching

    all over the world. But I am a child, and I¡¯ve had to live with the horror of what we¡¯re going to face since

    before I was even born. None of us will be able to hide from it if the war we¡¯re facing goes bad.

    ¡°That¡¯s what makes us four what we are, far more than our heritage or our training or the quality of the

    family andmunity we grew up in. We were born and raised to face the demons, and defeat them,

    and that¡¯s why we try so hard.

    ¡°Besides, that was the very first demon attack. They all got worse from there.

    ¡°Now I¡¯ve instilled a suitably serious mood in you. I hope you carry it with you after tonight. Stay healthy

    and get ready to fight the demons. Nothing else really matters.

    ¡°Hilsith¡¯s spell to end aging is incredibly important, but it won¡¯t matter to most of you if you get killed by

    the demons in a few years. At this point, her gift of magic to those whocked it is far more relevant.

    ¡°Today, while Linked with the greatest minds and most powerful mortal spell casters on Keran, we

    solved all the other problems we wanted to solve, then we started working on my father¡¯s challenge

    from the gods; finding out how to make mortals into gods.

    ¡°Father and I both had different ideas of how to do it at almost the same time, so he separated half the

    Link, and he solved the problem.

 Chapter 118

    Chapter 118

    Part 18

    ¡°My approach was different; earlier today the goddess Ne had given my father the list of abilities

    known as The Prerequisites for Divinity. Rather than try to achieve a new state of being that allowed

    me to do all of those things, we took the list piecemeal; and one by one we figured out how to do

    everything on the list except one. And like most of the gods, and my father, we have other abilities that

    might be considered divine in magnitude that some or all of the gods don¡¯t have, and aren¡¯t on the list

    of Prerequisites.

    ¡°But we¡¯re definitely not gods. We¡¯re just four young mortals with the same abilities and power as the

    gods. Now we of Keran are in the same situation as the Triax; some of our most powerful mortals are

    more powerful and more influential than the weakest of our gods, and so the hierarchy of power and

    influence isn¡¯t as straightforward as it used to be.

    ¡°Now I want to discuss the matter of trust. Without trust we are nothing, we can¡¯t be friends or even

    allies if we don¡¯t trust one another.

    ¡°You think that all of us who are following this meeting are either sworn to justice on a powerful artifact,

    or confined like the Sylvan on Hiliani. And so we can be trusted. But there¡¯s one who¡¯s watching tonight

    who¡¯s not sworn, someone who faked having sworn on The Truthstone of Falgaroth at the great

    gathering to celebrate the end of The War of The Founding. Someone who¡¯s been manipting

    everyone for longer than any of our ancestors have lived, someone who has even changed the

    development of the characteristics of many of the races alive today. Someone who is not even fully

    sane, by his own standards or anyone else¡¯s.

    ¡°Of course there¡¯s only one person that could be. We became suspicious of him from historical facts we

    learned on Hiliani, and since we¡¯ve been out in the world and had our big breakthrough session today,

    we were able to confirm most of our suspicions.

    ¡°And because we¡¯re warlocks, we can do something about it.

    ¡°We Call and Compel Glup of The Zurb to ount for his actions.¡±

    The four of them released a mighty set of pre-castpound spells, and forced the First God of

    Keran to appear in physical form upon The Truthstone of Falgaroth. His double row of antennae

    writhed in violent and seemingly random patterns, and the rest of his shiny ck carapace was held

    almost immobile, though he seemed to struggle in futility against magic bonds.

    ¡°Don¡¯t fight it, Glup, you know you deserve it.¡± Fire told him with a snarl of concentration as they held

    the god. ¡°And besides, you know that if you fight us about it, there¡¯ll be big consequences for everyone

    here.

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    The four of them visibly rxed as Glup ceased resisting them.

    ¡°Glup¡¯s intentions are honorable and simple; he seeks the continuation of intelligent life on Keran.¡±

    Fire continued as she turned to the audience. ¡°This is understandable, since he spent tens of millions

    of years as the only thinking being in the world after his people died, and intelligent mortal life was

    absent from the world.

    ¡°But his methods have disyed aplete disregard for the races and individuals that he¡¯s

    manipted.

    ¡°He gave intelligence and magic to the first nine true dragons who ever existed, and that is how the

    race of dragons began.

    ¡°He did the same for the first generation of unicorns, the gargoyles, and most of the other races whose

    individuals are all inherently magic, including the trolls, the Swarm, and most of the races of The

    Hidden Nation. The races whose membersck magic for the most part developed naturally, including

    the selkies, the humans, and their descendent races. Including the elves; though they are a highly

    magical race, they developed naturally from humans. And of course the Sylvan were initiated by the

    demons.

    ¡°He affected the gestation of my father and a few others throughout history to make them warlocks, to

    deal with various crises that came up, but for the most part, he¡¯s kept the secret of the use of the

    second Source to himself. But he didn¡¯t count on Father being able to pass on the gift to his offspring.

    Glup didn¡¯t count on us three, and he¡¯s never bothered to build very good defenses against warlocks,

    since he made sure that there were usually none of them around almost all the time, and never more

    than one.

    ¡°He has manipted the selection of the gods, and he makes sure that any Candidates who aren¡¯t

    epted by him don¡¯t achieve true immortality, and that they fade from history, usually in less than a

    million years.

    ¡°And by the way, his biggest lie may have been that only a few gods could understand him, and only

    then after many years of study, and that he could only make himself understood to them. He

    understands everynguage we have, and can converse physically or psionicly in all of them.

    ¡°But worst of all, during long periods of rtive peace and tranquility, he has asionally instigated

    wars, simply to ¡®cull the herd¡¯, so to speak.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that right, Glup? Of course The Truthstone doesn¡¯t affect you, which is how you faked having

    been bound by it, so we¡¯re going to Compel you.

    ¡°Tell the truth, and answer physically in Trade Common.¡± she instructed as the four of them cast on him

    again.

    ¡°All right, dammit!¡± Glup groused in a raspy voice that sounded very strangeing from his

    crustacean mouth. His antennae were held absolutely rigid as he spoke. ¡°It¡¯s all true! What are you

    Content (C) N?v/elDra/ma.Org.

    going to do about it?!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not for us to decide.¡± Fire firmly stated. ¡°Our purpose with you here today is merely to reveal the

    truth. I¡¯m sure The Assembly and the rest of The Pantheon will have things to say to you about it after

    this meeting, though they might want to wait until my father and the other new gods have ascended

    before they make any decisions. If they want our help with enforcing their decision on you, they¡¯ll have

    it.

    ¡°Until then, you can go.¡±

    Glup disappeared.

    Fire graced the gathering with her intense gaze for a few moments more. Then she returned the great

    Revealing to a view of the entire dais again, relinquished control of it, and stepped back.

    There wasplete silence. Everyone, gods and mortal both, were thunderstruck by what they¡¯d seen.

    Karzog struck a proud pose, and spoke. ¡°All Kerani are facing great and rapid changes, and a great

    challenge ahead.

    ¡°Do we have the best possible leadership in ce to guide us in these momentous times? Perhaps we

    do, but how can we know?

    ¡°We can have a great tournament, mediated by the gods! This we proposed today, and the gods have

    agreed to organize and operate the tournament. They said they will call it The Tournament of

    Governors, since we proposed the event and we¡¯re the only currently serving governors. We are

    honored by their choice.

    ¡°The tournament will allow the entrants the chance to prove themselves to be the most capable

    candidate to lead Keran in war against the demons.

    ¡°Anyone who honestly believes you have the capability to lead us against the demons will have a

    chance to form a team under yourmand. The gods will decide if you and your team really are

    qualified to take part in the tournament. You can have anyone you want on yourmand team to

    provide you with creativity and advice, and you can delegatemand of parts of our forces to them, if

    they agree to help you. If you want to lead a team and you¡¯ve also been invited to serve on another¡¯s

    anyone who will help you, including the gods.¡±

    Karzog settled back on his haunches again, and Six stepped forward once more.

    ¡°Quewanak, Draconian God of Dreaming, has generously agreed to give us four the few more hours of

    training that we think we¡¯ll need.¡± he stated with supreme confidence. ¡°And we fully intend to win this

    tournament, and to lead Keran against the demons. But even if we don¡¯t, we¡¯ll know who deserves to

    lead us, so we can have our most effective leadership in ce when the timees. We think even

    the gods shouldpete, because for now, beating the demons is all that really matters.

    ¡°We thank you for your time and attention.¡±

    With that the four of them bowed deeply to the assembly, and Translocated back to their ces.

 Chapter 119

    Chapter 119

    Part 18

    Mark reappeared on the dais, grinning at them with pride across the thirty-two meters that separated

    them.

    ¡°Our kids. The Governors of Hiliani. Aren¡¯t they something?¡± he casually asked the immense room, and

    the vast crowd gave a huge cheer.

    His demeanor became more serious. ¡°All right, I¡¯m casting the spell to detect those with divine

    potential. Mind you, I don¡¯t know if I¡¯ll find the same people that the gods would call Candidates for

    Divinity, I¡¯m just finding people who have the potential for my process to work for them. Okay, here

    goes.¡±

    He cast with a slight motion of his hand, which was the only detectable sign of it. Then he took a deep

    breath, let it out, and gave a rueful smile. ¡°Thank you. We¡­¡±

    He was interrupted by the appearance of Quewanak.

    ¡°Mark, please wait here with me until your spell has finished making its selections.¡±

    ¡°Ah, all right.¡± Mark responded in surprise with a raised eyebrow.

    Almost immediately a voice cried out from the crowd in Elvish; ¡°I¡¯ve been selected!¡± and a giant jumped

    up with his arms raised and dered in Common; ¡°I was chosen!¡±

    ¡°As I suspected.¡± Quewanak nodded. ¡°Your spell propagates outward from you. You learn of the closest

    chosen first, and in three minutes you¡¯ll know those on the far side of the world.¡±

    ¡°Two and a half, now.¡± Mark nodded.

    ¡°Yes. Please inform me when the process is finished.¡±

    Mark nodded, and they waited. A buzz of conversation arose in the room as people filled the time with

    talk.

    The rest of Mark¡¯s party sensed that Quewanak meant to do something important, and almost all of

    them knew they¡¯d been chosen by the spell. They patiently waited in silence.

    Then Mark nodded to Quewanak, and told him; ¡°Okay, I know them all, and they know they¡¯ve been

    selected.¡±

    ¡°Excellent. Now, if you¡¯d be so kind, please take a quick Reading of them to answer these questions;

    How many of them want to wait another seven weeks to achieve divinity? How many of them want it

    right now, how many of them want it eagerly, how many of them want it desperately?¡±

    Mark gave a rueful chuckle and a shake of his head before he answered. ¡°A lot of them are pretty

    eager to have it done. As I¡¯m sure you knew.¡±

    ¡°I did.¡± Quewanak nodded. ¡°And I want you to know something.

    ¡°In myst moments of mortality, after I was fully Healed by Amirgath and just before I became

    Draconian God of Dreaming and the one hundred sixty-fourth god of my race, I was the most advanced

    Candidate there had ever been. I had already lived far longer than most of the gods, and was the

    eldest mortal who had ever lived, of any race. My forty million year slumber forced me to concentrate

    on and develop my mental abilities to a greater extent than any mortal had ever done. And my newly

    restored physical health and vitality only increased my abilities.¡±

    A bit of a buzz rose among the gathering as the public atrge learned that he was now a god, but he

    ignored them and continued speaking with Mark with a friendly intensity.

    ¡°Yet despite all that, and despite having had more than seven years of subjective time to get used to

    being a god, I have still only begun to explore my new capabilities. Most new gods don¡¯t feel fully

    ¡°The Nexus and the war with the demons will be upon us in less than two years. Every single second

    that these new gods have to train and learn and explore their new capabilities could be crucial.

    ¡°I know that you fear the loss of your humanity, but you must trust me on this; the Ascension is a

    wonderful thing, and if you do it now, you¡¯ll be d you did. If you wait the seven weeks, you¡¯ll regret

    the lost time and the joy you denied yourself, and either way, you¡¯llugh at your childish fears.

    ¡°Mark, I ask this as your friend. Almost all of The Pantheon of Keran ask this of you most fervently,

    as do most of the Assembly of The Just Alliance. If you do this now, it will vastly increase our ability to

    defeat the demons over waiting the seven weeks, which may save many lives, and much destruction.

    ¡°Please, make the Ascension now, and give your gift to the other candidates you¡¯ve identified. Here,

    tonight.¡±

    Mark scowled and scratched his chin, and thought about it. ¡°I¡¯m gonna have to ask my wife. Wives. And

    my family, and a few others. Give us a few minutes.¡±

    And with that, they disappeared.

    He and his closest family and friends appeared on the private beach on Hilia. It was a beautiful and

    directly overhead.

    Talia and Alilia were in his arms almost immediately.

    ¡°We support you, whatever you decide.¡± Alilia told him, and Talia nodded.

    There was silence for a moment, and they only needed their natural empathy to feel him struggling with

    his decision.

    ¡°Father, may I know the results?¡± Six asked.

    ¡°Sure.¡± Mark nodded, and psionicly passed him the identities that the selection spell had given him, as

    well as the shallow Reading he¡¯d taken of them.

    ¡°Ah. One hundred and forty-six potential gods.¡± Six mused. ¡°A hundred and forty-seven counting you,

    Father. Half as many as there are gods right now, of Keran that is. That seems like a lot, until you

    consider there are only that many out of about twelve billion thinking mortals on Keran.¡±

    ¡°And over half of them are waiting for us in The Hall of the Assembly.¡± Fire noted. ¡°Most of whom have

    already attended the Assembly before as rulers or senior wizards or generals or whatever. It seems the

    cream really does rise to the top.¡±

    ¡°Ah, but notice some of those who are not at The Hall, some of whom are very obscure people from

    very obscure ces!¡± Karzog pointed out. ¡°Especially this one, Dieb Selzeamtik! She is a four-year old

    dwarf from a n of ordinary shepherds, with no apparent unusual abilities, and no unusual training or

    influences at all! There is no wizardry in her family for their entire recorded history!¡±

    ¡°Wow. How will she and her family deal with her bing a god?¡± Val wondered, and there was

    silence for a moment as they all considered that.

    Mark took out the warlock¡¯s power stone that contained his results from the brainstorming session. He

    considered it a moment, then nced around at those with him on the beach. His wives and children,

    Kragorram, Povon, Karzog, Yazadril, Nemia, Hilsith, Sran and Equemev. The people he felt closest

    to.

    ¡°I¡¯m just not ready.¡± he told them, sounding a little choked with emotion. ¡°I still live in a state of being

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    half mind-boggled from all the changes in my life in thest few years. And the changes in me. I need a

    little time to enjoy it all for ast little while and get my courage up. I¡¯m just not ready to give up my

    mortality and be a god. I feel a huge reluctance. I need the seven weeks. I¡¯m pretty sure I¡¯ll be

    ready then.

    ¡°On the other hand, Quewanak made some really good points. It might save a lot of lives if I do it now.

    ¡°But the fact is, thest time Amirgath tested us for our Candidacy for Divinity he couldn¡¯t find any

    dependencies. Maybe that¡¯s because there aren¡¯t any now. Your candidacies used to be dependent on

    me, but now I¡¯ve figured out how to do it and put the spell for it in this stone. Maybe now I can just cast

    it on someone, and not need to cast it on me first to do so.¡±

    He gave them a quick, sheepish grin, and asked; ¡°Any volunteers?¡±

    After a second Yazadril stepped forward a pace. ¡°I¡¯m ready, and filled with a powerful curiosity as to

    what it¡¯ll be like. Go ahead.¡±

    ¡°Can you do it while we hug him?¡± Nemia asked as she and Hilsith embraced him from either side, and

    he held them close.

    ¡°Sure, I don¡¯t see why not.¡± Mark said with a nod as he concentrated on the stone.

    They all held their breath as he held still and silent for fifteen seconds.

 Chapter 120

    Chapter 120

    Part 18

    ¡°Damn. When I put the spell in the stone, I assumed that I¡¯d cast it on me first, and I knew I¡¯d be able to

    cast it on anyone else after that. It¡¯s set up so I can take it step by step without having to be in the big

    overpowered brainstorming Link to do it. But unless my brain is that charged up and I¡¯m in a Link that

    big and that good, I can¡¯t modify the spell to be able to cast it on someone else first.¡±

    ¡°May I Father?¡± Val asked as she floated over and held her hand out for the stone. ¡°We have the brain-

    charging spell now, and with four of us in our Link, I might be able to figure it out.¡±

    ¡°Sure. It¡¯s the big one marked ¡®God Spell¡¯.¡± he told her as he handed it to her.

    She concentrated on it for a moment, then frowned. ¡°There are now two spells that I¡¯ve found that are

    so weird that I just can¡¯t get it, they¡¯re obviously closely rted, and if I didn¡¯t know better, I¡¯d judge

    them to have been designed by The Triax. They¡¯re that weird. The first was the blessing you made

    from Alilia¡¯s curse, that can re-integrate you after you¡¯ve been sted to dust. And there¡¯s this. Okay,

    now add the other thirteen spells in here that you did in the big Link after you separated from us.

    ¡°I mean wow, you really got stuff done after we separated the Link, Father! This is beyond brilliant! I

    mean really, I can¡¯t even get what some of this stuff does!¡±

    ¡°Me neither.¡± Mark shrugged. ¡°I knew I¡¯d understand them after I cast The God Spell, so I didn¡¯t bother

    making them as easily usable when I¡¯m not charged up. It just goes to show that all the intelligence I

    got from the charge and the Link didn¡¯t give me any extra wisdom. I made a few short-sighted

    mistakes. When I was that smart, it was too easy to forget how stupid I¡¯d be normally, and I never

    anticipated changing my mind about how I was going to do this.¡±

    ¡°Well there¡¯s one thing we can do for you that might solve this, and we couldn¡¯t do it for many.¡± Val

    assured him with a smile. ¡°But I¡¯m pretty sure we¡¯ve got a good enough feel for you to do it for you, and

    you have the capability to use it. We can give you the brain-charging spell. It¡¯s pretty safe, and it only

    works when you need it.¡±

    ¡°Hold on. There¡¯s some important issues that will need to be addressed.¡± Six briskly stated. ¡°The gods

    have a very longstanding policy that no god will exercise direct political rule or militarymand over

    mortals. I don¡¯t think any of them have ever done that, not even when their religions were powerful and

    influential. No god was ever a king, or an empress. Or even a prince.

    ¡°Yet many of your potential gods are presently rulers or senior members of ruling councils, including

    you, Mother, Alilia, Povon, Kragorram, Yazadril, Emeroth, Osbald, Senchak, Tithian, Somonik, and

    Empress Honey.

    ¡°So either gods must be allowed to be rulers, or we are about to experience the most sudden and

    ¡°Now, it hasn¡¯t been decided by the Assembly yet whether the winners of The Governors¡¯ Tournament

    will actually get to rule, and if they do, we may have to deal with a political upheaval anyway. And most

    of the best contestants are also on the potential gods list.

    ¡°One way or the other, unless gods are allowed to rule, Keran is about to lose most of it¡¯s most

    capable and powerful leaders.

    ¡°And if it¡¯s decided that gods are allowed to rule, then most of the existing gods should join the

    tournament, as I¡¯ve said. Though that would be changing a policy that¡¯s been in ce for hundreds of

    millions of years, as long as there¡¯s been gods on Keran. If it¡¯s decided that gods will still not be

    allowed to rule mortal nations, then all your presently ruling candidates will have to abdicate in favor of

    their heirs or regents, and it¡¯ll take a while to get all the transitions done and get things running

    smoothly again. At the worst possible time.

    ¡°Furthermore, there are a lot a fairly important people in the time-bubbles right now, and they should

    have a chance for their voices to be heard on this.

    ¡°Besides, as you say, the new gods can have more time in more time-bubbles to get used to their new

    state. If we all work together, old gods and new and us, I¡¯m sure we can find practical ways to increase

    the ratio of extra time in the bubbles, and increase them in size, and do it with less of the gods¡¯

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    resources.

    ¡°I suggest it should take at least seven weeks to fully decide these incredibly momentous issues.

    He paused with a triumphant grin. ¡°In conclusion, I am lodging a formal objection to the immediate

    Ascension of any ruling monarch or senior council member, including you, until these issues have been

    debated and decided by The Assembly and The Pantheon of Keran, in my official capacity as

    Governor of Hiliani. For whatever that¡¯s worth.¡±

    Mark grinned. ¡°Thanks, Son. That¡¯s more than valid enough for me to dy the Ascension and satisfy

    my conscience about it, without having to admit to the world that I just don¡¯t want to.¡±

    ¡°Anytime, Father. For anything.¡± Six grinned.

    ¡°Thanks. And by the way, which one of the prerequisites did you kids miss out on?¡±

    ¡°Well,¡± Fire interjected rather forcefully, ¡°We got instantaneous intearymunication,

    instantaneous inteary Translocation, world-epassing awareness and the mental capacity to

    use it in real time, true immortality, restoration of the dead, world threatening power, and multiple

    simultaneous manifestations. And we¡¯re really rather proud of it all.

    ¡°Freedom from physical manifestation is the only one we couldn¡¯t get. We think some of the gods can

    exist as pure energy, or exist as an ongoing and self-powering psionic pattern, or exist in the

    Translocation medium while projecting their consciousnesses here. And they can do that without losing

    any of their other abilities, with no physical manifestation at all, then go back to being physical when

    they want to. We couldn¡¯t figure out how to do any of that, so we still need to have at least one physical

    body somewhere to anchor ourselves to, so to speak.

    ¡°We¡¯re not sure about teaching all of that to a lot of people, or even announcing it to the public. Mind

    you, The Prerequisites of Divinity aren¡¯t exactly secret, so anyone who researches them knows most of

    what we figured out, they just won¡¯t know which one we didn¡¯t get.¡±

    ¡°Amazing. So how do you know you¡¯re not gods, since you¡¯re only missing one prerequisite and you

    have other abilities of divine magnitude?¡± Yazadril asked.

    ¡°Well, we haven¡¯t made any real change in our state of being,¡± Fire exined, ¡°Which seems to be a

    fundamental part of bing a god, ording to the literature. We still breathe and bleed and sleep

    and so on. There¡¯s also the fact that to the gods, the Prerequisites are somewhat inherent abilities that

    they can call on at will at any time, the same way we can see and think. They don¡¯t have to consciously

    cast any spells to do any of that, they can just do it. We still have to cast spells for it.¡±

    ¡°And we can¡¯t restore someone from the dead unless we¡¯ve taken a new andplete kind of Reading

    of them before they died.¡± Val added. ¡°And they¡¯d be restored exactly like they were when we Read

    them, not like they were when they died, and they might bepletely different by then. It basically

    does the same kind of Restoration that your Blessing does, but it workspletely different. Ours isn¡¯t

    as weird as yours.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡± Mark chuckled, almost bursting with pride and love for his children. ¡°Well as you said, you kids

    also really got stuff done in the Link. Those are absolutely incredible aplishments!¡±

    They shared a quick hug, then Mark let them go with a nod and a smile.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go back. We¡¯ve kept them waiting long enough.¡±

    With that he Translocated himself back to the center of the podium, and the rest of them back to their

    ce on the floor.

    Quewanak was still waiting patiently for him on the dais. Mark gave his answer.

    ¡°My son; Prince Markhan Reginus Longstrider the Sixth, Governor of Hiliani, has raised a valid

    objection to the immediate Ascension of any serving ruler or senior governing council member, on the

    following grounds¡­¡±

 Chapter 121

    Chapter 121

    Part 18

    Heid out Six¡¯s reasons and suggestions about the time-bubbles in simple points, and concluded with;

    ¡°For these reasons, I¡¯m going to stick to the schedule I announced earlier; one week after the time-

    bubbles end, the new gods will Ascend.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure The Assembly will find practical solutions to the political quandary we find ourselves in.

    Personally, I suggest we allow gods to serve as rulers. The core of the new policy of the gods since the

    end of The War Of The Founding is that the gods are now citizens of The Just Alliance with the same

    rights as the rest of us, no more and no less. Including the right to rule a nation, if their rule has

    legitimacy and they have the consent of the nation¡¯s people. I hope to continue as Prince of Hilia after

    my Ascension.

    ¡°I suggest we wait until a week after the other potential new gods and I have Ascended, and then hold

    The Tournament of Governors. Let any enter the tournament who think they have the ability to provide

    us with the very best possible leadership, be they mortals or gods. And then, if The Assembly and the

    people of The Just Alliance all want the winners to lead us until the war with the demons is over, then I

    suggest they be empowered to do so.

    ¡°Now it¡¯s been suggested that this huge gathering might be a huge celebration, and we definitely

    have things worth celebrating. But The Assembly of The Just Alliance may want to convene to discuss

    or decide some of the issues that¡¯ve been raised before we all start to party.¡±

    Somonik and Amirgath appeared on the dais beside him.

    ¡°We think not.¡± Amirgath stated. ¡°You will not bring the new gods to Ascension for seven weeks. We

    need to decide whether gods can rule before we schedule the tournament, so we will know whether to

    include gods as participants, both new and old. No decisions need to be made immediately, and the

    issues that have been raised will require discussion among smaller groups before they are ready to be

    debated by the full Assembly.

    ¡°Therefore, I ask if The Assembly of The Just Alliance will agree to meet here in closed session in one

    week, three hours before midnight Standard Time?¡±

    ¡°Let the record show that all have agreed.¡± Somonik announced, then raised his head high and red

    his wings.

    ¡°And now, we acknowledge the gift of magic and longevity to those whocked it! We acknowledge that

    soon, we will have many new gods! We acknowledge our gains in warcraft, magic use, psionics, and

    social organization! May all of Keran offer our gratitude to those who have given us these gifts with a

    fitting asion! We honor the residents of the Hiliani time-bubble!¡±

    This was met by a huge and cacophonous cheering that seemed to shake the world.

    To their surprise, Mark, his family, all the residents of Homestead, and the senior Hiliani Sylvan all

    appeared standing on a transparent surface thirty meters above the dais, just below the great

    Revealing, having been Translocated and supported by Amirgath.

    ¡°Take a bow, you deserve it!¡± Amirgathughed at their surprise, so they did all bow to the assembly

    and the world in response to their audience¡¯s increasingly manic apuse. Then many of them began

    spontaneously hugging each other as they appreciated the crowd¡¯s gratitude, while others just grinned

    and waved, and the unicorns pranced and reared. When they¡¯d basked in the admiration as long as

    they wanted to, Amirgath put them back in their ces as he dered to all the world; ¡°And now, let the

    celebration begin!¡±

    Jaunty music was heard throughout the great hall, and the light dimmed a bit more. Many began

    dancing, while the Xervian servers became very busy taking orders for snacks, drinks, alcoholic

    beverages, and other mild intoxicants. Unlike other meetings here, no chairs had been provided, which

    promoted mixing and mingling among all the many and diverse attendees.

    ¡°Now this is going to be one momentous party!¡± Kragorram chuckled.

    ¡°I think I¡¯ll change into something more appropriate.¡± Povon smiled. In a blink, she Translocated to The

    Lair of The Lord Regent, then returned in a much smaller Simcrum of herself about five meters long,

    which put her at eye level with a tall human.

    ¡°Good idea, Mother.¡± Karzog chuckled, and did the same.

    So did Kragorram a momentter, and he gave Povon a cuddle with one arm and his tail, which she

    returned.

    ¡°There. Now we are of a size to dance with most of the attendees, should we wish to.¡± sheughed.

    ¡°I wonder what song this is? It¡¯s nice!¡± Talia smiled as she bounced a bit to the lively tune. ¡°It sure

    makes it hard to stand still!¡±

    Visinniria appeared among them. ¡°It¡¯s a sailor¡¯s song from Felion called ¡®Coming Into Port.¡¯¡± she

    revealed with a smile. ¡°Selia, Human Goddess of Music, has chosen a selection of music that should

    appeal to almost everyone of every nation and race.¡±

    ¡°Giant sailors or gnome sailors?¡± Val asked with a giggle.

    ¡°Giant sailors.¡± Visinniriaughed.

    Please check at N/?vel(D)rama.Org.

    ¡°Ah. Well, shall we mingle?¡± Val suggested with a grin. ¡°I¡¯d sure like to meet some people from all the

    races I¡¯ve never met before. I¡¯m sure our void-survival spells will work in the water section, so we can

    meet the Mer and some of those others in there. I guess there must be Hidden races under the sea

    too, because there must be three or four races of people swimming around in there that I¡¯ve never even

    heard of before.¡±

    ¡°I wonder if they¡¯ll let us go into the Hidden Nation¡¯s woods over there.¡± Six pondered as they began

    strolling through the crowd. As usual, this was made easier by the fact that most of those within fifteen

    meters of their party moved with them as best they could, and some of them rose up and flew to

    escape the congestion.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure they will.¡± Visinniria assured him. ¡°They¡¯re all just here as Simcrums anyway, so they have

    absolutely nothing to fear. They¡¯re just shy, and feel ufortable in such a vast and open room.¡±

    ¡°I notice the Sylvan and Serminaki dragons have settled on the opposite side of the room from The

    Hidden Nation, and to some extent, there¡¯s a spectrum of aggression between them.¡± Fire pointed out.

    ¡°And some of those Sylvan must be ours; those are our challenge circles going up over there.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s Senior Dolimatbene setting things up over there.¡± Six noted with a grin. ¡°It looks like her and the

    rest of them that came out from Hiliani are doing our work for us, as far as poprizing our system

    among the rest of the Sylvan. I bet she¡¯s casting the Moderate Drunkenness too!¡±

    ¡°Good!¡± Valughed. ¡°That frees us up for more fun things! How can we get into the water section,

    anyway?¡±

    ¡°Just walk through the portals at floor level.¡± Visinniria informed her. ¡°When we get closer, you¡¯ll see

    Selkies using the portals.¡±

    ¡°I wonder where Kovink Seg Mivtz is.¡± Povon mused. ¡°Since he¡¯s now officially Prince of The Sylvan

    Nation, I¡¯m sure he¡¯s here somewhere.¡±

    ¡°I expect he¡¯s with the rest of the gnomes over there.¡± Alilia said as she indicated to her left.

    ¡°Actually, I¡¯ve been looking forward to meeting you, Lord Regent,¡± a young gnome grinned as he

    appeared a meter in the air in front of her, ¡°And I am entirely at your service.¡±

    He gave an ornate bow while floating along in front of her at her walking pace, moving backwards, and

    sweeping his pointed red hat off with a grand gesture.

    ¡°And I am equally delighted to meet the rest of this augustpany.¡± he continued in aically

    squeaky voice as he straightened, reced his hat, and sped his hands behind his back, still floating

    through the air backwards. He was about forty-six centimeters tall, with the white hair and ruddy

    elves of Thon, and sported gold buckles on his shiny ck shoes.

    ¡°You¡¯ve done well for yourself Kovink, and in a short time.¡± Povon told him with a nod as they all

    continued making their way to the water-filled section. ¡°I congratte you.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Lord Regent.¡± he acknowledged with a nod.

    There was a pause.

    ¡°Ah, was that all you wished to say to me?¡± Kovink asked in mild surprise.

    ¡°Yes.¡± she nodded. ¡°I wanted to meet you. I¡¯ve taken your measure now. That is all.¡±

    ¡°I see. In that case, I¡¯ll take my leave of you, and¡­¡±

    ¡°I have a matter I wish to discuss with you.¡± Fire bluntly stated as she floated up to confront him.

    ¡°You¡¯ve built the most effective criminal and business empire on Keran. What have you done to

    prepare them to fight the demons?¡±

 Chapter 122

    Chapter 122

    Part 18

    ¡°Why nothing, actually.¡± Kovink answered, surprised again. ¡°All of us take part in the civic preparedness

    training in themunities where we live, many of us are reserve members of various militaries, and a

    few of us are full-time soldiers. If war with the demonses to Keran, the members of my ¡®empire¡¯,

    as you put it, will all report to the various defense organizations we belong to.

    ¡°The Game of Status is just that, Honored Princess; a game, and we are merely ying. I win partly

    because I don¡¯t take it too seriously, unlike most of my opponents. You might note, for instance, that

    none of my organization¡¯s members have been apprehended by your spell that catches murderers,

    because we¡¯ve never found it wise to murder anyone. We¡¯ve killed in legitimate cases of self-defense

    when we¡¯ve been attacked, and as you might imagine, we¡¯ve been getting quite a lot of thattely. But

    your spell doesn¡¯t consider that to be murder for the purposes of The Game. And rightly so. We¡¯re not

    killers. I see as little use for my organization in warfare as I do for any other sporting team or gaming

    league.¡±

    ¡°I disagree.¡± Fire sternly informed him. ¡°Almost all of the sneakiest, nastiest, and most cunning gnomes

    work for you, and you¡¯ve instilled a high social cohesion and morale among them. When we win the

    tournament and lead Keran in war, there¡¯ll be missions that I¡¯ll assign to yourmand because your

    group are well suited to them, and most gnomes aren¡¯t. You¡¯d best be prepared.¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡± Kovink mused as he considered it. ¡°If we were going to war against other people, I might think

    you¡¯re right. We¡¯d be good at infiltration and covert pration for the purposes of spying and

    sabotage, for instance.

    ¡°But I can¡¯t picture anyone being able to sneak into a camp orpound of demons disguised as one

    of them, or as anything else. And we couldn¡¯t spy on them because we don¡¯t speak thenguage of

    demons.¡±

    ¡°Then I¡¯ll make those your first two assignments.¡± Fire informed him with a re. ¡°Demonse in all

    sizes, including yours, so disguising yourself as one of them is not impossible. Though remaining

    undetectable is probably more practical. You can get thenguage of the demons from any of the good

    chronicles of The Demon War. I rmend Somonik¡¯s.

    ¡°I¡¯ll give you a week to show some good progress on those assignments.¡±

    ¡°Now hold on!¡± Kovink dered with determination as he came to a sudden stop in mid-air, forcing Fire

    and Povon to stop as well, or just run into him, which they chose not to do. ¡°I don¡¯t see how you have

    any authority to assign me to do anything, or anyone who works for me either! And just what do you

    propose to do if I refuse?!¡±

    ¡°If you haven¡¯t done your assignment in a week, I¡¯ll just have to help you with it!¡± Fire told him with a

    cruel littleugh. ¡°Whether you want me to or not.¡±

    ¡°If you intend to force me to do anything, you¡¯re in for a big surprise, and maybe out of your mind

    besides!¡± Kovink insisted. ¡°You¡¯re sworn to justice on The Truthstone, and you have no legal authority

    over me! If you think you can act against me effectively despite that, then do your worst, and we¡¯ll see

    what happens to you!¡±

    Their exchange was drawing attention all over the room, and suddenly the huge Revealing was

    showing and amplifying their conversation. They both noticed these things, but ignored them.

    ¡°First of all, we are going to win the tournament and the Leadership of Keran, at which time I¡¯ll legally

    have the authority to assign you to the crappiest task in the military!¡± Fire insisted. ¡°Even if you doubt

    we¡¯ll win, it would be wise of you to prepare for it, just in case we do!

    ¡°Second, being sworn to justice doesn¡¯t stop me from using my power, so long as that use is just. Like

    forcing you and yours to do your fair share to prepare to defend Keran.

    ¡°And third, I¡¯m acting this way toward you because I don¡¯t like you. You¡¯re a very nasty person, Kovink

    Seg Mivtz, and what you do goes against the spirit of The Game of Status, if not the rules.

    ¡°In fact, I think I¡¯ll teach you a lesson right now.¡± She held up her hand and a portable Truthstone

    appeared in it, and she continued speaking without pause. ¡°I¡¯m joining The Game of Status for the next

    thirty-two seconds, and I swear to abide by the rules of it while I¡¯m ying.¡±

    The stone disappeared from her right hand as her left shot out and grabbed the gnome by the hair at

    the back of his head and knocked his forehead into hers with an impact that must have hurt them both.

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    ¡°Think with me a moment Kovink, that¡¯s a goodd, thanks.¡± she growled as she red into his eyes

    from so close that their eyshes almost touched, and she cast aplex Sphere of Protection

    around the two of them to protect the onlookers from theing conflict.

    Everyone with a journeyman¡¯s level of psionic awareness could see that he was fighting her with

    everything he had, as easily as everyone could see him struggling against her grasp and casting a

    variety of magic attacks. Sometimes the contained congration in the Sphere was all that could be

    seen of them. She appeared to ignore everything he did, and in a few seconds he stopped struggling.

    ¡°I have you.¡± she growled. ¡°I win. I¡¯m now Ruling Princess Fire of The Sylvan Nation, and first in The

    Game of Status. Acknowledge it.¡±

    ¡°You are first, Princess.¡± he answered in a choked voice.

    ¡°That¡¯s ¡®Mistress¡¯ to you.¡± she growled. ¡°That¡¯s what ves call their female owners.¡±

    ¡°Yes Mistress.¡± he gasped.

    ¡°Excellent. My time in The Game of Status is now up, and the status of first in the game now returns to

    you. Don¡¯t you feel victorious and proud?¡± she chuckled as she thrust him away from her hard enough

    to make him stumble in mid-air.

    ¡°Uh, not really, Mistress.¡± he gasped as he tried to regain hisposure.

    ¡°No you don¡¯t.¡± she continued. ¡°And furthermore, I¡¯m not returning rule of the Sylvan to you. The

    position of Prince or Princess of The Sylvan Nation is no longer up for grabs in The Game of Status,

    and I now legally rule all Sylvan except those on Hiliani. Who I legally co-rule.

    ¡°The position will now be decided by open challenge. Any who want to challenge me for it can step up

    and take their best shot, anytime they want.

    ¡°Now excuse us, we¡¯re going swimming.¡±

    She brushed past him, Povon gently but firmly pushed him out of her way, and he disappeared as his

    face went purple in humiliated rage.

    ¡°Fire, you¡¯re an incorrigible little scamp!¡± Aliliaughed as she swept the girl up in her arms. ¡°Just

    remember that the Sylvan are a vassal nation under the Lord of Serminak and his Regent. You¡¯ll need

    their permission on any matters of policy or major administrative decisions.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I think I can handle the Lord of Serminak and his Dragon Lord Regent!¡± Fireughed with nces

    at Mark and Povon, just as they reached the water wall.

    The portals to the water were semi-transparent blue hemispheres on the floor halfway through the wall.

    They saw four Selkies swim into the three meter high dome from the water side, the water seemed to

    drain away inside it, they alighted on the floor, and stood there waiting.

    ¡°What are they doing?¡± Talia asked of no one in particr.

    ¡°Adjusting as the pressure changes.¡± Visinniria informed her. ¡°The water on the other side of the portal

    is about two hundred and fifteen meters deep, and the weight of it all causes a lot of pressure this far

    down. Their bodies have no trouble dealing with the pressure, but it takes them a minute or so to adjust

    to the change, so we reduce the pressure gradually. The pressure is so great that if they suddenly

    Translocated from there to here, they just might explode.

    ¡°Without magic assistance, it would take many hours for a human or an elf¡¯s body to adjust to that

    much pressure, and even longer to adjust back to normal air pressure. Hurrying the process causes

    potentially fatal internal injuries.

    ¡°So, I suggest you make sure to use a spell that can protect you from the pressure, or simply

    Translocate in up at the water¡¯s surface.¡±

 Chapter 123

    Chapter 123

    Part 18

    ¡°Ah.¡± Val noted. ¡°I¡¯d nned on using our Void Survival spell, since it maintains normal pressure and

    breathable air. But I hadn¡¯t considered the extreme pressure at this depth, and it¡¯s meant to protect

    from theck of pressure, so we¡¯ll just have to use a good Force Shield as well.

    ¡°I imagine you could just be energy if you wanted, that would work too.¡±

    ¡°I suppose I could.¡± Visinniria smiled. ¡°Being a goddess is pretty handy. But it¡¯s easier to just decide that

    I won¡¯t be affected by the pressure and that I don¡¯t have to breathe.¡±

    ¡°Ah. You know, we¡¯re on Father¡¯s list, and he could make us gods. And I¡¯m kind of tempted. But I feel

    the same way he does, and more so. We¡¯ve developed really quickly, but I¡¯m still only seven, and I¡¯m

    just not done with being a mortal yet. Besides, like Fire said, if we can do almost everything that gods

    can do, I don¡¯t see that it¡¯s really necessary.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve checked the conditions and done the math.¡± Six announced. ¡°The pressure right on the other side

    of the wall right here is seventeen point six two five four times air pressure at sea level. I could just

    Translocate to the other side of the wall right now, except I¡¯d have to achieve discement, which

    would Translocate the high pressure water in the shape of me to this side of the wall, which would

    probably soak all of you.¡±

    ¡°The portal¡¯s almost finished cycling anyway.¡± Visinniria pointed out, and a momentter the four

    Selkies emerged from the blue dome by walking through the side of it. They bowed to Mark¡¯s party and

    moved off.

    Suddenly Val Translocated through the wall and appeared in the water on the other side with a bubble

    of air around her head and a very thinyer of air held against her body by her form-fitting Shielding.

    She rose a few centimeters, then stabilized.

    ¡°I just did a double discement.¡± she announced both verbally and psionicly, though they couldn¡¯t

    hear her voice through the water and the barrier that contained it. ¡°I sent the water from my

    discement to Hiliani, just off the coast, and sent the discement air from there back to where I just

    was. You have topensate for buoyancy too. Pretty neat, huh?¡±

    ¡°Yah!¡± Fire agreed as she, Six and Karz duplicated her trick, followed by the rest of their party an

    instantter.

    ¡°This void spell, how does it maintain breathable air here?¡± Nemia asked. Now that they were all in the

    water together it was easy to hear her, though it sounded a bit strange.

    ¡°It¡¯s a constant Translocation.¡± Kragorram exined. ¡°As you breathe out, that amount of air is

    Translocated out of the head bubble from just in front of your mouth and nose to a location over Hiliani,

    and when you breath in, the reverse urs. We have to remember to change the location of the

    Translocation point before the Hiliani time-bubble is resumed.¡±

    A Selkie and a Mer swam up to them and began to converse using a very clever trantion spell that

    read their signnguages of gestures and body movements and sent out a short-range Speaking in

    Trade Common.

    ¡°Greetings, honored citizens.¡± the Selkie announced. ¡°I am Prime Wisdom Gloz of the Banodez River,

    and this is Guide Leader Bubniiiilduptiii of The Mer of The North Xervian Ocean. We know of your

    desire to meet citizens of the aquatic races. As most of thend dwellers have done out there, the

    aquatic people here arergely gathered with others of their own race. We would be happy to introduce

    you around.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Prime Wisdom.¡± Mark responded with bit of a bow. ¡°And we are very d to meet you,

    Guide Leader Bubniiiilduptiii. The only other citizen of your race we¡¯ve met was Zubzubweeeet, the

    goddess who opened the Hiliani time-bubble.¡±

    ¡°As I am d to meet you.¡± Bubniiiilduptiii returned with the same slight bow, then continued ¡®speaking¡¯

    as he turned and led the way over the floor while Mark¡¯s party followed with abination of swimming

    and Movement techniques. ¡°Of thend peoples, I have only met citizens of the unicorn and gargoyle

    races before today, so this is my first time meeting most of your races as well.

    ¡°Until the gods joined The Just Alliance, most ocean people had avoidednd people since you first

    learned to hunt on the seas, and none of our races were affected by the first war with the demons,

    those millions of years ago. Still, at the request of our gods, we have joined The Just Alliance, and we

    are ready to help defend our world.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s very admirable, and we thank you with great sincerity.¡± Mark told him.

    They approached a group of a few hundred beings gathered on the bottom. They were many-tentacled

    mollusks who carried pearlescent shells on their backs shaped like blunt cones. At first nce, their

    skins all appeared to be different colors, then it was seen that all of their colors were slowly and

    gradually changing. As Mark¡¯s group came near with the Mer and Selkie leaders, all the mollusk people

    turned toward them and considered them with pairs of huge eyes that changed color as much as their

    skin, and all of their color changes became faster. Thergest of them had a tentacle span of about two

    meters when fully extended, and it¡¯s shell was about sixty centimeters wide.

    ¡°These are the people called the Mogitar by the giants of south-eastern Felion, who have the only

    spoken word for these people.¡± Gloz announced. ¡°They live in the waters surrounding Felion, and are

    concentrated in the two great bays on the east and west sides of that continent. Until recently, no other

    race was capable ofmunicating with them, but now we all have the trantion spells supplied by

    the gods. In theirnguage, their motion conveys information, and their coloring conveys emotion.

    We¡¯ve always known they were intelligent though. Those who thought otherwise and hunted them for

    food in our distant past found themselves at war with a formidable adversary.¡±

    ¡°We greet you.¡± one of the creatures stated with a wave of its arms and a shift to a dull red. ¡°We share

    fear of theing demons, and prepare.

    ¡°Also, now we can talk with you; we can trade with you. Our god says the best ce to make a ce of

    trade and diplomacy is at Hilia, in the waters down-slope from your present deepest constructions. We

    ask to do that.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re very wee to do so, and we wee you to Hilia, and to The Just Alliance!¡± Mark replied in

    surprise. ¡°The Selkies of Hilia can introduce your people to First Minister Sheramiv, who¡¯s in charge of

    such things.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± the being acknowledged as it turned bright pink. ¡°That is all themunication we have

    prepared for today.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Well it¡¯s been a pleasure meeting you all. You¡¯re beautiful and fascinating.¡± Mark stated with a bow

    and a smile.

    Bubniiiilduptiii and Gloz led them away, and they had simrly brief but interesting encounters with two

    other new races as they swam a seemingly-random route that led them gradually toward the surface.

    They met a race who were obviously distantly rted to the Mogitar, since they appeared very simr

    to them, with the exceptions that theycked the spiral shells of the Mogitar, and that they were much

    bunched tentacles forming a tapering tail when they swam with a rippling sinuous motion, and seemed

    capable of contorting themselves into almost any conceivable shape. They had never been

    encountered by any other race before their gods bade them to join The Just Alliance, since they lived

    near the south pole in the Great Southern Ocean; one of the most inhospitable regions on the

    due to its istion, extreme weather, and violent sea conditions. Since there had never been a word for

    them in any other race¡¯snguage, they had chosen to be called simply The Southernmost.

    The Kag were great sleek fish up to five meters in length with shimmering coppery scales and

    N?velDrama.Org is the owner.

    hundreds of twenty-five centimeter long tentacles around their mouths, which were filled with hundreds

    of jagged teeth. They were well-known to every sea-faring race, since they roamed the oceans of the

    world in great hunting packs hundreds strong, and any vessel that foundered when they were in the

    vicinity was sure to have few survivors. They were known to sink smaller vessels in rough seas and

    consume everyone and everything edible aboard in minutes. What hadn¡¯t been known about them was

    their great intelligence and their thriving civilization on a vast underwater teau beneath the tropical

    waters of The North Kletiuk Ocean.

 Chapter 124

    Chapter 124

    Part 18

    They cast magical pictures in the water to show their delicate artistic architecture, and their sculptures

    of all manner of sea creatures, some of which were fanciful, some extremely realistic.

    Then the group was introduced to the Mer, who lived in the oceans around Xervia. While Bubniiiilduptiii

    provided proudmentary, the Mer demonstrated a beautiful underwater ballet involving hundreds of

    dancers swimming in intricate patterns. It was apanied by hundreds of voices in wordless

    humming song, which the Mer aplished underwater and while holding their breath by keeping the

    exhtions of their singing in their mouths until their mouths were full, then breathing it back in.

    Finally they visited a great crowd of Selkies ying on the surface. They stayed there longer than they

    had with the other aquatic peoples, simply because the Selkies were the most fun. From the youngest

    to the oldest, they yed together like giddy children; chasing each other about, making great leaps

    out of the water, and ying team games.

    Karzmented on the amazing athleticism of the Selkies, and Prime Wisdom Gloz proudly

    mentioned that a greater proportion of Selkies regrly yed in organized sports leagues than any

    other race on Keran.

    Mark¡¯s party joined in on the fun withughter and abandon.

    It was so much fun, and the participation of Mark¡¯s party was so novel, that a great many Mer, Kag, and

    Southernmost joined in. Even a few of the Mogitar filled part of their shells with air and floated up to join

    the gathering.

    A Selkie news-sharer had been surreptitiously transmitting their aquatic experience to the great

    Revealing out in the dry part of the great hall since they¡¯d entered the water, so many othernd-

    dwellers from almost every race in the alliance were inspired to join the party at the water¡¯s surface,

    many of them using magic to improve their swimming and underwater endurance. The trantion

    spells of the gods seemed capable of allowing anyone to converse with anyone else, even when there

    were people of several races talking together, since they affected the listener, not the speaker.

    Everyone who wasn¡¯t ying and had breath for it were chatting with everyone else around them. Soon

    it was the most inclusive and multi-racial celebration that had ever urred.

    By the time they took their leave of the aquatic people, Mark¡¯s group had been in the water for over

    three hours. They Translocated out together, leaving bubbles in the water that were momentarily

    shaped exactly like their bodies.

    Then Alilia noticed that her daughter wasn¡¯t with them, and turned to Six. ¡°Val?¡± She simply inquired.

    Content ? provided by N?velDrama.Org.

    ¡°She¡¯ll be out in a moment.¡± Six assured her.

    ¡°I¡¯m out, but I¡¯m over here. There¡¯s more room here.¡± Val told them in a Speaking, and gave them her

    location, which was near the wall at the edge of the hall, halfway between the Sylvan and The Hidden

    Nation¡¯s woods.

    They joined her there, and found that she¡¯d found the biggest open floorspace left in the hall, and she

    wasn¡¯t alone.

    ¡°This is my friend Inventive Wizard.¡± Val stated, indicating the young Southernmost floating in the air

    beside her. ¡°All their names are really literal. She¡¯s only eleven, and she¡¯s one of her people¡¯s best

    wizards already. She helped me figure out the spell she¡¯s using that gives herfortable pressure

    and the right water and air mix for her skin, and slow-speed flight that works like swimming. She helped

    me make versions of it for the other races as well, as you can see.¡±

    As she¡¯d been speaking, aquatic citizens from all the newly-known races began appearing all around

    them.

    ¡°She can¡¯t talk right now, ¡®cause we¡¯re guiding most of these people¡¯s Translocations.¡± Val continued,

    then waved to a Mer that appeared six meters away. ¡°Tiiiilta! Over here!¡± she called, then continued. ¡°It

    was so much fun with all of us in the water, we thought this would be a good idea. This is really gonna

    be the strangest party ever pretty soon!¡±

    And it was. By the time Val and Inventive Wizard had guided most of the Translocations and passed

    the task to others, and the party had wandered over to a Staff Only Translocation circle to talk to some

    servers about snacks and drinks, there were aquatics ¡®swimming¡¯ around all over the room; conversing,

    showing magic views of their homes, showing off unique spells, and even dancing on the huge

    dancefloor areas. A few of the Kag even swam over to the Sylvan area, and after talking and observing

    for a few minutes, some joined the line for the challenge circle nearest them. One of them won his bout,

    and held the circle for seven challenges before being bested by an aggressive young giant.

    The groups of races blended with each other more and more as the evening wore on, and by the time

    Mark announced that he was getting tired, some seven hours after they¡¯d arrived, it was a very strange

    party indeed.

    ¡°Let¡¯s see The Hidden Nation¡¯s woods before we go!¡± Fire proposed. ¡°We haven¡¯t done that yet, and I¡¯d

    sure like to!¡±

    Sure, I¡¯d like that too.¡± Mark grinned at her enthusiasm. ¡°I¡¯ll take us over there.¡±

    He cast a mass Translocate that brought them all to the edge of the woods, about half-way along the

    strip of artificial forest. An instantter they were joined by a sprite, and it was immediately obvious that

    she was a goddess. Her pretty, fifteen centimeter tall form struck a proud pose in mid-air, and she

    shed her wings a few times, seemingly reflexively.

    ¡°Hello, I am Bitbitta, Goddess of Hiding.

    ¡°Though this forest is artificial, and all of the citizens of The Hidden Nation who are here are only

    attending as Sendings or Simcrums, you must still understand that for many of us, the need to

    remain hidden is instinctual and undeniable. Within are also representations of our homes, and for

    some of us, keeping our homes hidden is even more primal than hiding ourselves. Therefore, very few

    outsiders are allowed within, and they must agree to and be able to follow our conditions, which are

    these; you may not enter physically, and the Projection or Simcrum you use must be smaller than

    myself. Also, you must allow me to ce a Compulsion upon you that will never allow you to speak of

    what you will see within, in any way.¡±

    ¡°We agree, and thank you for the privilege.¡± Fire said with a big smile as she assumed a ten centimeter

    high Simcrum while Sending her body home. The rest of their group did the same in the next

    moment.

    ¡°Then enter, and be wee.¡± Bitbitta bid them as she turned and led the way.

    When the group emerged from the trees and assumed their normal manifestations, they all wore the

    same bemused and introspective little smile. They just stopped and smiled at each other for a long

    moment, then Mark said; ¡°Let¡¯s go home.¡±, and brought them to their private beach at Hilia.

    It was a wonderful tropical night, so Talia Summoned nkets and pillows for those that wanted them.

    After some quiet conversation, they all slept cuddled up together on the beach.

    PART 19

    Ever the hostess, Talia woke first the next morning and ordered breakfast for everyone as shey

    cuddled in Mark and Alilia¡¯s embrace. She remained there and returned to dozing until four attendants

    from The Atoned appeared with a wellden table that filled the air with delicious scents, which soon

    roused everyone.

    After rising and self-cleaning, and exchanging hugs and good-mornings, they made their selections

    from the many breakfast choices avable, and the attendants served them up.

    Alilia was the first to open a conversation after they¡¯d eaten enough to ke the immediacy of their

    hunger. ¡°So Fire, I never got around to congratting you on bing Princess of The Sylvan Nation

    yesterday. Congrattions.

    ¡°Does this mean you¡¯re assuming the leadership of your quartet from Six?¡±

    Fire shrugged and smiled as she finished chewing and swallowed. ¡°Maybe. Six is probably a bit better

    at leadership than me when ites to any other race, but with Sylvan, I think I¡¯m a bit more effective.

    Besides, it was just spontaneous. And since we do almost everything together, it doesn¡¯t make much

    difference anyway.

    ¡°It¡¯ll sure make things easier implementing our training program.¡± Sixmented between bites.

    ¡°Yup. Now after all the Sylvan volunteers have joined, I can just order any holdouts to get with the

    program. Literally.¡±

 Chapter 125

    Chapter 125

    Part 19

    To their surprise, they were joined by Gvetwa, First God of The Sylvan, who joined the conversation as

    if he¡¯d been part of it from the beginning. ¡°Many of us are concerned about the effect your program will

    have on my people.¡± he stated. ¡°When the Sylvan first appeared on this world, we were nothing more

    than hunters, killers, and raiders. We took what we needed, and produced nothing. After the

    Segregation we were concentrated in Serminak, and after the continent was hunted-out, we were

    forced to be productive and co-operative to survive. We became farmers, ranchers, fishers,

    manufacturers, builders, and traders. And everyone including us agrees that this was very good for the

    Sylvan people.

    ¡°Now, thanks to you irritating children, The Sylvan are about to be nothing more than killers again.

    The Sylvan on Hiliani don¡¯t even hunt, fish, or gather anymore, all they do is fight, fornicate, and

    engage in simted warfare.

    ¡°Now, I will admit that thanks to your efforts, my people will be better prepared to face the demons. But

    you might want to consider that they will be very difficult to live with after the war, and transitioning

    them back to a peacetime existence will prove to be very difficult, if not impossible.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps.¡± Fire nodded. ¡°But they¡¯ll be alive at least. We¡¯ll deal with what happens after the war, after

    the war.

    ¡°Personally, I¡¯d be in favor of re-stocking Serminak with prey animals after the war, and limiting the

    Sylvan poption to the number that can sustain themselves there with traditional hunting and

    gathering methods, like the Sylvan on Hiliani were doing before we set up there. I think it¡¯s more natural

    for Sylvan that way, and that they¡¯re happier when they can live like that.¡±

    N?velDrama.Org content rights.

    ¡°Ha! The hunter-gatherer lifestyle is the most natural for all of our races!¡± Gvetwa retorted. ¡°It¡¯s how all

    of our peoples lived before we started using agriculture, which led to civilization as we know it now. But

    I don¡¯t think any of them would be happy about being forced to go back to it! Sure, hunting is fun, but

    gathering is boring and monotonous, and few will be happy with giving up the luxuries andforts

    we¡¯ve all be ustomed to!¡±

    Fire shrugged and grinned. ¡°Sorry Gvetwa, but that¡¯s not really our problem right now. Our self-imposed

    responsibility only extends as far as beating the demons with as few losses to Keran as possible.

    We¡¯ll help clean up the mess afterwards as much as we can, but it¡¯s so impossible to predict what

    conditions will be like then that it¡¯s not even worth trying to n for it. We¡¯ll cross that bridge when we

    get to it.¡±

    ¡°As I suggested before,¡± Six interjected, ¡°After the war we should have another tournament to decide

    our peacetime leadership. Whoever wins it can deal with reconstruction and the transition to peacetime

    life.

    ¡°But we won¡¯t bepeting in it, because we¡¯ll probably be leaving with the Triax to hunt demons out

    in the void, and to find the demon homeworld and exterminate them all. I expect a lot of Sylvan will

    choose toe with us. After that we¡¯lle back and start building new livable worlds around our

    sun. All that should keep us busy for the foreseeable future.¡±

    ¡°If any of that sounds like fun to you, you¡¯re wee to join us, Eldest of The Sylvan Gods.¡±

    ¡°Fun?!¡± Gvetwa scowled. ¡°Mortals were more fun when they were awe-struck and submissive! Your

    whole cursed family is so damned irritating!¡±

    And he was gone.

    After a moment of silence, many on the beach couldn¡¯t help but chuckle a bit at his frustration.

    Fire turned to her parents. ¡°We realize that supervising our activities is still pretty instinctive for you,

    considering our ages. And the Sylvan re-structuring will be the biggest thing happening on Keran for

    the next few days. So, would you all like to continue helping us with it? It sure led to a lot of unexpected

    benefits yesterday!¡±

    ¡°It did, and yes we would.¡± Mark grinned.

    ¡°With your permission, I¡¯d like to invite a few volunteers from the other races to join your training

    program as well.¡± Yazadril mused. ¡°I think it¡¯s likely that the younger and more aggressive especially

    will advance more quickly there. If it shows promise, we may set up modified versions of your program

    amongst all the other races.¡±

    ¡°Certainly, we¡¯d considered that as well.¡± Six nodded around a mouthful of fruit. ¡°We¡¯ll get going on it

    right after breakfast.¡±

    Two dayster, the residents of Hiliani who nned to return to the time-bubble decided that they

    would wait until after the next meeting of The Assembly before having the bubble re-cast. Many of

    them, particrly Yazadril, nned on attending that meeting, and they all wanted to know the results

    before they withdrew from the world again. Within two more days the new Sylvan training system was

    On the day before the next meeting of the Assembly, as Mark and Kragorram¡¯s families were enjoying

    lunch in their backyard vale on Hiliani, Amirgath and Somonik appeared.

    Somonik addressed Val. ¡°It¡¯s obvious that there is enough demand for the new training programs all

    over Keran that we cannot meet the demand without using your automated Work spells to get

    everything else done. Though the full Assembly has not met on the issue, we¡¯ve personally asked all

    the ruling members and the pantheon, and the result was unanimously favorable. We therefore ask you

    to use your Work spells to do the work of any who wish to join the new training programs full-time, and

    that you cast The Healing of Valentia on those people. If you find that it¡¯s too big a job to do by

    yourselves in a reasonable amount of time, we¡¯ll be d to assist you.

    ¡°However, we want to stress that this is a wartime measure only. We share your concerns about the

    long-term effect that perpetually perfect healing and theck of physical work will have on the character

    and culture of our peoples, and the issue will be extensively debated again immediately following the

    war.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Val simply responded as she ate.

    ¡°Amirgath, could you be a human, or an elf?¡± Mark suddenly asked.

    ¡°Hmph.¡± Amirgath rumbled as he considered the question. ¡°I could certainly take the form of a human

    or an elf, though I have never contemted doing so. But nothing of my basic nature would be

    changed. I would still be a Draconian god, with all that implies.¡±

    ¡°Could you be like me?¡± Fire asked. ¡°A half-elven, half-human warlock who could use the second

    Source?¡±

    ¡°No. I could not use the second Source, nor have I used the Source or the power of wizard¡¯s rock since

    I became a god. I believe that my power nowes from the Translocation medium, or from the fabric

    of reality itself, even if I took Elven form. I¡¯m not sure. I¡¯ve never been very analytical in my use of

    power. No doubt there are other gods who would give you different answers, but I am what I am.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Thanks.¡± Fire nodded.

    Mark was so deep in thought that he didn¡¯t respond.

    Amirgath nodded. ¡°If there¡¯s nothing else, we¡¯ll take our leave, and speak with you again soon.¡± he

    stated.

    He and Somonik disappeared without waiting for an answer.

    ¡°Quewanak?¡± Talia asked the air, and he appeared.

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°The training in the kids¡¯ new system is good, but it¡¯s not near as good as what we were getting here

    before the time-bubble opened.¡± Talia thoughtfully stated. ¡°And as far as I can see, the difference is that

    you and Ria were running our exercises here; you set the scenarios and ran the demons, and the

    people running the exercises in Serminak just aren¡¯t as good at it as you and Ria are.

    ¡°I know a lot of the gods are busy maintaining the time-bubbles and training with the Triax gods and

    whatnot, but still, I think it would help a lot if you and some of the other gods started running as many of

    the exercises as possible.¡±

    ¡°As soon as we¡¯ve finished setting up the systems, we¡¯ll be running a lot more of them ourselves, like

    we did for the Sylvan here when we first started it.¡± Six mentioned. ¡°But there¡¯s so much to do, we won¡¯t

    be able to do that all the time. We still need to get onto building the voidcraft and working them into the

    training, and we need to train for the tournament.¡±

 Chapter 126

    Chapter 126

    Part 19

    ¡°We should really start thinking about making preparations with the Triax as well.¡± Alilia volunteered.

    ¡°We n to go to war at their side, but we¡¯re not training with them at all, except for some of the gods.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d almost forgotten about our n to talk to the Triax about void warfare, we¡¯ve been so busy.¡±

    Kragorram said as he scratched his beard. ¡°But we¡¯re almost ready for the meeting. Six and I spent

    some time on it three nights ago; we¡¯ve reviewed the first team¡¯s experience, we¡¯ve grasped the

    mathematics, and the spells that convert from one numerical system to another are simple and reliable.

    We made some progress on trantion from theirnguage to ours, but it¡¯s still very basic. We¡¯ll

    probably need some divine help with that.

    ¡°But when we meet with them, we should discussrge-scale training with them. And it should be

    tonight or tomorrow morning, before the meeting of The Assembly, so that our leaders and the Triax

    leaders can co-ordinate.¡±

    ¡°Ah. One moment.¡± Quewanak nodded. He contemted the surroundings for a few breaths, then

    nodded again. ¡°Within an hour I¡¯ll have a list of qualified military strategists, both mortal and divine, who

    are willing and avable to help with conducting training exercises.

    ¡°The Triax will meet with you at five hours to midnight tonight, Standard Time, at The Royal Beach on

    Hilia.¡±

    ¡°Most Excellent.¡± Six smiled. ¡°Thanks.¡±

    ¡°You are most wee.¡± Quewanak nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll go now, to familiarize those who will conduct

    exercises with what Ria and I have done in that regard here.¡±

    With that he was gone before any farewells could be said.

    ¡°We have almost four hours to finish preparing to meet with the Triax.¡± Kragorram pointed out. ¡°Let¡¯s

    get started.¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t have that much to do!¡± Six pointed out with augh. ¡°I¡¯m gonna finish my lunch first!¡±

    ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll get started!¡± Kragorramughed as he Retrieved his notes on the subject, and the rest

    chuckled as he set to reviewing them with exaggerated studiousness.

    As it turned out, all of them wanted to attend the meeting with The Triax, even if only as observers.

    By the time the meeting began, hundreds had asked to observe it in person, most of them military

    personnel and researchers from all over Keran. Six politely refused them all except Quewanak,

    Falgaroth, Visinniria, Amirgath, Somonik, Tithian, and Emperor Osbald of Thon, citing the need to avoid

    excess distraction. Those seven arrived a few minutes early, exchanged greetings, and took their

    ces. The rest who had asked were allowed to join an Observing Link that Six and Kragorram set up.

    Only Six and Kragorram and their close family would directly participate in interacting with The Triax;

    including Mark, Talia, Alilia, Fire, Val, Karz, and Povon. All of them were deeply Linked and waiting

    patiently at the appointed time.

    A secondter The Triax arrived, represented by First Mauve, another god of The Triax who was about

    three meters long and purple in color, and neen mortal Triax who swam about in a slightly-cloudy

    grayish liquid inside a huge transparent sphere almost thirty meters high, which floated over the water

    just off the beach. All of the Triax in it immediately swam over to the side of the sphere facing the beach

    and considered the Kerani with their strangely-blinking three-eyed gazes. They seemed to be of

    every color in the rainbow, and ranged in size from one to eight meters in length.

    ¡°Greetings Prince Mark, to you and to your finepany.¡± First Mauve began. ¡°This meeting shall have

    two purposes; to exin to you and to your people our methods of warfare in the void more effectively

    than has been done so far, and to begin the co-ordination of our forces for theing conflict.

    ¡°Allow me to introduce First Purple, Triax Goddess of Flight, Fifth Eldest among us.¡±

    That worthy being faced Mark and tipped forward a bit in mid-air from her position floating more than a

    meter above the sand. Mark took her motion for a bow, and bowed to her in return.

    ¡°Those in the Habitat Sphere are our finest mortalmanders, strategists, navigators, and weapons

    specialists.¡± First Mauve continued.

    ¡°Your gods and ours have finally perfected effective trantion procedures to allow mortal Triax and

    Kerani tomunicate with one another directly; without needing an immortal to trante for them. It

    is a great triumph, and the previous meeting between your mortals and ours was a vital part of the

    process.

    ¡°However, that meeting was less than perfectly sessful in its primary purpose; the exchange of

    N?velDrama.Org content rights.

    understanding of mortal methods of warfare between your people and mine.

    ¡°Since both parties have subsequently enjoyed ample opportunity to consider the results of that

    previous meeting and to n for more effective procedures ofmunication, we are confident that

    today¡¯s gathering will be more productive.¡±

    ¡°I agree.¡± Mark nodded. ¡°And it seems sensible that we must understand each other¡¯s methods of

    warfare before we can effectively n to co-ordinate our forces.

    ¡°We wee you to Hilia, we are both d and grateful to have you here.

    ¡°My son Six here will speak for us in the matter of methods of warfare, though any of us might choose

    to contribute if it seems appropriate.¡±

    ¡°Thank you Father.¡± Six nodded as he stepped forward and faced First Mauve.

    ¡°The first meeting held between our peoples to share methods of warfare exchanged more knowledge

    than understanding.¡± he stated with a smile. ¡°This is because both sides were trying to exin what

    they do right now, though we bothcked the historical context needed to make that knowledge

    understandable.

    ¡°Therefore, we have prepared a presentation; a very basic history of our societies and races and their

    development, focusing on the history of methods of warfare on Keran. Its level of detail is such that a

    well-educated Kerani could view it and understand it in about three hours. The truth is that the design

    and use of the first weapons on Keran has affected all that came after, so we¡¯ve included everything

    from the use of ws and fire in the first dragon war, right up to the methods we used in the recent War

    of The Founding of The Just Alliance, and some of what we¡¯ve developed to fight the demons since

    then. We¡¯ve tried to show how each development led to the ones that followed. We¡¯ve included the use

    of weaponry, tactics, and strategy.

    ¡°We ask that you prepare a simr presentation of your own history of warfare and society, starting with

    your earliest recorded conflicts.

    ¡°Once we¡¯ve viewed each other¡¯s presentations, we can outline our present ns for the uing war

    with the demons; then we¡¯ll work on altering those ns to include each other¡¯s forces.

    ¡°That is well thought.¡± First Mauve stated. ¡°Begin the showing of your presentation. I willpose our

    presentation, and begin disying it shortly.¡±

    ¡°Agreed.¡± Six nodded, and cast arge Revealing of a new design that included numerous subtle

    psionic effects.

    It showed a gray dragon facing off against a brown, snarling and circling, then they darted together and

    set to with teeth and ws and fire in a sudden explosion of snarling violence.

    As this happened, the sound of the battle was joined by a calm, human-seeming male voice; ¡°Of the

    living intelligent races on Keran, the Draconians were the first of us some three hundred and fifty

    million years ago, and they have always fought each other for dominance, resources, and mates. Their

    wars wereposed of many fights, one dragon against another in singlebat. During great

    battles, thousands of these fights would take ce simultaneously, usually on one great field of battle

    and in the air above it. Yet it was not true warfare, for no dragon was ever out-numbered inbat, no

    dragon ever had to fight against two or more other dragons at the same time. Fighters who had no

    immediately avable enemy would wait until the nearest challenge waspleted, then challenge the

    winner to another round of singlebat if their enemy was victorious. After two hundred and forty

    million years, the first magic attack spells were developed and used inbat.

    ¡°Then, about fifty-five million years ago, The People of Morning emerged on Keran. The dragons had

    just endured one of their worst wars when they realized that the unicorns were sentient. Despite their

    depleted poption and weakened state, they dered war on The People of Morning, and the first

    true warfare on Keran began¡­¡±

 Chapter 127

    Chapter 127

    Part 19

    The view in the Revealing illustrated all that the voice exined, and it was impossible to tell which

    parts of the viewing had been recorded, and which had been re-created from memories or historical

    records.

    ¡°I am ready to begin our presentation.¡± First Mauve stated. ¡°I suggest that I project it further down the

    beach, and that you Kerani move there, so that each presentation does not distract from the other.¡±

    ¡°Agreed.¡± Six nodded again, and they followed First Mauve about a hundred meters down the beach,

    leaving the rest of The Triax watching the Kerani presentation.

    First Mauve¡¯s disy was far more basic than the advanced Revealing that Six had cast, but it

    conveyed understanding readily enough. It was somehow obvious that she had not recorded it in any

    way; she simply told the story and illustrated it with arge round Illusion cast against the rtive

    darkness of the trees at the top of the beach.

    The Triax were not a very warlike race. They were the only intelligent race on their mostly-aquatic

    world, and for the first two hundred and fifty-three thousand years of their recorded history, they had

    lived in peace. During this early golden age they developed a rich and artistic culture that prized

    knowledge and understanding. Their first technologies; aquatic farming of nts, domestication of

    animals, recordedmunication, and metallurgy done by chemistry, led to an impressive hydraulics-

    based industry. The pumping of water and other liquids within vastworks of metal pipes provided

    power for machines and fast transportation. The pumps were originally turned by muscle and animal

    power, then ocean currents andrge vertical flows were captured with huge water-screws. Liquids

    under high pressures in pipes became a medium for long-distancemunication that was almost

    instantaneous, andplex pumping andworking schemes led to the use of intricate valving to

    calcteplex mathematical problems.

    At the end of the first Triax golden age their poption was many billions, and the oceans of their world

    were unrecognizable from their natural state. Their surfaces were covered with domesticated nts,

    most natural nts and animals were either domesticated or extinct, and the Triax civilization was a

    dark and gloomy industrial ce lit by artificial light in the murky waters beneath the closely-packed

    nts.

    Overpoption and starvation finally brought war to The Triax, initially consisting of theft of one

    another¡¯s food nts and sabotaging one another¡¯s hydraulicworks, then open warfare began.

    They attacked each other with their machines, their domestic animals, projectile weapons powered by

    more than a wastnd. Only one in every two hundred and thirty Triax survived that war and the social

    and environmental copse that came with it.

    After a long recovery, stability returned, along with another period of peace and prosperity marked by

    strict poption controls and the restoration of much of the natural state of their oceans. The greatest

    advance of their second golden age had been the discovery and utilization of rare heavy materials

    called ¡®hotrock¡¯ that gave off vast amounts of heat and other dangerous energies when the material

    was refined from its natural ore and concentrated. Eventually all of their industry was powered by these

    amazing but dangerous substances.

    However, a series of industrial idents releasedrge amounts of poisonous hotrock residues into the

    waters of The Triax¡¯s world. Many died, and the entire poption was sickened for many generations,

    along with most of the wild and domesticated nts and animals. Society copsed, and small bands

    of survivors often fought one another for the few remaining resources, usually with quite primitive

    methods.

    After another period of slow recovery thatsted for millennia, Triax society rebuilt and reformed. The

    use of hotrock was forever banned, and they reverted to the techniques they had used before its

    introduction; taking energy from currents and flows to power their society. Eventually they added wind

    power by building windmills in the shallows. They invented suits that allowed them to survive out of

    water, and thend masses of The Triax¡¯s world were finally explored and utilized for the first time.

    Only after more than eight hundred thousand years of recorded history did the Triax discover magic.

    One of theirnd explorers discovered it by ident as she was falling from a cliff. In her panic, she

    willed herself to fly, and while she did not truly fly on that asion, she discovered Movement and used

    it well enough to slow her fall to a non-injuring speed.

    Unlike the Kerani, The Triax were never religious about magic; their study and use of it were

    academic and practical from the beginning. Perhaps because of this, their expertise in magic

    developed quite quickly. Within four centuries they had developed all the major spell categories except

    Translocation, and within a millennium the use of magic had permeated every aspect of Triax life. After

    a further six hundred years they had their first magic war, the first of several over the next two and a

    half millennia, but none of them were globally devastating.

    Four thousand years after they developed magic, the first of The Triax to be a god achieved

    Ascension. However, they did not consider him a god as the Kerani used the word. The Triax word

    for gods meant merely ¡®the Transformed¡¯, and they never established religions or were worshipped.

    They did lead Triax society, and they kept the peace for almost thirty-two thousand years. But when

    they finally went to war it was a disaster of unprecedented proportions. There were only fourteen Triax

    gods at that time, but their powerbined with all-out magical and technological warfare among the

    popce killed almost every mortal Triax in less than nine hours. Fewer than one in two million

    survived. That was thest war that The Triax ever fought among themselves.

    Then they had peace for millions of years, though their prosperity was interrupted by two great crises; a

    nearby star exploded, and it would have sterilized their world had their astronomers not seen the

    changes in the star that were the explosion¡¯s precursors. They had the Kerani equivalent of a year

    and a half to prepare, and it had taken all the effort of their gods and their people to shield the world

    well enough to preserve life, and a quarter of them were still killed. Millions of yearster volcanoes

    began appearing on their world with increasing frequency, and they suffered a period of incredible

    volcanic activity and earthquakes thatsted for thousands of years. At the worst of it there were

    ranges of closely-packed volcanoes as big as continents spewing rock and poison and ash into the air

    and waters. At the end, thest refuges of tenuous life on the world were on the warm borderlines

    between the inferno of the volcanoes and the dark and frozen wastnd that was the rest of the.

    They fought it for centuries, gods and mortals working constantly to clear the air and waters so that

    sunlight could still reach the life-zones. Then they finally admitted defeat, and gathered their remaining

    poptions into sealed, self-sustaining habitats excavated beneath the center of the hardest and

    thickest continental bedrock.

    Millennia passed, and eventually their world stabilized. They assisted their world¡¯s natural recovery

    processes, and slowly their own civilization recovered. But the techniques they¡¯d developed for living

    beneath the rock were to prove useful again eonster.

    This part of First Mauve¡¯s presentation had taken just more than an hour, and much of that had been

    devoted to weaponry and military techniques.

    Then she showed the attack of a horde of demons that descended on their world from the skies; some

    by flight, some by Translocation. They hade to the world of the Triax in a gigantic vessel they had

    made from a metallic asteroid, and hidden it from detection until their attack was well underway.

    Content (C) N?v/elDra/ma.Org.

    The Triax fought and lost, then hid themselves away from the demons in habitats deep beneath the

    rock under the deepest oceans. They remained hidden for generations, fearful to emerge, and when

    they did return to the waters and the surface they found that all life had been exterminated and

    consumed by the long-departed demons.

    Some of them wanted to rebuild their civilization yet again, despite the colossal effort it would require,

    but after centuries of debate they chose another n.

    They recognized that if they remade their world and filled it with life again, eventually the demons would

    return to consume it all once more. So they constructed the first of their great spherical void-vessels

    and moved their entire remaining poption into it, with all of their artifacts. After three more centuries

    of traveling around thes that circled their sun, preparing and training intensively, they set out into

    the void to hunt the demons, beginning with the horde that had destroyed their world.

 Chapter 128

    Chapter 128

    Part 19

    That demon horde was not the first they found, it was the third.

    After centuries of traveling and searching, they were lucky in the first horde they found. Its vessel was

    smaller, the demons within less numerous, and it was caught deep in the void near the end of a long

    journey between stars that had weakened them. After a short but incredibly intense battle it was utterly

    destroyed by The Triax, who suffered rtively minimal losses and damages. The anniversary of that

    victory was still celebrated annually as the most important event in the Triax calendar.

    Buoyed by their victory, they set out hunting again, still seeking the trail of their original enemies.

    They were lucky again when they found their second demon horde. Though stronger and more

    powerful, it was caught by surprise while in the midst of attacking a world. The world they were

    invading was a harsh ce, even for demons; constantly swept by winds blowing at speeds of

    hundreds of kilometers per hour, often carrying abrasive sandstorms, and the true storms were

    cataclysms of lightning and rain and wind beyond anything ever seen on Keran or Triax. There were

    no oceans, only temporarykes and floods beneath the rainfall of the storms, and almost all of the

    nts and animals were tiny things that lived their entire lives in the air, being carried by the wind,

    breeding and dying without ever touchingnd or water. The demons had sensed a lot of life there from

    a great distance away in the void, and by the time they arrived they weremitted to plundering this

    world¡¯s life; theycked the resources to make it to another world otherwise, unless they consumed

    most of each other along the way. But they were finding it almost impossible to survive, feed, and re-

    stock effectively on the hostile world.

    Only a few of the horde were still within their rough, stony vessel slowly circling their target world when

    the Triax attacked and destroyed it. Without their vessel to provide support and refuge, the horde thay

    was already down on the violent world were easily destroyed from the void by The Triax, or were killed

    or starved by the conditions they were stranded in. The Triax waited patiently for centuries, half of their

    telescopes and sensors focused on the world below, until they were absolutely sure that thest demon

    there was long since dead.

    The patience of The Triax there meant that the horde that had destroyed their world was getting farther

    away and harder to find with every day that passed before the hunt for them was resumed. This caused

    a great deal of dissatisfaction among The Triax, but no dissension. None of them were willing to

    chance leaving a single demon alive behind them.

    They searched again for almost three millennia before they found their original foes; the demon horde

    that had destroyed their world. And when they did, they found that their lucky streak had run out.

    This horde had been doing well; they had recently consumed a world rich in life that had offered no

    appreciable resistance, and had found another life-bearing sr system rtively close to it after that.

    They were near the peak of their strength when they arrived in a mighty system with dozens of worlds

    and thousands of moons, and there was rich life on two worlds and a moon.

    When The Triax arrived in the system they found that the demons had almost finished consuming the

    life on the moon and had already made two new vessels from metallic asteroids they found, then

    divided into three independent hordes. The original vessel continued to attack the almost-depleted

    moon, one of the new vessels had begun it¡¯s attack on the outermost of the life-bearing worlds, and the

    other new vessel was enroute to attack the innermost one.

    The Triax attacked the demons¡¯ original vessel first and drove it down onto the devastated moon in a

    cataclysmic impact, killing all the demons in the vessel and on the moon. The Triax had correctly

    assumed that only the hardiest of invisibly small life forms survived among the native life, and that

    those would have the best chance of surviving the impact and it¡¯s aftermath, whereas the demons were

    certain to sterilize the entire ce eventually if left to themselves. The Triax sustained minimal damage

    and casualties, and hurried to attack the second horde.

    The two surviving hordes had been aware of the destruction of the first, and they disengaged from the

    Such was the hatred of The Triax for their foes that they charged forth in a head-on attack against both

    demon vessels, and pressed the attack relentlessly in a continuous battle thatsted for weeks before

    they were victorious.

    The cost of their victory was grievous, however, for only a quarter of them survived it, and their vessel

    was sorely damaged. Never again would they force the fight so aggressively, as they adopted a firm

    policy of retreat whenever their losses or damages were greater than one part in nine. Better to heal

    and rebuild, then attack with greater strength.

    Having fulfilled their need for vengeance, they began an era of methodical hunting and expansion that

    N?velDrama.Org is the owner.

    continued to this day; striving to clear all demons from the void in an expanding sphere of colonization

    and defense centered on the Triax homeworld, which had finally been re-settled by Triax millennia ago.

    The group of sixteen Triax vessels that approached Keran were their main exploration and attack

    force, and the original vessel that had once contained the entire Triax race when they first set out in the

    void was still theirmand ship, though much-modified from it¡¯s early days.

    The Triax considered their ultimate victory over the demons to be inevitable, since the demons needed

    to consume life to survive and thrive, whereas The Triax needed only the energy and magic that zed

    from stars, and materials that weremonly found floating about in the void near them. Freed from

    the need for suitable worlds, their numbers and power increased everywhere they went in the void.

    They considered it ironic that having be independent of life-bearing worlds, they still spent most of

    their effort in defending them.

    It took First Mauve over five and a half hours toplete her presentation. The other Triax in

    attendance hade over and joined in watching it after the Kerani presentation finished, the big

    habitat sphere hanging above and behind them all.

    When she was done there was a long moment of silence, then many there took a deep breath.

    ¡°We¡¯ll, ah, need a bit of time to consider what we¡¯ve learned. Please.¡± Six thoughtfully stated.

    ¡°Certainly.¡± First Mauve agreed.

    ¡°Well I for one need to use the privacy, and I think a meal is in order.¡± Talia briskly stated as she stood

    and brushed sand from her dress, then pointed. ¡°There¡¯s a small privacy behind the tree line down

    there. Check the Hilia map if any of you need to find an appropriate and unupied one. We¡¯ll have a

    dinner served here in a few minutes.¡±

    ¡°My people also have bodily functions to attend to, some of which they prefer to do in privacy.¡± First

    Mauve responded. ¡°We shall return in seven minutes, and join you in feasting this great asion.¡±

    ¡°Excellent.¡± Mark told her with a nod and a quick bow, then Translocated to the privacy in the royal

    cottage.

    Ten minutester they were all either feasting or snacking, depending on their appetites. The mortal

    Triax served their food in spherical stics of widely varying sizes, some of which contained live

    prey animals swimming about within them. The Triax simply stretched an opening on the bag farther

    open with two points of their t and supple triangr bodies, and reached in with the other in a quick

    snatching grab, stuffing their morsel into their mouths as they released the bag. It was easy to think of

    their front two points as hands and the rear one as a tail, but they seemed to use all three

    interchangeably, and with equal dexterity. A Triax was capable of folding itself t along any line across

    its body, or rolling itself up like a scroll, and they used their entire bodies in manipting objects and

    tools. They could swim in any direction at whim, and with incredible speed and maneuverability.

    After initial hungers and thirsts were ked, one of them was the first to speak. It swam up to the

    closest inner surface of the habitat sphere facing the Kerani, and made a subtle ripple from front to

    rear. ¡°Greetings, I am Second Brighter Orange, First Strategist of Triax. Your methods of warfare on

    your world and in your air are certainly fascinating, and amazing in their variety. Your use of pure magic

    in almost every endeavor is surprising.

 Chapter 129

    Chapter 129

    Part 19

    ¡°But you have never fought in the void. Your efforts to do so have only begun. Your gods are powerful,

    but few, and beyond them you will be able to bring rtively little capability to bear in the void when the

    battle with these demons begins.

    ¡°I suggest that those of you who are prepared to fight in the void at that time be maintained as close

    defense about your world, while fighting the demons beyond your world¡¯s moons be left to my people.¡±

    ¡°Ah.¡± Six nodded. He set his utensils aside and paused for a moment to gather his thoughts, then met

    the eyes of Second Brighter Orange. ¡°First, I must say I¡¯m humbled by what we¡¯ve learned. The

    breadth of your history, the nobility and incredible dedication of your quest, the amazing knowledge

    you¡¯ve given us, all are humbling, and somewhat disturbing. Learning the true scale of the conflict

    makes me feel very small, and knowing that all the immense volume you¡¯ve explored is just a tiny, tiny

    part of this gxy¡­ It¡¯s truly humbling.

    ¡°For me, the most disturbing knowledge you¡¯ve given us is knowing that most stars are not a source of

    any kind of magic, and that most worlds have no magic at all; no energy that can be shaped or directed

    by a mortal body¡¯s energy field or by a conscious mind. To know that in most ces we would be

    almost powerless, and that our star may even be unique in supplying the kinds of power we use.

    Perhaps, only here are we formidable; we being the mortal magic users of Keran.

    ¡°But this fact,bined with the fact that your people only developed magic quitete in your

    development, exins why you do things the way you do. To us, it seems strange that your gods seem

    to be the only ones among you to use magic directly; and your mortals only seem to use magic to

    provide power to machines and devices. But it makes sense, since you would have almost no magic

    avable to you at all in the deep void between stars, so you need machines you can power with other,

    non-magical energies, when necessary.

    ¡°Andpared to us, it seems your methods are obsessed with energy efficiency. You fly around using

    these ¡®orbital mechanics¡¯, bnced between gravity and thrust and momentum, instead of just Moving

    or Translocating to where you want to go. You reach incredibly fast speeds, but it takes you a very long

    time to speed up or slow down or turn, because you aren¡¯t pushing your vessels through the void with

    very much energypared to the weight of what you¡¯re moving. And you have to move a lot of

    weight, because your big vessels are full of a liquid that¡¯s mostly water. You protect yourselves in the

    void with suits and machines and armor, because they use so much less energy than maintaining

    magical Shields.

    ¡°Now, when we Kerani finally travel through the deepest void between stars, we¡¯ll probably have to

    use your methods.

    ¡°But not here, not within the vicinity of our star. Here we have power to spare, and we¡¯ve recently

    learned to use it far more effectively. Here we can Translocate one of our small vessels from Keran

    to our star¡¯s farthest in fourteen jumps at most, and be there in less than a minute. In that time

    we can send a chain of vessels from here to wherever the demons are around our star, all strung out in

    the void like beads on a string from here to there, and then we can send most of the power of this world

    along the chain to whoever we have stationed in the end vessel as our Strike Wizard, as my father

    used most of the power of The Just Alliance against Zarkog in their battle.

    ¡°I have no need to circle around a world like my vessel was a moon in order to stay close to it. I can

    spare the power to hold my vessel still with Movement against the pull of any world that circles our star,

    and simply hover wherever I like for as long as I wish. Likewise I can hold position in the void between

    worlds without circling our star or falling into it. From there I can fly in a straight line from wherever I am

    to where ever I want to go, only needing to maneuver to match the movement of whatever I¡¯m meeting.

    That¡¯s if it doesn¡¯t seem worth it to just Translocate there.

    ¡°I propose that when we attack the demons, that you allow us to supply your small vessels and suit

    fighters with Translocation and Movement, for if you don¡¯t, you¡¯llck the speed to be anywhere near

    the battle until long after it¡¯s over. Without our assistance, only your gods will be able to participate. Or

    perhaps your people should remain in a defensive position around Keran while we attack the

    demons, since most of your offensive power is contained in your great water-filled vessels. As

    formidable as they are, they weigh too much to be worth Translocating them around for inteary

    distances. They have little ce in the almost-instantaneous void warfare that we foresee fighting. Our

    Content (C) N?v/elDra/ma.Org.

    tactics will be much more akin to those used by your gods, who are your true fast long-distance strike-

    force.

    ¡°As we speak, thousands of our vessels are being built, and their crews trained. When the timees

    to attack the demons, we¡¯ll have millions of them.

    ¡°We are eternally grateful for your assistance, and we have great respect for your knowledge and

    experience. But this is our world and our star, and everything that circles our star is ours, unless we

    give some of it to you in a formal agreement. The void from our star out to the farthest object that

    circles it is ours. We will be in the forefront of anybat with the demons in our void. We will defend

    what is ours.¡±

    ¡°I¡­ Understand.¡± Second Brighter Orange acknowledged. ¡°We did not realize the full extent of your

    capabilities. The void warfare techniques you just described were not included in your presentation.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± Six nodded. ¡°The presentation only shows what the mortals of Keran as a whole have

    done and are doing to prepare for warfare with the demons, through The Just Alliance. It doesn¡¯t show

    what the gods are nning to do. Also, the building of void warfare vessels and the training of their

    crews that I spoke of are not being done by The Just Alliance; they¡¯re being done by the nations of

    Serminak and Hilia. It¡¯s basically stuff that the nine of us here are doing as family projects, through the

    nations and wealth we control. I¡¯m sure many other nations have their own ns for void warfare that

    we haven¡¯t learned of yet, simply because those ns aren¡¯tplete or finalized enough for public

    presentation. We haven¡¯t had very long to work on this, but I¡¯m sure the other nations are producing

    results, just as we are. But like them, our ns are still in the early stages. Only four Hilian void vessels

    have beenpleted, and there is still a great deal of testing and final development to be done.

    ¡°If our presentation gave you a deeper understanding of us and the way we conduct warfare, then it

    served its purpose. And after all, what we¡¯ll be doing in void warfare is the same as what we did in the

    concentration of power from the many to the most capable. That¡¯s what we¡¯ll be doing in the void, the

    only difference being that we¡¯ll be doing it in vessels. We have spells that allow us to survive and work

    and fight in the void without suits or machines or vessels, but it¡¯s not worth it to do that constantly, even

    for us.

    ¡°Now we¡¯re working on the beginnings of coordinating our efforts. As I said, we can assist your people

    with Translocation and Movement of your attack vessels and suit fighters. We¡¯d also like to work with

    you on increasing your people¡¯s ability at concentrating your power. We¡¯d like to see if we can teach

    you our newer methods of spell-casting, including spells to draw power from others, automated spells,

    and self-powered spells. As I said, I understand why you use magic through machines as you do, but

    we assume that our star provides you with ample raw magic power of the kind your people use. So as

    long as you¡¯re here, you might as well take full advantage of it, though that may imply some fairly

    drastic changes to your methods.

 Chapter 130

    Chapter 130

    Part 19

    ¡°I¡¯m sure your better magic users are capable of Translocation, Linking, Pull and Draw spells,

    Movement, Flight, and Shielding, as well as some kinds of purely magical attack. They may need to

    learn some of the spells, but I¡¯m sure they¡¯re inherently capable of casting them. That gets them up to

    where we were in thest war.

    ¡°As to what we¡¯re capable of now, we won¡¯t really know that until the time-bubbles open. Most of our

    world¡¯s best researchers and engineers are in them. The newer techniques that we here use, being

    more advanced psionics, automated spells, and more intense and advanced training techniques, we

    developed most of that in the time-bubble. Including ending death by aging and giving magic use to all

    our citizens. Then, when we left the time-bubble and gained ess to all the minds and resources out

    in the world, and began integrating what we¡¯d developed with the outer world, we experienced another

    sudden and drastic burst of discovery and achievement. We expect a simr pattern of advancement

    when all the other time-bubbles open, and of far greater magnitude.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure you know that my father has discovered how to be a god, and that he¡¯ll do so after the

    bubbles open, and give the gift of divinity to many others as well. And I¡¯m sure you know that we four

    have gained almost all the abilities of gods, while remaining mortal. Our new Healing techniques and

    Work spells are already making a huge difference in our world. We¡¯re not sure we can teach you these

    newer techniques, but we¡¯re ready to share them with your leaders, and we hope you¡¯ll be able to

    utilize them.

    ¡°Right now, the three tasks of preparing our world for the war, and of making tactical and strategic ns

    for it, and of coordinating our ns with you of The Triax, are all vastlyplicated by the fact that

    everything on Keran and everything about the Kerani are all changing faster than ever in our

    Content (C) N?v/elDra/ma.Org.

    history, and the pace of change is still elerating. Our world is only recently united for the first time,

    it¡¯s being rebuilt as a fortress, and vastly improved new techniques for doing almost everything are

    being introduced every day. It¡¯s difficult to make ns when we have almost no idea what we¡¯ll be

    capable of even two months from now.

    ¡°Still, we must begin with aplete exchange of information, reflecting our respective capabilities as

    they stand now. We need to know each other¡¯s military structurespletely, how many personnel

    they have, what equipment and capabilities they have, how they¡¯re organized andmanded. We

    need to supply each other with every spell and engineering technique that we have. We¡¯ll have to free

    up a lot of researchers to go through it all and decide on what each of us can use of the other¡¯s

    techniques, then we¡¯ll have to integrate it all.

    ¡°The area of expertise that your people have that weck is obviously tactics and strategy in void

    warfare. As I¡¯ve said, things will be different in this war because of the new techniques that we¡¯re

    introducing, so a lot of what you¡¯ve learned of void strategy and tactics might not apply, but the rest of it

    will be crucial, we¡¯re certain of that. We know that no new techniques canpletely rece the

    fundamentals of warfare in the void that your people have developed over your millennia of fighting in

    it. You¡¯ve shown us what your generals know so well from hard experience that they take it for granted,

    and it¡¯s very important, but so is what your sergeants know, so to speak. And since it¡¯s impossible to

    predict which of the hard-won lessons you¡¯ve learned will be crucial and which will be irrelevant, we

    recognize the necessity of learning your entire body of knowledge in the subject.

    ¡°Our gods have already exchanged much of what they know with yours. Now it is time for our mortals

    to do the same.

    ¡°This is so much work that we strongly suggest that the majority of it be done in a new round of time-

    bubbles, beginning a few weeks after the present ones open.

    ¡°At the same time, we have to work with what we have now, and what we know now. Properly

    preparing our militaries to work together should take a lot longer than we have avable to do it, so we

    have to get started on it now, and modify things as we go along when we introduce new methods that

    we¡¯ve developed or learned from each other. Not only are we pressed for time to get as much done as

    possible before our nned date for attacking the demons, I also think it¡¯s irresponsible topletely

    disregard the possibility that the demons will find a way to attack us before then.

    ¡°This immediate work of exchanging information and beginning military integration will be done

    tomorrow, at the meeting of The Assembly of The Just Alliance, between your leaders and ours.

    ¡°I think we¡¯ve aplished much of value here today. Before we bring this meeting to an end, we

    propose that we try to Link with you. Our researches show that psionics are fundamentally the same

    among all races that use them, no matter the source of their power. After all, we first became aware of

    you when Zarkog found you far out in the void with the Psionic Distant Listener. If we can Link with you,

    we should be able to teach you a great deal of what we know about magic, and learn a great deal of

    what you know, in a reasonably short time.¡±

    ¡°Among us, only The Transformed, whom you would call gods, use what you would refer to as Linking.¡±

    First Mauve interjected. ¡°Our mortals do use a technique that is functionally simr to your Speaking

    spell. It is useful formunication in the void, but of little use for the direct transfer of knowledge and

    skills that you are suggesting.

    ¡°I suggest that you Link with me. I will teach what I learn to my people.¡±

    ¡°We have found that direct contact between the minds of gods and mortals is almost always harmful to

    the mortals involved.¡± Falgaroth pointed out. ¡°From that, it is reasonable to assume that psionic Linking

    between these mortal minds and yours may also be harmful to them. The possibility that they will be

    overwhelmed seems particrly likely considering that you are Triax Goddess of Knowledge, and the

    third-eldest among your pantheon.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps that is so.¡± First Mauve agreed. ¡°But we of the Transformed often share thoughts quite deeply

    with our mortal kin, without causing them harm, and I will endeavor to ensure that no harmes to

    these Kerani.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d still like to try Linking with a mortal Triax first.¡± Six stated. ¡°It does seem a safer start, and if we¡¯re

    sessful in teaching mortal Triax to Link, we¡¯ll increase your people¡¯s capability a lot more than by

    just Linking and sharing with you.¡±

    ¡°Whether or not we¡¯re sessful at Linking with your mortals, I want to try Linking with you after that.¡±

    Fire suddenly stated to First Mauve.

    ¡°That seems sensible.¡± she agreed.

    Second Brighter Orange moved back, and another Triax took the pre-eminent position in the habitat

    sphere.

    She gave a ripple, and spoke. ¡°I greet you. I am Fifth Aquamarine. Of us here in this globe, I am most

    skilled at what you term ¡®psionics¡¯, and third most skilled at the maniption of magic energy. I choose

    to attempt to engage in mindmunication with you.¡±

    ¡°Excellent.¡± Six nodded. ¡°Only I will attempt tomunicate with you. My family are Linked with me,

    but not with you, so you won¡¯t perceive them, and they won¡¯t perceive you, except that they¡¯ll perceive

    me as I perceive you. Hopefully. I hope that¡¯s not confusing.¡±

    ¡°It is not.¡± Fifth Aquamarine responded. ¡°I will simrly be in contact with First Mauve during this

    experiment, and you will not perceive her. You should begin.¡±

    ¡°All right.¡± Six nodded again. ¡°Here goes. Hmm. It¡¯s easy to sense your psionic emanations. But so far

    it¡¯s like hearing a meaningless noise. I¡¯ll need a minute to try to make sense of it.¡±

    Everyone waited patiently for fourteen minutes. By that time Six was grimacing in concentration, eyes

    tightly closed, sweat beading on his brow as he paced up and down on the beach to relieve his tense

    irritation.

    Finally Fire gave him a yful punch on the shoulder as he went by. ¡°Hey. We might as well admit it.

    We can¡¯t do this. Their senses, their perception of reality, their thinking, it¡¯s all too different. Too¡­ alien.

    Reading Glup was a lot easier than this, and even he seems almost normal byparison. This is just

    noise.¡±

 Chapter 131

    Chapter 131

    Part 19

    ¡°I agree.¡± Fifth Aquamarine stated with a ripple. ¡°During much of that time, I was attempting to

    disconcerting, and futile.¡±

    ¡°Step aside brother, you¡¯re spent.¡± Fire chuckled as she stood from the sitting log and approached First

    Mauve. She stopped and gave a quick military bow. ¡°Goddess of Knowledge, let¡¯s think together, shall

    we?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± First Mauve simply responded. Half a minute passed before shemunicated again. ¡°All right.

    I canmunicate with you in this manner, by imitating your Speaking spell. Or I canmunicate

    with you in this manner, which is the equivalent method used by mortal Triax. But in both cases, we are

    dependent on the Trantion spell devised by the gods of both our peoples, including myself. It

    trantes our primary inherent methods ofmunication, those being your spoken words, and our

    modtion of an energy field you would refer to as the lodestone effect that is generated by the bodies

    of mortal Triax. Therefore, due to the limitations of the Trantion, thismunication is no more

    ¡°As I observed during your brother¡¯s attempt to Link with Fifth Aquamarine, he was attempting to devise

    a method that trantes the thoughts and awareness of mortal Triax whomunicate in The Unified

    Code and mortal humanoid Kerani whomunicate in Trade Common. This is a veryplex

    problem and we cannot solve it yet. I am not surprised at our failure, since the simple Trantion of

    surface thoughts that we are using now required the concentration of many gods of both pantheons for

    many hours to devise, and it requires our active and ongoing participation to maintain its use among

    mortals of both worlds. None-the-less, your recent record of achievement is impressive, so this attempt

    was wisely made. I was prepared to be surprised.¡±

    ¡°I have her.¡± Mark suddenly said through gritted teeth from where he still sat on the log. He pointed at

    First Purple without turning his head or opening his eyes. ¡°With a lot of help, I¡¯ve truly contacted her

    mind. I don¡¯t know why it¡¯s a bit easier with her, but it is. And that bit just barely makes it possible. I

    haven¡¯t sent anything over the Link yet, and I don¡¯t understand anything I¡¯m getting from her. Like the

    kids said, it¡¯s just noise in all your senses.¡±

    He slowly and carefully turned his head and opened his eyes facing First Purple, Triax Goddess of

    Flight. ¡°I¡¯d like to try to give you a thought. To set it into your mind. It¡¯s a pretty little purple mountain

    flower that¡¯s almost the same color as you, called a givnia. It seems an appropriate choice. You should

    get my memory of one I picked once; the sight of it, the scent, the feel of it in my hand. May I?¡±

    ¡°You may.¡± First Purple replied.

    Mark nodded and closed his eyes again.

    A momentter First Purple cringed and demanded; ¡°Take it out take it out take it out take it out¡­!!!¡±

    over and over until Mark managed to directly reverse what he¡¯d done.

    First Purple promptly disappeared.

    ¡°Our apologies for socially inappropriate behavior.¡± First Mauve said with a bow.

    ¡°Is she all right?¡± Mark inquired.

    ¡°She is unharmed but upset. Perhaps you should have given her a thought that is less alien to us. The

    sight of the night sky, perhaps.

    ¡°Still, I was observing closely, as were Quewanak, Falgaroth, Visinniria, and Amirgath. Our pantheons

    will examine what you have done today with concentration. Possibly we can build on what you did.¡±

    ¡°How do you godsmunicate with them?¡± Mark asked the Kerani gods who were observing. ¡°With

    the Triax gods, that is? And have any of you tried to Link with a mortal Triax?¡±

    ¡°I am not capable of exining to a mortal how wemunicate with the gods of The Triax.¡± Amirgath

    stated. ¡°As you have discovered, one way to reach divinity is with elerating increases in power and

    understanding. As a mortal, youck the understanding. Of course, you can find out at any time, can¡¯t

    you?

    ¡°And no, none of us have attempted to Link with any mortal Triax. Considering that almost every mortal

    Kerani who has joined with even the smallest part of the mind of any god has been driven irrevocably

    insane by the experience, we had not considered risking such harm to our new allies.

    ¡°You still like to think that bing a god is merely to be a more powerful spell caster. Your

    children think that they have gained almost all of the abilities of the gods. When you achieve

    Ascension, you will find out how wrong you all are about these things. As Visinniria here said to you on

    the asion when we met, there is no more simrity between a god and a mortal than there is

    between you and a pine tree.¡±

    The quicksilver dragon god paused, surveyed the party of mortals, and addressed them as a whole.

    ¡°Your activities here today have been very valuable. The exchange with The Triax of concise visual and

    audible histories of warfare was a brilliant idea, and has indeed led to a much greater understanding of

    each other and our manners of warfare. When the Assembly meets tomorrow with the leaders of The

    Triax, we will indeed be much more prepared to begin integrating our war-fighting capabilities.

    ¡°And by the way, one of your assumptions is incorrect. There are only two nations on Keran who are

    making any serious preparations for warfare in the void; being Hilia, which includes the nations of

    Serminak, and Xervian Draconia. Somonik here and his mate Grakonexikaldoron have learned your

    void survival spells from Povon, and they and other Draconian researchers have improved them greatly

    while modifying them to be more specific to the requirements of dragons.

    ¡°Xervian Draconia will be fully prepared to live and fight in the void, and they will require no vessels to

    do so. I suggest you learn what they¡¯re doing and teach it to the Serminaki Draconians. Your

    preparations are very well done, and your vessels will allow most of the other races on Keran to fight

    in the void with great effectiveness. We will indeed defend what is ours.

    ¡°As usual, you have exceeded expectations. So I don¡¯t mind telling you that I find it very refreshing to

    see you all bite off far more than you could swallow and then choke on it, in the matter of Linking with

    the Triax. It is the first time that all of you have publicly failedpletely, and I think it will do you all

    some good. Your children in particrly may be slightly less irritatingly smug about their abilities.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps we could all stand to be a bit less egotistical, Amirgath, including you.¡± Fire stated with a

    nasty littleugh. ¡°After all, what were you doing when you were my age? I imagine you were like most

    dragons at seven years of age; having the intelligence of a lizard, and still incapable of being trained to

    not crap on your own food.¡±

    ¡°First Mauve, and our honored guests of The Triax.¡± Mark hurriedly called, cutting off whatever

    outraged retort Amirgath had been about to make. ¡°We thank you very much for your attendance and

    your participation here today. It¡¯s been wonderful having you, and I think we were pretty productive. But

    it¡¯s been a long day, and since our attempts at Linking with you didn¡¯t work, we have nothing else

    nned with you for today.

    ¡°We look forward to seeing you all again tomorrow at the meeting of The Assembly of The Just

    Alliance.¡±

    ¡°We thank you for having us here, and for sharing your history.¡± First Mauve responded. ¡°We will

    indeed see you tomorrow at the meeting. It would be helpful if you had another presentation prepared

    then, detailing as much as possible your present military preparations, including the workings,

    weaponry, and performance of your void vessels, and the new capabilities of the Xervian Draconians.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll have it ready.¡± Mark nodded with a smile.

    ¡°Farewell until tomorrow.¡± First Mauve said with an eerily simr nod.

    ¡°Farewell until tomorrow.¡± Mark agreed with a grin, and then The Triax were gone.

    Kragorram ended the Observation Link.

    Mark immediately cast awork of spells that he¡¯d learned from Yazadril over the beach and the area

    around it, then modified it with psionic techniques he¡¯d learned from Quewanak and his children,

    absolutely insuring that no mortal could eavesdrop on them in any way. He put so much power into it

    that he doubted many of the gods could prate it either.

 Chapter 132

    Chapter 132

    Part 19

    Then he turned to Amirgath with a re of tightly controlled rage. ¡°Fire was rude and insulting to you,

    but you were rude and insulting to us first, and I don¡¯t expect my children to have to take that in front of

    all of Keran and all of the Triax during a diplomatically important event without giving some back. I

    don¡¯t care if you¡¯re the most powerful being on this world, we don¡¯t have to take that from you. I want

    your apology, right now, or you will no longer be wee in any of the territories we rule. Being legally

    barred from entry for just cause, your vow of justice on The Truthstone of Falgaroth will enforce my

    decision.¡±

    For a moment, it seemed that the air between them was charged with the power of Amirgath¡¯s furious

    anger. He crouched and gathered himself in an attack stance and took a deep breath, and they all

    knew he was instinctively readying his fire. Then he slowly let it out, and met Mark¡¯s re of rage with

    his own, and spoke with a dangerous, exaggerated patience, in a harsh, throbbing growl. ¡°I am as yet

    unustomed to having to consider the tender sensibilities of mortals. And, having considered the

    repercussions of every possible response I might make, I can think of no way of destroying you utterly

    without it leading to some very inconvenient consequences. So. I. Apologize.¡±

    With that said, he was gone.

    Everyone left on the beach consciously rxed a bit as the tension of the moment dissipated.

    Fire turned to the observers. ¡°Quewanak, Somonik, would you be so kind as to pass on a

    to Amirgath was insensitive to all dragons, and I apologize to all of them. As father said, I felt a need to

    give a little back to Amirgath after what he¡¯d just said, and I wish I could have thought of something at

    the moment that was more specific to him. I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    ¡°Well said.¡± Somonik told her. ¡°I will indeed see to it that all mortal Draconians are aware of your

    apology.¡±

    ¡°The gods already know.¡± Quewanak stated with a bit of a chuckle. ¡°It doesn¡¯t take long to spread news

    among them.¡±

    ¡°By the Source, that was all rather magnificent!¡± Emperor Osbald grinned as he helped himself to

    another helping of the excellent feast. ¡°I might have had the courage to stand up to him as you and

    your father did, but I wouldn¡¯t swear to it. I¡¯m not intimidated by many, but he¡¯s definitely one of them!¡±

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t worry about it.¡± Visinniria chuckled. ¡°Amirgath is quick to anger, but just as quick to dismiss it

    afterward. It¡¯s not so much that he considers mortals or humans to be beneath him, as much as he

    considers everyone else to be beneath him. The second-eldest dragon god gets no more respect from

    Amirgath than you or I do. He¡¯s just like that. A lot of us are quite amused that he was forced to

    apologize. Before he swore on the Truthstone, he would never have done so.

    ¡°Thanks again, Falgaroth.¡± She added with a giggle as she gave the huge blue unicorn god a rub on his

    knee.

    ¡°The Truthstone continues to produce unexpected benefits.¡± Falgaroth noted with a humorous whinny.

    ¡°Amirgath likes to be at the center of everything, so it would be intolerable to him to be excluded from

    here. Hilia is the only racially neutral ground, and home of the Key, and this is where leaders and rulers

    meet when they want to achieve something practical in a rxed andfortable setting. These

    informal meetings on this beach are the crux and capitol of international and interracial diplomacy.

    Amirgath would rather chew rocks than be barred from here.¡±

    ¡°You all make me want to p you.¡± Quewanak stated. ¡°I believe that is the correct turn of speech in

    thisnguage to describe my emotions; I do not literally want to p you.

    ¡°Amirgath acts like he is better than everyone else, because he is, in many important ways.

    ¡°Until The Triax came, all our gods were considered to have equivalent power. They could each destroy

    N?velDrama.Org content rights.

    the world, so any excess ability beyond that was considered superfluous from a strategic standpoint.

    ¡°But now the gods of The Triax are teaching us to fight at their side, in the void. They train us for battles

    wherein each individual god¡¯s every attack could not only kill everything on a world or destroy it down to

    pieces the size of gravel, it could destroy reality in a volume the size of a world, leaving a tear in reality

    and erasing the world within from existence.

    ¡°In our training with The Triax we have learned what many of us have long suspected; Amirgath is the

    mightiest of us. The Triax say he is the single most powerful being they have ever encountered.

    ¡°When Amirgath was a mortal, he was the very best in every field of endeavor in Draconian life at that

    time. And he looked then as he does now; his appearance is not a spell or a divine attribute, it is

    natural and owing to the fact that his body ispletely and uniformly covered in silver scales, each

    almost too small to see with a naked eye. He was the quicksilver dragon from the day he was hatched,

    and it is universally agreed that he is the most perfectly formed male dragon who has ever lived. Even

    all of you who are not dragons must admit that he has the most magnificent appearance of any being

    you have perceived. He was unmatched in power, fire, strength, ferocity, and tactical intelligence, and

    that has not changed. He was the first Draconian god, and he has been the patron deity of Draconian

    rulers and leaders for many hundreds of millions of years.

    ¡°I was the eldest mortal who ever lived, I ruled Draconia, and now I am a god myself. Yet I still consider

    every moment that I spend in Amirgath¡¯s presence to be an honor. You should show some respect.¡±

    Mark shrugged. ¡°He disrespected us first, and publicly, and at an important event. If he¡¯d done it in

    private it would have been different.¡±

    ¡°We do respect him a lot, Falgaroth and I.¡± Visinniriaughed. ¡°And we know he respects us. But we

    show him the same level of respect and courtesy that he shows us. There may not be a single

    derogatory term in the Draconiannguage that he has not used to insult me with at one time or

    another.

    ¡°I think that your problem is that emotionally, you still haven¡¯t gotten past religion. You worshipped him

    for many millions of years. Maybe you don¡¯t still worship him, but your pattern of emotional reaction to

    him is still deeply ingrained.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps.¡± Quewanak admitted.

    ¡°And,¡± Visinniria insistently continued, ¡°While it¡¯s true that Amirgath has the highest scores in our

    exercises with the Triax gods, there are perhaps twenty others whose scores are consistently behind

    his by less than one-twentieth, including myself and all the other races¡¯ gods of war. His superiority is

    not decisive, and he is no longer improving most quickly. It¡¯s highly likely that Dojitak and Blethian; the

    dragon and unicorn gods of war, will pass Amirgath within the week.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps.¡± Quewanak chuckled, clearly skeptical of the im.

    ¡°At any rate,¡± Alilia interrupted, more than a bit irritated with the conversation, ¡°We still have work to do

    before tomorrow. We need a presentation on our void craft, the Draconians need a presentation on

    their void-proofing techniques, every nation should prepare a quick presentation on theirtest

    developments in warcraft. And the gods of both pantheons should prepare a presentation on the

    training they¡¯re doing together.¡±

    ¡°I agree.¡± Tithian stated with a toss of her mane. ¡°It seems this asion draws to a close, and I¡¯m d

    I observed it. Thank you.

    ¡°We will take our leave, and see you tomorrow at the Assembly.¡±

    Soon the six remaining observers had said their farewells and departed.

    Six and Kragorram only required a few minutes topose their new presentation on their voidcraft.

    Then they all returned to working on their own projects for another hour and more.

 Chapter 133

    Chapter 133

    Part 19

    Eventually Alilia stood and stretched, then surveyed the silently concentrating group. ¡°We all need a

    break.¡± she decided. ¡°I¡¯m inviting you to go flying with me among the great trees of Heartwood, capitol

    city of The People of Life and my home for most of my life. It¡¯s a beautiful ce to fly, night or day, and I

    miss it. I¡¯d like to stop in at my home there too.¡±

    ¡°Sure, that sounds like fun.¡± Mark agreed with a grin as he stood and Sent the scroll he was reading

    back to his desk in the cottage.

    ¡°It sure does!¡± Val agreed as she flew up a few meters while stretching and pirouetting.

    ¡°I think it¡¯s unanimous!¡± Povon agreed. ¡°Though I think we three dragons had better assume smaller

    Simcrums, if we¡¯re going to be chasing elves through a forest without wrecking the ce. I think

    about a two meter wingspan¡­ There.¡±

    ¡°All right, we¡¯re ready.¡± Kragorram stated as he and Karz did the same.

    ¡°Then follow me!¡± Aliliaughed, and Translocated.

    PART 20

    They appeared around her a momentter, over a hundred meters in the air. Mid-afternoon sunlight

    dappled the leaves of the great trees all around them.

    ¡°Ah, home.¡± Alilia grinned as she slowly spun in the air and surveyed the busy city around her. ¡°It¡¯s hard

    to believe I was here less than two weeks ago in real time.¡±

    Elves and a few from other races, mostly humans, strolled or ran along the many narrow paths and

    broad thoroughfares that were suspended from the trees all around them, and almost as many flew

    among the many birds. The homes and businesses in the trees all around them bustled with activity. As

    always, the incredibly vibrant life-force of the world¡¯s lushest forest seemed almost palpable in the air.

    ¡°I feel that, a bit.¡± Val smiled. ¡°The feeling that this is home, that is.¡±

    ¡°Of course you do, my sweet!¡± Aliliaughed as she flew over and gave her daughter a spinning hug.

    ¡°It¡¯s in our blood!¡±

    ¡°Hmm. It¡¯s funny I didn¡¯t really feel that in The Nine Valleys when we went there to charge up.¡± Six

    ¡°I never spent much time in Las Valley, and even less a kilometer above it.¡± Talia thoughtfully stated

    as they all took in the sights around them. ¡°And it was night, which makes things seem different. I¡¯m

    sure when we visit First Valley you¡¯ll get the same feeling. Though I think it more likely that the emotion

    is induced in you through us. It may be inherently psionic, or just transferred by normal empathy from

    parent to child, but I doubt it¡¯s carried in the blood.¡±

    ¡°I definitely got that feeling in The Lair in Serminak.¡± Karz noted.

    ¡°And all three of you should get it if we ever go to Shinosa Valley, where I grew up.¡± Mark told his

    children with a smile. ¡°Though of course I¡¯m sure it¡¯s pretty different now from when Ist saw it.¡±

    There was a pause, then Alilia said; ¡°Well, we¡¯re halfway between Sweettower, Mark and Talia¡¯s ce

    here, and my ce. You can just see Sweettower from here, that big maple over there, though it¡¯s a lot

    easier to spot from higher up. My ce is in that big walnut tree over there.

    ¡°Where would you like to go first?¡±

    ¡°Show us the sights!¡± Markughed. ¡°You can be our tour guide! I¡¯ve only been here once before, and

    we only had time to see what we could see from Sweettower. One thing I would like to see is our new

    hospital.¡±

    ¡°All right.¡± Alilia grinned as she released her daughter and tied her hair back with a ck ribbon she¡¯d

    Summoned. ¡°I suggest some very deep, very soft Shielding, in case we collide with anything. There are

    Content (C) N?v/elDra/ma.Org.

    a lot of birds, branches, and other flyers in the air here, so it¡¯s best to be safe. And besides, we¡¯ll take

    some time to appreciate the sights when we get to them, but between attractions I intend to have some

    sport! Do try to keep up!¡±

    And with that, she was off like a bolt fired from a marksman¡¯s crossbow.

    The rest chased after her, but there was obviously no catching her unless she let them. Heartwood was

    a vast aerial obstacle course, and Alilia knew it all perfectly, as well as being the second-best flyer in

    the group after Povon. Though the spaces between the great trees and between branches wererge,

    they seemed far smaller at high speeds, and many were congested with flyers. More than once their

    deep soft Shields deflected a likely collision.

    Of course they¡¯d been recognized almost as soon as they arrived, and soon there was a huge crowd of

    elves following them around; keeping a polite distance when they stopped, and usually failing to keep

    up when they flew. As elves are wont to do around celebrities, the entire crowd acted as though they

    just happened to be going the same way by chance, and made no attempt to speak with them without

    invitation.

    There were sights aplenty to see. Along with the beauty and majesty of the great trees, Heartwood

    featured great works of architecture; beautiful residences, businesses, government facilities, stadiums,

    and amphitheatres, all grown from the branches and trunks of the great trees themselves, often

    suspended from dozens of great thick vines that were as hard and stiff as the wood of any tree. Wildlife

    was profuse throughout the city and on the ground beneath it, where the undergrowth was as extensive

    as a normal healthy forest in the humannds.

    There was also a mountain near the center of the city. Though most of it was overgrown by the forest,

    asionally a jagged sheer face of bare dark-gray stone was visible, and the steams and rivers flowing

    down its nks often formed beautiful waterfalls and misty pools as they made their way to its base and

    joined the mighty River of Life, which flowed through the city and the nation from west to east.

    The final attraction that Alilia showed them was The Heartwood Flight Racing Course.

    There was no need for her to describe it; she just slowed to a stop in mid-air as they came to a good

    vantage point from which to view it. It was deep twilight in the magic forest, and thebyrinthine course

    was easily visible as a semi-transparent glowing blue tube over twenty meters wide. Numerous glowing

    orange signs floated in the air around it, naming the course in Elvish. A few dozen elves were visible in

    the course from Alilia¡¯s vantage, all racing along it as fast as they could fly.

    ¡°Wow! This is great!¡± Fire enthused as they all stopped around Alilia, read the sign, and surveyed the

    track.

    ¡°It was obviously modeled on a pan of worms.¡± Mark chuckled.

    ¡°Look there, the track actually spirals around that spruce tree right from the ground to the tip!¡± Karz

    pointed out. ¡°Twenty-eight wraps from bottom to top! Whoever designed this is an insane genius!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not the half of it!¡± Aliliaughed. ¡°It changes every hour, and it¡¯s never the same twice! That way

    no one has an advantage from knowing the course. It¡¯s always arranged within the course volume,

    which is a rough cylinder about half a kilometer wide from the ground to the top of the tallest tree here,

    it¡¯s always exactly five kilometers in length from start to finish along the center of the course, and

    there¡¯s always about the same number of turns and twists and bends. And it¡¯s spelled to keep birds,

    spectators and insects out of the track.

    ¡°The beginning is always in the same ce, on the ground over there at the westpass point of the

    course space, but where it finishes is different every time the track changes.

    ¡°Shall we?¡± she finished with a grin.

    ¡°Oh we most definitely, absolutely shall!¡± Six enthused, and then the rest were chasing him around the

    course volume to the starting point.

    Povon insisted on paying the small fee for each of them, iming that it was her right as the wealthiest

    among them. They were each registered by the course officials and given a small round red stone on a

    string, which they were instructed to wear on their persons, and to not move its location on their bodies

    during a race. It allowed the officials to constantly track the exact location and speed of every flyer, and

    to register exactly every racer¡¯s psed time from start to finish. That information was also used by

    officials who supplied publicmentary during important races.

 Chapter 134

    Chapter 134

    Part 20

    As the track was open to the public that day, and some of those using it might be novice flyers,

    everyone was started at staggered intervals. Thepetition was for quickest time, rather than

    crossing the finish line first. It was exined that this reduced idents. There was nothing to stop

    someone from going off the course; it was insubstantial from the inside. But once outside the track

    there was no re-entering except to go back to the start, and no time was registered for thatp.

    Incredibly; the record for the five kilometer course was just less than a minute, held by a professional

    race flyer who did little else. The Hilians flew for over two hours, and while all of them were skilled

    flyers, none of them could best a minute and a half on any of the three track configurations they flew

    that evening.

    Alilia posted the best time among them, and Val the slowest, but there were only six seconds between

    them.

    It was nine very happy but fatigued flyers who epted Alilia¡¯s invitation to dine at her home, and they

    all ate heartily of the feast of forest-elvish dishes on a great t veranda outside her residence¡¯s dining

    room, where there was room for dragons. As Povon pointed out with a chuckle; ¡°There¡¯s not much use

    in eating as a Simcrum. Besides, there¡¯s room for fifty of us here.¡±

    ¡°This tastes like our wedding.¡± Mark grinned to Talia around a mouthful of roast venison.

    ¡°Many of the dishes are the same.¡± Alilia pointed out with a smile. ¡°They may even have been prepared

    by the same chefs. And¡­ Excuse me.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s getting a Speaking from Smogin, her Regent.¡± Talia exined to the rest as Alilia fell silent for a

    moment.

    ¡°I have some things I need to deal with.¡± Alilia announced when she returned her attention to the table.

    ¡°I¡¯m still the ruling monarch here, and Smogin is my Regent, but he¡¯s not Prince Regent, as Povon is

    Dragon Lord Regent of Serminak. There are many things that he¡¯s not allowed to do on my behalf; I

    must do them myself for as long as I reign. And my citizens have the right to appeal to me directly in

    many matters. If I¡¯m unavable, all these issues must wait until I¡¯m avable again, so they

    umte while I¡¯m on vacation or otherwise indisposed.

    ¡°It would be a mercy to Smogin if I deal with the most pressing of these issues while I¡¯m here tonight.

    ¡°As you¡¯ve let me help you in governing Hilia and Serminak, so I wee your input on anything you

    might choose to contribute to, all of you. On the other hand, I¡¯ve been doing this for a long time and I

    tend to hurry through it, so if you want to speak up you¡¯ll have to be sharp about it. You¡¯ll probably have

    to be Linked with me in order to follow what I¡¯m doing or to intervene effectively.

    ¡°Smogin will be here with the petitioners shortly.¡±

    ¡°Very fine.¡± Kragorram said between huge bites of buffalo. ¡°Mark, Talia, Povon and myself are all novice

    rulers, and we haven¡¯t had much opportunity to observe any experienced monarchs while they were

    actually performing acts of rulership. So this should be both interesting and instructive.¡±

    ¡°Hey, for us too!¡± Fireughed. ¡°Don¡¯t forget we¡¯re still the Governors of Hiliani, and I¡¯m Princess of The

    Sylvan Nation now. Zwak still does the actual administration of the Sylvan Nation and Hiliani is

    administered somewhat co-operatively by the elders of Homestead and the Sylvan, but we really

    should learn to do it ourselves.¡±

    ¡°Well said, Love.¡± Talia smiled as she reached over and gave the girl a quick caress on her head.

    A few momentster Smogin appeared, along with a crowd of perhaps twelve hundred elves. As usual,

    the Regent of The People of Life was ornately dressed, but rather harried looking. The state of his

    white hair and short beard, along with a few wrinkles on his apparel, gave the mild impression that he¡¯d

    ¡°My Lady, Princess Alilia, your people are overjoyed at your unscheduled return.¡± he sincerely stated as

    he bowed to her with one foot before the other and presented to her an ornate gold ring with a single

    two-carat diamond nked by two slightly-smaller sapphires.

    ¡°The ring of administration, in thisnguage, approximately.¡± Alilia informed her table-mates as she took

    the ring and ced it on her right middle finger. Vast stores of information were held within it, and Alilia

    began reviewing her nation¡¯s tax and spending figures even as she greeted Smogin with a warm smile.

    ¡°It¡¯s always wonderful to be home, old friend.¡±

    ¡°Indeed.¡± he nodded with a slight smile of his own, and waited while she worked in silence.

    Through the Link, the others could barely follow what she was doing as she reviewed and decided with

    amazing speed. She had the ability to skim through vast amounts of information, discern where a

    decision needed to be made, make it, record the decision in the ring, and move on without hesitation. It

    was breathtaking to observe. In less than ten minutes she had dealt with over two hundred issues that

    Smogin wished her to rule on, and had made almost as many other decisions on matters that had

    caught her attention as she reviewed her government¡¯s ounting and status reports.

    She raised or lowered the tax rates on several categories of goods and services to reflect the vast

    changes in the world trade situation over the past few weeks. She approved or disallowed numerous

    ns for training, production, construction, and fortification, and initiated a much closer integration

    between the militaries of The People of Life and those of Hilia and Serminak. She hired, appointed, or

    Content (C) N?v/elDra/ma.Org.

    promoted dozens of personnel in every field of government, reprimanded thirteen, demoted six, and

    fired two. As a temporary war preparations measure, she rxed several construction rules meant to

    preserve historical sites, noteworthy views, and the finest bnce of species in the forest, in order to

    allow the instation of military emcements and physical shielding.

    Finally she gave Smogin a slight smile and a nod, which he returned before turning to call forth the first

    of the petitioners. Two family groups approached and bowed low to Alilia, then straightened while she

    quickly Read them all.

    As herpanions were surprised to discover, this petition and most of the others involved the

    settlement of a dispute. Even though the elves were the most just race in the world, and all of those

    present were sworn to justice with a binding vow, disputes and disagreements still developed wherein

    both parties honestly believed they were in the right.

    In this first case, both families involved owned homes built in the same branch of a great birch tree. The

    branch had grown faster than usual since the tree wasst assessed, and the dispute arose over how

    much of the new real estate each family owned.

    Alilia made her decision almost as soon as she¡¯d finished Reading them for the particrs of the case.

    ¡°Your property division shall be thus:¡± she announced as she cast a semi-transparent model Illusion of

    the branch in question, showing the three-dimensional division she had decided on.

    ¡°Thank you, Your Majesty.¡± The spokespersons for the two families responded simultaneously as they

    all bowed, then they moved aside for the next petitioners.

    Soon all of the petitions were dealt with.

    ¡°Before you all go, I¡¯d like your opinions on a matter.¡± Alilia announced to Smogin and the petitioners.

    ¡°As you know, I am bonded with Mark and Talia and our children now. For the foreseeable future, my

    life will have far more to do with them and with Hilia than with thends and citizenry of The People of

    Life. I feel this presents me with a conflict of interests between my new family and my role as Princess

    of The People of Life, and I also fear that I may neglect my duties as monarch. Therefore it is in my

    mind that I shall train Bezedil and Dalia in all the duties of your monarch for the remaining years in the

    duration of the Hiliani time-bubble. When we again emerge from the time-bubble on its originally

    nned termination, I would abdicate, and rmend that Dalia and Bezedil co-rule as reigning

    Prince and Princess of The People of Life.

    ¡°What are your thoughts on these matters?¡±

    Smogin grinned and bowed, then nced around at the gathered happy petitioners before he

    responded. ¡°My Grace, your new family circumstances and your feelings about your rule and your

    session are all great and happy news, but I¡¯m sure that all of us agree that your n requires a

    slight modification.

 Chapter 135

    Chapter 135

    Part 20

    ¡°Your sense of responsibility does you proud, but I think you are missing the greater social and political

    implications of the situation.

    ¡°We have always benefited from our alliance with The High People, and been very proud of it, and we

    know that our powerful alliance with them is based on your close personal friendship with Prince

    Yazadril, which gives our alliance a greater dimension than the merely political.

    ¡°Hilia is universally recognized as the most dynamic and progressive nation in The Just Alliance, and

    your bonding with Prince Mark should represent an alliance between Hilia and The People of Life of an

    even more profound nature than our alliance with the High People, which is itself strengthened by your

    bonding with Talia, and by Bezedil¡¯s marriage to Dalia. The fact that Mark and Talia are Key to The Just

    Alliance and key to the nexus in no way diminishes their poprity and appeal.

    ¡°We ask only that you three make it official, both your marriage to Mark and Talia, and the resulting

    social and political alliance between Hilia and The People of Life.

    ¡°Rather than abdicate in favor of Dalia and Bezedil, you should make them co-Regent, or even ruling

    Prince and Princess Regent if you wish to avoid sessions like this one and to give them a taste of true

    ruling responsibility. As you know, I would dly give up the responsibilities of being Regent. But you

    should not abdicate your rule, Your Majesty, rather you must retain it, it order to strengthen as much as

    possible our alliance with Hilia. And because you are still our most preferred and cherished choice as

    N?velDrama.Org is the owner.

    monarch.

    ¡°That alliance with Hilia may be politically redundant now that we are all allied within The Just Alliance,

    but you can be certain that our people will still have strong feelings of pride from such a joining.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡± Alilia nodded. ¡°And you think no one will mind that I would marry a human who already has

    another wife?¡±

    ¡°Please.¡± Smogin grinned. ¡°Talia is already beloved by our people for being very capable, adorable, and

    a genuine war hero. And as far as we¡¯re concerned, Mark isn¡¯t a human, he¡¯s a warlock. So that¡¯s okay.

    The attitude doesn¡¯t make much sense, but there it is.¡±

    ¡°Thank you Smogin.¡± Alilia smiled as she considered his response, then looked around at the faces of

    her petitioners.

    ¡°Do your thoughts on this reflect his?¡±

    She had to grin in surprise at the mighty cheer her people gave in enthusiastic agreement.

    ¡°Thank you. I¡¯ll most certainly take that into consideration.¡±

    With that subtle but well-understood dismissal, her people bid her and her guests farewell, and took

    their leave.

    As soon as they were gone, Six rose from his chair and walked around the table. He stood beside

    Alilia, bowed to her most deeply and humbly, then hugged her with warm love and affection. ¡°Princess

    Alilia, co-mother of my heart, I salute you.¡± he told her, then he did salute her, with the salute of a

    Finitran ranger to his superior officer. ¡°It¡¯s so easy to take you for granted, as simply one of our family, a

    beautiful woman whom I love and respect. But since we¡¯ve been here in thends of The People of Life

    your demeanor has changed, and not subtly. Here, your bearing is that of powerful royalty. For the first

    time, you¡¯ve shown us what you truly are; a mighty monarch who has sessfully ruled a great people

    for almost five thousand years. The love and respect that your subjects have for you is a beautiful thing

    to see, and the intelligence, speed, and wisdom of your administrative decisions was wondrous to

    observe.

    ¡°I am humbled. I suddenly feel very young and very inexperienced indeed. To know you and to share

    your presence and your love is an honor and a privilege.¡±

    For a moment Alilia was at a loss for words, and she felt tears of profound love and joy gathering in her

    eyes. She reached out and wrapped him in her arms and gave him a firm hug, and before she could

    speak, Mark did so.

    ¡°My son, you¡¯ve again spoken well, with words that say what¡¯s in all of our hearts.¡± Mark told him with a

    grin and a firm rub on his back.

    He exchanged a quick smile full ofmunication with Talia, then the two of them rose hand in hand

    from their chairs and knelt beside Alilia as Six astutely made way for them. Mark held out his hand and

    a diamond ring appeared held in his fingertips, almost a duplicate of Talia¡¯s engagement ring. ¡°Alilia,

    we¡¯re reminded again how lucky and blessed we are to have your love, and to share your life as your

    lovers and partners. Smogin and your other subjects are right. The time hase to make our union

    official; to formally join your life with ours, and to formalize a permanent and close alliance between

    Hilia and The People of Life.¡±

    Talia continued as Mark left off. ¡°Princess Alilia, we would be forever honored if you would marry us.¡±

    At this point Alilia¡¯s eyes were so full of happy tears that she could barely see, and she was so choked

    up with emotion that she could barely talk, but she held out her hand and gasped; ¡°Oh yes! A million

    times yes!¡± as Mark slipped the ring onto her finger.

    Then the three of them were hugging andughing and crying with desperate affection, while the rest of

    them rose and cheered with uncontainable joy and enthusiasm. Soon all three of their children joined

    their hug and shared their tears of joy.

    ¡°We shall have to be married in Las chapel, of course.¡± Alilia happily dered when she could

    ¡°Very soon.¡± Mark decided. ¡°Before they resume the time-bubble, for sure, or almost no one I know will

    be able toe. I suggest tomorrow night, after the meeting of The Assembly.

    ¡°As for guests, I suggest we invite those that we¡¯re truly emotionally close to, for our own fulfillment,

    and the ruling members of The Assembly to satisfy the political requirements. No others. As much as I

    enjoyed Talia''s and my wedding, I¡¯d prefer that this wedding not be such a circus as that one was.¡±

    ¡°And a few skilled and discreet newsmongers, to share the event with all those who can¡¯t attend.¡± Talia

    added. ¡°And Kenesir of Sming, to make the official recording of the event.¡±

    ¡°Agreed.¡± Alilia nodded with a huge and happy grin. ¡°Shall we announce it then?¡±

    ¡°Go ahead, Love.¡± Mark chuckled. ¡°I¡¯m sure most of the guests will be those you¡¯re close to anyway,

    since I¡¯m sure you have more close friends and family than Talia and me put together.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s likely true.¡± Alilia chuckled. ¡°Certainly one of the results of a long life is the umtion of a

    great many kith and kin.

    ¡°But before we announce it,¡± Talia insisted with a smile, ¡°We need to decide on bridesmaids and

    groomsmen. I shall have Fire as my maid of honor, and I suggest you have Val as yours, and Mark

    have Six as his best man.¡±

    ¡°Sure!¡± Mark agreed with a chuckled. ¡°I¡¯ll have Kragorram, Karzog, and Sran as my other

    groomsmen.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll have Povon, Dalia, Hilsith, and Equemev as my bridesmaids.¡± Talia decided.

    ¡°I¡¯ll have my friends and cousins from here in Heartwood as my bridesmaids.¡± Alilia said with a happy

    grin. ¡°You haven¡¯t met them, but I¡¯ve been unjustly ignoring them recently, and it¡¯ll be good to see them

    again.¡±

    ¡°I think we should state that no wedding gifts will be epted.¡± Mark said as he rubbed his chin. ¡°I don¡¯t

    want the nations of The Just Alliancepeting to see who can give the most impressive gift, we don¡¯t

    need anything anyway, and in these times of universal sacrifice, I don¡¯t think it would be right to

    suddenly be given another huge fortune that we¡¯ve done nothing to deserve.¡±

    ¡°All right.¡± Alilia smiled. ¡°Anything else? No? Then I¡¯llpose the invitations.¡±

    Within a few minutes the list of invitees was finalized and the invitations were dispatched by Alilia as a

    mass Sending of an ornate parchment that had been quickly duplicated into over a thousand copies

    and individualized for each guest.

    ¡°And now,¡± Alilia mused, ¡°Since the decorations and catering at an elven wedding are traditionally

    nned by the mother of the bride, I should call my mother. That is, if you approve, my loves? Nemia

    did get to n your wedding quite recently after all, and my mother may never forgive me if we deny

    her the responsibility. She nned my wedding to Gorsh almost five millennia ago, but that¡¯s a long

    time in the past now, and she hasn¡¯t had the chance to do any mothering for a very long time.¡±

 Chapter 136

    Chapter 136

    Part 20

    ¡°Sure!¡± Markughed. ¡°It¡¯s fine with me. To be honest, I¡¯m surprised your mother¡¯s still with us. Is your

    father?¡±

    ¡°No, he fell in a war with the Sylvan, long ago now.¡± Alilia rted. ¡°Bless his soul. But my mother is only

    a bit less than three centuries older than me, and she¡¯s still very healthy. Her name is Caria.¡±

    And with that, an elven woman who was the spitting image of Alilia with the exception of having forest

    brown hair and eyes appeared not a meter away and jumped into a hug with Alilia with a whoop of joy,

    her invitation still clutched in her hand.

    ¡°Shh, listen.¡± Povon suddenly said.

    All around them could be heard the distant sounds of joy and celebration as word of the uing

    nuptials spread throughout the city like a wildfire.

    ¡°You are truly reaching wondrous greatness now, my girl!¡± Cariaughed as she hugged her daughter

    and rocked from side to side a bit. ¡°May your union bring you an eternity of joy! I¡¯m certain it will solidify

    your ce at the center of world affairs!¡±

    ¡°Thank you Mother.¡± Alilia smiled as the two separated and stepped back, still holding both of each

    other¡¯s hands. ¡°We hope that you can arrange our decorations and catering on such short notice. That

    is, if you wish it?¡±

    ¡°Do I ever, though I¡¯ll certainly have to hurry!¡± Caria dered with augh, then turned to nce around

    at the others present. ¡°But first, you must introduce me to the rest of my new family!¡±

    She greeted each of them with a warm hug and a kiss on the cheek as Alilia introduced her, lingering in

    the hug a moment longer with Val, her new granddaughter. Then she greeted the dragons as they were

    introduced with a friendly smile and a respectful bow.

    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re not getting away that easy!¡± Karzughed as he assumed his cute and fuzzy Simcrum

    and soundly hugged the elven woman, an example which his parents chose to follow, and sheughed

    at the novelty of it as she returned their embraces whole-heartedly.

    Alilia cleared the dinner dishes with a nce and Summoned a cartden with a tea service and other

    hot beverages, and they sat to chat for a while.

    Caria exined that she was a Horticulturist specializing in fruit and nut bearing trees. In her lifetime

    she had grown and tended thergest and most productive such trees that the world had ever seen.

    She had never remarried, and Alilia was her only child.

    Mark, Talia, and Alilia shared stories and Readings with her, mostly dealing with significant or amusing

    events in their rtionship and the raising of their children.

    N?velDrama.Org is the owner.

    Then Val came and sat in her grandmother¡¯sp, and spoke to Alilia. ¡°You know Mother, Father was

    right. What Six said about realizing what an incredibly capable, experienced, powerful and beloved

    monarch you are, we all felt that. I was in the Link and following your thought processes as you made

    administrative decisions and heard petitions, and I still can¡¯t understand how you can act with such

    obvious wisdom so quickly.¡±

    ¡°Mostly it¡¯s the result of experience.¡± Alilia exined with a smile. ¡°I know everyone who was here

    tonight, and I know them well. I¡¯ve known most of them for centuries. I¡¯ve been doing this since I was

    still young enough to learn quickly and deeply, and there are very few unique issues or problems. Every

    decision I made tonight was very simr to decisions I¡¯ve made thousands of times before, and I¡¯ve

    learned the correct response after many centuries of trial and error. Believe me, when you¡¯ve done

    anything as long as I¡¯ve ruled thisnd, you¡¯ll be very quick at it, and you¡¯ll find it to be easy almost all

    the time.¡±

    ¡°Ha! It goes far deeper than that!¡± Caria proudly dered. ¡°Alilia was made Princess of thisnd at a

    very young age by the unanimous acmation and imcable demand of our people, and she had no

    experience then! Nor was it entirely to do with her amazing power and ability as a wizard.

    ¡°Alilia was an all-around prodigy from the moment of her birth. The many qualities that made her our

    people¡¯s choice for monarch included her tendency to ignore the status of those she dealt with and to

    treat everyone, from peasants to emperors, with the respect they deserved based entirely on their own

    merits. Her ability to see to the heart of the matter, and quickly. Her intellectual and schstic ability,

    which was unprecedented, and her intuitive grasp ofplexity. The fact that she never suffered fools

    under any circumstances, and she was never intimidated by anyone or anything.¡±

    ¡°Except the gods!¡± Aliliaughed. ¡°The first time I met them I was struck speechless, while Mark here

    challenged them and faced them down!¡±

    ¡°At any rate,¡± Caria said to Val with a yful tickle, ¡°It¡¯s her ability as much as her experience that

    makes her great. Though to be honest, this is the first time I¡¯ve seen her to be so humble that she¡¯s

    reluctant to exin that herself. She¡¯s always been brutally honest with her opinions of everyone,

    including herself.¡±

    ¡°When Yazadril was first telling me about Alilia,¡± Mark revealed with a chuckle, ¡°He said; ¡®Alilia expects

    a certain deference from everyone, generally, except me, and we all generally agree that she¡¯s entitled

    to it.¡¯ And when I first met her, he was sure right about that.¡±

    He picked Alilia up like an infant and set her on hisp beside Talia. ¡°I thought you¡¯d lost that part of

    your personality over thest few years my love, but I¡¯ve seen tonight that you only set it aside.¡±

    Alilia actually blushed. ¡°I had many fine qualities before I met you, that¡¯s true. But I had no humility, no

    real emotional maturity, and no patience. I was a spoiled brat primadonna with an insufferable ego, and

    you cured me of all of that, Mark Longstrider. But betterte than never, I guess.

    ¡°On the other hand, when I¡¯m actually acting as monarch, I do still expect a certain deference from my

    subjects. And I think it¡¯s only right that I do so, in order to maintain respect for the office and for those

    who will hold it after me. My crown represents the power of The People of Life, and that will always be

    worthy of respect.¡±

    ¡°Well said, my love.¡± Talia giggled, and gave her a quick kiss on her lips.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t mind my asking,¡± Val hesitantly ventured, ncing between Alilia and Caria, ¡°How do you

    deal with being so old? Do you ever worry that you¡¯ll run out of capacity for more memories? Do you

    ever just get bored and jaded from doing the same things so many times, over and over?¡±

    ¡°Well my girl, being elder does present a few unique problems.¡± Caria exined. ¡°It¡¯s true we may only

    have the capacity for a certain amount of memory, but most unimportant events aren¡¯t retained. Like

    most people, I can¡¯t recall with rity any of the meals I¡¯ve eaten before two days ago, unless there

    was something to make a meal more memorable. We don¡¯t tend to remember anything that¡¯s routine.

    The farther back in your memory you go, the more important a memory has to be for it to be retained.

    I¡¯m sure there are entire decades that I can¡¯t recall at all, because nothing really interesting or important

    happened then. If we want, we can reinforce memories by revisiting them and using memorization

    techniques, or we can store them with spells in objects, so you never really need to lose a memory that

    you want to save anyway.

    ¡°Elders need to fight boredom and jadedness by doing what they love to do, by keeping variety in their

    lives, and by constantly noting how much everything has changed, and continues to change at a

    seemingly elerating pace. There¡¯s more happening right now to keep one interested in the world

    than there¡¯s ever been.

    ¡°The most important thing we need to do to stay mentally healthy as we be elderly is to live in the

    moment, and to not dwell on the people and things we¡¯ve lost in the past. Every once in a while I¡¯ll

    reflect on those I¡¯ve lost, or I¡¯ll meet a young person to whom almost everything I¡¯ve lived through is

    nothing but irrelevant ancient history, and those two things do tend to make me feel very old. But most

    of the time I pay attention to what I¡¯m doing and what¡¯s going on around me, and I feel the same as I

    always have; like the same person I was when I became an adult.¡±

 Chapter 137

    Chapter 137

    Part 20

    ¡°Well said.¡± Povon noted with a nod. ¡°I was far older than you, and still considered myself to be very

    young, when I asked Somonik those same questions. He gave me almost exactly the same answers.¡±

    ¡°Good to hear.¡± Mark chuckled. ¡°Since I learned that I¡¯d be long-lived, I¡¯ve been a bit troubled by the

    thought that I¡¯d get to be very, very old. Some of the elders in Shinosa valley were tired of life and

    ready for death when they were only sixty-five or seventy years old. But now I¡¯m sure that was only due

    to their steadily deteriorating health and the constant pain thates with it,bined with living a

    very simple and predictable life in an isted ce with a small poption. Not enough variety. And

    knowing that they were likely to die soon anyway.

    ¡°Now that we¡¯ve beaten aging, I imagine humans will soon take on the attitudes of the other long-lived

    races. Humans less than a thousand years old will consider themselves to be young. And that still

    strikes me as very strange.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll get used to it.¡± Caria chuckled as she kissed Val¡¯s head and set her aside, then stood. ¡°I must be

    going. Is there anything that you¡¯d prefer for your wedding¡¯s decorations or catering?¡±

    Alilia exchanged smiles with Mark and Talia before she stepped forward and hugged her mother. ¡°No,

    just make it as nice as you can in the time you have, ording to your own tastes. Cost is no object, so

    don¡¯t scrimp in the slightest. This will be a state wedding, reflecting the dignity and honor of Hilia, the

    High People, and The People of Life. We do want it to be tasteful, but impressive.¡±

    ¡°Ah.¡± Caria nodded. ¡°What will you be wearing?¡±

    ¡°I hadn¡¯t considered it yet.¡± Alilia admitted, and looked questioningly to her mates.

    ¡°Well we won¡¯t be wearing white this time, that¡¯s for sure!¡± Talia giggled. ¡°We certainly aren¡¯t virgins

    anymore.¡±

    ¡°Alilia, of all the clothes I¡¯ve seen you wear, I liked you best in the outfit you wore to our first wedding.¡±

    Mark grinned. ¡°The raiment of a Battle Wizard of The People of Life, with the white silk blouse and the

    ck pants and boots that all fit like paint, with a ck cape over it. If you girls have no objections, I¡¯d

    like you both to wear that. And it should show the elves here that we¡¯re bing one of them.¡±

    ¡°Agreed, on the condition that you wear the same thing, including the skin-tight pants and shirt!¡± Alilia

    teased.

    ¡°Agreed, on the condition that I get to wear the underwear that Nemia gave me for our first wedding.

    They¡¯re handy for preventing a man from embarrassing himself with an obvious arousal.¡±

    ¡°Done!¡± Taliaughed.

    ¡°All right, so you¡¯ll be in ck and white.¡± Caria nodded with a smile, seeming a bit preupied with

    envisioning her preparations. ¡°I¡¯ll contact you in a couple of hours to show you what I¡¯vee up with.¡±

    ¡°Contact us if you want.¡± Alilia smiled as she gave her mother a farewell hug. ¡°But don¡¯t show us.

    Surprise us with it tomorrow. And please, join Talia and I here for our preparations right after the

    meeting is over.¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Caria smiled as she gave a kiss on the cheek. After a quick round of hugs for everyone,

    she was gone.

    ¡°Who¡¯s going to conduct the ceremony?¡± Fire asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s a good question.¡± Mark thoughtfully responded. ¡°I¡¯d like Yazadril or my Grandfather to do it, but

    they¡¯ll have their roles speaking for Talia and me already.¡±

    ¡°Since it should be a well-loved and respected elder who¡¯s politically neutral, I suggest Quewanak.¡± Six

    offered.

    ¡°That¡¯s good thinking.¡± Mark nodded as he looked to Talia and Alilia for approval, and they gave it with

    smiles.

    ¡°That would be wonderful and unique.¡± Alilia chuckled. ¡°And I¡¯ve trulye to care for the old gent

    during our time on Hiliani.¡±

    ¡°I agree.¡± Talia smiled. ¡°Let¡¯s ask him.¡±

    ¡°I would be honored.¡± Quewanak stated with a grin as he suddenly appeared beside the table. ¡°You will

    use the elven ceremony, I presume?¡±

    ¡°We will.¡± Mark told him. ¡°Modified for the three-way wedding, of course. Yazadril will speak for Talia

    and my grandfather will speak for me, as I¡¯ve said. They¡¯re both very familiar with the life and love that

    we¡¯ve shared on Hiliani, and can testify as to the power and permanence of our bond.

    ¡°Will you have your mother speak for you, Alilia?¡± he asked her.

    ¡°I think not.¡± she smiled. ¡°I¡¯ll speak for myself.¡±

    ¡°Excellent.¡± Quewanak dered, seeming quite enthusiastic about the project. ¡°You can be sure I¡¯ll be

    fully prepared for my role. I think I¡¯ll go consult with Yazadril. He has performed more elven weddings

    than any other.¡±

    And the green dragon-god disappeared.

    ¡°Well, that takes care of that.¡± Markughed. ¡°And I¡¯m needing some sleep. I¡¯d like to spend the night

    here though. I really love it here, and I¡¯m not ready to leave yet.¡±

    ¡°We haven¡¯t slept for about twenty hours, so I¡¯m not surprised that you¡¯re tired.¡± Alilia smiled as she

    stood and Sent the tea cart back to the kitchens. ¡°We have lots of rooms for all of us, you can each

    im one of the guest rooms and consider it yours, as you should consider this your home in

    Heartwood. Just because we have other homes that we love doesn¡¯t make this any less our home.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, but I think we¡¯ll be getting back to Serminak.¡± Povon decided with a smile. We¡¯ll see you

    here before we go to the meeting?¡±

    Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDra/ma.O(r)g!

    ¡°Sure.¡± Mark agreed. ¡°That¡¯s what, about nine hours from now? Join us here forty minutes before the

    meeting, in case we want to review anything together before we go.¡±

    ¡°Farewell for now then.¡± Kragorram said with a wave, and the dragons Translocated out.

    PART 21

    They didn¡¯t need to review anything specific when they rejoined around the same table over breakfast,

    so they did a quick overall review of everything pertinent.

    Almost everyone else attending the meeting was already in their ces when Mark¡¯s party arrived. The

    attendance was limited to the rulers of the Alliance, their attendants, and their most seniormanders

    and administrators, as well as First Mauve and the others of the Triax who¡¯d been at the beach at Hilia

    the day before. The gathering was therefore very much smaller than thest time they¡¯d been here.

    Curiously, the room itself was also much smaller. Though the woods of The Hidden Nation and the

    aquatic area of the oceanic peoples were retained, the room was not so much bigger than it had been

    the first time they¡¯d been here.

    Somonik soon formally opened the meeting, only to introduce Amirgath and give way to him upon the

    stage.

    ¡°Upon the matter of gods ruling mortals;¡± he began without preamble, ¡°We of The Pantheon of Keran

    have confirmed our position that no god of Keran should directly rule over mortals. To us, it is simply

    wrong, for purely emotional reasons that defy logic. We think that those mortals who will soon be

    joining us will feel the same way after their Ascension.

    ¡°But there is no way to enforce this edict within thews of The Just Alliance, and we recognize that our

    uing conflict makes this a poor time to have a widespread political upheaval. In order to maintain

    the stability of the chain ofmand, we will not oppose those rulers who are about to be gods

    from retaining their rule until long-term stability returns to Keran.

    ¡°However, we do most insistently request that those persons give up their rule as soon as stability

    returns and an orderly transition of power can be arranged. We also most insistently request that any of

    you mortals who are about to Ascend and who are presently not rulers do not seek to be rulers

    after your Ascension. As I¡¯ve said, we believe that you will share our opinion of it after you join us, but

    this is not guaranteed, since you will be bing gods in an unprecedented manner.

    ¡°There is no legal reason why any god should not take part in the uing Tournament of Governors

    for the wartimemand of Keran, but none of us who are presently gods have chosen to do so. We

    will operate the tournament with neutrality.

    ¡°We assume that Prince Mark will initiate The Great Ascension before the tournament, and we will not

    oppose any of the new gods from participating in the tournament if they so choose. We make this

    exception for the sole purpose of establishing the most capablemand structure possible for the

    war with the demons. For the same reason, we may ask formand during the war if it seems

    absolutely necessary, but only then.

 Chapter 138

    Chapter 138

    Part 21

    ¡°Regardless of whether or not one of the new gods wins the tournament, we support there being

    another tournament held immediately after the war to establish by meritocracy a new peacetime rule

    over Keran, who will be responsible for rebuilding and restructuring.

    ¡°However, we will oppose the participation of any god in that peacetime tournament with every legal

    means at our disposal. The mortals of Keran must be ruled by mortals under all but the most extreme

    circumstances. We cannot overstress our unity and determination on this issue.

    ¡°On other matters; we have been training with the gods of The Triax in their manner of warfare in the

    void. As has been previously stated; the gods of The Triax tend to use methods of warfare that are very

    different from those used by the mortal Triax, due to their extreme differences in capability. This being

    despite the fact that the mortals and the Pantheon of The Triax co-exist in a society that is almost

    entirely integrated in every other endeavor.

    ¡°However, as was pointed out yesterday at thest meeting with The Triax, our mortals have made

    great strides in developing new military techniquestely, particrly in the areas of mass Movements,

    Mass Translocations, and concentration of power from many to few. We can likely teach many of those

    new methods to the mortals of The Triax. This will lessen the vast difference in ability between gods

    and mortals, allowing a more integrated effort among all of us; gods and mortals, Triax and Kerani.

    ¡°We will all work on that integration after viewing presentations of the newest military techniques. We

    should have the outline of apletely integrated training program, ready to present to our

    subordinates for further development and implementation, before we leave here today.

    ¡°After all,¡± the great quicksilver dragon god paused for a discreet chuckle, ¡°Some of us have a wedding

    to attend after this meeting. I¡¯ll admit I was surprised to be invited, but I will most cheerfully attend.

    ¡°Somonik?¡± Amirgath said in closing, then disappeared from the stage as Somonik took his ce.

    ¡°It should be noted,¡± the ancient white dragon began, ¡°That many of our most prominent researchers

    are still engaged in the time-bubbles, and that it is certain that they will have many new discoveries to

    announce when they emerge.

    ¡°However, many other brilliant minds have chosen to remain outside the time-bubbles or to emerge

    from them, and they have been far from idle.

    ¡°To exin what has been aplished by the unicorns, I present Tithian; First Speaker of The

    Senate of The People of Morning.¡±

    ¡°Greetings. Xervian researchers have discovered how to cast a Gate. They function as a Translocation

    ne without needing a physical material anchor at either end. In this way, they function simrly to the

    Gate that the demons used to attack us in The First Demon War, though we are not capable of casting

    it over interster distances as yet. However, we can cast it over inteary distances, which allows

    for its use as a potent weapon in theing conflict. One Portal would be cast upon the enemy, or

    close to them, and the other Portal would be cast at the surface of the sun. The very surface of the sun

    would ze directly onto the enemy, who will be disintegrated. The amount of raw energy avable

    there is truly colossal, and I cannot envision any material or energy being having the capability to resist

    such an attack.

    ¡°The Portals of a Gate can also be cast without needing a Translocation Reference, instead being

    located by purely mathematical triangtion, and without their casters needing to project their

    consciousness to the location of either Portal. In these two respects Gates are superior to

    Translocation.

    ¡°Also, we have adapted the Hiliani Void-Proofing spell to unicorns and gargoyles. They are minor

    modifications,cking the improvements that the Draconians have made in their version, but they are

    morefortable and effective for us than the versions designed for humanoids.

    ¡°We havepleted many projects, but they are minor in significance inparison with the Gate and

    Void-proofing spells. We have other ongoing projects of equal significance, but none have reached a

    state ofpletion worthy of a public unveiling yet.

    ¡°And now, to report on the achievements of Xervian Draconia, I give you Grakonexikaldoron.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± the great gold dragon said with a slight bow to the venerable ck and silver unicorn,

    then spoke to the gathering.

    ¡°The idea of crafting apound spell that allowed the subject to survive and work in the void was first

    proposed by Prince Mark; Key to The Just Alliance, early in The War of The Founding, as part of a

    possible method for seeing over the wards of Venak.

    ¡°We of Xervian Draconia then crafted such a spell and used it, only to find that the wards of Venak

    grew in Height in response to any attempt to see over them. We didn¡¯t realize at the time what an

    important spell Void-Proofing may prove to be.

    ¡°When Prince Mark and his family emerged from the time-bubble recently, they revealed a Void-

    Proofing spell that Princes Six and Kragorram had devised, usable by dragons but primarily designed

    for humanoids. We examined it and found it to be superior to the spell that we had designed in several

    ways, including the energy cost and endurance of the spell. It was also far moreplete, allowing far

    more exact temperature regtion, regted humidity, a water supply, and an automated variable

    transparency that allows the user to adapt quickly to the extremes of light and darkness found in the

    void. We did not modify and improve their spell, as has been erroneously reported; rather we were

    inspired by it to improve the Draconian void-proofing spell that we had already designed. We duplicated

    their groundbreaking techniques of spellpounding and spell automation, and applied them to

    Draconian Sorcery-Magecraft.

    ¡°We duplicated the improvements that they had achieved, and added many more besides. Our spell

    N?velDrama.Org content rights.

    now allows for permanent living in the void, while beingpletely unnoticeable to the user. Eating,

    drinking, and elimination of wastes are aplished as easily as on thends of Keran. Even the

    instinctual Draconian act of flight is exactly the same, the spell makes one feel the wind against your

    wings the same as always, seeming to direct the air while flying in the void by means of a clever

    adaptation of the unicorn Flight spell. Even normal speech and being heard across distances are

    duplicated by a Speaking spell integrated into thepound spell. It is very easy to forget that one is

    not in air, soplete andfortable is the spell.¡±

    She paused, and cast a great Revealing above her, illustrating what her words then described.

    ¡°With this spell, we of Xervian Draconia have in the past three days begun military operations in the

    void, includingbat training,rge scale exercises, and the construction of fortresses on the moons

    of Keran,plete withyered defenses and caches of food, water, weaponry, projectiles, and fully-

    charged batteries. As we speak, almost fourteen thousand dragons are living and working in the void,

    preparing for the war. We have been doing all this while maintaining every effort to hide our activities

    from the demons, in case they should be able to see so far with sufficient acuity. We keep the moons

    between us and the demons whenever possible.

    ¡°We offer our void-proofing spell design to the researchers of other races, and will give what assistance

    we can in adapting it to their use. In five days we will be ready to begin adding qualified fighters of other

    races to our void-warfare preparations.¡±

    She fell silent for over three minutes as the soundless Revealing showed more scenes of the training

    and construction she¡¯d described.

    When it had run to its end she cancelled the spell, and announced;

    ¡°Emperor Osbald of Thon.¡±

    He appeared on the stage as she left it, and he turned to his left to face where she now was in the

    audience among The Ny-Nine of Xervian Draconia, and gave her a slight bow before addressing

    the gathering.

    ¡°We of the humanoid races outside Serminak; the nations of the humans, dwarves, gnomes, and

    giants, have been mightily upied ofte.

 Chapter 139

    Chapter 139

    Part 21

    ¡°Since The Transformation of Hilsith was introduced we have cast it upon three billion of us, and more

    every day, each of whom is regaining their youth and no longer aging. But more importantly, they all

    now have the ability to use magic. Now theoretically, every one of the elves already has the use of

    magic and does not age, but the fact is that many elves have very little magic power. We have found

    that those elves¡¯ power can be improved by having The Transformation cast upon them, so even the

    elves are busy casting it. That discovery led us to decide to cast it on every one of the other humanoid

    wizards who also had very little power, so one-third of all of our wizards will be significantly improved in

    ability. Those wizards who are already more powerful than the bottom third of human magic users show

    no improvement in power from having The Transformation cast upon them, but most have previously

    been unable to end their own aging, though many had slowed it. So almost every humanoid alive wants

    to have The Transformation of Hilsith cast on them, which requires some organization. I¡¯ve heard the

    situation is simr among the Selkies and the Mer, for whom The Transformation is equally effective.

    ¡°Our researchers are working with those from the non-mammalian races and with Hilsith and her team

    to adapt The Transformation to all races that could benefit from it, and we think we¡¯ll achieve sess

    with all of them. The Southernmost are showing especially encouraging progress, and expect to have a

    version of the spell that works for them within thirteen days. Hilsith also ns to return to the Hiliani

    N?velDrama.Org is the owner.

    time-bubble for the remainder of its duration with a mixed-race team, so they should have ample time

    to solve the problem for every affected race.

    ¡°Above and beyond all of those huge and urgent projects is the task of training billions of new wizards

    in the use of magic. As a matter of practicality, the first things they are trained with is the bare minimum

    needed to join a Command Link and contribute their power to the Draw spells of battle wizards. Though

    they are hard lessons for a novice wizard to learn first, rather than the more usual basic spells, it at

    least makes their power avable to our military effort very quickly.

    ¡°We humanoids have vast poptions, and when the processes of applying The Transformation to all

    of us andpleting the magic training of our new wizards areplete, the power of The Just

    Alliance will be vastly increased. But until that time we are falling behind many of the other races in

    other areas of endeavor. Hilia and the nations of Xervia and Serminak are ahead of us in military

    training and in preparations for warfare in the void.

    ¡°To those races we say; press on, continue to advance as quickly as you can. There¡¯s no need for us to

    duplicate the development of the advances you¡¯re making. When we¡¯re finished developing out new

    capabilities to the point where it¡¯s practical to do so, we¡¯ll join and adapt to your new systems, and

    quickly.

    ¡°On another matter; the spells known as The Healing of Valentia and Valentia¡¯s Workspell have been

    cast by Valentia on many billions of beings, all of whom are engaged in full-time military training, at the

    request of The Assembly of The Just Alliance. Her ability to do so is a wonder of spell automation. No

    one else has been able to duplicate her ability to cast them. However, most of the remainder of the

    poption feel that it is unjust that they cannot share in the benefits of these spells. After all, almost all

    of them are fully dedicated to preparing for the war, all of us have too much to do and too little time to

    do it in, and a few people continue to be injured or killed by asional idents and mishaps when

    they would have been saved by The Healing of Valentia if they had been enrolled in the new training

    programs. But many cannot enroll in those programs for various reasons, be they parents or children or

    infirm or needed more elsewhere.

    ¡°Therefore, I add my voice to a petition of almost a billion citizens from almost every nation asking that

    these two crucial spells be universally applied to every citizen of The Just Alliance, at least until the war

    with the demons is over. It is only just.¡±

    Val and Six appeared on the stage, as did Somonik a secondter.

    ¡°What says the Assembly?¡± Six called, and was answered by a wave of approval.

    ¡°Let the record show that all have agreed.¡± Somonik pronounced.

    ¡°All right.¡± Val simply said, and cast.

    Mark expected a great sh in his vision, most of which would be blocked by his Visual Attenuator

    spell. Instead, her casting showed as an ever-expanding wave of multicolored sparkles as theplex

    automated self-poweredpound spells multiplied with incredible speed. Soon the wave of them was

    beyond the room and gone from his sight.

    It was so beautiful that he wordlessly shared the experience with his family. Six and Fire then shared it

    with everyone else at the gathering in an effortless disy of psionics.

    ¡°Amazing. Thank you.¡± Osbald stated with a sincere smile as the gathering responded with many quiet

    exmations of amazement.

    ¡°You¡¯re wee.¡± Val responded with a proud smile.

    She and Six went back to their ces with their family, then Osbald bowed to the assembly and

    resumed his ce as well, leaving Somonik alone on the stage.

    ¡°To present the recent military aplishments of Hilia and Serminak, I give you Kragorram, Prince of

    Serminaki Draconia.¡± Somonik stated, then left the stage to the huge crimson dragon.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Kragorram acknowledged, and without further ado cast a huge Revealing above him. His

    voice and Six¡¯s provided narration, alternating with each scene that was presented, beginning with the

    design and construction of The Void Hunter on Hiliani, continued with recordings of tests and training in

    the new craft, and ending with views of hundreds of voidcraft being built in the massive shipyards of

    Serminak. The first of thepleted vessels those shipyards would produce would be finished within

    the week.

    He thanked the assembly and gave the stage to Fire.

    She showed a six minute Revealing of the intensified training systems they had instituted on Hiliani,

    Serminak and Hilia, detailing the improvements they were showing since recruiting both mortal and

    divine senior strategists to conduct their training exercises. At this point almost all of the Sylvan and

    dragons in Serminak were enrolled in the new training programs full-time, and they were beginning to

    conduct veryrge-scale exercises involving tens of millions of them at a time. Most of theirbat

    was aerial, and some of the exercises were done at night and set up to simte warfare in the void.

    The fourpleted voidcraft had taken part in a few exercises, but were mostly upied day and night

    by training crews.

    Since it seemed to be the thing to do, she simply thanked the assembly uponpletion of the

    Revealing and Translocated back to her ce.

    Visinniria; Elven Goddess of War, took the stage. ¡°With the facts and figures that were revealed here

    tonight,bined with what was already known, we can begin to take an ounting of our abilities. In

    order to do so we will institute a military effectiveness rating system, and we have chosen as a

    standard of power The Smingan Journeyman Battle Wizard. The military of Sming is unique in that their

    ranks arepletely decided by standardized measures, and candidates are given the rank

    immediately upon attaining the prerequisite abilities and powers. A newly-promoted Smingan

    Journeyman Battle Wizard can carry five hundred and sixty kilograms by Movement, has mastered the

    use of the forty-nine most useful spells of his profession and the six most useful psionic spells, and has

    achieved by training and testing the skills and rank of Corporal as a conventionalbat soldier in the

    Smingan military. A Smingan Journeyman Battle Wizard is therefore a capable all-around military entity

    whose abilities arepletely quantified within the fighting circumstances that he has been trained to

    work in, and that level of ability has been assigned a score of ¡®one¡¯ in the new military effectiveness

    rating system of the Keran-Triax alliance.

    ¡°By this scale, a new elven recruit who haspleted only basic training is likely to have a score of

    point two three, and by this you can deduce that we expect it would require on average five new elven

    recruits to convincingly defeat a single average newly-promoted Smingan Journeyman Battle

    Wizard.

 Chapter 140

    Chapter 140

    Part 21

    ¡°The scale can be further specified, for instance; a given warrior will deserve a different score for their

    ability to fight onnd, in the air, on water, in water, and in the void.

    ¡°The same scale is used to indicate the strength of cohesive military unitsposed of many

    individuals. For instance, an average Shoal of Warriors of The Kagposed of twelve hundred and

    sixty individuals will have a sub-aquatic warfare effectiveness score of twenty-seven hundred and fifty.

    ¡°We expect that most of thebat in the uing war with the demons will be fought in the air and

    in the void. In those arenas, an average fighter of The Triax has a score of one point eight, and there

    are around sixteen billion of them here in our void, plus another billion of support personnel and non-

    ¡°An average god of The Triax has a score of ten million or so, and most of them score between five and

    fifteen million, though they have a few with scores as low as four hundred thousand. Their most

    powerful is First Aquamarine, Triax God of Power, with a score of at least sixty million. There are

    seventeen thousand, three hundred and three gods of The Triax.

    ¡°An average god of Keran has a score of about forty million, with most scoring between thirty-five

    and forty-five million. Our extremes range from a low of two hundred thousand to the highest score

    ever achieved in the experience of The Triax, held by Amirgath; First God of Draconia, with a score of

    about one billion and two hundred million. There are three hundred and twenty-three experienced gods

    of Keran, and we expect there to be at least another one hundred and forty-six new gods when

    Prince Mark initiates The Great Ascension. He may find more candidates when the upants of the

    time-bubbles emerge.

    ¡°All of these figures are now avable on The Comprehensive Listing of Military Assets, a document

    N?velDrama.Org content rights.

    which will be constantly updated as our might and our ounting of it improve. All our vessels,

    physical weapons, supply sources, supply chains, and other assets, as well as every military unit¡¯s

    state of readiness, are also avable in The Comprehensive Listing. With this document in hand, we

    can now begin nning our firstpletelyprehensive and co-operative training exercise. It will

    simte an attack by one quarter of all our void-capable forces on the demons¡¯ vessel, at the time

    when we have decided we will attack it, being approximately eighteen months from now. We should be

    prepared to conduct the exercise within a week.

    ¡°The nning for the exercise will be lead by Prince Yazadril; Supreme Commander of the Military of

    The Just Alliance, First Crimson; First of the Triax Gods of War, and myself. If those two will join me

    here, we will begin organizing everyone else who will contribute.¡±

    After those three had met on the stage and conferred for perhaps fifteen seconds, the rest of the

    assembly began starting conversations among themselves and ordering drinks and snacks from the

    attendants.

    Mark and his family were psionicly following what was being said on the stage when Yzell appeared on

    the floor before Mark,ying t on her belly with her palms t on the floor beside her head. Since her

    face was hidden, they had to check psionicly to see who it was.

    ¡°Yzell?¡± Mark asked in a puzzled tone.

    ¡°This position is one of supreme shame among the elves.¡± Alilia stated in irritation. She nudged the

    prone midwife with her toe and demanded; ¡°What have you done?!¡±

    ¡°I¡­ I have solved the fertility problem!¡± Yzell cried in anguish. ¡°I have discovered how to ensure that

    any elven woman can be pregnant from a single mating if she so chooses, and any humanoid female

    can be pregnant by almost any male of any humanoid race.¡±

    ¡°So, ah, why are youying on the floor?¡± Mark asked as people all around them began to pay attention

    to the scene to and rte to others what Yzell had revealed.

    ¡°I have offended against you My Prince!¡± Yzell sobbed. ¡°I have offended against you greatly!¡±

    Mark¡¯s brow knitted, and he considered Reading her before deciding on patience. ¡°All right, just start

    from the beginning.¡± he told her.

    ¡°My Prince, my first breakthrough in the problem came from my study of Talia¡¯s pregnancy by you, my

    study of the fine-scale recording I made of Alilia¡¯s conception by you, and her subsequent pregnancy.

    But it was not enough, I needed to study more examples of the process, preferably involving other

    women than Talia or Alilia to further iste what parts of the process were caused by their bodies and

    what parts by yours. I tried so many times to bring myself to beg you to impregnate another elven

    woman, but I could not ask you that merely for the sake of my research, even as important as it is. And

    after Hilsith solved the longevity problem, and I was still not making any more significant progress on

    the fertility problem, I¡­ I became jealous of her sess, and envious of the adtion she received for

    it. I knew that if I only had a few more examples of the process, I could solve the problem.

    ¡°So, when Balen came to me on behalf of the forty-three females of The Hilian Volunteers, asking if I

    could give them the spells that made it practical for you to have sex with them, including the

    Contraception¡­¡±

    ¡°Great zing Source above!¡± Mark breathed in shocked realization. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you¡­¡±

    ¡°I did My Prince!¡± Yzell sobbed, crying fully now, her voice hard to discern with her forehead pressed to

    the floor. ¡°I purposefully ignored what an offence against you it would be, and concentrated on the

    hugely greater good that woulde from it¡­ The very survival of the elven race may depend on this

    in the days ahead, and you have not truly been harmed! It was for the greater good! But once it was

    done, my conscience and my vow of justice upon Mountainfire began to torture me, until I was driven to

    confess.¡±

    There was a long pause before Mark asked in a quietly angry tone; ¡°And the girls didn¡¯t know about it?¡±

    ¡°They did not, My Lord, I swear, and they still don¡¯t know! I have blocked the knowledge of their

    pregnancies from them.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡± Mark growled, and there was another pause. His knuckles cracked as he steadily tightened his

    clenched fists, and he struggled to control his rising anger.

    ¡°Out with it, Yzell.¡± he finally gritted through clenched teeth. ¡°How many of the forty-three females of

    The Hilian Volunteers are pregnant with my child without my permission?¡±

    ¡°All of them, My Lord!¡± Yzell wailed in anguish. ¡°And Kalem is bearing twins!¡±

    There was a long shocked silence at that.

    ¡°I¡¯ll bet that you didn¡¯t solve the fertility problem until a moment before you came here to confess!¡± Talia

    angrily used. ¡°You say your conscience tortured you, but you still weren¡¯t going to confess until you

    had that achievement to bnce your crime!¡±

    Yzell kept crying whole-heartedly, but didn¡¯t speak.

    Mark¡¯s anger grew until he could no longer control it. What began as a growl of angry frustration grew

    into a full-bodied scream of rage as he crouched a bit and held his fists shaking in front of him, he

    stamped his foot as he struck himself on his thighs, then he was gone in mid-scream.

    He did nothing to prevent himself from being followed, and his family did so a fraction of a secondter.

    They found themselves in the valley north of Focus Mountain.

    ¡°EVACUATE THE FIRING RANGE!!! NOW!!!¡± Mark screamed, augmenting his voice with ear-splitting

    magical volume and powerful psionics, and before any of those in the valley could do so, he began

    sting the volcano north of Focus Mountain with an incredible inferno of destruction while screaming

    his rage at the top of his lungs, his voice still as amplified as his barkedmand.

    The few weapons and spell researchers who had been in the firing range when he arrived fled in a

    panic.

    ¡°Fall back!¡± Alilia psioniclymanded, as she and the rest of the family moved back and up in a

    series of quick Translocation jumps until they were far enough away from Mark tofortably observe

    what he was doing. They found themselves kilometers behind and above him, almost over the center of

    the Focus Mountain reflector, and still had to block most of the volume of Mark¡¯s cacophony of magic

    and his audible and psionic screaming, which itself sounded quite strange due to his extremely low and

    deep voice.

 Chapter 141

    Chapter 141

    Part 21

    Mark could no longer be seen in the maelstrom he was creating. Within seconds, even the zing light

    of his spells was blocked in the storm of flying shattered rock and clouds of dust he was sting out of

    the mountain he faced.

    Talia hurriedly cast to protect the reflector and the research facility on it¡¯s north rim from damage from

    flying rocks and boulders. The facility¡¯s st protections had automatically activated, but would soon

    have been overwhelmed. It was more than Talia could deal with alone, and a secondter those with

    her joined her efforts, then Val cast an automated, self-powered spell that relieved them of the task.

    Any unprotected living thing within twenty kilometers would certainly have been killed, but nothing

    visible lived there.

    ¡°Have you noticed that we¡¯re almost in the focus of the reflector, and we¡¯re not getting any extra power

    from it?¡± Val absentmindedly asked as she watched the destruction-storm with captive fascination.

    ¡°Father¡¯s got his collection field over this entire area, fifty kilometers wide, and no warlock power is

    getting through it at all. I had to cast that automated spell with pure wizard¡¯s power, or it would¡¯ve

    drained my warlock power pretty fast.¡±

    ¡°He needs to vent his anger, and I can¡¯t me him.¡± Alilia angrily stated. ¡°I don¡¯t know what the hell the

    poor boy is going to do about this. Damn it, we¡¯re supposed to be getting married in four hours!¡±

    ¡°We are getting married in four hours!¡± Talia stated with fierce determination as she gave Alilia a

    sudden firm hug. ¡°Nothing is going to change that, and nothing could diminish our love for you!¡±

    ¡°Damn, are my insecurities so very transparent?¡± Alilia bitterly asked as she returned Talia¡¯s embrace.

    ¡°Only to me, dear love.¡± Talia assured her.

    ¡°Is he going to be all right in there?¡± Kragorram worriedly asked.

    ¡°He has all his Shields and Pure Breath running.¡± Fire observed. ¡°He should be okay.¡±

    ¡°I know, but that mountain is a dormant volcano after all, and barely dormant at that. It¡¯s most recent

    eruption was only two centuries ago. If he keeps going like that, he¡¯ll break through into theva at the

    core of the mountain. It may be under incredible pressure, and he may break through suddenly, which

    would cause a cataclysmic explosive eruption aimed directly at him, and at us.¡±

    A secondter Talia reported; ¡°I warned him of the possibility, but he¡¯s still too angry to care.¡±

    ¡°We should prepare to act to contain the eruption enough to protect him, us, the reflector, and the

    facility.¡± Povon decisively stated, then Linked with Somonik and demanded; ¡°Give me the Command

    Link and our avable power now!¡±

    ¡°Done!¡± Somonik responded almost instantly.

    The eight over Focus Mountain were already Linked with Povon when she felt control of the Command

    Linke to her, and they were aware of the minds and power of the two and a half million military

    spell-casters who were on stand-by duty at the moment. Hundreds of thousands more were joining

    every second, then millions.

    ¡°That¡¯s enough, thank you.¡± Kragorram reported as he and Six analyzed the volcano and what Mark

    was doing to it.

    But Mark was also aware of what they were finding, and he forced control upon himself before he

    reached theva. Rtive silence fell, broken only by the reports of still falling rocks and boulders, as

    he floated there in his sphere of Shielding, still shaking with anger. Then he expanded his awareness

    for kilometers all around and identified all the material he¡¯d sted out of the mountain, seized it all

    with Movement, and began crushing it back into the crater he¡¯d made with astounding force while

    heating it enough with Fire to fuse it into ce. He did this repair with a manic violence equal to his

    destruction, and he resumed his great roaring scream of rage while he did so. Again sight of him was

    lost amidst an inferno of his creation.

    His anger was finally spent just before his repair was done, but he still heated and forced thest of the

    rock into ce with grim determination.

    Then he joined them above the reflector. There was silence for a long moment as they considered his

    grim countenance and realized that he was keeping his thoughts to himself, while he considered their

    concerned expressions.

    ¡°I¡¯ve gotta think this out for a minute.¡± he told them as gently as he could, obviously still struggling for

    self-control. He made a seat of Force and sat down in mid-air, rested his elbows on his knees, and put

    his head in his hands.

    N?velDrama.Org is the owner.

    Talia and Alilia moved to sit and embrace him from either side, but they remained silent, letting him

    think.

    ¡°Somonik, Battle Wizards of The Just Alliance, thank you for your almost instant response.¡± Povon said

    over the Command Link. ¡°Your readiness does you proud. However, it seems this was a false rm. It

    seems we will not need your assistance to deal with the consequences of our Key¡¯s temper tantrum. As

    rming as it was, it appears he was quite in control of himself, and he has repaired all damage to his

    firing range. Again, thank you.¡±

    ¡°I am relinquishing control of themand Link.¡±

    ¡°On all of our behalf, you are all most wee.¡± Somonik chuckled over the Link. ¡°We might have

    trusted Mark¡¯s self control, but we did not begrudge you the precaution. As you said, it was an rming

    demonstration of destruction, and a demonstration of repair that was almost as rming. We will study

    our Reading of the event in order to more fully understand and quantify his abilities and those of

    warlocks in general. This study may be of greater importance now, since it seems there may soon be

    many more warlocks.

    ¡°We have not had a genuine emergency call to duty since the war ended, so this was a valuable

    exercise, and we thank you. Our response time has not diminished much, and that is good to know.¡±

    Povon shared his mental chuckle, then closed the Link.

    After almost six minutes Mark sat up straight and looked around at all of them. ¡°It seems I¡¯ve got two

    choices. We could move us all with all forty-three of the girls and their kids into our biggest ce and

    just all live together like one big happy family. But I sure wouldn¡¯t be able to give each of my children

    the time and attention they deserve.

    ¡°The other choice is to raise each child one at a time in a series of time-bubbles. We¡¯d go into a little

    time-bubble with the first girl and be a family with her and her child until the child is grown, thene

    out of the time-bubble and cast another for the next girl, and so on. There¡¯s no way I¡¯ll ever be able to

    give all my adult children the time they deserve, but at least this way I can give it to them when they¡¯re

    kids, when they really need it.

    ¡°We want to find a way to get enough timepression so that we can do it all over the span of one

    pregnancy, so we finish raising the secondst child just before thest one is born.¡±

    There was silence for a bit as the rest considered that.

    Talia made her decision, and gave her opinion. ¡°Then that¡¯s what we have to do, because it seems to

    me that it would be neglect to try to raise that many at once. I know you couldn¡¯t consider just adopting

    them out and washing your hands of them, you need to raise and love every one of your own children.

    ¡°The girls of The Volunteers are all fine people, and they¡¯ll be easy to love, especially since they

    already love you, and you love us so you can¡¯t just give us up while you raise children with them, so

    we¡¯ll be helping them raise their children as co-mothers.¡±

    ¡°I agree.¡± Alilia nodded. ¡°And for an area onlyrge enough to contain a healthy environment for a

    single family, we can use reverse-stasis fields rather than time-bubbles. We can cast those ourselves,

    without needing the help of the gods, so we¡¯ll haveplete control over ending them or

    time-bubble is scheduled to end.¡±

 Chapter 142

    Chapter 142

    Part 21

    ¡°That would mean that we¡¯d either have to join you in some or all of these longsting and tiny reverse-

    stasis fields,¡± Six mused, ¡°Or miss many decades of your lives. Even if it was only six weeks to us, it

    would bother me to miss that much of your lives. Maybe you¡¯d still seem the same after many decades

    of raising other children without us. But maybe you¡¯d be different, and it would always be obvious to us

    how many years you¡¯d lived without us. And that would hurt, a little.

    ¡°However, there is another alternative. We have the spell for Multiple Simultaneous Manifestations. We

    figured it out in the brainstorming session because it¡¯s one of The Prerequisites of Divinity. You could

    each be two people first, one to stay out here in the world with us, and one to go back in the

    Hiliani time-bubble until it ends, which will be another sixteen years inside. That should be more than

    long enough to raise our brothers and sisters, since it only took seven years for us. Once inside the

    bubble, Father would make forty-three more simultaneous manifestations of himself. One of him would

    live with Mother and Alilia, and the other forty-three would live with each of the girls and their children. I

    suggest you disperse their homes all over Hiliani as much as possible to minimize having to meet

    yourself too often, which may be too confusing for young children if they don¡¯t turn out like us. And

    every time you sleep all your selves will exchange your memories of the previous day, so that you¡¯ll

    truly remain one person and not diverge into forty-four distinct people. Then when the time-bubble ends

    you¡¯ll re-integrate yourself, and you¡¯d all re-integrate with the copy of yourselves you left here to be with

    us.¡±

    There was another long pause.

    ¡°Damn, that¡¯s positively mind-boggling.¡± Mark cursed as he considered the outrageous n.

    ¡°It sure sounds a lot better than spending a few centuries in small stasis fields, raising children.¡± Alilia

    mused. ¡°And we wouldn¡¯t have to share you with all those girls. I mean, we¡¯d have to¡­ Well you know

    what I mean.¡± She chuckled at her own fluster. ¡°We¡¯re going to need some new vocabry to describe

    some of the situations this is going to get us into, but I¡¯m for Six¡¯s n.

    ¡°You¡¯re sure of the spell?¡± she asked the children.

    ¡°Very.¡± Fire assured her.

    ¡°If one of Mark is going to stay out here with you, why do we need to¡­ Oh I see.¡± Talia said, thinking

    out loud.

    ¡°Exactly.¡± Six nodded. ¡°You and Alilia could just remain one self out here with us, and let the copies of

    Father raise his children on Hiliani without you, but then the Father on Hiliani would have to spend up

    to sixteen years without you, since he can¡¯t re-integrate through the time-bubble. I wish we could just

    join you in the time-bubble. But we three agree that we want to avoid that if we can. We left because it

    was too constricting, and that won¡¯t change if we go back. So the copies of our parents on Hiliani will

    have to spend sixteen years without us, but at least they¡¯ll have forty-four new children to love while

    they¡¯re in there.¡±

    There was another long pause, but no one had anything else to add.

    Finally Mark stood, and was strengthened by the love and confidence on the faces of his family. ¡°All

    right. By now the girls of The Volunteers have probably heard that they¡¯re pregnant by me without their

    own consent, since it was announced at the Assembly. And they might have heard what I did here

    when I was mad. The poor things have to be going out of their minds with worry. Let¡¯s go talk to them

    and let them know what¡¯s going to happen.¡±

    ¡°While you do that,¡± Povon decided, ¡°Kragorram and I will go back to the assembly and make sure that

    Hilia and Serminak are well represented in the nning of the joint training exercises. We¡¯ll meet you in

    Las Valley for the wedding.

    ¡°Karzog, you¡¯re with us.¡±

    ¡°Thanks.¡± Mark nodded as the dragons of his family vanished.

    He sent out a psionic call to all The Hilian Volunteers even as he Translocated all six left at Focus

    Mountain to Backyard Valley on Hiliani. Over the next three seconds all The Volunteers appeared on

    the grass around them. Many of them looked scared or worried.

    ¡°Thank you foring so quickly.¡± Mark told them as he surveyed them. ¡°Please, sit down and rx.

    ¡°As you may have heard, Yzell has solved the fertility problem. She did so by removing the

    Contraception from the spell set that she cast on you girls before you made love with me, and

    observing your conceptions. So all of you girls are pregnant with my child, and Kalem is bearing my

    twins, without any of us knowing about it until a few minutes ago. She blocked your instinctual

    awareness that you were pregnant. I know you girls had nothing to do with your bing pregnant by

    me, and I want to assure you that we¡¯ve found a solution to the problem I¡¯m presented with. I¡¯m going

    to do right by each and every one of you.¡±

    He paused to give them a moment to absorb that. Every girl among them ced hands on tummies. All

    were shocked, some were immediately giddy with happiness, some seemed afraid to believe it was

    true.

    Mark continued when most of them were looking to him for more exnation.

    ¡°The Governors here have a Multiple Simultaneous Manifestations spell, and I¡¯m going to use it to

    make forty-three copies of myself. We¡¯re going to live in the Hiliani time-bubble for the remainder of its

    duration, and raise our kids. I¡¯ll live with each of you girls and give you each the love you deserve as

    N?velDrama.Org content rights.

    the mother of my child, and I¡¯ll give each of my children the time, attention, and love they deserve.

    Every night when I sleep, all my memories of my selves will exchange their memories of the previous

    day, so that I remain one person with one mind.

    ¡°But I want you to understand that this is temporary. At the end of the time-bubble I¡¯m going to go back

    to being one person, and I won¡¯t have as much time for you, or for our children. So over the next nine

    or ten months in the time-bubble during your pregnancies, before I be multiple people, I want

    each of you girls to try to find another man that you could love for a long time. You can choose from the

    males here or anyone else on Hiliani, or if you have someone else in mind you can ask them to join us

    before they seal the time-bubble. Each of you girls should have two men in your lives acting as your

    husbands and the fathers of your children while those children are raised; me temporarily and whoever

    else you choose. I want each of these children to grow up with two loving and devoted fathers each, so

    that when the time-bubble ends and I don¡¯t have near as much time for them, they each have another

    father who¡¯s still there for them full-time.

    ¡°It¡¯s not a perfect solution, but it¡¯s the best I can think of to deal with this situation.¡±

    Everyone there took a moment to absorb and consider all that, then Balen stood and hesitantly spoke.

    ¡°Um, can we have a minute to talk about this?¡±

    ¡°What, with me or in private?¡± Mark asked.

    ¡°I think we need a minute to talk about this among ourselves. The Volunteers that is, the males

    included.¡±

    ¡°All right, we¡¯ll be at the house.¡± Mark nodded as he hooked a thumb back over his shoulder in the

    direction of the pass. ¡°Call us when you¡¯re ready.¡± With that he Translocated with his wives and children

    to their Hiliani home. It was still prepared for vacancy and most of their possessions from it had already

    been moved to Hilia, but the living room furniture was still all there, so they sat as Alilia Summoned

    them a light meal and beverages from her home in Heartwood.

    They ate in silence, then Mark waved them over to the huge sofa he was sitting on. All five piled onto

    hisp or cuddled up around him and simply hugged each other. Balen called almost an hour after

    they¡¯d left.

    They returned to Backyard Valley, and found the young elves there separated slightly into eleven small

    groups.

    ¡°Prince Mark, we girls are somewhat hesitant to propose this,¡± Balen began, ¡°Because we¡¯d be giving

    up our chance to have you all to ourselves, but we have to do what¡¯s best for you.

 Chapter 143

    Chapter 143

    Part 21

    ¡°You can give your children enough time and attention with three children in your household, you¡¯ve

    proved that. So we of The Volunteers have closely examined our love and affection for each other, and

    as you can see, we¡¯ve formed ourselves into eleven households. All eleven will have three children

    each. Eight households will have three males and one of you, and three will have two males and you

    because we¡¯re short three males to make it divide evenly. All except Kalem¡¯s house will have three

    females, hers will only have two, her and I, since she¡¯s having twins. Ours is also one of the ones with

    only two males plus you.

    ¡°We¡¯re sure living as a bunch of separate people will be very difficult for you, in its own way. And having

    to integrate forty-four sets of memories every night would have to be hard on you mentally. This way

    every one of our children will have two or three fathers plus you, and two or three mothers. Most will

    have three of each. This should lessen greatly the effect it will have on them when you go back to

    being one person. And this way you only have to be eleven extra people, instead of forty-three extra.

    And we keep the whole thing among us; The Hilian Volunteers.¡±

    Mark considered it, and smiled. ¡°Thank you. That¡¯s all brilliant thinking, and I¡¯ll sure take you up on it.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± she told him with a huge smile. ¡°And we want you to know, though none of us chose it,

    that this is the most beautiful thing that could possibly have happened to us, boys and girls both. The

    chance to love you, to live with you, to bear and raise your children, it¡¯s like a gift from the gods. Yzell

    removed the block from us while we were talking, and now all of us girls can feel that we¡¯re pregnant.

    And it feels indescribably wonderful.¡±

    ¡°A gift from the gods! Crap!¡± Six suddenly eximed.

    ¡°What?¡± Balen asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m just thinking that we should examine Yzell psionicly, and closely, and find out if anyone else

    influenced her decision to do this thing.¡± Six dered. ¡°Considering how we three turned out, there¡¯s no

    doubt that The Just Alliance will benefit from having forty-four more young warlocks, which gives

    someone a motivation to have done this.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Mark said with a frown as he gave his head a slight shake. ¡°Yzell and all of us were still

    in the time-bubble when she did this. So if she was influenced, it was either done by someone here on

    Hiliani with us, or someone has a way to influence what¡¯s happening in a time bubble without opening

    it. Either possibility seems pretty unlikely. But you¡¯re right, we¡¯ll certainly examine Yzell anyway. Not

    only for the reason you mentioned, but also because this whole thing seems very out of character for

    Yzell.¡±

    He mentally searched for the elven midwife, and found her crying in her home here on Hiliani under the

    disappointed re of her husband Theramin. He Summoned them both, and said; ¡°Wait.¡± as they were

    about to speak.

    Mark, Talia, Alilia, and their children Linked deeply and Read Yzell with all of their concentration. They

    found what they were looking for almost immediately, and examined it for a moment.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be damned.¡± Mark stated. ¡°You were right, Son.

    ¡°Yzell, you are without me. Someone else was forcing your mind from the time when you made the

    decision to remove the Contraceptions and cause these girls¡¯ pregnancies to the moment you finished

    solving the fertility problem. And they didn¡¯t even bother trying to cover up that they¡¯d done it, it¡¯s right

    there as tant as can be to anyone with the skill to look for it. They were obviously looking out for you,

    since any trace of the identity of the perpetrator has beenpletely erased with great and subtle skill,

    so they could have hidden the evidence of the tampering if they¡¯d chosen to do so. They must have left

    the trace there on purpose to exonerate you.

    ¡°And to be honest, I¡¯m more than a little d to learn this. I sure didn¡¯t like the thought that you¡¯d done

    this to us.¡±

    Yzell rushed to him as she burst into tears, hugging him tightly around his left thigh as she cried

    uncontrobly with relief and ill-deserved regret. He picked her up andforted her like a tiny child.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Theramin said with great sincerity. Talia gave him a hug for emotional support as the

    tension drained out of him.

    ¡°Well, we should check in on what¡¯s happening at the global summit we¡¯re still supposed to be

    attending.¡± Alilia suggested. ¡°And then we need to get ready for a state wedding.

    ¡°I suppose we should invite all you girls to be bridesmaids.¡± she teased with a chuckle.

    ¡°Then we¡¯d have to invite all these fine gentlemen to be groomsmen!¡± Mark added with augh of his

    own. ¡°And I¡¯m all for it.¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Balen told them with a warm smile. ¡°I mean, thank you ever so much, we cherish your invitations

    and I know it¡¯ll be great fun, but no. This is your wedding, and you don¡¯t need all of us there to

    Content (C) N?v/elDra/ma.Org.

    hurry at that. So we have a lot of new nning and bonding and rtionship-building stuff to do. We

    might end up trading a few of the men back and forth over the next week or so, until we¡¯re sure we

    have the best matches.¡±

    She paused for a giggle, which some of the other girls joined her in.

    ¡°After you be eleven more people for us, it¡¯d be nice if we each had a little ceremony to celebrate

    ourmitment. We know you¡¯ll only bemitting for sixteen years, while we¡¯ll bemitting for at

    least as long as most elven children stay in their parents¡¯ home, which is about thirty-six years. After

    that we might choose to stay together longer, since we¡¯ll always be united in your service anyway, but

    we¡¯ll have to see when that timees. So the ceremonies won¡¯t quite be weddings, but still, it would

    be nice to stand together before themunity and proudly dere our love and our dedication to

    each other and to the wonderful responsibility of raising your children.¡±

    ¡°I think that would be nice.¡± Mark chuckled. ¡°As Talia said earlier, all of you are going to be very easy to

    love.¡±

    ¡°Father, Mothers, we need to speak privately before we go back to the Hall.¡± Six firmly stated.

    ¡°Mark, why don¡¯t you take the children and do that.¡± Talia asked him as she floated up to give him a

    quick kiss. ¡°Alilia and I need to stay here a minute or three and exin to these girls about the curse.¡±

    ¡°Great Source, I hadn¡¯t even thought about that!¡± Mark cursed.

    ¡°Yes, well when the curse strikes me it strikes you, and vice versa. If all the copies of you will be exact

    manifestations of you, I don¡¯t see why it wouldn¡¯t strike all of them. All of you. Anyway, these girls will

    need to be prepared for it, and protected.¡±

    ¡°But my love, when the curse strikes me I want you!¡± Mark protested. ¡°What if every copy of me wants

    you at the same time?!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s true that you need me when the curse strikes, but it¡¯s obvious since Alilia joined us that you like

    having her then just as much, as long as I¡¯m there and part of it. If necessary, you can Link with all your

    other selves while you take me, so they can all enjoy me just as fully while they enjoy these girls

    without all twelve of you needing to have me physically.¡±

    ¡°How are you going to prepare these girls for experiences like that?¡± Mark asked in consternation.

    ¡°We¡¯ll figure something out.¡± Alilia assured him. ¡°If necessary, I¡¯ll cast a mild blessing on them to ensure

    they¡¯ll enjoy it.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Okay. We¡¯ll see you in a few minutes at the hall.¡± Mark stammered, then Translocated back to the

    house with his children.

    ¡°So, ah, what did you need to talk about?¡± he asked.

 Chapter 144

    Chapter 144

    Part 21

    ¡°Well, we¡¯ve been considering who might¡¯ve forced Yzell¡¯s mind.¡± Six exined. ¡°Only the gods could

    see through the time-bubble from the outside, and they led us to believe that they couldn¡¯t act through it

    without taking it down. They¡¯ve also said that it takes more than one of them to maintain a time-bubble

    that big, and I¡¯m sure the gods who¡¯re maintaining it could tell if another god was trying to see through it

    or act through it. So, for it to be done from outside, there has to be a conspiracy of the gods, they¡¯d

    have to be doing what they told us they couldn¡¯t do, and all of them are sworn on The Truthstone. Plus,

    unless they were watching us through the time-bubble, I can¡¯t see what motivation they¡¯d have had to

    Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDra/ma.O(r)g!

    do it.

    ¡°I think we can disregard the possibility that it was done from outside.

    ¡°When you consider the people with us inside the time-bubble, and ask who had the capability to do it,

    who could¡¯ve had a motivation to do it, and who has a twisted enough sense of morality to do it even

    though they¡¯re sworn to justice, there¡¯s only one real candidate.

    ¡°Quewanak did it. He has the capability. He considers us his prot¨¦g¨¦s and has always been quite

    impressed with us, and could certainly see what a benefit forty-four more of us will be to The Just

    Alliance. And he¡¯s got a kind of inconsiderate sense of morality. Don¡¯t forget that when me and Fire

    were barely toddlers and had no magic and almost no physicalbat ability, Quewanak had us fight

    hundreds of adult Sylvan to the death, armed with nothing but our psionics. He could have stopped it at

    the beginning of their attack, but he let it go on until just before we were going to be overwhelmed and

    killed because he wanted to see what would happen, and he thought it would be good for us.

    ¡°I think of every other possible suspect that has the skill to do it and ask myself; are they the kind of

    people who could have done this? Yazadril? Dalia? Nek Sibook? Any of the Sylvan Elders? No. None

    of them would do something like this, not in a million years. But Quewanak? Sure, he¡¯d do it on a whim.

    ¡°Quewanak had the ability, the opportunity, the motivation, the requisite personality, and in my mind he

    stands alone as the sole suspect by process of elimination.

    ¡°He did it.¡±

    ¡°Well done.¡± Quewanak chuckled, startling the rest as he appeared. Or rather his head appeared

    without the rest of him since he couldn¡¯t fit in the house, which was a rather disconcerting solution to

    the problem for Mark and his children. ¡°I hadn¡¯t considered that you might identify me as the author of

    the work with absolutely no evidence against me.

    ¡°You arepletely correct of course, I did do it, and I feelpletelyfortable with having done

    so. It needed to be done; I could see no possibility that the fertility problem would be solved otherwise,

    and it was the right thing to do.¡±

    ¡°You think it was right to steal my freedom to decide whether I was going to have children?!!¡± Mark

    demanded in rage. ¡°Was it right to make Yzell think that she¡¯dmitted this crime against me, or to

    inflict on my family the stresses and awkwardness that this situation has put on our rtionships?!! To

    force me to raise forty-four more children at the same time?!!¡±

    ¡°These are extreme times, that sometimes require extreme measures.¡± Quewanak patiently exined.

    ¡°You¡¯ve solved the problem of how to raise the children well, and though I knew not how you¡¯d do so, I

    was confidant that you would.

    ¡°I knew that Yzell would be exonerated, and in return for a few minutes of anguish, she was allowed to

    aplish a great achievement that will greatly benefit many millions of people over millions of years.

    ¡°The stress and awkwardness suffered by your family have been minor.

    ¡°And as to my crime against you personally, I¡¯ll make you a deal; After the time-bubble opens, after

    sixteen years of subjective time for you spent raising the children I¡¯ve caused you to breed, if you still

    feel that I deserve punishment for my crime against you, I will submit to it. If you still feel that you

    should confine me or torture me or even kill me for what I¡¯ve done, I will allow you to do so, even

    epting the true death, if you truly feel it is my due. I swear it by the soul of Holy Amirgath himself.¡±

    And with a final chuckle, the head of Quewanak disappeared.

    ¡°Damn it!¡± Mark cursed. ¡°There¡¯s not a damn thing to be done about it but ept it, or bring him up on

    charges for it before The Assembly and The Pantheon! And frankly, the entire situation seems a bit too

    ridiculous for that!¡±

    ¡°Or, we can just let everyone know what happened.¡± Six mused. ¡°Almost everyone in the Keran-Triax

    alliance will be able to see the injustice of what he¡¯s done. Perhaps he doesn¡¯t care what everyone else

    thinks of him, but he¡¯ll still have to endure their disapproval, and some of the gods may feel that he

    deserves some discipline for it.¡±

    Mark angrily considered that for a few seconds, then finally calmed himself, took a deep breath, and

    shook his head. ¡°No, I don¡¯t really want to do that either. As strange as he is, Quewanak has been a

    good friend to us in many ways. This almost feels more like a problem within our family than a matter

    for public prosecution.

    ¡°After I¡¯ve made the Ascension, I¡¯ll deal with it.

    ¡°In the meantime, we¡¯ll go back to the meeting.¡±

    They did so, and were joined there by Alilia and Talia a few minutester. They checked in with Povon,

    Kragorram, and Karz, who were busy integrating the Serminaki forces into the attack n. Since they

    had a week before the exercise began, by that time they nned to have most of Serminaki Draconia

    trained with the new Xervian Draconian Void-proofing spell, and to be able to bring most of Serminak¡¯s

    dragons into the fray. They also nned to be able to field at least three thousand of Six and

    Kragorram¡¯s void craft crewed by twenty-four battle wizards each; all of them Serminak and Hilia¡¯s best.

    Within another hour the n was set, and Yazadril announced that it was so.

    Just as Somonik took the stage to close the meeting Mark appeared there as well, so Somonik calmly

    announced him as smoothly as if it had been nned.

    ¡°Prince Mark of Hilia; Lord of Serminak, Key to The Just Alliance.¡±

    ¡°Thank you Somonik.¡± Mark said with a bow to the white dragon, and spoke directly to him. ¡°As you

    know, all of the rulers and ruling members of The Just Alliance have been invited to a state wedding

    some two hours from now, dering the love shared between myself, Princess Talia, and Princess

    Alilia of The People of Life, and dering an alliance by marriage between The People of Life, Hilia,

    and Serminak.

    ¡°However, Quewanak will not be attending. We¡¯re not pleased with him right now, and we¡¯re rescinding

    his invitation. He can watch it in Revealings along with everyone else who didn¡¯t receive an invitation.

    ¡°He was scheduled to perform the ceremony. That being the case, I most humbly ask you; Somonik,

    First of The Ny-Nine of Xervian Draconia, Speaker for The Assembly of The Just Alliance, Most

    Noble of All, would you conduct my wedding? Sorry it¡¯s such short notice.¡±

    ¡°I would be most honored to do so.¡± Somonik replied with a grin and a bow as humble as Mark¡¯s had

    been.

    ¡°Excellent. You can consult with Yazadril as to the specifics of it. Thank you, and I¡¯ll see you there!¡±

    ¡°You are most wee.¡± Somonik chuckled as Mark left the stage, walking back to his family on a

    whim.

    ¡°That concludes our congress here today.¡± Somonik dered. ¡°Please keep sending your updated

    status reports as soon as they be avable.

    ¡°We thank our guests from The Triax, and look forward to continuing to work closely with you in the

    days ahead.

    ¡°We will next meet immediately after the uing joint battle exercise, tentatively scheduled for one

    week from now. That meeting will be limited to rulers and all military personnel down to the rank of

    Colonel or its equivalent, unless unforeseen circumstances make it advisable to include other

    personnel.

    ¡°Until then, be well."

 Chapter 145

    Chapter 145

    PART 22

    Mark and his family Translocated to Alilia¡¯s home in Heartwood, where Caria was impatiently waiting to

    begin dressing the wedding party.

    An hourter they were ready, and took a moment to admire each other¡¯s appearances.

    Mark and Six¡¯s hair was brushed smoothly back and tied at the nape of their necks with matching gold

    sps. Both of them had hair over sixty centimeters long, and their ponytails streamed down their

    backs.

    Talia, Alilia, Fire, and Val all had their long hair bound up with subtle pins and clips into beautiful and

    formal mounds and waves, and their coloring had been expertly enhanced to entuate their delicate

    beauty.

    Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDra/ma.O(r)g!

    All six wore matching clothing; the form-fitting ck velvet pants and high ck leather boots, white silk

    blouse, and sweeping ankle-length ck velvet cape of a Battle Wizard of The People of life. All wore

    fine scents and their best discreet jewelry, and Mark, Talia and Alilia also wore their crowns and sashes

    of office, since this was to be a state wedding.

    ¡°Well don¡¯t we look fine.¡± Val smiled as she regarded herself in a mirror.

    ¡°Thanks Caria, you¡¯ve done a wonderful job.¡± Talia told her with a quick hug.

    ¡°Bah.¡± Caria protested with augh. ¡°With subjects as attractive as all of you, the standard preparations

    are all that were required. Any woman in the city could have done the same.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps, but perhaps not as well.¡± Mark chuckled as he swept his new mother-inw up in a hug and

    gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

    ¡°Put me down, you great handsome oaf!¡± sheughed. ¡°You¡¯ll get me all flustered, and I still need to

    prepare myself!¡±

    ¡°Flustered, is it?¡± Alilia teased as Mark set her mother down. ¡°Did you know Mother, that Mark honestly

    considers myself and Talia to be the two most beautiful females on Keran? And of course Dalia and

    Nemia look the same as Talia, so it was perhaps inevitable that both would eventually share his bed on

    asion. And, since you look just like me except for hair color¡­¡±

    ¡°Shut up, you naughty child!¡± Cariaughed in embarrassed exasperation as she blushed a pretty pink

    and gave Alilia a yful swat on the behind. ¡°Off with you all to The Hall of Anticipation! I¡¯ll meet you

    there in a few minutes.¡±

    ¡°All right, we¡¯ll see you then.¡± Alilia smiled as she gave her mother a quick kiss. As soon as the two

    stepped apart, Mark Translocated the six of them.

    They looked around therge ovoid room for a moment before Fire asked; ¡°So what do we do now?¡±

    ¡°Now we have some Hilsith¡¯s Herbal Tea.¡± Taliaughed as she headed for the drinks cab. ¡°It¡¯s

    gotten quite popr you know,rgely due to the fact that we had it on our first wedding day, which was

    widely reported on in great detail. Hilsith is actually getting quite wealthy from it.¡±

    ¡°Traditionally, the bride and groom always wait here while the guests arrive and are seated and the

    decorations are finalized.¡± Alilia told them with a smile as they seated themselves in thergest

    grouping of sofas, loveseats and armchairs. ¡°It gives them onest chance to have some quiet and

    private time before they¡¯re joined and all the celebrating begins. It also gives them a chance to reflect

    on what they¡¯re about to do, and to be sure it¡¯s what they really want. Those who are truly unsure tend

    to change their minds about the whole thing while waiting in this room.¡±

    ¡°Yes, we know all that Mother.¡± Val told her with an exasperated smile. ¡°We know that Father and Talia

    used the time to learn the ceremony and to get to know each other better, and that you and Gorsh

    fornicated enthusiastically here for over an hour and were almost two minuteste to your own

    wedding, which I find quite amusing.

    ¡°The question was; what do we do now?¡±

    ¡°Ah. Well we rx and enjoy some conversation, of course, and wait for the rest of the wedding party

    to arrive.¡± Mark chuckled as he cuddled Alilia on hisp.

    ¡°They keep Preserved urns of this and five other hot drinks fresh and hot over there.¡± Talia announced

    as she arrived with a tray and handed out steaming mugs. ¡°This might have been there for months, but

    it¡¯s still delicious. They have Bhia honey too.¡±

    ¡°Mmm. This really brings back memories.¡± Mark smiled as he sipped his tea and Talia carefully joined

    Alilia on hisp. ¡°I was such a scared, nervous, mind-boggled wreck thest time I was in this room. In

    a way it seems like yesterday and I still feel like the same person. But in a way it was an eternity ago,

    and I¡¯ve grown so far beyond that poor young wretch that I almost can¡¯t believe my present life is real.¡±

    ¡°We were all so broken from thinking Dalia and Bezedil were dead.¡± Talia wistfully reminisced. ¡°And you

    were still broken from the loss of your family. And we were all a mess from having been cursed; Father

    and Alilia, you and me.

    ¡°I tell you, it amazes me that we managed to pull it off with even the slightest shred of decorum.¡±

    ¡°We did, though.¡± Alilia smiled. ¡°There were some rough moments, but you two impressed the world

    that night, and you impressed me more than most.¡±

    ¡°Some rough moments?!¡± Markughed. ¡°Gods¡¯ teeth, I had a heart cramp and died in the middle of

    the vows! I guess recovering from that and not seeming too much of a fool was rather impressive at

    that!¡±

    ¡°And Balen trying to color you green and purple as you were walking down the aisle,¡± Taliaughed,

    ¡°And Yzandra making a scene, and Kragorram and Povon¡¯s tumultuous argument and reconciliation¡­

    ¡°Damn! I don¡¯t mind telling you that I hope today¡¯s event is a lot less eventful!¡±

    They allughed, then Mark hugged both of his beloveds and grinned. ¡°Well, we¡¯re only having a few

    hundred guests this time, and though the valley may be filled with spectators they¡¯ll be excluded from

    the chapel, and I don¡¯t intend to go touring around among them this time. They¡¯re merely spectators;

    they haven¡¯t been invited, so they¡¯re not part of it like they werest time.

    ¡°And this time I¡¯m not the slightest bit nervous about the future of our rtionship and my performance

    in it. Living and loving together for a few years before marriage definitely has its benefits that way. Our

    love is strong and well-established, our lives arepletely bound together through our children, and

    my heart is strong with security and contentment.

    ¡°To me, today¡¯s marriage is primarily a proud deration of all that, from us to the rest of the world.¡±

    ¡°Then we are of one mind on the matter.¡± Alilia softly dered, and she and Talia both leaned in

    simultaneously to share a three-way kiss with him. In a moment their passion was fired, and it became

    a very serious kiss indeed.

    ¡°Please!¡± Valughed. ¡°Is that really appropriate?!¡±

    ¡°Mm hm.¡± Mark responded with a slight nod, without seeming otherwise distracted from the kiss, and

    Talia gave a muffled giggle.

    After a minute of that Fire suddenly spoke; ¡°I¡¯m in love with Karzog! He¡¯s my destined mate, my

    destined love.¡±

    She took a deep breath and slowly let it out as the others gave her their attention. ¡°There. I finally said

    it out loud.¡± She looked to her parents. ¡°I finally told you. It feels good.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s lucky I had time to ensure our privacy before you blurted that out.¡± Six teased.

    Fire nodded. ¡°Thanks. And we intend to continue to ensure our privacy and absolute secrecy on the

    matter. I intend to never speak openly of this again. Ever. But I wanted you to know.¡±

    Talia gently floated Fire over into a loving and supportive hug from all three of her parents.

    ¡°Congrattions darling. We¡¯re d you chose to tell us, and we will always support you and Karzog in

    every way.

    ¡°And now we can confess that we already knew. Povon figured it out from Karzog¡¯s behavior and by

    simply checking for who was always unounted-for when he was. Hiliani is a pretty small ce that

    way. Anyway, she felt that she would be breaking Karzog¡¯s confidence somewhat by telling us, but she

    also felt that we should know about it, so she swore us to secrecy about her telling us about it before

    she actually told us what she¡¯d just sworn us to secrecy about.¡±

    They all had to chuckle or giggle at that for a moment before Talia continued.

    ¡°Kragorram also knows, she told him too. But she most certainly doesn¡¯t want anyone else to

    know.

 Chapter 146

    Chapter 146

    Part 22

    ¡°In order to protect Karzog, Povon checks quite thoroughly to see if anyone else has figured it out, and

    so far no one has, with the possible exception of Quewanak. She can¡¯t check him without him knowing

    it, and knowing what she¡¯s checking for. It¡¯s quite likely that he¡¯s figured it out, but Povon is pretty sure

    that it¡¯s not the kind of thing he¡¯d care about, one way or the other. If anyone else starts to figure it out,

    Povon will probably tamper with their minds just enough to make them forget about it.

    ¡°It¡¯s no one¡¯s business but your own, but Povon felt, and we agree, that we still need to know what¡¯s

    going on in your lives so that we can do what we can to protect you, since you¡¯re all still our dependent

    children, and still a long way from adulthood. We wouldn¡¯t intrude on your privacy, but that doesn¡¯t

    mean that we¡¯re not going to be observant.¡±

    ¡°I understand.¡± Fire nodded, as Six and Val joined them on the sofa beside Mark and held hands.

    ¡°You all know that Six prophesized that he and I were each other¡¯s destined loves.¡± Val quietly stated. ¡°I

    was thest of us to know. Six told me thest time we were here, before the big brainstorming

    session. We haven¡¯t even spoken of it to each other since then, but the knowledge is always there,

    coloring my thoughts, always.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know if it would be smarter for us to try to defy the prophesy, but we¡¯re not going to. We don¡¯t

    want to. Besides, right now it doesn¡¯t make any real difference anyway, and it won¡¯t until we¡¯re old

    enough to want to consummate our love. Without sex, it doesn¡¯t really matter to the rest of the world if I

    love him as a friend, or as a brother, or as a husband. Or all three at once.

    ¡°But part of me really wishes we didn¡¯t have to keep it secret to avoid problems. I wish I could do as

    you will today, and dere our love to the world, but I know we¡¯ll never be able to have a real wedding.¡±

    ¡°Sure you will, same as me and Karz.¡± Fire assured her with a supportive caress on her shoulder. ¡°We¡¯ll

    just have to do it inplete disguise under assumed names in a very small gathering in a very remote

    and obscure ce. After the war we¡¯ll let ourselves fade from the public eye for a while first, and that¡¯ll

    help too.¡±

    ¡°Thanks.¡± Val smiled. ¡°But that¡¯s not the same as doing it here in Las chapel, and feeling the magic

    binding and the magic love that this ce adds to the marriage.¡±

    She looked to Six and held his eyes with hers. ¡°So today, at the same time that Mother is saying her

    Content (C) N?v/elDra/ma.Org.

    vows to Father, in my heart and in my mind, I¡¯ll be saying my vows to you. We should be close enough

    to them that the power released by their vows should cover ours, if such silent vows can even trigger

    the binding.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll do the same, as Father says his vows.¡± Six quietly assured her.

    ¡°As will Karz and I.¡± Fire decided.

    ¡°I think that would be beautiful.¡± Mark told them. ¡°But please, only do so if you¡¯re absolutely and

    ¡°Yes Father.¡± Six assured him. ¡°We fully realize the power and importance of such vows.¡±

    He tilted his head to the side a bit and said; ¡°Others are arriving.¡±

    Mark¡¯s grandfather Markhan the Third and his grandmother Sana were the first to join them a moment

    next seven minutes they were joined by Caria, Yazadril, Nemia, Hilsith, Dalia, Bezedil, Povon,

    Kragorram, Karzog, Sran, Equemev, Somonik, and six cousins and friends of Alilia from Heartwood.

    The Dragons assumed smaller Simcrums, but the room was still pleasantly full for a while. Then the

    bridesmaids and groomsmen left to take their ces on the dais.

    Eventually the chandelier chimed with a shimmering descending arpeggio from the centermost crystal

    outward to the perimeter, and an orchestra was heard outside beginning a stately piece with haunting

    harmonies.

    ¡°We should assume our formation.¡± Somonik dered. ¡°I believe that the correct order is myself as

    Master of The Ceremony, then the groom¡¯s party in the order of Mark, Markhan the Senior and Sana,

    then Six as best man. Then Talia¡¯s party; her, her parents, her maid of honor, then Alilia followed by

    Caria, then Val.

    When they were all lined up Somonik formally dered; ¡°We go forth with dignity.¡±, and led the way

    down the wide curving stairway within the red wood of the great tree. They moved across the great hall

    on the first floor, following Somonik until he stopped before the open double doors facing the aisle that

    led to the dais.

    They did so just as thest of the bridesmaids and groomsmen were making their way from the aisle to

    the third-highest tier of the dais. It was lucky that there was plenty of room on the dais. Kragorram and

    Povon assumed smaller Simcrums to make room, but Karzog, Sran, and Equemev did not, and

    they shared the third tier with eight elves. Karzog did sit up straight and wrap his tail around himself to

    conserve space.

    Once they were in ce, Somonik stepped forth into the aisle, then gracefully rose into the air and flew

    at a slow walking pace above the aisle, his simcrum''s three-meter wingspan slowly beating in time

    to the music. Above the center of the top tier of the dais he turned in the air, and alighted on the marble

    facing back down the aisle.

    Mark stepped forth, Markhan and Sana just behind him, Six in the center of the aisle behind them, and

    made their measured way to the dais and up to its second level, then around it to the left.

    Talia and her party followed, stepping gracefully in time to the music, then Alilia and her party.

    As Mark and his party waited for his brides to walk the hundred meters or so down the aisle, there was

    time to look about for a moment and to appreciate the decorations and the guests.

    It was perfectly twilight, bnced between light and dark. Mark wasn¡¯t sure what time it was here, but

    his suspicions that this was artificial were confirmed over theing hours, when the twilight failed to

    darken into night.

    All the decorations were a single great Illusion; the markings for the aisle, the trunks of the great

    redwood trees all around them up to where they were hidden by branches hundreds of meters up, and

    floating through the air between six and eighteen meters above them. All were flowering nts that

    seemed to be made of light itself, glowing and shining in every color of the rainbow, slowly but visibly

    growing and shrinking and blooming and changing all the time, each incredibly detailed and beautiful. It

    was breathtaking. Mark made a mental note to thank and congratte Caria about it.

    Around the perimeter of the gathering the ny-nine dragons who ruled Xervian Draconia lounged on

    the moss with their mates, then inward from them were the unicorns of The Senate of The People of

    Morning with their mates. The rulers of all the other nations of The Just Alliance were arranged in

    groups inward from there, in approximate order of size. Those who had been invited as personal family

    and friends of the brides and groom were closest to the dais. All were arrayed in their finery and

    formalwear, and they were an impressive group to behold. Officially, the rulers of The Sylvan Nation

    and Serminaki Draconia were present on the dais, but it was felt that those peoples shouldn¡¯t be

    and Kragorram¡¯s Serminaki assistants were also present with their escorts.

    Those who preferred it were seated infortable armchairs.

    Also present were the fourteen gods who represented their nations in The Assembly of The Just

    Alliance, though they were making an effort to not be noticed very much, in order to not distract from

    the proceedings. The leaders of The Hidden Nation were also in attendance, but Mark could detect no

    evidence of their presence.

    When all were in ce upon the dais Somonik red his wings for a moment, calling for silence as the

    orchestra stilled. He needed no magic enhancement to make his voice heard by all, but it was provided

    by the event staff anyway.

 Chapter 147

    Chapter 147

    Part 22

    ¡°Wee one and all, gracious people of every nation, to an event of great joy and importance. We

    are gathered here today in peace and harmony, in this most revered ce, to join three lives into one,

    and to join three hearts into one, with bonds and oaths of love and honor, proudly sworn in assembly to

    be witnessed by all.

    ¡°As these monarchs are united in love, so will their nations be united in peace, harmony, and co-

    operation.

    ¡°Who speaks for the bride Princess Alilia, Monarch of The People of Life?¡±

    Alilia stepped up to the top tier of the dais and nodded to Somonik, turned and regarded the gathering,

    then spoke.

    ¡°I am Princess Alilia. I speak for myself.

    ¡°While we were within the Hiliani time-bubble, I approached Mark to ask to bear his child. I had only

    ever had one child in all my long life, my beautiful son Prince Bezedil, and for a while I thought I had

    lost him. I yearned most powerfully for another child, but it seemed impossible. My marriage had failed,

    and perhaps my fertility as well.

    ¡°Yet the Healer Hilsith and the Midwife Yzell were both quite sure that if I were mated by Prince Mark, I

    would probably bear his child, and likely from our very first mating, so potent was his seed.

    ¡°And so I asked Mark to give me his child.¡±

    She paused and took a deep breath, and smiled at Mark, then at Talia.

    ¡°I swear all that is true, but I realize now that it was also merely an excuse. I was, and am, deeply in

    love with Prince Mark and Princess Talia, and I would have done anything to have their love, and to

    share their lives.

    ¡°They told me that if I could earn their love, I could bear Mark¡¯s child, and I thank all the powers that be

    that I was able to do so. For me, it¡¯s been almost eight years since then, and that entire time has been

    a whirlwind of joy and love.

    ¡°I have grown and changed so much since then, when I had thought I was beyond being capable of

    such fundamental change. My character has improved as much as my ability, and I can assure you all

    that I am far more capable as a wizard, a warrior, a strategist, and a monarch than I was when I

    entered the time-bubble with them.

    ¡°The love of our children has been a wonder of happiness that has enriched me beyond my imaginings.

    ¡°I have ruled The People of Life for over forty-seven centuries, and for much of that time the

    administration of my nation has upied my every waking thought. Yet I have been so captivated by

    my loving family that I never even considered what a proud and beneficial political alliance might be

    made for my people through my marriage to Mark and Talia, until my Regent Smogin spoke to me

    about it yesterday.

    ¡°And then I had to consider; putting my own feelings aside, will this alliance be good for my people?

    ¡°The fact is that Mark and Talia¡¯s character affect everything they do, and everything they control. They

    are fair, just, considerate, friendly, realistic, innovative, and brilliant. There is no doubt that these words

    also urately describe Hilia as a nation. With every passing day, these words increasingly describe

    Serminak and the nations of its people, since Mark came to rule over them.

    ¡°Who would have ever thought one year ago that these words could describe Serminak? But Mark and

    Talia change everyone and everything theye in contact with, including me, and they change

    everything for the better.¡±

    She paused for a long moment.

    ¡°During my reign my people had almost stagnated. Like every other nation, we were swept up in the

    wave of prosperity that has washed over the world in thest sixty years, as we all epted the use of

    magic in every aspect of our lives. But beyond that, life in thends of The People of Life had changed

    N?velDrama.Org content rights.

    very little over thest five thousand years.

    ¡°I have been shaken from my patterns of behavior and set on a better path since I put my life into

    Mark¡¯s hands, and the People of Life will be shaken from their patterns of behavior if we integrate our

    government with that of Hilia and Serminak. But we will all be better for it. We must embrace the

    unstoppable revolution that is sweeping Keran, and examine every aspect of our lifestyles. We must

    have the intelligence to recognize what is good and beneficial about our culture, and have the courage

    to cast aside what is outdated, even if it isforting in its familiarity.

    ¡°As yet, Mark and Talia have not given any of their attention to how The People of Life and theirnds

    are governed and administered. But with this marriage we are joined, and they will be an equal voice

    with mine in the affairs of The People of Life, as they have made me an equal voice in the affairs of

    Hilia and Serminak. They will learn everything of our nation, and they will have suggestions as to how

    we can improve, and I will almost certainly follow their suggestions.

    ¡°I am still the preferred choice of my people to govern them, and I ask them to continue to have faith in

    me, and in my judgment. Though we are giving up a measure of our independence, we will benefit. We

    will be more innovative, less traditional, and faster to respond to problems or opportunities.

    ¡°We are all allied within The Just Alliance, yet still almost every aspect of governance is controlled by

    the leadership of the national governments. Our national government is now joined with that of Hilia

    and Serminak. In the years ahead, our governments may be even more integrated, or not,

    depending on whether it seems beneficial at the time.

    ¡°But at this time, I ampletely confident in my decision. Let The People of Life be joined with The

    People of Hilia, as my life has been joined with Mark and Talia and our children. We will all benefit from

    this joining, so let all of us celebrate its formal deration.¡±

    She was warmly apuded as she stepped down, especially by the one hundred and twenty of her

    people she¡¯d invited as friends and family.

    Though Yazadril had been asked to speak for Talia, and Markhan the Third had been asked to speak

    for Mark, it was Nemia who stepped up to speak for Talia, and Sana who spoke for Mark. Both spoke

    simply and eloquently of the deep love that had grown and thrived among Mark, Talia, and Alilia on

    Hiliani.

    As Nemia exined, they had not had one single angry argument in the eight years they had been

    together. She gave her opinion that Alilia¡¯s long experience had been as valuable to the rtionship as

    Mark and Talia¡¯s youthful enthusiasm.

    Sana pointed out that their rtionship was a shining example of how love and good sense could

    conquerplex and unexpected problems with ease, and noted that though the three-way

    rtionship was unusual and against tradition, it was easily epted by the people of Hiliani, and by

    those of Hilia after they¡¯d emerged from the time-bubble.

    Both women spoke at length about what a fine parenting team Mark, Talia, and Alilia were, raising the

    most advanced, fast-developing, andplex children the world had ever seen, doing so with love and

    understanding, and producing fine young citizens who were as considerate and well-loved as they were

    brilliant and hard-working.

    When Sana had finished and stepped back to her ce, Mark stepped up and bowed to Somonik, and

    then to the gathering. ¡°I know it¡¯s not traditional for the groom to ask another to speak for him and then

    to speak for himself as well, but this asion calls for it.

    ¡°I presently rule three distinct nations; Hilia, whom I co-rule with Talia, Serminaki Draconia, and The

    Sylvan Nation. I have the final say on decisions made in those nations by internationally recognized

    been governing these nations co-operatively. I may have the deciding vote, but I never really need to

    cast it. We all put our thoughts into the mix, and the best thing to do usually seems pretty obvious to all

    of us.

 Chapter 148

    Chapter 148

    Part 22

    ¡°My family in this case includes my children, and Kragorram, who is my brother, and Povon, who is my

    sister. In my heart anyway. Their son Karzog, I was going to say he¡¯s like a nephew to me, but the fact

    is he spends so much time with my children that he feels more like a son to me than anything else.

    ¡°And my family in this case most definitely includes Princess Alilia, ruling monarch of The People of

    Life. Her brilliance, initiative, and vast experience have been a powerful and often deciding influence on

    us over thest eight years. We are vastly improved for having her in our lives.

    ¡°The chance to join our nations in a functional alliance is a wonderful opportunity. We haven¡¯t nned

    on making any immediate changes in the operations of our governments, but there¡¯s a lot we have to

    offer each other.

    ¡°Much of what I¡¯d like to see us do together will have to wait until after the war, but some of it bears

    mentioning now. The forests of Serminak haven¡¯t been taken care of very well, notpared to how

    we cared for Shinosa Valley when I grew up. Compared to the care that the forests of The People of

    Life get, the situation in Serminak can only be described as extreme negligence and abuse. I¡¯ll be

    asking The People of Life to assist us in restoring, re-growing, and improving the forests of Serminak,

    which are vast, but should be still more extensive. In it¡¯s natural state, Serminak was forested over

    three-fifths of its area. Now it¡¯s about one-fifth, and the fertility of the whole continent and the waters

    around it has been significantly reduced because of it. Most importantly; Serminak has been almost

    ¡°In return for this assistance with our forests, the nation of The People of life will be offerednd within

    Serminak. Elves are still a race with a very small poptionpared to the other humanoid races,

    and now that Yzell has solved the fertility problem, there¡¯s a good chance that your poption is going

    to expand rapidly. Serminak has plenty of room for you, and the improvements you can bring to the

    health and beauty and productivity of the continent makes it more than worth it to give you somend

    for your assistance. Let Serminak no longer be the only continent without a nation of elves.

    ¡°For today, let it be known that all citizens of The People of Life may also consider themselves to be

    citizens of Hilia, with all the rights that conveys. We invite you to visit, as many of you as the facilities

    on Hilia can amodate.

    ¡°After the time-bubble over Hiliani ends we¡¯ll be giving it the same treatment that Hilia got; as well as

    intensifying the forest, we¡¯ll be building homes and facilities hidden within the stone of the inds and

    in the ocean offshore. This will allow some of the many who wish to immigrate to the nation of Hilia to

    do so, our poption will rise, and we¡¯ll probably continue to expand after that in the same way. There

    are a lot of beautiful inds with few or no inhabitants that we could afford to buy. All will have racially

    mixed poptions, and enjoy the same qualities that make the ind of Hilia so popr today. I hope

    that many of our new immigrants wille from The People of Life.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± he finished with a bow, and stepped back to his ce on the second tier amidst the

    apuse of the audience.

    Somonik raised his hand and intoned; ¡°Let the brides and groom step forth, that they may be joined in

    matrimony.¡±

    Mark, Talia, and Alilia stepped up to the top tier before Somonik, stood in a triangle facing each other,

    and joined hands as Mark went to one knee. They shared a smile of thrilled anticipation as the magic of

    the chapel began to gather around them.

    ¡°Mark and Talia, you are already joined in marriage.¡± Somonik stated. ¡°The power of this ce is still

    strong in you. You may choose to renew your vows today, or you may not. I caution you; consider how

    much more of that power you may absorb, and the possible threat to your health that may result.¡±

    Mark and Talia shared a nce and a smile, and Talia said; ¡°There¡¯s no need for Mark and I to renew

    our vows.¡±

    ¡°Very well.¡± Somonik nodded.

    The gathering of magic around them was less intense than it had been at Mark¡¯s first wedding here.

    There were fewer in attendance within the chapel, and only a minority of them were elves. Many of

    those spectating outside the chapel were not elves as well. Still, it was an impressive disy to all who

    could detect it, and the power seemed to swirl around the dais in waves.

    ¡°Do you, Alilia, take this woman, Talia, to be your wife?¡± Somonik asked.

    ¡°I do.¡± Alilia replied with a loving smile, then she straightened a bit as she felt the magic of the chapel

    and the ambient magic of the elves flowing into her.

    ¡°Do you solemnly swear to love her with all your heart, to care for her children as they were your own,

    to care for her as best you are able, and to seek always to bring her happiness, for as long as you both

    shall live?¡±

    ¡°I do so swear.¡± Alilia stated, and absorbed the mighty influx of magic binding and love without letting it

    disturb herposure.

    ¡°ce the ring, which symbolizes love without end, upon her finger.¡± Somonik instructed. Val hurried to

    step up and produce a shining gold ring, handed it to Alilia with a giggle, and hurried back to watch

    Alilia ce it on Talia¡¯s finger.

    ¡°Do you, Alilia, take this man, Mark, to be your husband?¡± Somonik asked.

    ¡°I do.¡± she answered. She and her family could faintly feel it psionicly when Val and Fire silently said ¡®I

    do¡¯ to Six and Karzog at the same moment.

    ¡°Do you solemnly swear to love him with all your heart, and to strive to bear his children, and to care for

    him as best you are able, and to seek always to bring him happiness, for as long as you both shall

    live?¡±

    ¡°I do so swear.¡± Alilia stated out loud, and Val and Fire stated it silently. All of them took the magic influx

    without an outward sign.

    At Somonik¡¯s instruction Val produced another ring, which Alilia ced on Mark¡¯s finger.

    Talia took her vows to Alilia, and Fire was ready with the ring, then Mark took his vows to Alilia as Six

    and Karzog silently took their vows to Val and Fire. Each time the magic roiled around the dais, then

    flowed into them as they spoke the words. Six bore the ring that Mark slid onto Alilia¡¯s finger, then they

    looked to Somonik expectantly.

    ¡°And so let it be.¡± the ancient dragon intoned. ¡°Let all who are present bear witness, for I now

    pronounce you to be husband and wives.¡±

    As thest of the magic of the ceremony flowed into them, the three newlyweds kissed with giddy

    abandon. Everyone else in the wedding party produced flowers from the air and tossed them onto the

    kissing trio as the orchestra struck up a jaunty tune and everyone watching cheered and apuded.

    Then Mark picked up both hisughing brides, one in each arm, and carried them down the dais.

    Illusions of tables of every shape and size appeared all over the chapel floor, and as soon as those

    Content (C) N?v/elDra/ma.Org.

    near them had cleared the spaces they upied, real tables were Translocated in to rece the

    Illusions. They were already set andden with serving dishes, whose savory scents quickly permeated

    the great clearing.

    ¡°This is our table here.¡± Caria said as she pointed out a great ring-shaped table beside the dais with

    room for everyone in the wedding party. ¡°All the ces have ce cards, and chairs sized for

    whoever¡¯s seated there.¡±

    ¡°This feast isn¡¯t a minute too soon!¡± Mark dered as he took his seat. ¡°I¡¯m starved!¡±

    Talia and Alilia both promptly settled themselves in hisp, one perched on each of his huge thighs with

    their feet on the seat of his chair between his knees.

    ¡°Now my loves, as pleasant as it is to hold you like this, I won¡¯t be able to eat with you in the way, will

    I?¡± Mark chuckled as he caressed them both on their backs.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry big fe, we¡¯ll take care of that.¡± Talia giggled as she gave him a quick kiss, and Alilia

    happily started filling their tes and sses from the serving dishes.

 Chapter 149

    Chapter 149

    Part 22

    ¡°Here, let me get that for you My Princess.¡± one of her bridesmaids insisted with a smile, and

    Translocated into the open interior of the ring-shaped table to take over the serving.

    As soon as the first dish was served onto a te Talia began feeding it to Mark, and she and Alilia were

    to feed him and each other from all three of their tes indiscriminately.

    This left their two ces beside Mark unupied, and over the course of the reception many of the

    guests used them to join the head table for a few moments of congrattion and conversation.

    One of the first to do so was Amirgath, who appeared perched in Talia¡¯s chair to Mark¡¯s left in a small

    enough form to curl his tail around himself on the seat.

    ¡°Congrattions, and thank you for the invitation.¡± he stated as he poured himself a ss of whisky

    and swirled it with a very human-seeming manner.

    ¡°You¡¯re the leader of the nation that bears your name, and it¡¯s a state wedding.¡± Mark shrugged. ¡°My

    point was made thest time we spoke, and I¡¯m just as d to have you.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll want to try the honey-northberry elixir, it¡¯s exceptionally good.¡± Talia suggested with a giggle.

    ¡°Thank you, but that¡¯s a bit sweet for my tastes.¡± Amirgath replied, and tipped his ss back. ¡°Good

    whisky though.¡± he noted as he set the ss down, then vanished.

    ¡°Hmm.¡± Alilia smiled as she finished a bite of roast buffalo. ¡°That was very humble of him to appear in

    such a small size. I¡¯d say it was a gesture of reconciliation. You improve everyone you interact with, my

    handsome love, and the first of the dragon gods is not immune.¡±

    Mark could onlyugh, as Talia was about to ce the next bite in his mouth.

    About once a minute during the meal one or two or a few of their friends from Hiliani or Heartwood

    came by to offer a quick congrattion and a handshake or a hug or a kiss, and sometimes all three.

    Kragorram, Povon, Karzog, and Somonik snacked on honey-roasted boars from Felion as they lounged

    on the moss outside the circle of chairs around the head table. The spaces in the circle where their

    chairs would have been ced were wide enough for them to politely reach between for the thirty-six

    kilo tidbits that were automatically reced on their tters whenever they took one.

    ¡°Is this tter Reproducing these things, or are they being Translocated in?¡± Karzog wondered as he

    helped himself to his eighth, and prepared to wash it down with another cask of Stone Inds rum.

    ¡°Translocated.¡± Somonik told him around a bite of pork. ¡°Notice that they are quite uniform, but not

    identical. This is the third prepared dish that I have ever eaten in my long life that I truly enjoyed more

    than fresh raw prey. All three were first served to me within the past week, and all were from Felion.

    And they are nefarious! They tell you that they are merely snacks, but the damn things keep appearing

    and they are delicious, and before you know it you¡¯re so full that you¡¯re canceling your next hunt!¡±

    ¡°The entrepreneurs of the giants and gnomes have been working determinedly to try to find something

    they can sell to dragons, and they have found it!¡± Cariaughed. ¡°When I considered catering for

    dragons at this event, I initially thought I¡¯d have to contract some hunters to provide fresh prey. But

    while reading thetest market listings, there was an entry selling those ¡®Draconian Fine Dining¡¯

    tters, so I spoke to a woman in Felion who told me all about it.

    ¡°The entrepreneurs there have noted that most of the dragons of Xervia and the older ones on

    Serminak have umted vast wealth over their long lives, but they seldom buy anything. Almost all

    dragons still build their own dens, hunt their own food, supply their own long-distance travel, don¡¯t use

    furniture, prefer very durable and longsting goods, and tend to keep almost everything they¡¯ve ever

    owned.

    ¡°These Felioni spend great effort developing recipes that makemon Felion domestic animals

    especially ptable to dragons, and they¡¯re seeding. They have eleven fast-selling recipes so far,

    but found that most dragons still frown on the idea of prepared meals in general, and refused to try it.

    They would, however, consider a prepared snack, especially at mixed-race events. This is affecting the

    social lives of dragons to their benefit, since they can eat with other races without having to eat fresh

    prey, which most other races find disgusting. Those dragon snacks seem like they would be appetizing

    to any race that eats meat, even though they¡¯re not.¡±

    ¡°And here we are!¡± Povon chuckled. ¡°These are absolutely divine! You must tell me where to get

    these!¡±

    ¡°Here.¡± Caria said as she passed the contact information in a quick Speaking. ¡°They sell the tters for

    a very reasonable cost, they probably take a loss on them because each is equipped with a small

    Translocation ne and spells that sense when the item on it has been taken and triggers the

    Translocation of the next item from the great automated kitchens in Felion. When you¡¯re finished you

    simply turn the tter over. It self-cleans as soon as it¡¯s lifted, and cancels further iing items until

    you turn it upright again. Then they bill you for the items it¡¯s received, and you can get more items

    anytime; their kitchens are always running. That¡¯s where they make their real money, and why they can

    sell the tters so cheaply, though even the meat is very reasonable because it¡¯s sold in suchrge

    lots.

    ¡°They¡¯re keeping the recipes secret, and I¡¯ve heard they¡¯re only ptable to dragons.

    ¡°To be honest, I used the size and prestige of this wonderful event to negotiate a sizable discount on

    the regr price of the pork. From your reactions, I¡¯m sure it will turn out to be wise for them to have

    given it to me.¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡± Somonik mused as he helped himself to another roast boar. ¡°So often I¡¯m so busy that it¡¯s hard

    to find time to hunt. I don¡¯t eat as often or as well as I should, or so Grakonexikaldoron keeps telling

    me. These things could save me a lot of time. And they¡¯ve found a way to make the bones crunch up

    when you chew them with such a delightfully crispy texture.¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you keep that tter, Somonik?¡± Talia suggested. ¡°I¡¯m sure you can arrange with the

    vendors to have any of their recipes delivered to it.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, I most happily ept!¡± Somonikughed. ¡°But if Grakonexikaldoron starts toin that

    I¡¯m getting fat, I¡¯m sending her to you for the me!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll be fat together, old mate.¡± Grakonexikaldoron chuckled to him from across the clearing where

    she was dining with the others of The Ny-Nine. ¡°These things are addictively good! I¡¯m keeping my

    tter too! I¡¯m stealing it if I must!¡±

    ¡°That won¡¯t be necessary, Gran.¡± Mark chuckled. ¡°It¡¯s yours. Pass the word that any other Draconians

    here tonight that want to keep theirs can do so, our gift to you.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, I will!¡±

    ¡°Damn.¡± Somonik cursed with a contented grin as he leaned back and rubbed his bulging belly. ¡°Now

    we¡¯re going to have to find something to sell to Felion, or this will adversely affect our bnce of trade.¡±

    ¡°No doubt of it!¡± Kragorramughed as he reached for another. ¡°We don¡¯t want to have young dragons

    asking us in a millennium where all the Draconian wealth went, and have to tell them; ¡®Well see, there

    were these tasty little pig snacks¡­¡¯¡±

    That brought a heartyugh from everyone within earshot.

    When Karz was finished eating he stretched luxuriously, then touched Fire on her shoulder. ¡°Watch

    this.¡± he quietly murmured to her, then assumed a Simcrum. He appeared as an equatorial elf of

    about nine years of age, his skin, hair, and eyes werepletely ck, even the ¡®whites¡¯ of his eyes.

    The spiky straight ck hair of tropical elves was brushed smoothly back and down, and he was

    wearing the same Battle Wizard¡¯s outfit that she and her family wore.

    He Retrieved a chair and ced it beside her before his overturned tter, sat, lifted her hand and

    kissed it gently. She just stared at him and grinned, then rubbed his hand against her cheek. They

    leaned toward each other until their foreheads were almost touching and had a long, quiet, and private

    conversation that was punctuated with the asionalugh or giggle.

    Six and Val had been exhibiting this same behavior since the meal started, appearing intimate but not

    romantic.

    As they were lingering over desserts and tea, the rulers and ruling councilors began making their way

    N?velDrama.Org holds this content.

    over to offer their congrattions, sometimes singly but more often in groups of two to four, sometimes

    apanied by their spouses or escorts.

 Chapter 150

    Chapter 150

    Part 22

    Prince Jaromer of Thon and Princess Pimall of The Warm People came by for a few moments, during

    which Jaromer proposed a toast; ¡°To a long lifetime of love and happiness, and to having the biggest

    marker on the gameboard!¡±

    This brought a heartyugh to most at the table, but the children had to ess Talia¡¯s memory of her

    first wedding here before they got the reference.

    Osbald, Emeroth, and Senchak came to offer their well-wishes, then they took Yazadril aside for a

    private ten-minute consultation.

    There was music and dancing and disys of artistic magic, but most of the rulers spent their time in

    conversation, and they began saying their farewells only an hour after dinner.

    By the time another ny minutes had passed, only the closer of the friends and family remained,

    along with the wedding party, some one hundred in all. The atmosphere of the gathering rxed

    somewhat, and everyone who remained brought their chairs over to the head table, some sitting inside

    the ring, some outside the original circle of chairs.

    ¡°Did you know,¡± Dilimon asked as he waved a tankard of mead, ¡°I¡¯ve had reports that The Healing of

    Valentia prevents extreme drunkenness, hangovers, and alcoholism. But it doesn¡¯t prevent moderate to

    almost-extreme drunkenness, and I can testify to that right now!¡±

    N?velDrama.Org content rights.

    As augh went around at that, Six poked Karzog in the shoulder with a friendly bit of Force and said;

    ¡°Let¡¯s fight.¡±

    ¡°What, now?¡± Karzughed.

    ¡°Sure, up above the flowers.¡± Six grinned.

    ¡°Well I¡¯m sure not going to fight you in this elf Simcrum; I haven¡¯t even practiced in it.¡± Karz dered

    with a grin of his own. His teeth looked startlingly white against the otherwise unrelieved ckness of

    his confident face. ¡°But I¡¯ll go for swords and magic if you want.¡±

    ¡°Done!¡± Six called as he cast a glowing transparent yellow Challenge Sphere from eighteen to two

    hundred meters above the ground, filling much of the volume of the great clearing in the redwoods.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you think that cape will get in the way?¡± Karz teased as they Translocated to the center of the

    Sphere, he assumed his true form, and they Retrieved their sheathed swords.

    ¡°Naw.¡± Six chuckled as he drew both his sabres and swept them about with a few warm-up swings.

    ¡°This is a Battle Wizard¡¯s outfit, after all. They must have techniques to deal with it, so I can too.¡±

    ¡°The cape is there to help you blend into dark ces!¡± Alilia called up with augh. ¡°We generally take

    them off when we¡¯re dueling!¡±

    ¡°Well I think it makes me look dashing, so I¡¯m keeping it!¡± Sixughed as he flew around the sphere a

    bit, noting its angle of trail behind him.

    ¡°They¡¯re having an aerial sword fight? Six against Karzog?¡± Sana asked with a worried look as she

    noted Karzog warming up with a four meter short sword.

    ¡°Their regr swords, no other weapons, no armor.¡± Fire exined. ¡°Unlimited magic and Karz¡¯ fire are

    in, but no psionics.¡±

    ¡°So we can assume that Six¡¯s magic is good enough to counter Karzog¡¯s physical ability and fire?¡±

    Tithian asked.

    ¡°Sort of.¡± Valughed. ¡°Using magic makes the physical battle a lot more even, since they can both use

    Shielding to block swords as well as spells, and they can use magic to cast as attacks or to augment

    their sword strikes. And Karz is no slouch at the magic. It¡¯s not gonna be even though, it¡¯s gonna be

    chaotic. Either one could win or lose in a blink from a lucky or unexpected move.¡±

    ¡°Ready?¡± Karz asked as he finished his warm-up and brought his sword to bear as he flew slowly

    around just inside the perimeter of the sphere.

    ¡°Go!¡± Six called, then cast an attack as he Translocated.

    There followed a quick chase and counter-chase sequence of short and violent flight maneuvers full of

    sword-strikes and spell-casting interspersed with many sudden Translocations.

    zing spells were discharged in every direction, but were contained by the Challenge Sphere, which

    also contained thebatants on one asion when they collided with the inside surface at a

    ncing angle.

    The bout came to a sudden end when Karzog cut Six¡¯s leg off at mid-thigh. He immediately let his

    sword fall to the bottom of the sphere, snatched Six out of the air with his left hand and the separated

    leg with his right, and jammed them back together as Six screamed with a blood-curdling shriek.

    Mark saw a quick sh of magic around Six¡¯s leg as The Healing of Valentia did its work.

    Six caught his breath and rubbed his leg with both hands while Karzog Retrieved his sword and struck

    a proud pose in the air with it.

    ¡°And there is a winner!¡± the young ck dragon happily dered.

    ¡°If you used your psionics to detect where I was going to emerge, that¡¯s cheating.¡± Six grumped as he

    Retrieved his own swords and stretched.

    ¡°That would be no more the use of psionics as an attack or defense than your use of it to cast the

    Translocation in the first ce, and that¡¯s not what I did anyway.¡± Karz stated with a grin as Six

    dismissed the Sphere and they flew down to the table. ¡°Read me if you want. You let a pattern develop

    in your jumps. I anticipated you and momentarily put most of my power into the Cut spell on my sword,

    and swung at where I thought you were jumping to, and that was all there was to that!¡±

    ¡°Yah, good win.¡± Six admitted as he gave the dragon a friendly p on the shoulder. ¡°I¡¯ll have to watch

    that in the future.¡±

    ¡°Good fight!¡± Fire called as she pped and stood, and many others joined her in apuding.

    Talia popped over to Six and hugged him with one arm while rubbing his leg and casting Diagnostics on

    it with the other.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine, Mother.¡± he assured her with a smile.

    ¡°I know, but I wanted to check anyway.¡±

    ¡°Yah, I had to as well.¡± he admitted. ¡°I trust Val¡¯s spell, but still, that really hurt a lot.¡±

    ¡°You crazy kid!¡± sheughed in loving exasperation, and hugged him tight.

    ¡°You¡¯re growing like a weed.¡± she proudly noted as she stepped back with her hands on his shoulders.

    ¡°Soon you¡¯ll be taller than I am.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll take after Father that way, I think.¡± Six told her with a grin. ¡°Going byparisons to other children

    my age, I should be pretty tall. Maybe not as tall as Father, but taller than average for a human. Maybe

    as tall as a Sylvan. I¡¯m d Fire got the ck hair and not me, or I might end up being mistaken for

    one.¡±

    ¡°No one could ever mistake you for anything but your father¡¯s son.¡± Yazadril assured him. ¡°Even with

    your blond hair it¡¯s unmistakable, you take after him in so many ways, and the girls do almost as

    much.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m d you think so, but I see their mothers in them every minute I¡¯m with them.¡± Markughed.

    Val stood and raised her cup of tea. ¡°Here¡¯s to being astute in our choice of parents!¡± she called with a

    ¡°I¡¯ll drink to that!¡± Talia agreed with a warm smile for Yazadril and Nemia as she raised her ss, and

    everyone else joined them in a drink and augh.

    ¡°You don¡¯t really have liquor in there, do you?¡± one of the forest elf girls asked Val as she indicated her

    cup.

    ¡°No, we refrain from drinking as a mercy to our parents.¡± Val giggled. ¡°We already do a lot of things that

    most children don¡¯t, simply because they can¡¯t, like sparring with deadly force and ruling nations. Our

    parents are really good about it, but we know it has to be pretty strange for them, and they do worry.

    We figure that if we also did the things that children are actually forbidden to do, like drinking, even if

    we¡¯re sure we¡¯d be fine with it¡­ Well, we might make them get a little crazy about it.¡±

    ¡°And we most sincerely thank you for your consideration!¡± Aliliaughed as she swept her daughter up

    off her chair and into a twirling hug.

    ¡°Oh they¡¯re good little cubs now!¡± Bezedilughed, lounging with one arm around Dalia as she poured

    him another drink. ¡°It¡¯s a good thing they grew out of scaring the crap out of everyone all the time!¡±

    ¡°Hey, I haven¡¯t done that on purpose since I was five months old!¡± Fire protested.

    ¡°Yes, and thank all the gods for that!¡± Bezedil retorted with anotherugh. ¡°You scared a decade¡¯s life

    out of me when you did it to me! ¡°I¡¯ve never been that scared outside of warfare!¡±

 Chapter 151

    Chapter 151

    Part 22

    ¡°What, you were afraid of a five-month-old child?!¡± Gran asked.

    ¡°Four months old when she did it to me, if I remember correctly.¡± Bezedil said as he walked around and

    picked Fire up, and hugged her. ¡°But you have to understand, they were already as bright as ten-year-

    olds and incredibly powerful psionicists, and when a baby with incredible psionic power and a lot of

    talent for it wants to scare the crap out of you, she can, believe me!¡±

    ¡°And you were one of the least scared of all the people she did it to!¡± Sixughed. ¡°It was four years

    before Prince Reen could even look her in the face and smile!¡±

    ¡°So I was precocious as a baby.¡± Fireughed, and shrugged as she hugged Bezedil. ¡°I¡¯m adorable

    now, and that¡¯s all that matters.¡±

    ¡°Oh, you were adorable then too.¡± Sana assured her with a suitably adoring smile. ¡°Scary, but very

    adorable.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re still very adorable, and very scary.¡± Val teased.

    Nemia joined Talia and Alilia in Mark¡¯sp just long enough to hug the three of them, and dered to

    Val; ¡°Considering that your parents are still both scary and adorable, I consider it only natural that you

    cubs be the same!¡±

    ¡°This one is the adorable champion in our marriage.¡± Alilia teased as she pulled Talia over for a quick

    kiss, then spoke to her from ten centimeters away, holding her gaze with a smoky intensity. ¡°I wasn¡¯t

    that surprised that Mark could love me, even though he already had you. He¡¯s a man after all, and men

    are like that.

    ¡°But you. That you can love me so beautifully after what I did to you is amazing. And more amazing is

    that you were willing to share him with me, to share himpletely and whole-heartedly, without

    reservation. I doubt I could have done the same if I¡¯d had him first. You are the most loving and giving

    person I¡¯ve ever met, and I owe you everything. You¡¯re my hero.¡±

    She slowly drew Talia close for a far more involved kiss than thest one.

    Talia chuckled quietly as they drew apart. ¡°It was easy to share him with you.¡± she dered. ¡°I knew

    Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDra/ma.O(r)g!

    with certainty that he wouldn¡¯t love me one bit less, or give me one moment less of his love, if you

    shared your love with us. And he hasn¡¯t. On the contrary, he feels that I¡¯ve made a mighty sacrifice by

    allowing him to have you as well as me, and he loves having you as well as me, so he loves me even

    more because of it.¡±

    She chuckled again, low in her throat. ¡°As if it could ever be a sacrifice having you around. You¡¯re far

    too magnificent and beautiful and desirable for that. And you gave us Val, wonderful gift that she is.¡±

    ¡°Love is a wonderful thing.¡± Mark quietly rumbled. ¡°I love you both so much, and there¡¯s no doubt that

    I¡¯m also feeling a lot of the magic love of the binding of Las chapel.

    ¡°This was a really good idea.¡±

    ¡°It really was.¡± Alilia murmured as the three of them shared a close hug.

    ¡°So,¡± Somonik asked as he turned to Dalia and Bezedil. ¡°Will you be ready to be Prince and

    Princess Regent of The People of Life some six weeks hence?¡±

    ¡°Considering that it¡¯ll be some sixteen years of subjective time, I think we will!¡± Bezedil assured him.

    ¡°And to be honest, I won¡¯t mind returning to theparatively simple and predictable life we have there

    for a while before we be regent.¡±

    ¡°Yes, just a simple rural life.¡± Dalia grinned as she tickled him in his ribs. ¡°Feed the chickens, raise

    some kids, and battle simted demons three days out of five. Just rxing in paradise.¡±

    ¡°And now we¡¯ll have to find time to study as well!¡± Bezedilughed. ¡°But still, you love it as much as I,

    and it¡¯ll be hard to leave when the time-bubble ends again.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true.¡± she smiled, and kissed him. ¡°But I¡¯m looking forward to life in Heartwood as well, and I

    know you¡¯ll be d to be back.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true.¡± he smiled back, and kissed her again.

    ¡°I believe the time has almoste to bring this asion to a close.¡± Somonik observed. ¡°We are

    awash in romantic sentiment, and the newlyweds will soon want their privacy.¡±

    ¡°The newlyweds, and others.¡± Gran said with a rumbling chuckle as she sensuously coiled around him.

    ¡°Well then.¡± Mark said as he stood with his wives in his arms and set them on the table, then took their

    sses, gave them theirs, and raised his high.

    ¡°We¡¯d very much like to thank you foring. It¡¯s been wonderful in every respect, and it¡¯s always

    great to see all of you, and to spend time with you. We¡¯ll see you soon, and we hope you¡¯ll have a

    wonderful evening. Or morning, or whatever it is where you¡¯ll be going.¡±

    There began a long process of farewells and hugs thatsted almost half an hour.

    ¡°I would not trade this precious time with my son and my herd for anything.¡± Sran stated when he and

    Equemev took their turn for farewells. ¡°But it is unfortunate that the needs of unicorn colts, and their

    ipatibility with dragons, have distanced us from you somewhat.¡±

    ¡°We would much prefer that this time of separation be as brief as possible.¡± Equemev continued. ¡°So

    when you return to the Hiliani time-bubble tomorrow, we will be entering the time-bubble on the ins

    of Xervia, and joining a great many of our people there. Falgaroth assured us it would not be a

    problem.¡±

    ¡°When you emerge from the Hiliani time-bubble in five weeks of real time, we will emerge from the

    Xervian time-bubble with our grown son, who will be more than ready to begin to associate with the

    other races, including dragons.¡± Sran finished.

    ¡°Thank you, that¡¯s good thinking.¡± Mark told him as he hugged the big white unicorn around his neck,

    and Sran nuzzled his back.

    ¡°We also look forward to the end of this distance between us.¡± Talia assured them as she hugged

    Equemev. ¡°We¡¯ve missed you.¡± she added as she stepped back.

    ¡°Congrattions, dear Princess.¡± Equemev told Alilia as the two caressed.

    ¡°We¡¯ve missed you greatly as well.¡± Kragorram told Sran as the two gently bumped noses.

    When the unicorns were gone, Povon and Kragorram said their farewells.

    ¡°We¡¯ll see you tomorrow at Hiliani.¡± Povon said as they prepared to go, and asked Karzog; ¡°Are you

    ¡°Not tonight Mother.¡± he said as he resumed his elven Simcrum, then smiled as he hugged Fire with

    one arm. ¡°We¡¯ll be at Mark¡¯s house on Hiliani.¡±

    ¡°All right. We¡¯ll see you there in about eight hours.¡± Kragorram told him with a smile, then he and Povon

    were gone.

    That left just Mark, his wives and children, and Karz in elven guise.

    ¡°I assume you¡¯re going somewhere romantic for an evening of honeymooning?¡± Val teased as she

    hugged her mother goodbye.

    ¡°We are, though we haven¡¯t decided where yet.¡± Aliliaughed as she returned the hug.

    Talia nced around and confirmed that only the head table remained, and most of the items on it had

    already been discretely cleared by volunteers of The People of Life. She knew the table and it¡¯s

    remaining contents would be gone shortly after thest of the wedding party had left.

    ¡°You four take care.¡± she said as she hugged Six. ¡°I know you won¡¯t need anyone to watch over you.

    Just please, don¡¯t do anything that would require our attention.¡±

    ¡°We understand. It wouldn¡¯t do to be interrupted on your wedding night.¡± Fireughed as she rose up

    and hugged Mark around his neck.

    ¡°All right.¡± Mark grinned after thest of the hugs had been exchanged. He linked hands with Talia and

    Alilia, said; ¡°We love you, be good, and we¡¯ll see you in the morning.¡±, and Translocated the three of

    them.

    The four youngsters, left alone in Las chapel, just smiled at each other for a moment.

    Then Fire gently took Karz¡¯ hand and smiled at Six and Val. ¡°Come on.¡± she softly said as she led them

    to the top of the dais. They sat cross-legged in a tight circle in the exact center of Las chapel with

    their knees touching and their hands linked. They leaned forward till the sides of their foreheads were

    touching, Linked their minds, and sat for hours, silentlymuning and basking in the magic

    love.

 Chapter 152

    Chapter 152

    PART 23

    Mark emerged with his wives in windswept night, about two hundred meters in the air above a

    mountain valley. He augmented his vision a bit to see better in the darkness, making it seem twilight, so

    Talia and Alilia did too.

    ¡°I really want to spend the night in the master suite of The Living Pce in First Valley.¡± he quietly told

    them. ¡°I want to make love with both of you there, as Talia and I made love there on our wedding night.

    I made sure it was unupied and warned the manager that we wereing.

    ¡°But I wanted to do something else first. I hope it¡¯s okay.

    ¡°Right now I¡¯m stronger than I¡¯ve ever been, and filled with the confidence and contentment and love

    that I get from you. So I wanted to take a few minutes to do something I haven¡¯t had the courage to do.

    ¡°This is Shinosa Valley, where I grew up. Or rather it used to be. The new residents from Whiskers

    Delta have renamed it Whiskers Valley in honor of their lost home, and I don¡¯t me them for wanting

    to put what happened here in the past, and out of their minds.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t been here since all of my family died here.¡± he continued as he slowly flew with them above

    the valley to the west. ¡°I¡¯m surprised that it looks so much the same, at least from up here. There¡¯s a

    couple of new houses over there, and some new fencing, but hardly anything¡¯s changed. For some

    reason I thought it would have.¡±

    They continued slowly moving west, and he spoke asionally.

    ¡°I¡¯m d it¡¯s the middle of the night here now, I got lucky with that. It¡¯s about three hours after midnight,

    and I don¡¯t think anyone¡¯s about. We¡¯ll have to be careful not to wake up the dogs though.

    ¡°That¡¯s Jorman¡¯s mill right down there.

    ¡°And that house right there, that¡¯s where I grew up.¡±

    They quietly alighted on the path in front of the house, perhaps sixty meters away. He looked at the

    house for a minute, remembering, then led them up the path, west and climbing out of the valley.

    ¡°I used to know every one of these trees and every animal in this forest as well as a shepherd knows

    his sheep.¡± he mused, enjoying the familiar scents of the vibrant woond as they walked.

    After fourteen minutes of unhurried walking they came to a teau on the side of the mountain¡¯s lower

    slope, to the left of the path. It was a meadow with deep grass, a nice view of the valley, and perhaps a

    hundred gravestones, each with the grass for two and a half meters around them neatly trimmed to

    ankle height.

    Content (C) N?v/elDra/ma.Org.

    He cast a quick Knowing spell to find those he sought.

    Talia and Alilia walked silently with him among the graves, letting his mood run its course.

    He walked a meandering path through the cemetery, stopping here and there to gaze at the stone of

    someone he knew, silently paying his respects, and remembering.

    Hisposure held until he arrived at the grave of Marja Dobbim, aged thirteen years. He fell to his

    knees and broke into tears, and Talia and Alilia held him tight as he wept.

    Finally he rose, tears still streaming from his eyes, and moved to the graves of Markhan Reginus

    Longstrider the Fourth, his loving wife Helem, their children Steb and Shelvy.

    Mark slowlyy down with his face in the grass and wept with great wracking sobs, and his wivesy

    with him tofort him.

    Finally he rose to his knees, his grief spent, and gazed at the markers for minutes.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry to do this on our wedding night.¡± he quietly rumbled. ¡°I should have done it another time, but I

    couldn¡¯t bring myself toe here before tonight, and I wanted to before we¡­ Before the me that¡¯ll be

    in the time-bubble goes back in for another sixteen years.

    ¡°That¡¯s okay.¡± Talia assured him as she caressed his face. ¡°You needed to do this before you could truly

    move past it.¡±

    She and Alilia wiped away tears they¡¯d shed in empathy with him, which prompted him to wipe away

    his own.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± he said as he stood. ¡°But now I can move past it.

    ¡°And I hope you girls have something in mind to help me think of other things for the rest of the night.¡±

    ¡°Oh, we do!¡± Alilia giggled as she cast a quick spell to clean the tear tracks from their faces.

    ¡°Then we¡¯re off to the Living Pce.¡± he stated.

    But he gazed at the headstones for another long moment, and said; ¡°Goodbye.¡±

    Then Translocated himself and his loving wives to a happier ce.

    Seven hourster The Governors of Hiliani were enjoying a breakfast they¡¯d bought at Sana¡¯s Kitchen

    while perched on the branch of a tree high above Homestead. Karzog was still in the form of an elf.

    They¡¯d hardly spoken at all, though they asionally shared a thought.

    Karzog suddenly turned to Val and said; ¡°You need to love me, Valentia Longstrider.¡±

    ¡°Do I now?¡± sheughed, surprised enough to find the idea hrious. ¡°And why is that?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s obvious, isn¡¯t it?¡± Karzog chuckled. ¡°I¡¯ll always be with Fire. Fire will always be with Six. Six will

    always be with you. You and I are bound to them by love, and they¡¯re bound by a Link so profound they

    can¡¯t even turn it off. Sometimes I still think they really are only one mind.

    ¡°You and I are the weak link in the chain. We¡¯re always going to be together because of them, and

    we¡¯re all going to live a very long time. I¡¯m sure that if you don¡¯t love me a lot, we¡¯re bound to get on

    each other¡¯s nerves eventually.¡±

    ¡°True.¡± she agreed with a giggle. ¡°But why¡¯s the onus on me? Isn¡¯t it just as important that you love

    me?¡±

    ¡°I do love you Val.¡± he assured her with a warm smile. ¡°Not the same way I love Fire, but you¡¯re

    incredible and beautiful and I really like you a lot because you¡¯re sofortable to be with. I love you

    for your talent and your ferocity in battle, and your loyalty.¡±

    ¡°Silly dragon.¡± Valughed as she floated over and sat beside him, put an arm around his shoulders

    and kissed him on the cheek. ¡°Of course I love you. I¡¯ve known for certain since I was two that the four

    of us were always going to be an inseparable quartet. Since long before I knew about the prophesies

    and the destined loves. You¡¯re one of us, you¡¯re part of us, and you always will be.

    ¡°I love you because you¡¯re more fun to be around than anyone I know except my father. I love your big

    heart, and I love how you really don¡¯t mind that you have to try so hard to keep up with three humanoid

    brats who¡¯re a lot younger than you, and I love that you do try so hard. You¡¯re pretty incredible too, you

    know, and there¡¯s a very good chance that you¡¯ll surpass us at everything, eventually. And whether you

    do or you don¡¯t, there¡¯s the fact that almost no one else is even in our league. None of us are ever

    going to want to chum around with average people of any race for more than a few minutes at a time.

    ¡°Besides, those of us that owe some of our greatness to these two having changed our brains have to

    stick together.¡±

    She gave him another kiss on the cheek, and floated back over beside Six.

    ¡°I suppose that¡¯s true too.¡± Karzughed, and popped thest of his tart in his mouth.

    ¡°That¡¯s a pretty good trick.¡± Fire teased as she hugged him with one arm and swung her feet under the

    branch. ¡°I didn¡¯t think you could eat in a body made of textured Force and Illusions.¡±

    ¡°Thanks. I¡¯m practicing it so I can do it convincingly enough to fool people, in case I ever have to

    maintain a disguise as a humanoid.¡±

    ¡°What do you do with the food after you swallow it? And can you actually taste it?¡± Six asked around a

    mouthful of muffin.

    ¡°I can¡¯t taste it in this body. For a while I was Sending it to my dragon body¡¯s mouth in Serminak. I don¡¯t

    have enough concentration yet to actually have two bodies walking around and talking to people at the

    same time without using the Multiple Simultaneous Manifestations spell, but I can have that body chew

    and swallow at least while I¡¯m acting normal in this one.

 Chapter 153

    Chapter 153

    Part 23

    ¡°Anyway, I stopped doing that because humanoid food tastes like garbage in my dragon mouth. I¡¯ve

    Read Fire about it so I know it¡¯s not supposed to taste like that, but I can¡¯t think of a way to fix it, so I¡¯ve

    just been Sending it out to sea for the fishes to eat. I can always Read one of you for it if I really want to

    know what something¡¯s supposed to taste like.¡±

    ¡°Ingenious.¡± Six grinned. ¡°And by the way you crazy dragon, I love you too. You¡¯re the brother of my

    heart.¡±

    ¡°Brother of my heart.¡± Karz agreed with a grin as he reached over, and the two sped forearms in

    loving camaraderie.

    ¡°Good morning.¡± Mark psionicly called. ¡°Would you meet us in Backyard Valley please?¡±

    Rather than reply, the children just Translocated there.

    ¡°You¡¯re a bit early.¡± Sixmented as they met all five of their parents and exchanged hugs.

    ¡°I hope your wedding night went well?¡± Val giggled as she hugged her mother.

    ¡°Very, very well, thank you!¡± Mark dered, and blushed a bright pink as he remembered, and his

    wives merely giggled.

    ¡°But I wanted to get here early to be sure I had time to get the Manifestations spell down solid before

    everyone gets here.¡±

    ¡°Oh. Well here¡¯s the spell, let me run you through the parts.¡± Val said as she closed her eyes in

    concentration.

    ¡°Wow!¡± Mark marveled as he received her Link and the spell. ¡°That¡¯s a lot of spell!¡±

    ¡°You bet.¡± Fire proudly agreed. ¡°It¡¯s a god-level spell, and we sure could never have got it without the

    big brainstorm.¡±

    ¡°Okay, it¡¯s all automatic, you just use this initiator to start it and the rest of it casts itself, but I think it¡¯s

    better for you to understand everything it does first.¡± Val noted as she mentally indicated the

    reallyplete, it even includes your clothes and any mundane items you¡¯re wearing. This prompts

    you to decide where the copy of you is going to appear, and if it¡¯s not in your line of sight then you¡¯ll

    need a Translocation Reference for the location to be sure you have it exactly. This checks to make

    sure the volume where you¡¯ll appear is clear of solid material. This analyzes the area around there for

    about a kilometer in every direction, and farther if necessary, to find material to make the new you out

    of. This gathers the material out of the air, water and nts in that area. Remember, this isn¡¯t going to

    be a Simcrum made out of energy, this¡¯ll be a flesh-and blood copy of you. This actually makes the

    new you. This copies your mind into it. This little bit here tells the copy that it¡¯s a copy, it gives your

    copies a minor Compulsion to rejoin the original whenever it¡¯s practical, and it gives them a bad feeling

    if they ever think about not re-joining the original eventually. This sets up a Link between them to share

    memories when they sleep. This checks everything to make sure that the copy is exact, and cancels

    everything if something¡¯s gone wrong. This is the ending sequence, it does a final exchange of

    memories with the original and disperses the copy back into a very big volume around it as fine

    particles of basic material.

    ¡°Of course if you want you can just Link with yourself at any time to exchange memories or

    Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDra/ma.O(r)g!

    ¡°Wow.¡± he marveled again. ¡°Aplexpound automated spell made out ofplexpound

    automated spells. This is just staggering in itsplexity.¡±

    ¡°Thanks.¡± Fire smugly grinned.

    ¡°It won¡¯t matter in the time-bubble,¡± Mark mused, ¡°But you probably want to remember not to decide to

    make a copy of yourself out in the void somewhere. There¡¯d be no materials there to make the copy out

    of.¡±

    ¡°It would still work eventually, but it might take a few seconds, or even a few minutes if it was a really

    big, really empty volume of void.¡± Six told him. ¡°But the spell would just keep expanding the volume it

    was examining until it found enough materials. It¡¯d take a lot of power too, but that doesn¡¯t matter

    because the spell¡¯s self-powering; it casts it¡¯s own collection fields for the Source and the warlock¡¯s

    Source. If the void was a really long way from the sun or you were eclipsed by a big world, that would

    also add a lot of extra time for power collection. But the basic materials that we¡¯re made out of are

    actually prettymon among all the stuff that¡¯s floating around out there.¡±

    ¡°Wow. That really is just amazing.¡± Povon marveled as she followed what they were thinking.

    ¡°Remember,¡± Val cautioned, ¡°If you make one copy of yourself I can guarantee that they¡¯ll be exactly

    identical as far as any examination could tell. I¡¯m pretty sure the gods couldn¡¯t tell them apart, except

    for the part that tells the copy that it¡¯s a copy.

    ¡°But one of the rules of reality is; nothing is absolutely perfect. Down in the tiny parts of the tiny parts of

    the tiniest parts of you, there¡¯s bound to be some tiny w. So if the copy of you made a copy of you

    who made another copy of you, and they kept going, eventually something will go wrong as the ws

    umte. I¡¯m pretty confident that you¡¯d have to copy the copies thousands of times before there

    was a noticeable difference, but who knows? It could happen from as few as ten repetitions. So make

    as many copies of the original as you want, but not copies of copies.¡±

    ¡°I doubt I can even learn that spell exactly enough to rely on it.¡± Kragorrammented. ¡°It may cast

    itself, but you still need to memorize it.¡±

    ¡°And just as well that it¡¯s so difficult.¡± Povon dered. ¡°Several of theponents are extremely

    dangerous. For instance, the part that disperses the copy is basically a frightening Disintegration spell,

    and there¡¯s no reason why it couldn¡¯t be used separately by those who are capable of doing so. Luckily,

    there¡¯s probably no more than forty spell-casters who could do it.

    ¡°And if any of you ever even think about putting any spell of that level into an item in castable form, I

    will personally spank you.¡±

    ¡°Yes Mother.¡± Karzog replied with just a trace of a bemused smile.

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll give it a try.¡± Mark decided as he mentally rehearsed it one more time. ¡°If everything goes

    fine, I¡¯ll give it to you girls to try.¡± he added to his wives.

    He concentrated a moment, and then there were two of him.

    They both looked at each other and simultaneously stated; ¡°Damn this is just too¡­¡± They both paused,

    chuckled identically, and continued together; ¡°Strange. I suppose we could both stand here saying; ¡®Go

    ahead, no you go ahead¡¯, but this seems to have worked, and I have to end this before I lose my

    marbles.¡±

    The copy of him disappeared, and he shook his head. ¡°Too weird.¡± he dered.

    ¡°Well done, Father.¡± Val told him. ¡°I couldn¡¯t have done that any better myself. And it was brave of you

    to try such aplex, untested spell.

    ¡°Thanks.¡± he chuckled.

    ¡°All rightdies, here you go.¡± he said as he Set the spell into Talia and Alilia¡¯s minds.

    ¡°Well, I shall most definitely decide before casting that my original will speak, and my copy will defer.¡±

    Alilia dered with augh, and cast.

    She stared at herself for a moment, and the original of her dered; ¡°You are entirely correct. This is

    too damn strange indeed. But it seems to work just fine.¡±

    Her copy disappeared just as Talia¡¯s appeared.

    ¡°Yup, strange as a three-headed cat, but working fine.¡± she reported as she stared at herself, then

    dismissed her copy.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Mark decided. ¡°Since the me that¡¯ll be here will be making copies of me and the me that¡¯s

    outside the time-bubble won¡¯t, I¡¯ll leave my original here when they close the bubble and send a copy of

    me to Hilia to carry on in the outside world.¡±

    ¡°Then we¡¯ll do the same.¡± Talia agreed, and told her children; ¡°We¡¯ll meet you at the cottage after the

    bubble closes.¡±

    ¡°I tell you, I¡¯m never going to make a copy of me in the same ce again, it¡¯s just too weird¡± Mark

    dered. ¡°Especially after you re-integrate and you¡¯re left with two memories of what just happened

    with two slightly different points of view. From now on I¡¯ll only make copies of me somewhere out of

    sight of the original.¡±

    ¡°Good thinking.¡± Alilia agreed. ¡°I found it rather disconcerting as well.¡±

 Chapter 154

    Chapter 154

    Part 23

    No one spoke for a moment, then Val asked her mother; ¡°Are you and father going to have more

    children in the time-bubble?¡±

    Aliliaughed and nced and Mark and Talia for confirmation before she answered. ¡°No. Mark¡¯s new

    children have to be raised in the time-bubble, and you three have to remain outside, and there¡¯s

    nothing we can do about that. But it¡¯s sad that you¡¯re going to have dozens of new brothers and sisters

    and you¡¯re not going to be able to be there with them as they grow up. We didn¡¯t choose to have them

    and we¡¯re making the best of it, but we¡¯re certainly not going to do that to you again on purpose.¡±

    ¡°Besides, you three have turned out to be a lot more than we expected in almost every way except the

    number of problems we¡¯ve had with you.¡± Mark chuckled. ¡°Even though you¡¯re far more self-sufficient

    than other kids, there¡¯s still been times when raising you has been all that we could handle.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure raising the new forty-four of them is going to be all that we can handle too, even with copies of

    me and all the Volunteers to help raise them. But¡­¡±

    He paused and raised a strong Privacy Shield around them. ¡°But I think it¡¯s obvious that you kids are a

    product of three very strong bloodlines, and that¡¯s why you¡¯re so incredibly exceptional. The Volunteers

    are all fine young elves, and many of them are exceptional in various ways, but by any objective

    assessment none of them are in the same league as your mother and Talia. I therefore don¡¯t expect my

    children with them to be quite as exceptional as you. And as a parent I¡¯m d of that, because with

    forty-four of them I¡¯m sure there¡¯ll be no shortage of challenges already.

    ¡°But to choose to have more like you while raising the forty-four of them inside a time-bubble? No

    thanks, that¡¯s more than any sensible man would take on no matter how many copies he made.

    ¡°Believe me, your mothers and I definitely will have more children together, but it¡¯ll definitely be after

    you and the forty-four are all fully grown.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Fire teased. ¡°We¡¯re fully grown enough to take care of ourselves now, why not have more when

    youe out of the bubble?¡±

    ¡°Maybe you can take care of yourselves now,¡± Talia assured her, ¡°But you¡¯re still seven years old, and

    there¡¯s no doubt that you¡¯ve no more finished maturing and developing and fulfilling your potential than

    any others your age. Like most parents, I¡¯m not looking forward to your puberty, and your uniqueness

    increases the chance that you¡¯ll have unique problems and challenges as you mature and develop.

    ¡°After you¡¯re at least thirty or so we might have more, when we¡¯ll have more time and attention

    avable and we¡¯ll have the lessons learned from raising you to go by.

    ¡°Now it¡¯s time to go. Everyone¡¯s meeting on the beach again.¡±

    ¡°Please, allow me.¡± Karz said as he Resumed his dragon form, and Translocated the entire group to

    Homestead beach. He had to bring them in high since the beach was already fairly crowded.

    ¡°Good one.¡± Fire told him with a grin as a space was cleared below them.

    ¡°Thanks, that¡¯s the most I¡¯ve ever jumped, by weight anyway.¡± Karz told her with a grin as they alighted.

    All the residents of Hiliani were gathered on the beach, both those who were staying outside and those

    who were remaining in the time-bubble, along with friends and family who were there to see them off,

    so to speak. They were joined by those who would be going into the bubble for the first time, including

    a team of about a hundred of almost every race who would work with Hilsith on adapting the longevity

    and magic-use spell to the non-mammalian races. A few from the aquatic races were swimming around

    in the air among those on the beach or above the water, and a few were already checking out the

    neighborhood below the surface. Also immigrating were a few dozen Sylvan who had been invited to

    join those on Hiliani for the purpose of bringing new blood to the long-isted tribe.

    ¡°I notice Theramin and Yzell and their children aren¡¯t here.¡± Mark noted.

    ¡°No, they decided to go back to The Nine Valleys.¡± Talia told him. ¡°Besides, Yzell will be busy for weeks

    supervising the casting of her fertility spell on every elven female. By the time we emerge from the

    bubble, I estimate some one and a half million elven women will be pregnant.¡±

    ¡°Wow! That¡¯s almost all of them!¡± Mark said with raised eyebrows.

    ¡°Yes, and many will choose to have twins.¡± she nodded. ¡°Too often has our poption been decimated

    by war. This time, we¡¯re doing what we can beforehand.¡±

    ¡°So are we.¡± Fireughed. ¡°Though not of our choice, there¡¯s now a lot less chance that the poption

    of warlocks will be decimated by war than there was before the Volunteers got pregnant. Where there

    was four, there¡¯ll be forty-eight. That¡¯s assuming they all inherit Father¡¯s power like we did, but I¡¯m

    pretty sure they will.¡±

    Falgaroth, Visinniria, Amirgath, and an unfamiliar Sylvan god appeared above them.

    N?velDrama.Org holds this content.

    ¡°Fifteen minutes until we close the time-bubble.¡± Visinniria announced, as every Hiliani Sylvan went

    down on their hands and knees.

    The Sylvan god raised his hand and spoke in Blezogeth. ¡°My people, The People of Stealth, I tell you

    that I was unprepared for the initial casting of the time-bubble by the other gods. It was not my intent to

    leave you for so long, with barely a farewell and without preparing you to deal with those you were

    trapped on these inds with. It was lucky that the situation was resolved without your extermination or

    the extermination of the neers you were enclosed with.

    ¡°As they told you, and as the other gods have impressed upon me, our world faces vast changes and

    formidable enemies. I have seen that we ignored the world around us for too long, and the time has

    ¡°Know that I therefore approve of the changes and co-operation that has taken ce here since I left.

    Know as well that I have formed binding agreements with the other gods ensuring peace between us,

    and pledged my efforts and those of my people to the defense of Keran.

    ¡°But know that I have not joined the consensus of the gods, I did not agree to the terms of The

    Withdrawal, I have not sworn on The Truthstone of Falgaroth, nor have we joined The Just Alliance. I

    am still your god, my religion is still intact, I expect its conventions to continue to be observed among

    you, and you are still mine. I am still pledged to your protection.

    ¡°As you continue the new training that has been introduced among you, know that I expect you to also

    continue the training and practices that I have given you, the training and practices that have made you

    the stealthiest people on Keran. If not for the fluke development of a new kind of psionic mind within

    the time-bubble with you while I was trapped outside, all of us would still remainpletely unknown to

    everyone else.

    ¡°When the time-bubble ends again I will have new training for you, training I have developed with the

    Gods of Hiding of Keran and of The Triax, the Gods of War of The Southernmost and of The

    Kwetkerthok, and one of the Gods of War of The Triax.

    ¡°When you havepleted that new training, you will be the stealthiest fighters in any arena; in the air,

    onnd, in caverns, on water, under water, and in the void! When Keran has need of the stealthiest

    fighters for the trickiest missions, I intend that we will be chosen for those missions!

    ¡°For millennia we remained unseen by any god or mortal, and if I had not been forcibly separated from

    you we would still remain unseen. If we had chosen to go forth from here and kill, we would have done

    so unseen. I often considered taking you forth to kill Zarkog, but thisnd was good, and there was no

    need for us to return to Serminak. It wasn¡¯t worth the risk that we would lose the secret of our

    existence, which is now lost. That thousands of Sylvan and a god could remainpletely hidden and

    unknown to all the other gods for so long shows that we are the champions of stealthcraft. We will

    continue to remain the undisputed champions of stealthcraft, as a people and as fighters, but now all

    will know the truth of it.

 Chapter 155

    Chapter 155

    Part 23

    ¡°For now, continue as you have; continue to develop your stealth warfare, continue to train to fight the

    demons with the military ways of these neers, seek always to do both together. Also, breed. Bear

    and raise as many children as is practical. Be ready to begin the training I will give you when the time-

    bubble ends.

    ¡°Know that I am proud of you, andmitted to the responsibility of my leadership over you.

    ¡°Rise, and I will bestow my Blessing upon you.¡±

    His people stood and closed their eyes as he held forth his hand, and every one of them felt himy his

    hand on their head, felt his mind touch theirs, felt his power active within them.

    He considered the Sylvan neers, and spoke in Common. ¡°You Serminaki seek to join my people,

    but you are sworn to The Just Alliance on The Truthstone of Falgaroth. I know it was not your choice to

    do so.

    ¡°If you will swear your allegiance to me and ept me as your god, andmit to keeping the ways of

    my people, you can join us. I will promise to nevermand you to act in conflict with the vows you¡¯ve

    already sworn. If you will not do these things, I will not allow you to remain on these inds when the

    time-bubble resumes.¡±

    He considered Mark and his family, and said with a scowl; ¡°If any here choose to act against me in any

    of these matters, I am released from my agreements with the other gods, and there will be a conflict

    here today. I have been caught by the other gods, but I wasn¡¯t trying to kill any of them at the time. If

    there is conflict here today, I willy waste to those who oppose me, and then I will take my people and

    be gone before any here can strike against me. Any who choose to pursue us will die, be they god or

    mortal.¡±

    ¡°Stop.¡± Mark psioniclymanded his children and Karz, who were already fully Linked and Shielded

    and were preparing thousands of attack spells. His grim look said that he expected their obedience.

    They let their spells fade, but were obviously unhappy about it.

    Mark turned to the gathered Sylvan and called; ¡°You Sylvan neers; are there any of you who both

    refuse to swear allegiance to The Sylvan God of Stealth and take his people¡¯s ways, and who insist on

    staying here anyway? If you refuse to swear and you¡¯re willing to leave, raise one hand, if you refuse to

    swear and insist on staying, raise both hands.¡±

    None of them raised a hand.

    ¡°All right.¡± Mark said to The God of Stealth. ¡°I respect that you and your people were living here and not

    bothering anyone before we came here. I¡¯m grateful that you told them not to interfere with us before

    you left. I understand that you were forcibly separated from your people, then hunted down and

    detained by the other gods, and probably had to make agreements with them under duress, even

    though you¡¯vemitted no crime nor offended against anyone.

    ¡°So I certainly understand why you¡¯re in a snarly mood. There¡¯s no reason for any conflict here today.

    ¡°We¡¯ve done our best to be fair to the Sylvan here, and to help them be ready to face the demons when

    the timees. There¡¯s no doubt that they¡¯re far more capable soldiers now than they were. We¡¯ve

    ended the wasteful killing of the young without conflicting with their Sylvan nature, and they genuinely

    prefer their new lifestyles. They¡¯ve made agreements with us that ensure the peace between us. We

    anticipate that their poption will grow faster than Homestead¡¯s, so we¡¯ve allocated the surface of

    most of the inds to their use, on which they will have control over who lives where, and they have

    the right to exclude us from living there if they so choose. Your people¡¯s dwellings are very natural and

    well camouged into thendscape, and they will be the only constructions allowed on the surface,

    which will be left in its natural state, with the exception of the Homestead settlement. We have left your

    people the power of self-administration, and we returned militarymand of them to their elders once

    their initial training waspleted, under my overallmand.

    ¡°This entire situation came about because you made a few mistakes. You should have anticipated that

    others woulde here eventually, and you should have anticipated that Zarkog wouldn¡¯t be able to

    defeat the rest of the world. Because of those, you should have registered your people¡¯s ownership of

    these inds with the other governments of the world. Then I wouldn¡¯t have bought this ce from the

    legal owners, and paid a considerable sum as well I might add, and we would never havee here.

    ¡°As things stand, we had no idea that anyone lived here when we came here, and I legally rule these

    inds. I see no conflict between your people living under my rule and them continuing to worship you

    Content (C) N?v/elDra/ma.Org.

    and ept your divine leadership.

    ¡°I ept you as their militarymander, and if you check with us before you mobilize them for any

    mission or training, we¡¯ll make sure that they¡¯re released from any responsibilities or duties to us while

    they do so. I agree that they¡¯re by far the best stealth warfare unit of their size in the world, and I think

    it¡¯s a good idea for you to continue to develop that capability to deal with the present circumstances.

    Considering how good you all were already onnd, and who you¡¯ve got helping to develop your new

    training, I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll seed in your goal of soon being the best stealth unit in any environment. If

    you seed in conducting stealth warfare against the demons in those environments, you¡¯ll have our

    eternal gratitude and appreciation.

    ¡°I know you may not want many more Sylvan joining your people and your religion, and you probably

    don¡¯t want any from the other races doing so. An aggressive expansion of your religion would ce

    you in direct conflict with the other gods over their unanimous stricture against religion on Keran. A

    lot of them are going to be upset over these few dozen who¡¯ll swear to you today, but as long as you

    limit them to the Sylvan who live on Hiliani, I doubt it¡¯ll really be a problem.

    ¡°But I think you really should consider finding the stealthiest warriors of every race and recruiting them

    to your militarymand, which doesn¡¯t have to be limited to your people. In The Just Alliance,

    the bestmander and trainer of stealth warfare. You should have all the best stealth warriors under

    yourmand when you engage in a mission. They can be released back to their regr units when

    they¡¯re not engaged in training or missions with you.

    ¡°So far, the engagement between your people and mine has been of benefit to all concerned.

    ¡°But know this; I am not giving up my rule of these inds. After the time-bubble ends, the situation on

    the surface of Hiliani will continue as it is now, but the whole ce is going to get the Hilia treatment.

    We¡¯ll be building a city for tens of millions here, all hidden within the stone of the inds and in the

    waters offshore.

    ¡°And if you disagree with any of that, you can take your people elsewhere, or we can have a conflict

    right here and right now. The first thing I¡¯ll do is make many of us into gods, and we¡¯ll see if you can do

    anything about it before I¡¯m done. Then you¡¯ll have us to contend with, along with the pantheons of

    Keran and The Triax, and the militaries of Serminak.¡±

    The Sylvan god considered Mark¡¯s right hand with a raised eyebrow. The hand hung at Mark¡¯s side

    tightly gripping the Truthstone with the Godspell in it. Little sparks of crackling blue light were leaking

    out from between his fingers, as the Godspell was on the verge of being cast.

    ¡°I respect your position.¡± the Sylvan god stated. ¡°There need be no conflict between us.¡±

    He turned and stretched out his hand again, contacted the minds of his new Sylvan, got their silent and

    instant vow of allegiance, and gave them his Blessing.

    Then he was gone.

    ¡°Four minutes until the time-bubble is cast.¡± Visinniria announced.

 Chapter 156

    Chapter 156

    Part 23

    ¡°Listen.¡± Talia said as she went to one knee before her children and put her hands on Fire and Six¡¯s

    shoulders. ¡°Just before the time-bubble is cast, we¡¯ll cast our copies on Hilia. And I know that we¡¯ll be

    with you while the time-bubble runs. But the us that¡¯ll be in the time-bubble won¡¯t be able to see you for

    years, and I know that¡¯s going to be really hard on us. Only the knowledge that it¡¯ll only be a short time

    for you and that we¡¯ll regain the memories of that time after the bubble ends gives me the courage to

    do this.

    ¡°So give me a big hug, and I¡¯ll take a really good Reading of you to remember while I¡¯m away from

    you.¡±

    She hugged them with desperate affection while she Read them, and Mark and Alilia did the same, and

    they continued until all three of them had hugged and Read all four children and Povon and Kragorram

    as well.

    ¡°We¡¯ll miss you. And you won¡¯t miss us.¡± Aliliaughed with a tear in her eye as she hugged and Read

    Povon.

    ¡°True, but I¡¯m sure you won¡¯t miss us much, what with all the little ones keeping you busy.¡± Povon

    teased as she released Alilia.

    As those who would stay and those who would leave separated into two groups Mark asked Visinniria;

    ¡°Let us know when there¡¯s five seconds to go?¡± and she nodded.

    When she gave that warning, Mark, Talia, and Alilia cast the Multiple Simultaneous Manifestations spell

    to create their copies on Hilia, and called; ¡°It worked, we¡¯re on Hilia, we love you, take care!¡±

    Amirgath Translocated everyone who was leaving to their preferred destinations just a fraction of a

    second before the bubble was cast.

    N?velDrama.Org content rights.

    PART 24

    ¡°That was different.¡± Valmented, even as she and her siblings rushed to their parents on the patio

    of their cottage on Hilia and hugged them. ¡°When Amirgath jumped us here, there was no perceptible

    time of transition, and no quick sh of cold. We were just suddenly here.¡±

    ¡°Yah, but that¡¯s not as weird as hugging our parents while feeling like we just left them for a long time.¡±

    Firemented with a tear in her eye.

    ¡°You¡¯re sure right Mother.¡± Six told her. ¡°The exceptional really have unique problems. I¡¯m sure no one

    ever felt quite like this before.¡±

    They all had to chuckle a little at that.

    ¡°Does it bother you, knowing that you¡¯re a copy?¡± Kragorram asked Mark.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think of it that way.¡± Mark shrugged. ¡°I know this body is a copy, but it doesn¡¯t bother me

    because there¡¯s only one me, one mind with one soul. I just have two bodies right now, and I don¡¯t

    know what I¡¯m doing in my other body because we¡¯re separated by the time-bubble.

    ¡°Most of the time when you use the Manifestations spell you¡¯ll be able to know what you¡¯re doing in

    your other body any time you wanted, which would reduce the tendency to think of it as two separate

    selves. This is just a unique circumstance, and I don¡¯t feel any less me than I ever have, even knowing

    this body is the copy.¡±

    ¡°I feel exactly the same.¡± Talia said, as she and Alilia nodded.

    ¡°You know something?¡± Six quietly asked. ¡°You¡¯re right. We can take care of ourselves, but we¡¯re still

    only seven. We should have just gone back in the time-bubble with you, it wouldn¡¯t have been that bad,

    and it would have saved you a lot of trouble. But we really don¡¯t have the discipline yet to make that

    kind of a self-sacrifice. Now that I¡¯ve be psionicly aware of the full world around me, I¡¯d risk my life

    in battle before I¡¯d go into istion like that again.

    ¡°If we really were capable of acting as adults, we would have insisted that you just go in the time-

    bubble without us. It would only have been six weeks without you. Lots of children go on vacations that

    long without their parents, to visit their grandparents or whatever, and they deal with it. We¡¯d have had

    Povon and Kragorram and Sheramiv and all The Atoned and lots of people to keep uspany, and

    we have lots to do. Real adults could do it easy.

    ¡°But I couldn¡¯t even bring myself to suggest it. The thought of spending six weeks without you was

    simply unbearable.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m d.¡± Mark chuckled as he hugged the boy. ¡°I¡¯m d you¡¯re not done with being our children that

    way, because we¡¯re sure not done with being your parents that way. As wonderful as it¡¯s been, I still

    want the full eighteen years of raising you. I¡¯d want the fulfillment of it, even if you didn¡¯t need it.¡±

    ¡°Eighteen?!¡± Alilia eximed with mock-rm. ¡°I¡¯d feel cheated with only eighteen years! I don¡¯t care

    how fast you develop, I¡¯m still an elf, and I need the full thirty-two years of raising my children that every

    elven parent deserves!¡±

    ¡°Yes Mother!¡± Val, Fire, and Six all dutifully responded, then giggled together.

    ¡°I imagine you¡¯ll need the full eighty years of raising me that all dragon parents deserve?¡± Karz asked

    his parents with a grin.

    ¡°We¡¯re not sure.¡± Povon told him with a smile and an affectionate grip on his shoulder. ¡°Ask us again

    when you¡¯re seventy-nine.¡±

    Everyoneughed at that a bit before there was a moment of silence, then Fire dered; ¡°In the

    meantime, I think we should go over the ns for the big joint exercise with The Triax. I mean for our

    militaries to be as proficient as any force in it, and I¡¯m sure you all feel the same. We should make sure

    we have the npletely memorized and that we¡¯repletely prepared for it, then make sure that

    the rest of our forces can say the same, starting with the generals and ending with the privates and

    support corps.

    ¡°I agree.¡± Mark stated enthusiastically as he retrieved the n¡¯s charts and Revealings that they¡¯d been

    given. ¡°We have less than a week, and I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll find a use for every minute of it.

    ¡°Sheramiv?¡±

    She appeared and immediately asked; ¡°Yes, my Prince?¡±

    ¡°Please prepare a status report on the Hilian military¡¯s state of readiness to participate in the Triax Joint

    Exercise.¡±

    ¡°Yes, My Prince. I¡¯ll consult with ourmanders and have it for you in about eight minutes.¡±

    He nodded as she disappeared. ¡°Povon, Kragorram, Fire, Alilia, please obtain status reports on your

    people¡¯s readiness for the exercise. Then we¡¯ll work on improving it by having a full-scale exercise of

    our own, or maybe more than one. We have a week to get ready, after all.¡±

    They simply nodded as they contacted subordinates, and Mark spread the first chart on the paving and

    held the corners down with Force.

    ¡°Now, like the gods have been doing with their training exercises, this one will be held in the void on the

    opposite side of the sun from where the demons are, to hide what we¡¯re doing from them. Every nation

    will deploy one quarter of their forces¡­¡±

    ¡°You guys go ahead with that.¡± Val said as she closed her eyes in concentration. ¡°I¡¯m going to work on

    automating Hilsith¡¯s Transformation spell and Yzell¡¯s fertility spell. They¡¯re wasting too much time

    casting them on everyone. And I think I can add another level of automation to the ship-building in

    Serminak.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll help you with that, then you can help me review the war preparations of The People of Life.¡± Alilia

    suggested.

    ¡°Sure.¡± Val smiled.

    And they all settled down to work.

    In two days they held a training exercise on the moon Deh and in the void close to it, involving all the

    forces of Hilia, The People of Life, and the Sylvan and dragons of Serminak. Mark had overall

    Kragorram who led their dragons, and their children who led the Sylvan.

    The enemy were some six billion simted greater and lesser demons and a few dozen DemonLords,

    all run by four gods and seventeen mortal senior strategists andmanders.

    The exercise was held on the side of the moon opposite the distant but quickly approaching demons, to

    hide it from their detection.

    In the exercise¡¯s scenario the enemy was already well dug into the surface of the moon by the time

    they were discovered, and had excavated an extensive maze of deep bunkers, tunnels, and surface

    attack ports. The goals of the exercise were to re-capture the moon and exterminate the enemy, with

    the exception of ten to twenty-five prisoners who were to be captured for the purpose of interrogation,

    all within six hours.

 Chapter 157

    Chapter 157

    Part 24

    At the beginning of the engagement, hundreds of millions of demons had seemingly erupted out of the

    surface of the moon, and had been countered by a few hundred Strike Wizards, each wielding the

    power of millions and protected by Shields powered by millions more. The battle in the void went

    entirely against the demons, who couldn¡¯t counter the concentration of power and automated spells

    they were attacked with, not even bolstered by the firepowering from their many attack ports on

    the moon. But once the demons retreated inside their tunnels they gained the advantage.

    The vastness of thebyrinthine tunnelwork and the exercise¡¯s time limit meant that Mark¡¯s forces

    had to split up into toons and check every nook and cranny, and the searching battle was

    was a vicious, chaotic battle that required careful psionic co-ordination via the Command Link to wage

    sessfully, and without being tricked by the demons into attacking their own fighters.

    They seeded, but barely. Only one in thirty-four of their forces remained active at the end, and

    everyone in Mark¡¯s family except Fire had been ¡®killed¡¯, but all the enemy were eliminated except for

    eleven prisoners.

    They gathered all of their forces on the surface of Deh, over four and a half billion strong, and

    reviewed the exercise together. Debriefing, analysis, and discussion were all conducted over their

    Command Link beginning at the toon level, then proceeding to evaluation ofpanies and

    brigades, and finally culminating in the judgment of the entire exercise.

    Then they received the evaluation of the gods and strategists who had run the simted demons.

    ¡°Well done.¡± Mark told his gathered forces. ¡°This exercise was designed to make us fail. It was

    expected by the organizers that there would still be almost a billion demons left when all of us were

    dead, based on your results in training and previous exercises. Today we fought more effectively than

    Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDra/ma.O(r)g!

    we ever have before, about a third better in fact, and I thank you all for your incredible effort.

    ¡°Return to base.¡±

    Each unit Translocated back to their own bases, and Mark¡¯s family went to the patio of the cottage on

    Hilia.

    Talia immediately cast a dome of Weather Protection over the whole yard, since a tremendous

    rainstorm with gale-force winds was blowing over Hilia at the time. They¡¯d already been soaked in the

    second before she cast it, so they all cast to dry themselves.

    A momentter they were joined by Pakdag, God of War of the humans of the ins of Debivin, who

    had led the team that ran the demons in that day¡¯s exercise. He appeared as a man about two hundred

    and fifteen centimeters tall with bushy ck hair and beard, dark eyes and olive skin, equipped with

    bronze arms and armor of a very ancient style, and was letting his aura of divinity be obvious.

    ¡°I wanted to congratte you all in person.¡± he stated in a heavily-ented and gravely voice. ¡°Your

    forces fought incredibly well. They are extremely motivated and superbly well-trained. Your universal

    use of The Healing of Valentia has made you all very hard to kill, and before its introduction, we would

    never have expected you to stand one-on-one with the demons that you faced. You rooted out an

    entrenched enemy while facing a numerical disadvantage of three to four.

    ¡°But you here now were phenomenal. Had there not been DemonLords among your enemies, I¡¯m sure

    none of you would have fallen. Youmanded your forces as well in the void as I¡¯ve seen it done on

    Keran, which is quite impressive since youmanded from the field, in the midst of close battle and

    personalbat. In addition, your personal prowess was decisive. Half of the unexpected

    improvement in your forces¡¯ performance was due to you nine, and your use of automated, self-

    replicating attack spells. You nine have been given abinedbat effectiveness score of six

    hundred and forty million.

    ¡°You realize that such a score means that you nine are judged to be capable of matching six hundred

    and forty million recently-promoted Smingan Journeyman Battle Wizards.

    ¡°Even more impressive is the fact that most of the power of you nine was wielded by Mark and his

    children. It seems obvious that only you four are capable of increasing the volume of your magic-

    collection fields, or of casting such fields in other locations, or of using them to make your automated

    attack spells self-powering. It seems it is an ability that is unique to warlocks, as is the nature and

    intensity of your power. Each of you has been given scores of over one hundred and fifty million.

    ¡°You children were obviously not jesting when you said that you had power to rival the gods.

    ¡°I look forward to the joint Hilian-Xervian exercise in two days.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Pakdag.¡± Mark said with a grin, speaking for all of them. ¡°It was very courteous of you to

    The war god smiled and said; ¡°Perhaps, but I wanted to meet you, and I¡¯m d I have.

    ¡°Be well and strong.¡± he finished, and with that he was gone.

    ¡°Well, I have been given the lowest score among us.¡± Talia stated in amazement. ¡°But at one million,

    nine hundred and fifty thousand, it seems even mine must surely be an exaggeration!¡±

    ¡°Not at all!¡± Aliliaughed as she Summoned an armchair and flopped into it. ¡°We cast an automated

    self-replicating attack spell, and it goes out and kills demons until it runs out of power, and they¡¯re pretty

    damn power-efficient. Meanwhile we turn our attention elsewhere, and it¡¯s easy to not notice how many

    demons the spell kills while we¡¯re not watching it. But you killed millions of demons today, my love, and

    you were still fighting an hour after I was dead, and you fully deserve your score. You were

    Magnificent.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, but you only died before me because you were less cautious and more aggressive, and you

    were targeted by a lot more demons than me.¡±

    Alilia shrugged, then stretched. ¡°I haven¡¯t led my people in battle in a long time, not even in an

    exercise, and it felt damn good. I might have been a bit too fired-up, but I wanted to be inspiring.¡±

    ¡°You were.¡± Mark assured her. ¡°And it wasn¡¯t that long ago since you led them at The Battle for

    Zarkog¡¯s Lair.¡±

    ¡°True, but it seems like it was.¡± Alilia responded. ¡°And thest time before that was over seven hundred

    years ago.¡±

    ¡°I think Fire deserves some extra congrattions.¡± Povon proudly opined. ¡°One of the few survivors,

    andmander of the final stage of the battle and the clean-up. Well, done, child.¡±

    ¡°Thanks.¡± Fire nodded, her eyes unfocused as she thought back on it. ¡°I was just lucky though. My

    units were on the verge of being overwhelmed a few times, and we just barely managed to squeak out

    of it every time.¡±

    ¡°Thanks to your amazing fighting andmand skills.¡± Karz teased.

    ¡°And the fierce will of the Sylvan units I wasmanding.¡± Fire nodded.

    ¡°Do you think Pakdag was right?¡± Kragorram asked Mark. ¡°Do you think only warlocks can manipte

    collection fields?¡±

    ¡°He may be.¡± Povon nodded as Mark shrugged. ¡°I can do almost everything that they can do, and I can

    still do a few Draconian things that they can¡¯t, but I can¡¯t manipte my collection field because I can¡¯t

    detect it, or anyone else¡¯s either.¡±

    ¡°Same as the rest of us.¡± Alilia agreed. ¡°We can¡¯t manipte what we can¡¯t detect. We¡¯ve all been

    Linked with Mark and the kids when they do it; they seem to just shift their focus a bit and there it is,

    now that they¡¯ve practiced it. I can see and feel how they do it, but it just doesn¡¯t work for me.¡±

    ¡°Hey Sweets, are you working again already?¡± Mark asked Val, seeing her expression of concentration

    and her unfocused gaze.

    ¡°Yup. Now that I¡¯ve automated Yzell¡¯s Fertility and Hilsith¡¯s Transformation, it seems the next problem is

    the training of the billions of new wizards. So I¡¯m working on what will be my mostplex spell yet;

    Valentia¡¯s Magic Education. It¡¯ll train every new wizard up to Journeyman level, as fast as they can

    learn it, starting with what they need to contribute their power to a Command Link. I¡¯ll be working on it

    for a week at least, and if I hadn¡¯te up with the Spell Compiler it¡¯d be impossible.¡±

 Chapter 158

    Chapter 158

    Part 24

    ¡°A week?¡± Karz asked in surprise. ¡°And your mostplex spell? Now you¡¯ve got me intrigued. I mean,

    I could find a good magic teacher and take a Reading of his entire course to Journeyman level, then

    distribute it. It wouldn¡¯t take that long and it wouldn¡¯t be thatplex, except for the sheer volume of

    the information. So you must really be making something special.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, I am.¡± Val smiled, closing her eyes to preserve enough concentration to converse without

    losing her train of thought on the project. ¡°At the core of it is my magic instruction course, and I think I¡¯m

    a pretty good teacher, at least when the subject is magic. But it has every method of teaching, including

    direct psionic cement, and it constantly Reads the student and adapts to their individual traits.

    ¡°If a student has the required iftent psionic talent, the magic talent, the intelligence, and the mental

    capacity, the spell will simply Link with them and shove the entire education into their brains in a chunk.

    But I did a quick psionic survey among the new wizards, and that level of talent is pretty rare.

    ¡°If they have no direct psionic learning capability at all, the spell will provide them with every other form

    of learning; Readings and Revealings of lectures and demonstrations, Speakings with just the spoken

    voice so they can just listen while they ride a horse or whatever, parchment scrolls and charts and

    diagrams. And every part of the education will be avable in all those forms. Luckily, apleteck

    of direct psionic learning capability is also pretty rare among the new wizards, but even those can take

    a Speaking or a Reading and review it until they¡¯ve learned it. And they¡¯re susceptible to basic psionics

    to increase their concentration and their motivation, so that¡¯s in there too.

    ¡°Most of ¡®em will get abination of direct psionic and conventional teaching, and like I say, the spell

    monitors them and adapts to their needs; it¡¯s patient when they need it and hurries them when it¡¯s

    practical, and it focuses on their strengths and directs them into their most productive specialties within

    general magic use. They¡¯ll all learn as fast as it¡¯s possible for them to learn, given their individual traits.

    ¡°With the educational systems that were in ce only a year ago in real time, it took an average of

    twelve years of magic education to produce a Journeyman wizard. I figure this spell will take an

    average of one year and two months.

    ¡°Then, once I¡¯ve got all that, I¡¯ve got to make a tranted version in everynguage spoken by all the

    students. No one really learns well in a secondnguage or through a Trantion spell, so they all

    need it in their native tongue. I¡¯m getting help with the tranting; even the best Trantion spells

    Content (C) N?v/elDra/ma.Org.

    aren¡¯t as good as an expert trantor, and the ones I¡¯m getting are all Journeyman wizards at least, so

    they know the material as well as thenguages. I found that I¡¯ve been so dependant on Trantion

    spells my whole life that I¡¯m really no good at actually learning othernguages, even with magic

    assistance.

    ¡°Of course it¡¯s all self-powered and self-replicating, and it¡¯ll seek out every magic user who isn¡¯t as

    good as a Smingan Journeyman and teach them until they are, unless they tantly refuse it.¡±

    ¡°Damn. That¡¯s good.¡± Mark stated, visibly impressed. ¡°You know, after you¡¯re done that, you should

    make another one to teach the first twelve years of the basic schooling in reading, writing, arithmetic,

    history, and the rules of reality. You could call it Valentia¡¯s General Education.¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± Val grinned, eyes still closed. ¡°I¡¯d put another billion or so people out of work, but I¡¯ve already

    reced most people¡¯s jobs anyway, so why not? I¡¯m just d I won¡¯t have to be the one who rebuilds

    the economy after the war.¡±

    ¡°The economy after the war will be unrecognizable from the one that existed a year ago.¡± Alilia

    dered. ¡°Trade will be vastly reduced, as people will no longer need to trade for goods and services

    that they can provide themselves. Any Journeyman wizard can provide their own food and shelter and

    other necessities by themselves, from scratch if necessary, and do the same for a hundred others.

    Trade will be limited to luxuries, entertainments, tourism, and the products of specialized knowledge. I

    expect the world will be a paradise. Largely thanks to you, my brilliant daughter.¡±

    ¡°Not just me!¡± Val giggled. ¡°Without what I¡¯ve learned from all of you I couldn¡¯t do any of this. I didn¡¯t

    invent more than a tenth of the sub-spells and techniques I use; Fire and Six came up with more than

    half of them. I just put it all together.¡±

    ¡°But your creativity is your own, dear sister.¡± Fire told her with a one-armed hug. ¡°You¡¯re the one that

    thought of making the Work spell and the Healing and the Education, and you invented the Compiler,

    which makes what you¡¯re doing now practical. Paradise won¡¯t be entirely due to you, that¡¯s true, but

    Alilia¡¯s right in that you will bergely responsible for it.¡±

    ¡°Thanks.¡± Val smiled. ¡°Now stop distracting me, I¡¯m trying to work.¡±

    Two dayster they took part in an exercise hosted by the Xervian Draconians involving all of Xervia¡¯s

    races¡¯ forces and all of those under Mark¡¯smand.

    Themand meeting where they received the briefing on the exercise was held in The Valley of The

    Senate, where the government of the unicorns met, a stunningly beautiful little grassy vale with dozens

    of burbling clear streams and scattered great trees on the high ins of Xervia that remained in a

    of meetings held there by the most powerful of unicorns had imbued it with a powerful and stately aura.

    It was also highly spelled, having enchantments cast upon it to do everything from ensuring the health

    of the turf despite the traffic it bore, to ensuring the privacy of the meetings held there when that was

    desired, to Warding the ce from attack.

    A circle of grass eighteen meters wide was left open in the center of the gathering.

    Mark¡¯s family stood on one side with their General Staffs of the four nations they led, but without Val,

    who had begged off to work on her Education spell. Opposite them were gathered themanders of

    the Xervian dragons, the unicorns, the gargoyles, and the few Selkies who were rated for void warfare.

    ording to thetest ratings, the entire gathering represented more than two-thirds of the military

    power of the mortals of Keran.

    Pakdag appeared in the center of the open circle and posed proudly for a moment, his divinity almost

    shining around him, somewhat ostentatiously Mark thought. He cast a model of a gray sphere with

    glowing yellow dots marked on it, and spoke briskly. ¡°Your task is to defend these twelve bases that the

    Xervian Draconians have built on the moon Blenda against a force of demons for eight hours. You must

    retain possession of them at the end of that time to be judged minimally sessful.

    ¡°In the scenario that this exercise is based on, all of the Draconian bases on Blenda would be involved.

    Strategically, the demons must hold the moons or keep them unupied before they can attack

    Keran with impunity. Holding the high ground is still as crucial as it was when we fought over the

    possession of tiny hills. This exercise is limited to these twelve bases and this volume of void in order

    to hide it from possible detection by the demons.¡±

    He outlined the boundaries on his model in glowing blue and gave them a moment to record it.

    ¡°The exercise begins in thirty minutes.

    ¡°Good fortune.¡± he wished them, and was gone.

    Tithian instantly recreated his map in a Revealing above the clearing, butrger and with more detail.

    ¡°Note; there is room inside those twelve bases for one hundred thousand dragons at most.¡± a Xervian

    copper dragon stated. ¡°That is only a small portion of the forces we bring to bear. Some of us will have

    to entrench on the surface of Blenda, but there is only time for a minority of us to do so before the

    demons attack. The rest of us will have to fight exposed in the void.

    ¡°What level of concentration of power shall we use?¡±

 Chapter 159

    Chapter 159

    Part 24

    ¡°The Hilian forces had good sess fighting in open void in theirst bout.¡± Grakonexikaldoron pointed

    out. ¡°They used three hundred and twelve attack wizards in the initial stage of it, and that seemed close

    to an optimum number to deal with the magnitude of the enemy they faced. It gave them more than

    enough eyes on the scene, and enough variety of attacks to keep the demons scrambling, while being

    few enough that their support corps could keep their Shields almost impregnable.

    ¡°It was a higher concentration of power than we used in the joint Xervian exercise yesterday, and it was

    measurably more effective.

    ¡°However, in both of those cases the magnitude of the enemy was known. All we were told today was

    that we would face ¡®a force of demons¡¯. Those operating the recentrge-scale exercises have tended

    to try to make the exercises almost impossible, ording to their most recent evaluations of us. And

    since they have fresh evaluations of both our forces from the exercises we¡¯ve fought within thest

    three days, we can¡¯t expect them to underestimate us again.

    ¡°Today, we can expect the exercise to truly be almost impossible.¡±

    ¡°Look, the whole thing is a fool¡¯s errand.¡± Six stated as he Translocated into the center of the clearing.

    ¡°It was worth it for the demons to defend their base on Deh in our exercise because they¡¯d dug

    warrens for more than six billion of them. They¡¯d invested a lot to build them, and they were extensive

    enough and deep enough to provide effective cover for almost their entire force.

    ¡°In this situation, some of us or all of us are going to get trapped on the surface with insufficient cover,

    and a big force of demons are going to have the high ground against us. The demons are often sneaky

    in how they attack, ording to the Triax battle records that I¡¯ve reviewed, but they¡¯ve got no need to

    be sneaky now, and I very much doubt they¡¯ll hold anything in reserve today. They¡¯ll throw everything

    they¡¯ve got into it in hopes of a quick, overwhelming victory.

    ¡°I say we fill the bases with as many of us as we can send as Simcrums in the time we have. They¡¯ll

    be bait, but they¡¯re just Simcrums. As long as those in them are protected against bacsh when

    the Simcrums are destroyed, none of us get hurt, and we can just re-cast them whenever they get

    overwhelmed. We¡¯ll also put one or a few real Strike wizards in each base to channel all our power

    through. Their task will be to put up a convincing fight and kill a lot of demons while drawing all of the

    demons in as close to the bases as possible without beingpletely overwhelmed. Then we nt

    hidden destructive measures, enough to destroy the entire area, and abandon the bases, taking

    everything of value. We let the demons upy them and get packed in tight around them, then blow

    the bases and attack from without with everything we¡¯ve got to mop up, while we¡¯ve got the high ground

    and they¡¯ll be trapped against the surface. Even if they abandon the surface and fight us in the void,

    that¡¯s still better than having them above us. If the rest of it goes well we¡¯ll only be mopping up anyway,

    and it should be no problem to kill them all.

    ¡°If we can aplish that much in seven hours, with the amount of help we have avable today, we¡¯ll

    have enough time in the exercise¡¯s remaining hour to rebuild the twelve bases and restore the surface

    of the moon.

    ¡°Then we win.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll vote for that.¡± Povon announced after a short pause.

    ¡°As will I.¡± Somonik agreed.

    ¡°And I.¡± Mark nodded.

    ¡°And I. We havemand consensus.¡± Tithian stated.

    ¡°We¡¯ll help with casting Simcrums, we¡¯re getting pretty good at it.¡± Fire offered.

    ¡°You will, and you and your father and brother will be our Strike Wizards at these three most critical of

    the forts.¡± Somonik decided as he indicated the three spots on the map. ¡°If your sister was with us she

    would be most useful, but the importance of her work excuses her.¡±

    In another four minutes everyone¡¯s ce in the n was decided, and they began to fill the forts with

    Simcrums.

    In the minutes before the exercise began, Mark toured the twelve forts, considering each of them most

    carefully with all his concentrated awareness, and magically augmenting his memorization of their

    construction and contents.

    ¡°What was that all about?¡± Kragorram asked in the final expectant seconds, as Mark took up his station

    above the central fort.

    ¡°Just some insurance.¡± Mark chuckled in reply.

    As it turned out, it was a valuable precaution. Almost every member of the Xervian forces were

    extremely formidable, and while there were only about a billion of them they were bolstered by the

    Drawn power of The Hidden Nation. They wielded power almost equal to Mark¡¯s forces, almost

    doubling the power of the Kerani taking part over their previous exercises.

    But the enemy was more than twice as numerous as Mark¡¯s forces had faced in their previous war

    game. Worse, the greater demons were almost half the enemy force, rather than a tenth as they¡¯d been

    thest time, and there were hundreds of DemonLords, rather than dozens. In total, they wielded eight

    times the power of the horde Mark hadst faced.

    Six¡¯s n worked as well as could be expected. They held the forts as long as they could, killing

    demons by the tens of millions, and with the upation of the forts by the demons and their

    subsequent destruction, only half the demon force survived. In the final minutes of the exercise they¡¯d

    lost only twenty-seven Strike Wizards as well as innumerable Simcrums, but there were still over

    three billion greater and lesser demons and most of the DemonLords remaining, all of whom had

    abandoned the moon to fight in open void. The six hundred or so Kerani Strike Wizards had to

    Translocate randomly and constantly to avoid bing englobed.

    In the very final minute Mark cast his ¡®insurance¡¯. He expanded his collection field to thousands of

    kilometers wide and cast a simple but supremely powerful Restore spell on the destroyed forts. There

    was just enough time to upy them with a few hundred personnel each before the exercise ended.

    The simted demons both living and dead vanished as time expired.

    Mark quickly checked with the organizers, then called to everyone in the Command Link; ¡°We are

    triumphant!¡±

    He was answered by the mighty cheering of the victorious billions; a thunderous psionic shouting in the

    silent void.

    Far less than a thousand of them had been physically present at the battle, but they were all called up

    to the surface of Blenda to see for themselves the devastation around the newly-Restored forts before

    Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDra/ma.O(r)g!

    the area was cleaned up, to get a feel for the ce where they¡¯d battled remotely, and to take part in

    the debriefing and evaluations.

    Once that was done, those who had attended themand meeting before the exercise were called

    back to The Valley of The Senate by Pakdag.

    ¡°That was an impressive demonstration.¡± the war god stated, but both his gravelly voice and his grim

    expression showed that he was displeased.

    ¡°We won¡¯t hold your literal interpretation of your objectives against you. Though you did not hold the

    forts for the entire exercise, it could indeed be said that you held them at the end. More importantly, if

    this exercise had been a battle, the demons would have obviously fled or been in to thest,

    eventually. You were steadily devastating them in the closing minutes.

    ¡°You slew over nine billion greater and lesser demons and thirty-four DemonLords while sustaining

    losses of only twenty-seven personnel, and without divine assistance. That is a far greater achievement

    than we expected of you. It seems the probability of our victory over the demons grows greater every

    day.

    ¡°But less than seven hundred of you actually took part in the battle. And while your use of Simcrums

    was brilliant, fighting as a Simcrum is not the same as being present in the thick of warfare. It

    doesn¡¯t train your forces¡¯ courage and determination to as great an extent, since all those who fight that

    way arefortable and safe from harm, and only a few million took part in even that limited

    manner.

 Chapter 160

    Chapter 160

    Part 24

    ¡°The true purpose of the exercise was not toplete the objectives, it was to train your fighters to

    wage war as a cohesive force and to prepare them for the horrors of the warfare we will face. In that

    respect, we all failed today, both we who organized and operated the exercise, and you who

    Command Link, and the experience was of little value to them as training.¡±

    He paused as he glowered about the gathering, seeming to meet every eye, then continued. ¡°The joint

    Triax-Kerani training exercise scheduled for two days from now has been postponed. The gods of

    The Triax and a few of their people have beening to Keran quite often recently, so it sometimes

    seems that they are nearly here already. Their sixteen world-craft are approaching us at tremendous

    speed, but the fact remains they are still very far away, and that it would still require almost six more

    years before they would arrive within the moon system of Keran. That is where they feel they need to

    be for their mortals to truly assist in the defense of Keran.

    N?velDrama.Org holds this content.

    ¡°Soon after we began working together, we of the Pantheon of Keran suggested that they might

    Translocate their entire force here. Their gods say that they had never considered Translocating so

    much so far. They are capable of it, but such a feat would leave them dangerously drained and

    vulnerable for days until they recovered. We of Keran have proposed to assist them with this, but

    they are nervous about such a co-operative effort, particrly their mortals. This is understandable, for

    if any of their world-craft are rendered unusable, there is not enough room for itsplement aboard

    their other craft, and their nearest survivable habitat is a Triax outpost in a star-system very distant

    from here. If they lose a mother-ship, they lose almost everyone aboard her. The operation has been

    repeatedly postponed, until all of them and all of us can bepletely certain of its safety.

    ¡°Thus, the joint exercise with them has also been postponed for at least a week.

    ¡°You can make good use of the time. Bring the other nations of Keran up to pace with yours, and be

    prepared to have them participate in the next exercise.

    ¡°Until we have a method of testing you that trains all of your forces at once, instead of merely training

    most of them to be nothing more than batteries, fighters withbat effectiveness scores greater than

    five thousand will not fight in exercises with the rest of your forces, nor will power-sharing or remote-

    ¡°Those of you with scores greater than five thousand can participate in the next general exercise as

    fight remotely with Simcrums and other methods, will be tested in separate exercises.

    ¡°Those with scores greater than one million will be invited to train with the gods.

    ¡°Know that when all further exercises are held, the individual behavior of the simted demons you will

    face will be run by the gods of The Triax, and they will co-operate with us inmanding them. In our

    war with the demons we fought them for more than fifty years, but the Triax have been at it for eons.

    We have to grant that they know a long stride more than we do about how demons fight, and their

    knowledge of the subject is some seven million years more up-to-date than ours. Their assessment of

    our efforts is that our simted demons show the same offensive capability as real demons, and

    they¡¯ve helped us be more urate in that respect, but they maintain that our simtions don¡¯t fight

    like real demons. In particr, we¡¯re not duplicating the unpredictable, vicious, and cunning nature of

    the demons.

    ¡°This is understandable. Ours are orderly military minds, and are therefore almost diametrically

    opposite to the orientation of the demons. Those who will guide your enemies in the joint exercise will

    give you a far more urate depiction of true battle with demons, so I warn you to guard against

    ¡°Another difference in the next exercises is that they will have no time limit. They will continue to

    tested to your utmost.

    ¡°After the first joint exercise, we will have another, then another, then another, until it is time to begin

    the true war. Each exercise will be more difficult than thest.

    ¡°Know this; The Triax have been victorious in the majority of their encounters with the demons. But as

    mighty as they are, there have been times when they were defeated and forced to flee. And there have

    been times when they faced a force of demons so strong that they dared not even show themselves,

    and instead were forced to watch and wait until the great horde broke up into smaller hordes, then hunt

    them down one by one.

    ¡°There is a better than even chance that the horde we will face will be weak enough that they will be

    heavily over-matched by the Keran-Triax alliance. But there is a very real chance that we face an

    enemy that will overmatch us, even if we be ten times as dangerous as we are now before we

    fight them. The rock that contains these demons is about nine hundred and twenty kilometers long, six

    hundred kilometers wide, by four hundred and forty-five kilometers deep. It is thergest that The Triax

    have seen the demons use for such a long journey. I¡¯ll leave it up to you to calcte how many demons

    could be hidden in such a stone.

    ¡°The Triax specte that the demons may have chosen this huge rock because it was already moving

    at great speed in the direction they wished to travel when they found it, and so using it saved them a

    great deal of energy and effort. But we cannot afford to assume that this is so.

    ¡°If they were a weak horde who merely jumped aboard an oversized rock because it was going in the

    right direction, it would stand to reason that they would simply let it continue at full speed until it

    reached the inner worlds, and then either Translocate off of it and let it impact with the sun, or they

    might break off the part that contained them and then slow that if they thought they might continue to

    need it to shelter them from the void, and again, let the rest of it continue to fly into the sun.

    ¡°The fact that they are expending the massive energies needed to slow that flying mountain range

    indicates that they are numerous and intend to keep it for a while. The fact that they can afford the

    energy to do so indicates that they are powerful.

    He paused for a second to see how they reacted to that, then brought his lecture to a conclusion.

    ¡°Please inform us when you will be ready for exercises with all of the militaries of Keran, and we will

    schedule them.

    ¡°You will be informed when the first joint Triax-Kerani exercise has been reliably rescheduled.

    ¡°Again, I congratte you. Today¡¯s exercise was of little use as training, but it was an astonishing

    disy of the most innovative methods of warfare.¡±

    He gave a nod, and vanished.

    Somonik took the center of the circle. ¡°Since the end of The War of The Founding of The Just Alliance

    and the initiation of the time-bubbles, military matters on Keran have returned to being national

    matters. Many of the most seniormanders and other key people who coordinated andmanded

    the military of The Just Alliance are in the time-bubbles, including Prince Yazadril, Supreme

    Commander of The Militaries of The Just Alliance.

    ¡°It was thought that little would change during the two months for us that they are gone, and perhaps

    that would have been so, if Prince Mark and his family had not emerged early.

    ¡°But they did emerge early, and have since acted in ways that have changed life on Keran

    Healing spell that allows them to be practical, and the Work spell that has freed almost everyone to

    participate.

    ¡°Were it not for the need of the non-magical humanoid races to deal with their suddenly bing

    magical, almost ny percent of our world¡¯s surface poptions would bebat-ready right

    now.

 Chapter 161

    Chapter 161

    Part 24

    ¡°The aquatic races are behind us all, and are still in the initial stages of militarizing and preparing for

    war. While most of our poptions are now soldiers training to fight in the void, and the other

    established races of The Just Alliance are now soldiers and militia who are training to be wizards, the

    aquatics are still training civilians to be soldiers as they expand from fairly small peacetime levels of

    military participation. Of them the Kag are most ready, being a predatory and aggressive race that have

    had many conflicts, both among themselves and with other races. The Southernmost are the other

    extreme; while they are also a predatory race who have as much potential for warfare in their nature as

    any other, they have been so isted and so civilized throughout their entire existence that they have

    never had a war.

    ¡°When the time-bubbles end, those within them will emerge expecting only minor changes in the world

    over the two months of real time that they missed, but they will face a surprisingly different Keran.

    ¡°At any rate, because of the results of Mark and his family¡¯s actions, military training was elerated in

    Serminak, and we in Xervia have chosen to match them in that.

    ¡°The time has nowe for The Just Alliance to re-assert control over our world¡¯s militaries again,

    since the gods have decided that exercises involving all of Keran¡¯s nations are the next reasonable

    step in our military development, and I agree.

    ¡°We are making great strides in a short time, and even if the gods had not requested their inclusion, I

    fear that the nations of Debivin, Kletiuk, Felion, Oceania, and the undersea peoples are falling too far

    behind us. Though they may not be able to bring all of their forces to bear in our next exercise, we

    should ask them to bring what they can.

    ¡°I therefore ask that we meet with their rulers andmanders who remain avable, tomorrow at the

    twentieth hour, Standard Time, in The Hall of The Just Alliance.

    ¡°Are we agreed?¡±

    He took a quick ounting of the responses, and nodded. ¡°We are agreed. I will take responsibility for

    briefing the aquatic rulers andmanders on what has transpired, and asking them to the meeting.

    Prince Mark, will you speak with the humanoids?¡±

    ¡°Certainly.¡± Mark nodded.

    ¡°Thank you.

    ¡°Do we have any more business here for today?¡±

    None spoke, so the ancient white dragon nodded again and finished with; ¡°Until tomorrow then,

    farewell.¡±

    With that, all the Xervians except a few of the unicorns Translocated out.

    Mark and hismanders did so a momentter, appearing in The Lair of The Dragon Lord Regent in

    Serminak. All but Mark¡¯s family were dismissed and left by various means.

    ¡°Please, make yourselvesfortable. Our home is your home.¡± Povon said as she and Kragorram

    reclined, and she started giving him a full-body scratch massage with her ws, starting from the tip of

    his nose and working to the tip of his tail. She considerately cast a quick automated spell that collected

    the millions of spent crimson scales she was dislodging and stowed them in a huge stone cask she had

    handy. Kragorram rumbled a groan of pleasure so low it was more felt than heard.

    ¡°Thanks, I think I will.¡± Fire giggled, and assumed the fiery-looking dragon Simcrum she¡¯d used

    when they¡¯d visited Zarkog.

    They sensed somehow that it was a big moment for her; that visit with Zarkog was the only time she¡¯d

    assumed dragon form with anyone but Karz, and she¡¯d never done it with their parents. She noted what

    Povon was doing and pushed Karz to the floor with yful roughness, and started giving him what

    Kragorram was getting.

    ¡°Aww, that¡¯s sweet.¡± Talia smiled as she lounged on the floor, arge section of which was covered with

    a thirteen centimeter deep red velvet quilted pad.

    Val appeared and stretched luxuriously as she said; ¡°Good, I¡¯m d you¡¯re done. I¡¯m so ready for a

    break, but I was holding out until you were finished.¡±

    She flopped down on the padded floor beside Talia as she Linked with her siblings to see how the

    exercise had gone.

    ¡°You know, you dragons have altered your size and appearance so many times to be amodating

    andfortable in our homes, and it looks like this is the asion to return the courtesy.¡± Six chuckled

    as he, then Val, then Alilia, assumed Simcrums with roughly the same bulk as average adult

    dragons, about thirty meters tall.

    They lounged on the floor near the dragons, and Aliliamented; ¡°You know, this was a good idea.

    This ce does seem much morefortable this way. Not overwhelmingly huge.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t mind if I talk to some rulers while you¡¯re all rxing?¡± Mark asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t mind if they don¡¯t.¡± Kragorram said with a rumbling chuckle. ¡°Or you can use the conference

    room if you want.¡±

    ¡°Nah, not my style.¡± Mark chuckled.

    ¡°Whatever.¡± Kragorram muttered contentedly. ¡°Just so you realize that nothing short of a real attack by

    the demons is going to get me to move before Povon¡¯s finished.¡±

    As Mark started psionicly contacting the humanoid rulers, Fire asked; ¡°What should I do with the

    scales?¡±

    ¡°For now, I have a jar you can have.¡± Povon stated as she Retrieved another four hundred litre stone

    cask. ¡°When you have time you can sell them.¡±

    ¡°Oh? What are they worth? And who would I sell them to?¡±

    ¡°About a quarter of the value of ivory, by weight.¡± Povon told her. ¡°And almost any major market will

    N?velDrama.Org holds this content.

    have buyers for them. Small, shiny, colorful ones like ours are valued for jewelry, mosaics, embroidery,

    and the gnomes and elves have used them in scale-mail armor. Billigog the blue has the biggest ones,

    some of her scales are over two meters wide, and she has a contract with a shipyard in Felion that

    buys all of them for armor ting and spell-proofing on Shiganzhu warships.

    ¡°They¡¯re one of the few things that dragons have sold to other races for a long time. If we don¡¯t, we end

    up with great piles of them, and the piles are soon infested with scale salvagers from most of the

    smaller races. I find it ironic that the other races have always pictured dragons as resting on huge piles

    of treasures. Now they truly are treasures, because they¡¯re widely coveted and the traders that buy

    them are well-established everywhere, but they were always just piles of discarded scales. Along with a

    few w-filings and shed teeth of course, which are also valuable among the smaller races.¡±

    Emperor Osbald of Thon and his military staff were the first to arrive.

    ¡°On my word!¡± he eximed on seeing the colossal Simcrums.

    ¡°Don¡¯t mind them, they¡¯re trying to fit in with dragons.¡± Markughed as the two shook hands.

    Osbald gave his head a shake, and tried to recover hisposure. ¡°I don¡¯t know which is stranger;

    their immense size, or that Alilia is the same size as the children. That just doesn¡¯t look right.¡±

    ¡°On the other hand, you look just fine, Emperor Osbald!¡± Fireughed.

    ¡°Fire?!¡± Osbald gaped on recognizing her voice. ¡°I see you are truly fitting in with dragons!¡±

    Overlord Senchak arrived with hisrge staff of dwarves then, and Empress Emeroth was only a

    moment behind him. Within a minute the huge room was feeling less spacious after the arrivals of the

    rest of the monarchs and general staffs of the humans, elves, giants, and gnomes.

    Their reactions on what they saw when they arrived were as amazed as Osbald¡¯s, though only from

    such a surprising and unexpected sight. Such Simcrums and the techniques for casting them had

    been well-known for weeks.

    ¡°I¡¯ll just fill you in the fast way.¡± Mark said as he Linked with all the new arrivals and gave them a

    Reading of the training and exercises he¡¯d engaged in since thest meeting of The Assembly,

    including the meetings and evaluations with the leaders of Xervia and with the operators of the

    exercises.

    ¡°All right, now you know where we stand, and that you¡¯re invited to a military meeting of The Assembly

    tomorrow. As was said, we know you can¡¯t bring many of your forces, but every one of your nations

    should be represented by at least a few of your best officers, so they can be kept up to speed and be

    ready to bring the rest of you up to speed as soon as it¡¯s practical.¡±

 Chapter 162

    Chapter 162

    Part 24

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid that¡¯s really out of the question.¡± Senchak bluntly stated. "Everyone we have is already

    working night and day, either teaching if they had magic before, or learning if they didn¡¯t. And we¡¯re

    desperately short of instructors, even with the elves helping. Our spellmasters are delivering lectures

    and demonstrations before crowds of eighty thousand or more!

    ¡°If you really want to help us, give us more magic instructors! But I know there¡¯s none to be had, unless

    we want to learn from Sylvan. And most of them are still learning the spells that the rest of us used

    against them in thest war!¡±

    ¡°Actually, I think we have a solution to that.¡± Mark chuckled, and looked to Val¡¯s huge reclining form.

    ¡°How¡¯s working on your magic education spell?¡±

    ¡°Good. With Mother¡¯s help, another two and a half days.¡± Val replied, somewhat distracted by the

    thoughts she was sharing with Six at the time.

    ¡°All right.¡± Mark nodded and grinned as he turned back to the rulers. ¡°Val to the rescue again.

    ¡°Ladies and gentlemen, in about two and a half days, as she said, my daughter will present to the world

    Valentia¡¯s Magic Education, an absolutely state-of-the-art automatedpound self-replicating and

    self-powered spell that does just what it says it does, for everyone that can benefit from it. That¡¯s

    everyone who¡¯s not up to Journeyman level yet. She figures it¡¯ll have the average student up to

    Journeyman Wizard status in about a year and two months, depending on their individual abilities. And

    she hasn¡¯t let us down yet.¡±

    A few of the rulers eximed quietly, but Mark just continued talking and smiling.

    ¡°That being the case, you can afford to give your magic teachers and their students a day or two off

    from lessons, so the teachers can prepare to take part in the joint exercises. I see no reason why every

    magic user you have who¡¯s Journeyman or better and battle-ready shouldn¡¯t participate, since their

    students will no longer need them.¡±

    ¡°Well.¡± said Prince Jaromer of Thon with raised eyebrows. ¡°That is amazing. And convenient. Let¡¯s

    hope this one doesn¡¯t have any unexpected side effects.¡±

    ¡°Side effects?¡± Talia pointedly inquired.

    ¡°Allow me to exin.¡± King Dren of Finitra said as he stepped to the fore. ¡°I¡¯ve been making some

    N?velDrama.Org holds this content.

    study of this; in fact that¡¯s what I was doing when you called.

    ¡°ording to the newws of The Just Alliance, that you proposed¡­

    ¡°And that all of you agreed with.¡± Alilia interjected.

    ¡°Yes. The newws allow anyone to do anything so long as it doesn¡¯t cause a crime or an

    uneptable safety risk, and they fulfill their responsibilities. Thosews,bined with the spells that

    you and yours have introduced, have had an extreme effect on many of our peoples. Particrly the

    young.

    ¡°The improved spells you gave to the young Sylvan on Hiliani to control fertility and protect from sexual

    diseases have spread everywhere, and now people everywhere are fornicating like¡­¡±

    ¡°Like elves?¡± Jaromer interjected.

    ¡°Yes, like elves.¡± King Dren nodded. ¡°And you know that you elves are not free of these upheavals.

    Almost every elven female of child-bearing age is pregnant, or will be pregnant soon. But since they no

    longer need to bond with their husband for a decade or more in order to be pregnant, your

    unmarried elven girls are getting pregnant without marriage, often by casual friends and acquaintances!

    And a few of the married women have chosen to bear children by men other than their husbands. All

    these are unheard of among the elves, which is causing friction among you.

    ¡°And we are facing far more disturbing behavior in the rest of our nations. Now that people have The

    Healing of Valentia, along with the Healing that came with The Transformation of Hilsith, young or

    stupid people are doing all sorts of foolishness! They are using huge amounts of all sorts of extreme

    drugs and strong drinks, knowing that the spells protect them from overdose and addiction! They dare

    each other to do the stupidest things, like jumping off of cliffs and just letting themselves fall to the

    bottom, or running themselves or each other through with swords or spears, for nothing more than the

    novelty and excitement of it! Hundreds of them, all together! More and more of them have begun

    engaging in sex outside their race, often with the most extreme size disparities, knowing they are

    protected from injury! Some are choosing to have children with those of other races! And under the

    newws, we can find no legal way to bar them from doing any of that!

    ¡°Perhaps there is no injustice in any of that, and perhaps they are all within their rights, but the changes

    are too many and too soon for many of us, particrly the elders! We feel like the world has be a

    madhouse, and that every aspect ofmon decency and respect is being lost! We fear that our entire

    citizenries will be nothing more than hedonistic killers! I suppose that¡¯s appropriate for fighting the

    demons, but sometimes the cost seems more than it¡¯s worth paying! And if we win the war, how will we

    be able to put healthy societies back together from all these broken and twisted pieces?!

    ¡°You¡¯re The Key to The Just Alliance! Before you went in the time-bubble, you spent most of your days

    talking to people, helping them deal with the changes, spreading your wisdom and calm and

    confidence to millions of people with every one you spoke with, for even your informal chats with

    chance-met peasants in low-rent teahouses were reported far and wide. You went out and you spoke

    to the world, then you went back to Hilia and spoke to leaders of the world at your beach infortable

    and informalpany, and you were the best conduit between the rulers and the people of The Just

    Alliance.

    ¡°Now, when the changes we¡¯re facing are gettingpletely out of hand, you haven¡¯t done your job

    since you went in the time-bubble! You came out of it and caused all these problems, but you¡¯ve spent

    all your time on increasing your military readiness far faster than we can hope to match, given the

    challenges you¡¯ve given us!

    ¡°Pardon me for being frustrated, but I¡¯m not the only one who wants to say this to you; Most noble Key

    to The Just Alliance, do your damn job!¡±

    Mark sat back with eyebrows raised in surprise, then he chuckled. ¡°Well ya save the world, and ya can¡¯t

    even take two months off.¡±

    This only served to make the rulers angrier, and he raised his hands and said; ¡°Look, I¡¯m sorry. This is

    as much of a surprise to me as I¡¯m sure it is to all of you. And in my own defense, I was given two

    months off to raise my children before I have to be a god and make a bunch of other people gods,

    which I¡¯m doing against my preferences and my better judgment because everyone else seems to want

    me to do it, and I promised. I¡¯m still raising my children full-time, and I¡¯ve been working on these military

    projects since we came out of the time-bubble because they¡¯re my children¡¯s projects, and I¡¯m helping

    them with it, as any responsible parent should.

    ¡°The military training and re-organization and the improved birth control spells are Six and Fire¡¯s work,

    and the spells that have caused most of the rest of the sudden changes are Val¡¯s, and they¡¯re only

    seven. They¡¯re great kids and they¡¯re sworn to justice, but considering what they¡¯ve aplished and

    their capabilities and how young they are, I think it¡¯s wise for me to work with them so I can supervise

    them closely. I¡¯m sure you would agree.

    ¡°I¡¯ll resume the work you mentioned as Key, but I won¡¯t be able to spend as much time at it as I did

    before. It never felt like work before, but I guess it is now. Talia and I only did all that because we

    enjoyed it, and we wanted to help. I was unaware that it¡¯s now considered to be duties of the office. In

    short, Your Majesty, no one told me it was my damn job.

    ¡°Now Ipletely understand how you¡¯re all feeling about your peoples¡¯ disturbing behavior. I also find

    much of what you said to be disturbing, and I empathize with those who feel like the world is going

    crazy all around them. There¡¯s also no reason for anyone to be disrespecting you, or anyone else, by

    exposing you to disturbing behavior while knowing that you¡¯d prefer they didn¡¯t.

 Chapter 163

    Chapter 163

    Part 24

    ¡°On the other hand, I can sure see the other side of it too. Everyone has suddenly been released from

    constrictivews and the fear of death and most injury. I¡¯m sure almost everyone has tried a few things

    that they wouldn¡¯t have a year ago, and it shouldn¡¯t be surprising that some are taking it to extremes. At

    the same time, they just came through a war and now they¡¯re facing another one, against enemies who

    Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDra/ma.O(r)g!

    can still kill them despite their new Healing abilities, enemies so fearsome that the gods themselves are

    worried. They¡¯re reminded of it all day during training, so they have to try to forget about it in their off-

    duty hours, and that¡¯s a hell of a thing to try to put out of your mind. And of course, they¡¯re all trying to

    find their way in an unfamiliar world that changes every day, just as we all are, and they¡¯re probably

    almost as unsettled about it as you are.

    ¡°Now when I first proposed thesews at the first meeting of The Assembly, Emperor Kevim of Sming

    asked if he could not ban people from fornicating in their front yards in full view of the public, and I said

    he couldn¡¯t ban it. But having sex is a healthy, normal and natural activity. The things you¡¯re talking

    about today are not healthy, normal and natural activities, so that makes them the same as things like

    practical jokes and insultpetitions. Those of you who are offended by them are responsible for

    letting everyone else know that they¡¯re offended by them, and everyone else has the responsibility to

    avoid exposing you to it once they know. I¡¯ll do everything I can to convince these people to not do

    these activities that would be very harmful without the spells in front of those who would be offended by

    it, or within public view. If they do so anyway, then they can be charged with harassment.

    ¡°But you still can¡¯t ban it if it¡¯s causing no harm. Period.

    ¡°The young and foolish have always risked themselves and acted like they were indestructible. Now

    we¡¯re just going to have to get used to the fact that they very nearly are.

    ¡°These people are still justice-sworn,w abiding citizens, and you haven¡¯t said they¡¯re shirking their

    responsibilities, so I¡¯m assuming they¡¯re not.

    ¡°Now say your teenage son finishes his day of training and goes out for a while. Hees home on

    time, he¡¯s unhurt and not upset in any way, and he¡¯s a responsibled who¡¯s taken care of all his

    assigned tasks, but you suspect he¡¯s been doing things that you disapprove of. You ask him what he¡¯s

    been doing, and he gives you a little smile and says; ¡®Believe me father, you really don¡¯t want to know.¡¯

    ¡°Now I suggest you ept that. You have the right as his guardian parent to demand that he tell you

    what he¡¯s been doing. But if he then tells you; ¡®I¡¯ve been drinking whisky by the litre, jumping out of

    trees, and fornicating with ogres.¡¯, and you¡¯re offended and upset by this, it¡¯s your fault and your

    problem. Try to be supportive. If you want, you can try to convince him to stop doing it, so long as you

    do so with respect. You can legitimately point out that it¡¯s disgusting and that it might affect his future

    standing in themunity, but you have no right to give him trouble for it or to use anger or authority to

    force or coerce him to stop. No harm, no foul, and that¡¯s the end of it.

    ¡°As you say, right now this is all a novelty, and everyone is testing their new limits and abilities. But I

    can almost guarantee you that after warring with the demons, our survivors are going to be desperate

    for a return to a normal life, and they¡¯ll cherish their traditions more.

    ¡°And by the way, none of us have the right to tell any woman who she can and can¡¯t have a child with,

    but whoever it is, whether casual acquaintance or someone from another race, the father had better be

    willing to have a child with her. And he¡¯d better know his legal responsibilities to the mother and child

    and be willing to fulfill them. If a married woman wants to have a child with a man other than her

    husband, she can either settle it with him one way or another, or he can divorce her. He may be entitled

    to somepensation if she swore in her wedding vows to only cleave unto him, or to only bear his

    children. Those who break their vows of any kind are still liable for the consequences.

    ¡°Overall, I¡¯m absolutely sure that the benefits of what we¡¯ve done and all the changes that are taking

    ce will far outweigh the disadvantages. But the nexus ising. We all knew that everything was

    going to change before it even started, so there¡¯s no use in justining about it. We have to make

    it work.

    ¡°Now then, was there anything else?¡±

    ¡°Ah, no.¡± Dren stated. ¡°And I¡¯m sorry I lost my temper.¡±

    ¡°Your frustration is understandable.¡± Mark nodded with a smile. ¡°Thank you foring by. I¡¯ll get

    started on trying to put a lid on all the weird behavior tonight after we eat. I look forward to seeing you

    all again tomorrow at The Hall.¡±

    The rulers and their staff made their farewells and departed, and after they were gone Mark grinned

    and dered; ¡°I swear; that bunch is harder to baby-sit than you kids are, and by a wide margin."

    The rest of his family got a good chuckle out of that.

    ¡°You know what I find funny?¡± Talia asked as she and Mark decided to join the crowd, and cast

    themselves as thirty meter tall Simcrums.

    ¡°What?¡± he asked as the two reclined on the floor together with Alilia.

    ¡°Hilia has about two hundred thousand full-time soldiers and about two million militia.¡± she stated. ¡°Of

    those, about a third are void-qualified and took part in thest two exercises. Alilia brought about two

    hundred thousand of The People of Life. On the other hand, wemand some four billion Sylvan and

    seventy million dragons who are void-qualified.

    ¡°Let¡¯s face it, almost all of our fighters are Serminaki. Yet for some reason, today everyone referred to

    all of those wemanded as Hilian forces. I just find that very funny!¡±

    ¡°ording to thew of Serminak,¡± Povon exined, ¡°Zarkog who was Dragon Lord of Serminak was

    defeated and removed from power by Mark who is Prince of Hilia, therefore, Serminak was conquered

    by Hilia. Therefore, Serminak is now part of Hilia, as they see things.¡±

    ¡°All hail Lord Mark, Sovereign of The Hilian Empire!¡± Aliliaughed.

    ¡°The Serminaki would consider it entirely appropriate for Mark to dere himself emperor.¡± Povon

    chuckled. ¡°Or for him to rename the continent The Empire of Hilia. To them Lord and Emperor mean

    the same thing anyway.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, but no thanks.¡± Mark said with a smile as he caressed Talia and Alilia¡¯s huge forms.

    ¡°You know, this is very different, all of us being the same size.¡± Alilia giggled as she caressed him in

    return. ¡°I think I rather like it.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s nice as a change of pace, but I love that Mark is so much bigger than me.¡± Talia smiled. ¡°It makes

    me feel very protected when we¡¯re together.¡±

    ¡°And it makes me feel very protective.¡± Mark chuckled.

    ¡°Hey, are you guys going to find a room, or are we just going toze around for the rest of the day, or

    are we actually going to get anything else aplished?¡± Fire asked.

    ¡°I suppose I should get started on trying to reconcile the peoples of The Just Alliance to the changes

    they¡¯re facing.¡± Mark mused. ¡°I still find it hard to believe that just going around and talking to people

    will have much of a big beneficial effect, but I suppose it is my responsibility to try, at least.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t sell yourself short.¡± Alilia smiled. ¡°You¡¯re amazingly persuasive when you want to be, you know.¡±

    ¡°Besides, we¡¯lle with you for moral support.¡± Talia added.

    ¡°Can wee too?¡± Six asked. ¡°We haven¡¯t done hardly any famous stuff yet, and we¡¯re really famous

    now, so we should go out and enjoy it a little every once in a while.¡±

    ¡°Sure,e along, I don¡¯t see why not, and you¡¯ll take some of the attention off of me.¡± Mark grinned.

    ¡°But seriously, I want you on your best and most diplomatic behavior. We¡¯re trying to bring resolution to

    a bunch of youths and fools who are doing crazy stuff, not inspire them to anything new.¡±

    ¡°Yes Father.¡± his children chorused together, then giggled madly.

 Chapter 164

    Chapter 164

    Part 24

    ¡°We should investigate whether the youths and fools of Serminak are also exploring the new limits of

    extreme recreation.¡± Kragorram suggested to Povon. ¡°After this massage, of course, and perhaps after

    I return the favor. But my thinking is this; while the parents and conservatives of Serminak are unlikely

    to be offended by any new foolishness among them, the youth and fools there are likely to be even

    more extreme than those elsewhere, particrly if they start goading and baiting one another about it. I

    think we should make sure there are no new problems developing. Even with the Healing, there are still

    the issues of potential property damage, and possibly harmful character development.¡±

    ¡°They don¡¯t have to worry about property damage too much.¡± Val opined. ¡°My Work spell is like a

    Healing for inanimate objects. Its Restore and Repair functions can fix almost anything.¡±

    ¡°Good point.¡± Kragorram admitted as he rolled to the side a bit to give Povon better ess. ¡°But there¡¯s

    still character development to be considered, and of course the possibility of other unexpected

    problems. With the Sylvan especially, the unexpected is always an issue, and we would be wise to not

    becent.

    ¡°We¡¯ve also been delegating and perhaps neglecting some of our duties in Serminak. As Dren said to

    Mark; first we were in the time-bubble, and since we emerged we¡¯ve been upied with other matters,

    mostly military. Life in Serminak has changed more than in any other ce since we emerged, due to

    almost universalpliance with our children¡¯s new training and social systems. I just think we should

    make sure there aren¡¯t any major and potentially dangerous trends being established among them.

    Find out what life is like in the streets and homes and barracks and dens of our people.¡±

    ¡°Those are very noble thoughts, my love.¡± Povon told him with a warm smile as she scratched between

    his wings. ¡°Of course, that¡¯s why I hired you.¡±

    ¡°I was hired?¡± he chuckled.

    ¡°It was me who asked Mark to make you my second-inmand, remember?¡± she teased.

    ¡°Yes, but hired? I¡¯m getting paid for this?¡± he teased in return.

    She leaned down and murmured in his ear; ¡°Actually no, you¡¯re my ve.¡±

    ¡°Oh I see!¡± heughed with a hearty rumble and a big puff of smoky yellow me from his nostrils.

    ¡°You do have the right to draw on the treasury of Serminaki Draconia as you see fit.¡± she continued in a

    more normal tone as she resumed his massage. ¡°But you haven¡¯t, and until you do you¡¯re my ve. So

    we¡¯ll just have to do exactly what you say when we¡¯ve finished this, and investigate the development of

    the character and culture of Serminak.¡±

    ¡°Of course, that makes perfect sense.¡± he chuckled.

    ¡°Everyone help me cast as much privacy as we can possibly manage.¡± Fire suddenly ordered. ¡°I have

    something important to say, and I¡¯m having a hard time with it.¡±

    Without a word, they each cast their strongest psionic shielding around the entire group.

    ¡°Thanks.¡± she thoughtfully nodded. ¡°I hope no one else out there picked up on my thoughts before we

    did that.

    ¡°These military exercises are really useless. Unless there¡¯s an unbelievable absolute worst-case

    scenario, none of us are going to be actually fighting the demons.

    ¡°We¡¯ve all been ying along in so many ways, when none of this really matters. When we get killed in

    an exercise, we let ourselves stay dead, when in real life Father¡¯s preset Resurrection spells would

    bring us back to life, and so would the ones we came up with to meet the immortality requirement in the

    Prerequisites. We totally hold back in the exercises because we don¡¯t want everyone else to feel bad

    when they realize that they¡¯repletely superfluous. We all do it, and we don¡¯t even talk about it

    when we¡¯re sharing our thoughts. Maybe we¡¯re afraid to face up to what we¡¯ve be.

    ¡°We had all of our fighters go into the tunnels on Deh because that was the point of the exercise,

    when in real life we¡¯ll do all of our fighting with automated self-powered spells. I¡¯ve alreadye up

    with one that automatically finds the enemy and casts Tithian¡¯s Gate-to-the-sun attack on all of their

    exposed surfaces. Nothing could withstand that. And I¡¯m still improving the hunting functions and

    reducing the effective time.

    Content (C) N?v/elDra/ma.Org.

    ¡°It was pretty easy, actually. I did it in an hour. It¡¯s not nearly asplex as Val¡¯s Education spell or

    even her Work spell. The hardest part was finding a way to cast the output portal in any shape I

    wanted, rather than a t ne, so it conforms to the enemy and doesn¡¯t leak any energy.

    ¡°Self-powered spells change everything. Right now my power is only limited by the total output of

    Source and warlock power from the sun. I could cast two collection fieldspletely around the sun

    and take all of it. Compared to that, everything the gods and The Triax and everyone else on Keran

    could do all together is just a spit in a hurricane. Father, Six and Val could do the same. And any of you

    could direct our power to do it through our Link.

    ¡°Who knows what you¡¯ll be capable of when you adults be gods? When we do too, because I¡¯m

    sure we will eventually. I doubt we¡¯ll resist the temptation for more than a few centuries. Maybe we¡¯ll be

    able to cast collection fields around every star in this section of the gxy, or even around the core of

    the gxy, or even the whole gxy itself. And if you cast a spherical Gate around a star you can take

    all of the energy it puts out, of every kind, and put it wherever you wanted. It seems we could do

    anything.

    ¡°Anyway, I could absolutely eliminate that rock full of demons right now, and I don¡¯t see why I don¡¯t. We

    could let our people get back to a more normal life. Or trying to figure out a new one, actually, since

    everything has already changed. The nexus is fulfilled, and nothing will ever be remotely the same

    again.¡±

    There was silence for a moment as they considered what she¡¯d said.

    ¡°We¡¯ll have to test it.¡± Mark thoughtfully stated. ¡°There¡¯s no doubt we¡¯ve been holding back to some

    extent, because as Pakdag said; the point of the exercises is to train everyone. We just weren¡¯t willing

    to intentionally lose thest exercise to do so, so we didn¡¯t use most of ourbatants on-site.

    ¡°The new training they¡¯re talking about will be a different story; the soldiers¡¯ exercises will be run

    without our power, and only their fighting and our leadership will be tested. Though they might allow us

    to fight as well if we limited ourselves to a five thousandbat score, but there wouldn¡¯t be much

    point in that unless it was right at the end of the battle and things were getting close.

    ¡°We should be tested to our limits in both the exercises for Strike Wizards, and when we train with the

    gods. We can show everything we can really do.

    ¡°And we should know what we can really do. So we should go to the void on the opposite side of the

    sun from where the demons are and really test it.

    ¡°If we really can cast a collection field around the entire sun, for either Source power or warlocks¡¯

    power or both, and really use all that power, then we need to know that.

    ¡°If we can, then we can make a very strong case for a decisive first strike on the demons right now. But

    I¡¯m not willing to do it without the approval of the full Assembly, because frankly, I don¡¯t want to take

    sole responsibility for it if it goes wrong and leads to an attack on our people before they¡¯re as ready as

    they could be.

    ¡°On the other hand, when I first met the elves and started to take part in world affairs, I often made the

    mistake of not being fully aware of the true scale of all the forces I was dealing with. Quewanak pointed

    it out the first time we met him. And I strongly suspect that you¡¯re making the same mistake right now.

    ¡°The output of the entire sun is so colossal that I really doubt we could cast a collection field around the

    whole thing; it¡¯s just too much power to process into usable magic. I think your other idea of being able

    to cast a spherical Gate portal around the whole thing is actually more practical, because it doesn¡¯t

    have to transmute all that power into another form of energy, it just has to move it to another ce

    through the Translocation medium.

 Chapter 165

    Chapter 165

    Part 24

    ¡°But really, when you consider the biggest collection fields and Gate portals that¡¯ve ever been cast, or

    even the biggest amount of energy that¡¯s ever been cast at once in any way by anyone, including all of

    our gods and the Triax¡¯s together in their training, that¡¯s still just a drop in an oceanpared to the

    output and area of the sun. I strongly suspect that there are theoretical limits to what we can do that

    way that we¡¯re not yet aware of, and I¡¯d be surprised if we can use more that a tiny portion¡¯s of the

    sun¡¯s output in any way.¡±

    ¡°All right, let¡¯s do it.¡± Fire stated decisively as she resumed her true form.

    ¡°Let¡¯s do it Linked.¡± Povon insisted. ¡°Let¡¯s do it all Linked. No mortal of Keran has even attempted to

    Translocate as far as we¡¯re jumping now, or even a tiny fraction of that distance. The other experiments

    you¡¯re attempting are almost beyondprehension. We should all be checking every step of every

    part of it and be absolutely sure of it before we cast.¡±

    ¡°Agreed.¡± Mark nodded. ¡°Let¡¯s start out as far from the sun as Keran is and see how big a collection

    field we can cast first. Then we¡¯ll try it closer to the sun until we know how much intensity and area we

    can transmute.¡±

    They all assumed their true forms and Linked fairly deeply, then cast Void Protection with all thetest

    improvements, including adaptations Povon had made of the new Xervian methods.

    Povon was given control of the Translocation due to her skill and experience. When everything was

    ready, she initiated the jump.

    They emerged in what seemed like ck emptiness, despite the millions of stars all around and the

    zing sun, which was dimmed to viewability by the visual protections in the Void Protection.

    They all just floated there and absorbed the view for a moment.

    ¡°You know, we get so caught up in what we¡¯re doing that sometimes we don¡¯t pay any attention the

    incredibleness of it.¡± Sixmented. ¡°I¡¯ve only gone to the void to test voidcraft and void-proofing, and

    to take part in the exercises. I just kind of thought of the void as just night, only all around you. It seems

    like it, even with the sun in sight. I just did what I was doing and didn¡¯t pay attention to it. And Keran

    was always there, looking huge even when we were farthest from it.

    ¡°But this is really¡­ powerful. This is so far away from anything, in the absolute middle of nowhere. It¡¯s

    really kind of scary.¡±

    ¡°Very.¡± Val agreed. ¡°I can handle it, but I¡¯d never do a long mission in the void without having a void

    craft along. This would make me crazy after a while, I think. It would make anyone catastrophically

    agoraphobic eventually. Not to mention that if our spells failed we¡¯d be dead in seconds, and we¡¯re a

    very long way from any kind of help.¡±

    ¡°We should get started.¡± Talia prompted. ¡°And by the way, what will we do with the energy you¡¯re

    collecting with your huge collection fields? It¡¯ll be too much to hold and too much to store.¡±

    ¡°We should also consider that if we seed in englobing the sun with a dense collection field, we¡¯ll cut

    Keran off from the Source.¡± Alilia cautioned. ¡°No sorcerers could cast, and wizard¡¯s power would

    soon start to diminish as well, as ¡®the heat of the stone¡¯ is released and not replenished. I don¡¯t

    suppose it could affect anyone except Glup if we cut off warlocks¡¯ power, but we might want to warn

    him in case he¡¯s in the middle of something dangerous.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s also the development of forty-four young warlocks in the wombs of The Volunteers, inside the

    time-bubble.¡± Mark pointed out. ¡°It probably wouldn¡¯t affect them any to be cut off from warlocks¡¯ power,

    but I don¡¯t want to take a chance.

    ¡°We¡¯ll limit trying to cast collection fields to the half of the sun opposite Keran. If we can cast them

    around half of it, we should be able to make a pretty good judgment of whether we could do it around

    the whole thing.

    ¡°As to what we¡¯ll do with the power we¡¯ll get, we could just cast it as light or heat or some other energy

    directed out into the void away from Keran, but that seems a waste, and I worry that we¡¯ll attract

    attention. We have enough visitors from the void already, and a beam of that power would be

    detectable many star systems away.¡±

    ¡°We can just cast it over a very, veryrge area,¡± Val suggested, ¡°So the intensity of it won¡¯t be

    noticeable against the re of the sun behind it, should anyone in that direction happen to be looking.

    In fact, after we¡¯ve captured the energy with our collection fields, we should cast it again as energy of

    as simr a nature to what we captured as we can, so it all just looks the same.¡±

    ¡°Good thinking.¡± Mark nodded. ¡°So let¡¯s work on that for a second first; and try to cast wizards¡¯ power

    as the Source, and do the same for warlocks'' power.¡±

    ¡°It should be no harder than transmuting the Source to wizards¡¯ power, which is easy now that we

    figured it out.¡± Fire opined.

    ¡°I have a good astronomers¡¯ spell that we can use to analyze what we¡¯re casting.¡± Povon volunteered.

    ¡°Let¡¯s start with me first.¡± Val volunteered. ¡°I¡¯ll start with the Source.¡±

    All of them followed what she was doing and checked on her as she cast an invisible energy on the

    opposite side of them from the sun, and directing it away from them.

    Povon cast her Spectrum Analyzer out beyond Val¡¯s spell in the path of the energy she was casting,

    and cast another copy of the Spectrum Analyzer close to Val herself.

    Val modified her spell with some input from everyone else, until Povon dered; ¡°That¡¯s it. You¡¯re

    casting the Source, well enough that a unicorn would be sustained by it and could utilize it. You¡¯re

    losing about a third in the three stages of transmutation; from Source to raw wizards¡¯ power as would

    radiate from wizard¡¯s rock, from raw wizards¡¯ power to wizard magic, and from magic back to the

    Source again.¡±

    ¡°Yah, most of the loss is heat.¡± Val nodded with her eyes closed. ¡°I don¡¯t know what¡¯s happening to the

    rest of it, but give me a moment.¡±

    Povon waited while Val modified what she was doing again, then announced; ¡°All right, you¡¯ve got the

    efficiency loss down to just less than a fifth.¡±

    N?velDrama.Org holds this content.

    ¡°That¡¯s the best I can do that way without a lot of work.¡± Val stated. ¡°And I don¡¯t think I can make it

    much better anyway.

    ¡°All right, I¡¯ll start expanding my collection field, and I¡¯ll expand the area of my Source-shine spell to

    match it.¡±

    After a few seconds she let Fire and Six take over the concentration on her Source-shine spell, and

    soon after that Karz cast to vent most of the heat that was building up in her body before her Healing

    was triggered.

    After half a minute she was done. ¡°All right, about seventy thousand square kilometers. Enough to

    cover most of Debivin. That¡¯s all I can cover with a collection field for the Source, and I think I¡¯m losing

    collection efficiency around the edges. I don¡¯t know why, but that¡¯s all I can do.

    ¡°I¡¯ll try it with a warlock collection field now. I should be able to get a lot better efficiency because it¡¯s

    only two transmutations; wizard¡¯s source to magic and back.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right, you¡¯re only losing a bit more than a tenth.¡± Povon reported.

    ¡°But less of that is heat, so more of it is our unknown loss.¡± Val noted, and prepared to expand the field.

    ¡°All right, here goes.¡±

    A minuteter they had the result.

    ¡°About a tenth bigger, that¡¯s it.¡± she noted. ¡°It sure is a lot more power though. And both sources are a

    lot stronger out here in the void. It seems the air around Keran blocks about a quarter of it.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll give it a try, then Fire and Six. Then we¡¯ll move closer to the sun.¡± Mark told them as he cast.

    ¡°About two hundred and thirty-five thousand square kilometers.¡± he noted twelve secondster. ¡°Which

    makes sense, since I¡¯m bigger and more mature than you, so you¡¯ll probably catch up to that when

    you¡¯re grown.¡±

    ¡°Or it¡¯s due to you being a full-blood warlock, and we¡¯re only half, so we won¡¯t.¡± Val countered.

    ¡°I hope not.¡± Markughed. ¡°I¡¯d hate to think of my descendents being diminished in power by half with

    every generation. I think warlocks breed true no matter what, like Longstrider males other than

    me.¡±

 Chapter 166

    Chapter 166

    Part 24

    ¡°It¡¯s either that or development or both, since we already know that magic capability has little or nothing

    to do with physical size.¡± Fire pointed out. ¡°Six must weigh twice me now, and he has twice my

    strength, but my power matches his and Val¡¯s pretty closely.

    ¡°Watch.¡±

    She did what Val had done, and was a bit less capable than her half-sister as a wizard, and a bit more

    as a warlock.

    ¡°See, there you are.¡± she concluded with satisfaction.

    Content (C) N?v/elDra/ma.Org.

    ¡°I¡¯m trying something else.¡± Mark said as he cast. ¡°First I¡¯m going to make my collection field so dense

    that almost no warlock source power gets through it, like I did with the Source and the heat when I

    blocked Zarkog. Then I¡¯ll expand that to as much area as I can. Measure my output versus myst

    attempt. Make sure you kids stay in front of me so you don¡¯t get blocked.¡±

    He cast, concentrated, and went as far as he could.

    Povon gave the result. ¡°You only covered about an eightieth of the area, but your power output was

    almost the same, just a bit less.¡±

    ¡°Ah, good to know.¡± Mark nodded. ¡°Shall we move in?¡±

    ¡°How far?¡± Povon asked.

    ¡°Rather than a certain distance or a portion of the distance to the sun, I¡¯d like to move in enough that

    the intensity of the sunlight is exactly twice what it is here. But I don¡¯t know how to do the calction.¡±

    Mark admitted.

    ¡°Like this;¡± Povon said, and demonstrated both the calction and the group Translocation.

    They repeated all the experiments, then moved in again, then again. At each stage their ability to cast

    collection fields was the same, but where the sun¡¯s intensity was eight times as much as where they¡¯d

    started they found that venting heat from their bodies and brains was bing a serious issue. They

    also found that maintaining such big collection fields and casting such incredibly powerful spells was

    starting to wear on their concentration.

    They made one more jump inward and found that the sun¡¯s power at sixteen times it¡¯s intensity in the

    void above Keran was all they could process, and the maximum size of their collection fields was

    reduced.

    ¡°All right, that gives us our maximum power collecting and casting capabilities.¡± Mark stated with

    satisfaction. ¡°Now let¡¯s go back to where we started and try it with all four of us co-operating to cast one

    big collection field at a time.¡±

    They did so, and when the four of them were expanding the three children¡¯s collection fields for Source

    power for their wizardry, they did the same for Talia, Alilia, and the three dragons. They found that such

    co-operation increased their total power to more than the total of their individual abilities.

    ¡°Now I want to try it with automated spells.¡± Val stated. ¡°Let¡¯s go back to the beginning.¡±

    She initiated and guided their jump herself.

    ¡°Now, I¡¯m going to make both my collection fields as big as I can, and use all that power to cast self-

    replicating copies of the sourceshine spell, each with it¡¯s own warlock collection field. And I¡¯ll make

    them self-directed spells under my guidance, so I can tell all the collecting fields to do something else,

    rather than just the sourceshine spell.¡±

    She cast until there were one hundred and fifty thousand of them, and had to stop.

    ¡°All right, that¡¯s about as many of those as I can do. It covers just less than eight billion square

    kilometers. More than enough to englobe Keran and a sizable volume of void around it, but a lot less

    than the surface of the sun. I can¡¯t make each one with the same size and efficiency as I can do myself,

    but it¡¯s not bad.

    ¡°In order to be able to change what they do, I have to keep a constant minor Link to them, if I want

    them to be secure. If I tell them to only change function when they recognize my psionic aura and I give

    a specific code or something, someone could copy that and take control of them away from me. This

    way I know instantly if any of them are altered or controlled by anyone else in any way, but the minor

    links to them I need is limited in number by my subconscious attention span. You multiply this amount

    of power by about sixteen, and you get the absolute maximum amount of magic power I could wield as

    if it was my own.

    ¡°If I want to cast them so they¡¯re unalterable I could keep casting them until I had to stop fromck of

    sleep, and with Alertness spells that could be a long time. They¡¯d have fail-safes so they¡¯d just

    dissipate if anyone tried to alter them. That¡¯s what I did with the Work spell and the Healing, they can

    only do what they were made to do, and if someone tries to alter them they¡¯ll be gone, but other than

    that they¡¯ll keep multiplying until everything they were made to aplish is done, or infinity,

    whicheveres first.

    ¡°We have to make sure any spells like that have a finite task, like healing or educating everyone on

    Keran. If you made them with a potentially infinite task, like just making these sunshine spells, they

    really would keep multiplying until they were using every bit of power avable from the sun.

    ¡°We can give them a limited but stillplex task, like killing every demon from our sun to halfway to

    the next closest one in every direction with our most efficient attack spells, and they will. They¡¯ll keep

    going until all the demons are dead, or they¡¯re using all the sun¡¯s power, or until the demons find a way

    to counter or alter that particr spell. That¡¯s the problem withpletely independent automated

    spells; theyck flexibility. If the demons find a way to crack their protections, they¡¯re gone, and if the

    demons find a way to counter them then they¡¯re just wasting some of our sun¡¯s energy for nothing,

    except maybe distracting the demons a bit.¡±

    ¡°All right, let¡¯s pool all our power and our will and see how much of the ones you have now we can do

    all together.¡± Mark instructed. ¡°That way we know how much total power we can generate together.¡±

    A few minutester, they had their answer.

    ¡°All right, wemand the power of about twenty-eight billion square kilometers of source at this

    distance, times sixteen for maximum intensity closer to the sun. Still less than one one-thousandths of

    covering the surface of the sun, and far less than that at the distance from the sun of maximum usable

    intensity. We were still a very long way away from the sun at sixteen times normal sunlight intensity,

    which would make for a very big globe. We¡¯re still only capable of using a very tiny fraction of the sun¡¯s

    output of magic.

    ¡°But still, that¡¯s the equivalent of a normal-density power field at the distance of the sun from Keran

    with an area of about four hundred and fifty-six billion square kilometers. That is an absolutely colossal

    amount of power we have at ourplete disposal, not to mention how many single-purpose

    independent spells of maximum power the four of us could cast in any given amount of time.

    ¡°Now it seems to me that the most efficient attack we could use with that power is Fire¡¯s modification of

    Tithian¡¯s Sun-Gate spell. We¡¯ll add functions to identify the best ces to cast a Gate to the sun on the

    demons or on their craft, and how big it needs to be to destroy them. If they can get it directly on the

    demons¡¯ bodies on their most vulnerable ce, I don¡¯t think the Gates would have to be very big at all.

    ¡°If the spells are independent the demons might crack the spells¡¯ protections and disable them, but I

    don¡¯t think there¡¯s much that¡¯ll counter a Gate to the sun. They might find a way to Shield against a tiny

    one that would otherwise kill them, so we¡¯ll have the spell just keep expanding the Gate over their

    surface until they¡¯re covered and consumed, if necessary. And if we keep them under our guidance so

    they can¡¯t be disabled they should bepletely effective, period.

    "Even with all the other functions, the Gate part uses almost all the power, so the spell is almost

    try, shall we? We¡¯ll cast the two portals of a gate only a hair¡¯s width apart so we don¡¯t risk anything. We

    can calcte the difference from the distanceponent afterwards.

    ¡°Fire, the Gate spell?¡±

 Chapter 167

    Chapter 167

    Part 24

    They all worked as one, casting both portals of the Gate next to each other with almost no space

    between, then increasing their area until they reached the limit of their avable power.

    ¡°About two hundred and seven billion square kilometers of Gate, with the calction for maximum

    power.¡± Fire announced.

    ¡°I have the calction for the distanceponent from the surface of the sun to the distance of the

    demons¡¯ rock.¡± Talia volunteered. ¡°It¡¯s the same ratio for power over distance as Translocation, luckily

    enough. And we get¡­ At that distance, over five million square kilometers of Gate portal at each end.

    Even if you disregard all the power that we¡¯d spend to cast it, that amount of sun¡¯s surface sunlight for

    even a second would be the most powerful spell ever cast. We only need nine hundred thousand

    square kilometers topletely cover the demon¡¯s rock with the surface of the sun, so we¡¯d have

    plenty to spare, even without using independent spells.¡±

    ¡°Like I said when I first spoke up, me or any of you could do it by ourselves, even with the limitations

    we¡¯ve discovered.¡± Fire stated with satisfaction.

    ¡°All right, good to know.¡± Markughed. ¡°You were right about that much at least, if not about being able

    to use the whole sun.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go home, Hilia that is. Since it seems our beach there is now the official location for casual

    conversation between leaders, and it¡¯s ours, it¡¯ll give us a bit of an advantage while pressing our case

    for an immediate first strike.¡±

    ¡°Why fool around?¡± Six asked. ¡°We¡¯ll have to get a consensus, so I say we go directly to The Hall of

    The Just Alliance and call the Assembly to an emergency meeting. With luck we can have the entire

    war won and over with in an hour.¡±

    Mark paused a moment, thought about it, consulted everyone else¡¯s opinion, and nodded. ¡°All right,

    let¡¯s do it.¡± he decided, and Translocated them all to the Hall.

    They appeared as a group in the center of the volume of the Hall, twenty-five meters in the air, but tilted

    from vertical and moving to the side at incredible speed. Before they could react, they all smashed into

    the domed ceiling of the Hall about a third of the way from the edge of the room, and with explosive

    force.

    Their Shields held, but they gouged out a huge ragged crater from the three meter thickness of white

    marble and from the gray bedrock thaty beyond it.

    Niziam, a chestnut unicorn goddess who was the custodian of the Hall on active duty, appeared in the

    air below and beside the devastation.

    ¡°You are alive and uninjured.¡± she noted with some amazement, then a severe irritation became

    apparent in her manner as they descended out of the crater.

    ¡°Do you mind?!¡± sheined as she Restored the damage, then she vanished.

    ¡°That was a seriously messed up Translocation.¡± Fire observed with a giggle.

    N?velDrama.Org content rights.

    ¡°Yah, I hurried it, and it was a prettyplex jump. Sorry.¡± Mark told them, abashed and contrite. ¡°At

    least I got the location, if not the orientation and the trajectory.¡±

    ¡°You got the trajectory of the world around the sun.¡± Povon mildly scolded him as they flew down to the

    center of the stage. ¡°You forgot the trajectory of the Hall as the world turns about it¡¯s axis.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Oops. Sorry about that. I can promise I won¡¯t do it again.¡± he told her.

    ¡°Now I¡¯m d for all the hours we spent practicing Shields.¡± Val giggled as they alighted around the

    Truthstone.

    ¡°Anyway, let¡¯s get to it.¡± Six eagerly encouraged.

    Mark nodded, and cast a multiple Speaking. ¡°We ask that all ruling members of The Assembly of The

    Just Alliance join us here at The Hall of The Just Alliance for an urgent meeting, as soon you may.¡±

    ¡°This is going to be good, I can feel it.¡± Tithian eagerly told them as she appeared beside them, then

    she jumped again to take her ce with the Senate of her people.

    Attendees were appearing rapidly, and within a minute everyone who coulde on such short notice

    was there. That was almost all of them, including all of the most influential and powerful leaders.

    ¡°Fire, you began this.¡± Mark told her with a smile. ¡°Would you like to exin our position?¡±

    ¡°Certainly, thank you Father.¡± Fire smiled in return, and faced the audience.

    ¡°As you¡¯ve probably heard, my father, Val, Six, and myself have what appears to be an ability unique to

    warlocks; we can see and manipte the fields that collect the Source and transmute it into usable

    magic, we can re-create them to castpletely self-powering spells, and we can do the same with the

    warlock¡¯s source.

    ¡°Today we tested that ability, and discovered how much total power we could wield. We experimented

    further, and tested our ability to cast the most devastating attack spell ever devised; a modified version

    of the Gate to the surface of the sun that The People of Morning gave us.

    ¡°We can cast a Gate between the surface of the sun and a location at the distance that the demons are

    from us now, with almost five million square kilometers of area. That is many times more than the entire

    surface area of the gigantic rock the demons are using as a vessel, and we can cast the portal to

    outside of the rock. If any within try to escape, they will be instantly Gated to the surface of the sun, and

    we¡¯ll be watching for them there in case any survive that.

    ¡°That will still take a bit of time topletely destroy the rock and all within it, so we¡¯ll have automated

    versions of the spell go inside just before we do that and hunt down any demons they can find, and

    cast the surface of the sun on them too, individually.

    ¡°We¡¯ll have more automated versions set loose all over the void around our star out to as far as the

    demons are, to hunt down any that manage to Translocate out from within a Gate bubble.

    ¡°In short, honored members of The Assembly of The Just Alliance, we ask your permission tounch

    these spells and attack the demons immediately, in a decisively devastating pre-emptive strike. We¡¯re

    confident we can do it, and we¡¯re confident that it¡¯ll work. My Father¡¯s unprecedented and

    uncharacteristic mistake a moment ago notwithstanding.

    ¡°Say yes, and the demons can be destroyed in a few minutes at most. Then we can all get back to

    enjoying the peace, or join The Triax in hunting down the demons around other stars, for those who

    choose that.¡±

    ¡°All those who agree with us making this attack now, say aye!¡± Mark called, and noted their response.

    ¡°Ah. I see only about half of you agree. Who would like to speak against the idea?

    ¡°Empress Emeroth of Verzaclon.¡±

    She appeared before him, nodded to him, and addressed the gathering. ¡°We still don¡¯t know what we¡¯re

    facing. All that we know is that it¡¯s millions of demons, maybe billions of them, but we have no idea how

    strong they are or what they¡¯re capable of. We don¡¯t know if they¡¯re getting more dangerous by the

    hour, but I don¡¯t think it¡¯s likely, while we know for sure that we are getting more dangerous by the hour.

    Largely thanks to these fine citizens here, every one of our militaries are bing vastly more capable

    with every minute that passes.

    ¡°Our biggest worry is that the demons are capable of Translocating to Keran already, and that they¡¯re

    only waiting to attack us to reduce the energy required to do so. If so, then any attack on them might

    only prompt them to suddenly appear among us here on Keran when we¡¯re not nearly as ready as

    we could be. We¡¯ve been holding off from attacking them for just that reason; we¡¯re waiting until we¡¯re

    as strong as we can be before we have to face them. We haven¡¯t even done anything to spy out how

    strong they are, in case they detect us doing so and decide tounch an attack.

    ¡°We should at least wait until all our new wizards are trained. At the very least, until they¡¯re all capable

    of contributing their power to a Command Link. Only a quarter of them have even gotten that far.

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    She went back to her ce, and Mark announced; ¡°Tithian, of The Senate of The People of

    Morning.¡±

 Chapter 168

    Chapter 168

    Part 24

    ¡°In this case, it is Tithian, seer and oracle, for I speak in that capacity for The Circle of Seers. We have

    added many members since this Assembly first met; prescients from every race among us, and we

    have learned how to join our talents somewhat by Linking. We are now capable of giving a discerning

    of the future in only moments, and we have done so.

    ¡°The new capabilities that Fire announced are wee news.

    ¡°But we find so far that if we do this attack today, the peak of the nexus will ur in just less than a

    year and a half, rather than in two years, and it will be more severe. By that I mean that the magnitude

    of a nexus is measured by how much change urs during it, and if we do this thing, there will almost

    certainly be more change than otherwise, as well as sooner. We still do not know how much of that

    change will be beneficial and how much harmful, only that there will be more, sooner. But our general

    consensus is that acting now will not be an improvement. It seems that if we attack the demons today

    as has been proposed, and it were destined to be sessful, then the peak of the nexus, the period of

    maximum change, would ur today or shortly thereafter. But as I say, that is not what we see.¡±

    She returned to her ce, and another appeared on the stage where she had been. Everyone there

    instantly knew who he was, as that was an attribute of the divine, but Mark announced him anyway.

    ¡°Glishkerkugthak, Kwetkerthok God of Life.¡±

    The great gray gargoyle god seemed to glower at the gathering for a moment, then spoke. ¡°There were

    only one hundred and ny-six gods on Keran when we faced the demons over seven million years

    ago. There were only about six hundred million mortals then, only half of whom lived on the surface

    and fought the demons.

    ¡°Now we are many, we are all united, we are far more capable, and we have the assistance of The

    Triax. It is easy to think that we could be victorious, particrly if all of us and all of our nations and all

    of The Triax joined with these young warlocks inunching an overwhelming strike with all of our power

    simultaneously. It might seem that we could not fail.

    ¡°But there were only about twenty million demons on Keran at the most thest time, and only two

    hundred thousand of them were greater demons, yet with the constant reinforcements they were able

    to bring through their Gate they were able to hold their own against all of our gods and mortals, and

    they were gaining the initiative. Only the destruction of their Gate allowed us to prevail.

    ¡°We did not face any of those that The Triax call DemonLords. And The Triax, in all their war against

    the demons, have never seen them use a Gate such as they used here. So the demons that were here

    were more dangerous in that way than any that The Triax have ever faced. The rock that the demons

    are riding here is muchrger than the Triax have ever seen them use before. The Triax assure us that

    if these demonsing here now are aware of the demons¡¯ defeat on Keran seven million years

    ago, they would only attempt to face us again if they were bringing many times more power to bear

    against us than they think they will need to exterminate us all. They have had seven million years to

    improve their methods.

    ¡°Those are some of the many reasons to suppose that the demons might not be easy to defeat, even

    given the unprecedented power that we can bring to bear against them.

    N?velDrama.Org holds this content.

    ¡°I was the first god to fight the demons here, those eons ago. Initially we gods would not fight them

    directly, for we followed a policy that we would not go to war against any mortal, and despite everything

    else they were, the demons were certainly mortal. I was forced to act when I realized that my people

    might be destroyed to thest. I found killing the demons to be easy, and the much smaller number of

    exclusively lesser demons that I faced in those early days of the conflict were defenseless against me.

    ¡°Then some of them hid from me, I know not how, and the rest fled back into their Gate. For two days I

    stood raging before it, for I could find no way to destroy it. That entire time they taunted me from within

    the Gate. Their cries were wordless, but it was in that they were mocking me, and I challenged them

    toe forth and fight with equal spite.

    ¡°Then somehow I was pushed toward the Gate by the demons who had hidden on Keran, and drawn

    towards the Gate at the same time by those within it, or perhaps by the Gate itself. It was so sudden

    and so powerful that I could not resist it, and at thest I ceased resisting and charged into it, thinking

    that surely those waiting on the other side were due for woe when I was among them.

    ¡°But I did not emerge on the other side of the Gate, instead, I was held in an unknown version of the

    Translocation medium. And though it seemed that I was alone there, I was then attacked. Millions of

    demons attacked my mind in a way that might be called psionic, though that may not be urate, or

    even applicable. They destroyed my sanity and gave me an eternity of absolute torment.¡±

    He paused again and turned to Mark, meeting his eye before surveying the rest of his family, then

    speaking directly to him.

    ¡°The point has been made that we are improving rapidly, and the demons are unlikely to be doing so. Is

    very valid, and very telling. Wait. Wait until we are no longer improving, or at least until the date of

    attack we have previously agreed on.

    ¡°The demons are tricky and cunning and unpredictable and cruel beyond all imagining. It is easy to

    underestimate them. Do not make the same mistake that I made.¡±

    He disappeared, and a secondter his ce was taken by Heklivmalgiso, first of the two gods of the

    elves.

    Mark unnecessarily announced him as well.

    ¡°I speak for those gods of Keran who can read the shadows of the future, and we see deeper and

    with greater detail than the mortal Circle of Seers. We agree with their assessment, and add this; If you

    act against the demons now, there is no doubt that the results for Keran will be worse than they

    would be if you wait.¡±

    ¡°How long should we wait?¡± Fire demanded.

    ¡°At least until after the tournament for the rule of Keran.¡± the elven god decreed. ¡°We will make

    another assessment at that time.¡±

    ¡°All right, we¡¯ll wait.¡± Mark nodded.

    ¡°It is understandable and honorable that you should wish to end the threat against Keran as soon as

    possible.¡± Heklivmalgiso told Mark and his family. ¡°The new techniques you discovered today in spell-

    craft and magical attack are magnificent, andpletely innovative. We are all very proud of you, and

    we regret that you are denied the chance to strike against the demons today.

    ¡°Be well, and be patient, young ones.¡±

    With that, the elven god took himself elsewhere.

    ¡°Well, I guess it¡¯s settled.¡± Mark told the Assembly. ¡°We¡¯re off to talk to some fools about the futility of

    acting self-destructive in innovative new ways.¡±

    He got a bit of a chuckle from his audience for that.

    ¡°If you can rmend a few skilled but discreet news Revealers, we invite them toe along. We¡¯ll

    be starting off from the private beach on Hilia in about twenty minutes.

    ¡°We¡¯ll all meet here again tomorrow as scheduled, to n military exercises involving all our nations, in

    preparation for doing the same with The Triax.

    ¡°We thank you all foring on such short notice, and wish you well.¡±

    With a bow to the Assembly, he Translocated his family to the Royal Beach on Hilia.

    Once there he cast Speaking to First Minister Sheramiv.

 Chapter 169

    Chapter 169

    Part 24

    ¡°I¡¯d like to make a speech in a big and busy public square in each of the continents of Debivin, Felion,

    and Kletiuk, and one in Oceania, starting in about twenty minutes. I know it¡¯s short notice, but could you

    have someone scout out suitable locations and let me know as soon as practical, and arrange for

    permission from the local authorities? They should be ces where a lot of youth tend to be, or close

    to them, like senior schools and colleges and military training centers. And once they¡¯re decided on,

    Content (C) N?v/elDra/ma.Org.

    please spread the word to all the news Revealers about what I¡¯ll be doing and where and when.¡±

    ¡°Certainly My Prince. May I ask on what subjects you¡¯ll be speaking?¡±

    ¡°The changes in society on Keran in general, and the new and extreme recreational activities that

    have started since The Healing of Valentia went out in particr. We¡¯ll be going as a group of seven,

    plus a few news Revealers who¡¯ll be meeting us here before we leave and traveling with us.¡±

    ¡°Very good, My Prince. I¡¯ll have the locations for you in a few moments.¡±

    ¡°Thank you Sheramiv.¡± Mark acknowledged, and ended the Speaking.

    Meanwhile Talia had ordered from a Kleti restaurant in Hilia¡¯s lower levels and Retrieved a table to

    serve it on.

    ¡°We¡¯ll have a quick meal in a minute.¡± she announced.

    ¡°Excellent, I¡¯m starved now that you mention it.¡± Six dered as he eagerly rubbed his palms together.

    ¡°We worked pretty hard today, between the exercise and the spell work in the void.¡±

    ¡°We did, but then we always do.¡± Val giggled. ¡°Have I told you alltely how proud I am to be part of

    this family? If not, I am.¡±

    ¡°I never thought I would be part of a family of small folk, but it¡¯s a wonderful thing.¡± Kragorramughed,

    and curled his tail around Povon, pulling her close as he reclined on the sand.

    ¡°Now, we were tempted away from the wonderful scratch you were giving me by the trip to the void,

    when I said I wouldn¡¯t be drawn away. And you¡¯re only half finished.¡± he reminded her with a grin.

    ¡°Good point.¡± sheughed as she resumed his massage. ¡°I¡¯ll finish you and then you can give me one.

    Then we¡¯ll go investigate the culture of Serminak.¡±

    A young female dwarf appeared on the upper edge of the beach a meter in the air, settled to the sand,

    and approached the group. She was blond and rosy-cheeked, wearing her people¡¯s traditional style of

    sturdy boots, a brown wool ankle-length skirt, a white shawl over a red and white checked shirt, and the

    red Revealing stone on a chain around her neck that had be the mark of a professional Revealer.

    ¡°Good day, I¡¯m Bava Kukur, with the Youth Interest of Kletiuk Daily Revealing. It sounds better in our

    ¡°I¡¯m very grateful to be invited today. I was told you wished me to be discreet, and I shall be as

    unnoticeable as possible. However, if it should be convenient, I would very much like to interview any of

    you, particrly Prince Mark or the Governors of Hiliani. The Governors have never been interviewed,

    and everyone wants to know more about you, particrly the world¡¯s youth.¡±

    ¡°You can interview me now.¡± Mark told her with a smile and a careful handshake. ¡°That is, if you don¡¯t

    mind if we have dinner while we talk. You¡¯re wee to join us if you¡¯d like, we¡¯re actually having Kleti

    food sent over from one of the restaurants here. We have about twenty minutes, or a bit less.

    ¡°If they¡¯re amenable, you can interview the Governors while I¡¯m speaking today. You¡¯ll miss the

    speeches, but they¡¯ll be well covered by the news Revealers anyway.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± she told him with a smile and a graceful curtsey, and took a small notebook out of a

    pocket in her skirt.

    ¡°The first thing I¡¯d like to ask concerns the recent military exercises in the void. Though no Revealings

    were recorded, Readings from some of the participants are widely avable.

    ¡°We were all particrly amazed by the performance of yourself and the other Strike Wizards over the

    forts on Blenda. The power of huge militaries were channeled through you, and you destroyed millions

    of enemies, but it¡¯s hard to see how you did it. You were being attacked by billions of demons, and you

    werepletely hidden by the massive fireball of the billions of detonating spells and Demonfire they

    were casting at you.

    ¡°How could you withstand such a titanic barrage?

    ¡°Also, since you were hidden from view, your enemies must have been hidden from your view. How

    then did you target them?¡±

    ¡°Ah.¡± Mark smiled as the food arrived.

    By then another six news and current affairs Revealers had arrived.

    Surprisingly, one of them was a yellow female Xervian dragon, who politely and psionicly asked Povon,

    Kragorram, and Karz in Draconian for an interview. They agreed, and moved down to the end of the

    beach to conduct it verbally in Draconian, while Povon continued Kragorram¡¯s massage.

    The rest of the Revealers, following their mandate to be discreet, merely recorded the interview Bava

    Kukur was conducting with Mark from different points of view.

    Mark spoke as he served himself up. ¡°I didn¡¯t have anything to do with withstanding the barrage; I was

    being protected by Shielding that was cast remotely by hundreds of millions of ourrades and

    coordinated by Alilia and Talia. The other Strike Wizards were simrly protected. That¡¯s the whole

    point of concentrating our attack power through only a few Strike Wizards. We can also concentrate all

    our defenses on them, making them almost invulnerable, and if we lose them, we¡¯ve still only lost a few

    people, and others can step up to take their ces immediately.

    ¡°And you¡¯re right, there was no way to see through the maelstrom of spells and fire that were impacting

    against my Shields. All the targeting was done psionicly.¡±

    ¡°Then that was an amazing demonstration of psionics!¡± Bava remarked. ¡°You must have been casting

    dozens of attack spells every second, all urately targeted on the densest clusters of demons around

    you!¡±

    ¡°Again, you have to understand that millions of our best psionicists were helping me with the targeting,

    by giving me theplete picture of the entire battle zone as the fight went on.¡± Mark exined as he

    took a seat on a handy log.

    ¡°The only thing I had to do was make the most of our avable attack power. The primary prerequisite

    of a Strike Wizard in that situation is quick thinking, including threat evaluation, spell selection, and

    power management. I¡¯ll admit I¡¯m pretty good at that, but the evaluations afterward showed that there

    were five others that did it better in ourst exercise, including two Xervian Dragons, a Hiliani Sylvan,

    and a Battle Wizard from The People of Life. Kragorram, Six, and Fire were just below me in the

    ranking.¡±

    ¡°Do you think those results will be reflected in the results of the uing Tournament of Governors for

    the rule of Keran?¡± Bava asked. She waspletely nonplussed at having to wait repeatedly while

    Mark unhurriedly finished chewing and swallowing a bite during the interview, and she disyed an air

    of pleasant patience.

    ¡°Not necessarily.¡± Mark told her. ¡°I think almost all the best Strike Wizards are also people who would

    ce well in the tournament, but being a Strike Wizard is a fairly specialized skill setpared to what

    you have to do to lead Keran in war against the demons. I really can¡¯t guess who¡¯ll win the

    tournament, or even who¡¯ll ce in the top ten contestants.¡±

    ¡°The courage of everyone who took part in the Deh exercise was very impressive.¡± Bava said as he

    checked her notes. ¡°Fighting against the demons in those dark tunnels and caverns seemed very scary

    in the Reading I audited, even for one such as I who is of a race who feelfortable below ground.

    How did you all conquer your fear and remain so professional in your conduct?¡±

 Chapter 170

    Chapter 170

    Part 24

    Markughed around a bite of fish. ¡°While it¡¯s true that the warriors I worked with in the exercise have

    great courage and determination, and are very professional, and the battle that the organizers

    presented us with was indeed quite a daunting prospect, it was still just an exercise. All of us have

    been training hard for months or years, and most of us have taken part in such simtion exercises

    many times before, if not on such a grand scale or in the void. We¡¯re pretty used to it by now. Which is

    the whole point, really; when we do face the demons we¡¯ll be as ustomed to it as possible. It¡¯ll be a

    lot scarier when we know that they¡¯re real demons and that the danger of injury and death are real, but

    we¡¯ll be fine because our training will serve us in good stead.¡±

    At this point the rest of Mark¡¯s family had concluded that Bava was unlikely to ask anything that they

    found particrly interesting or profound, though her interview would probably be of great interest to

    the general public of Keran. They maintained the appearance of following the conversation, but kept

    little of their attention on it as they began conversing with each other psionicly.

    After they ate, Povon and Kragorram stayed to finish their massages, and Karz assumed his elven

    guise and joined the rest as they went to The Hilian Trades and Crafts School at Juncture, where the

    borders of the three empires of Debivin met. Sheramiv had arranged for Mark to speak here first since

    the campus and a huge tract ofnd around it were not merely owned by Hilia; the three empires had

    donated thend as well as its sovereignty. Such was their esteem of Hilia, its rulers, and the multi-

    racial experiment that it represented. Like an Embassy, the campus was legally part of the nation of

    Hilia, so Sheramiv needed no other¡¯s permission to arrange for Mark¡¯s speech to be delivered there.

    That left her more time to make arrangements for the speeches on the other continents, which were not

    easy undertakings on such short notice.

    The huge round area of parnd in the center of the campus was already full of people when they

    arrived, as were the spokes of parnd that radiated out from the center between the buildings. All the

    windows in the buildings facing the park had been thrown wide open and every window was full of

    spectators, as were the edges of the roofs overlooking the center, with the exception of one area on a

    t roof on the west side of the park that had been reserved for the rest of Mark¡¯s party and the

    Revealers who apanied them.

    Mark took his ce in the air ten meters above the center of the park, and considered his audience for

    a moment before he began. They took the moment to give him a mighty cheer, and he smiled and

    bowed proudly in response. Initially he Levitated, but after a moment¡¯s consideration he made a round

    t surface of invisible Force about twelve meters wide to walk around on while he spoke, so the

    people initially directly below him would have a chance to see more than just a view of the soles of his

    feet directly above them. He cast a huge Revealing of himself fifteen meters above him for the benefit

    of the more distant viewers. When the roar of the crowd had abated some, he cast augmentations on

    his voice to be heard by all, and spoke.

    ¡°Hello, and good day. Thanks foring to hear me today.¡± he began, and went on to discuss his

    views on the recent extreme recreations and the steps he felt needed to be taken to minimize the

    distress they were causing.

    He then spoke of the rapid changes that were taking ce in every aspect of life, and the need to

    bravely and patiently persevere until the demons were defeated.

    He finished by saying; ¡°I know that right now it seems that the war with the demons and all the

    preparation for it are going to take a long time, but I¡¯m pretty sure that when it¡¯s over, it won¡¯t seem like

    itsted very long at all. It may seem like the war is sure to be hard on us all, but with every day that

    passes our ability to defeat our enemies grows more than the day before.

    ¡°And when it¡¯s over, life will be a paradise for us all. War has pushed us to advance far more quickly

    than we ever have, and to develop wonderful new capabilities, and when the war is over, we¡¯ll be able

    to enjoy the benefits of all our improvements. We¡¯ll create new worlds as beautiful as Keran on other

    worlds around our sun, and eventually around other suns. We¡¯ll achieve great new aplishments,

    and we¡¯ll raise beautiful children, and we¡¯ll help The Triax to hunt down all the demons everywhere.

    Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDra/ma.O(r)g!

    ¡°I want you to know that I¡¯m very proud of all of you for how strong your spirit and your resolve has

    been in the face of all the challenges that we¡¯re facing. Keran has pulled together in peace and co-

    operation, more than it ever has before, and the problems we¡¯ve had to deal with along the way have

    been far fewer than any of us could have expected.

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    While he¡¯d been speaking, Bava Kukur interviewed the Governors. They found her questioning to be

    rather inane; what their favorite colors, foods, and songs were, who they thought was cute or attractive,

    whether they got along with other children their ages, did they find it hard to bear such responsibilities

    and always be at the center of events. They tolerated it and gave her honest answers, since her

    viewers were the youth of Kletiuk and it was understandable that they would be interested in such

    things. But when she had asked every question she had for them in her notebook and looked to be

    ready to continue with more impromptu inquiries, Fire politely thanked her and invited the other

    Revealers to join the conversation.

    Since their audiences were more general, they asked more interesting questions; what were their

    thoughts on the future of Keran, did they really think they could win the Tournament of Governors

    and what strategies did they n to employ, what were their thoughts on the mixing of races?

    The children politely refused to be specific about their strategies for the tournament, but were very

    open about the rest of it, and it was an enjoyable half hour. The most interesting question was; ¡°You are

    all very exceptional, but does it ever bother you to be so¡­ unusual?¡±

    They considered the question and the questioner for a moment, the Revealer in question being a

    young giant some three and two-thirds meters tall with dark hair, dark eyes, a neat goatee, and white

    desert robes over all else.

    Six answered for them. ¡°We¡¯re warlocks. We¡¯re unusual, but we¡¯re the first of a new breed. Being a

    warlock is more than merely having ess to a different and stronger kind of power. Like our father, we

    can see the magic shining out of other beings of power as a visible glow, whether they¡¯re wizards or

    sorcerers, and we can see each other¡¯s power glow. Being a warlock also changes your perception in

    many other less-noticeable ways.

    ¡°We can also see the power-field of wizardry around us like elves can, and being an elf also changes

    your perception in many subtle ways. Though we¡¯re only half-elven, our purely elven abilities aren¡¯t

    below average. In fact, if we lost all of our warlock abilitiespletely, we¡¯d still be among the most

    capable elves alive.

    ¡°We¡¯re sure that Val will also be as big and at least as strong as an average human girl, and I¡¯ll be

    bigger than average even for humans, if not as big as my father. Even Fire is far stronger than one

    would expect from a child of her age and size, of either race. Though smaller than average for her age,

    even among elves, she is physically stronger than average human children of her age who are much

    bigger than her.

    ¡°Being a half-elven, half-human warlockbines the best qualities of elves, humans, and warlocks,

    and changes our perceptions in ways that our parents don¡¯t have. I¡¯m sure we¡¯re perfectly normal for

    half-elven warlocks, and soon there¡¯ll be forty-four more of us. That¡¯s enough of us to feel normal.

    Eventually we¡¯ll have children, and they¡¯ll have children, and eventually there¡¯ll be millions of us.

 Chapter 171

    Chapter 171

    Part 24

    ¡°We¡¯re like the very first elves, who were the most recent race to develop before us. We¡¯re strange

    it.

    ¡°On the other hand, all the humanoid races can interbreed now. Over the long term, that¡¯s sure to

    produce some averaging among the races, but it¡¯s also sure to producepletely new kinds of

    people. And if the warlock characteristics are passed on without being diminished by being diluted by

    other bloodlines, as we think will be the case, then eventually every humanoid born will also be a

    warlock, regardless of any other racial characteristics they may have.¡±

    They moved on to Mark¡¯s speech at a military training center in Beijur, Kletiuk, which was attended by

    Overlord Senchak and most of the elite of Kletiuk¡¯s dwarven society, as well as a vast throng of staff

    and trainees from the base.

    His speech was simr to the one he gave in Debivin, yet different enough to show that he was

    speaking from the heart, without rehearsal or preparation.

    As he was half finished, his children got bored of the proceedings and elected to go home to Hilia. Talia

    suggested that they go instead with her to the Living Pce in First Valley, and they agreed. Alilia

    elected to continue with Mark on his tour.

    ¡°Wee to the ce where my heart is most at home.¡± Talia said with a smile as she, her children,

    and Karz emerged in the living room of the pce¡¯s master suite. ¡°Though we only lived here a few

    days, the love I share with Mark truly blossomed and became part of us while we were here. And I¡¯ve

    known since I could talk that I would have a home on thisnd when I was grown, though I could never

    have predicted this ce! That¡¯s my parents'' tree there, where I grew up.¡± she told them as she pointed

    out a mighty oak that was visible through the windowed double doors to the balcony.

    ¡°I love the aura of it.¡± Val said as she took a deep breath. ¡°And the wizard¡¯s magic here feels really

    good too. The elven part of me can sure feel why we fought so hard to hold thisnd.¡±

    ¡°I do get a feeling that this is home, in a way.¡± Fire said as she opened the doors and went out on the

    balcony, and the rest joined her. They looked around at the beautiful gardens at the front of the pce,

    the redwood wall around it, the giant trees with elven homes visible above the wall, and the asional

    view of the ring of mountain around the valley that was visible through the trees.

    ¡°Here.¡± Talia giggled, and passed them her memory of Alilia, Theramin, and her parents casting the

    mighty spell that had made the wonderful home around them.

    ¡°Wow. That¡¯s really beautiful, both the making and what they made.¡± Six quietly stated.

    ¡°Such an elven thing to do, to grow a home out of a tree.¡± Karzmented. ¡°Yet so beautifully strange

    that the shape and the design is obviously so typically human.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the beauty and the magic of it, to be sure.¡± Talia agreed.

    They just stood there for a view minutes, enjoying the view and absorbing the ambience of the ce.

    Then Val said suddenly said; ¡°I¡¯m getting really tired of working on the education spell. It¡¯s going well,

    but I¡¯m bored of it, and if gets finished sooner then we can get the wizards that¡¯ve been teaching into

    the preparations for the next exercise sooner.

    ¡°Will you all help me with it? We should be able to have it done by tonight if we all work on it. At least

    the core part anyway. Then it has to go to the trantors, then back to me for final cotion and

    distribution.¡±

    ¡°Sure, sister.¡± Fire told her with a grin as she gave her a one armed hug. ¡°You¡¯ve been working pretty

    hard on it, and besides, me and Six can probably add a few things to your psionics lessons.¡±

    The five of them brought chairs out onto the balcony and sat down to work, still enjoying the view as

    the sun set.

    Mark and Alilia appeared in the living room just over an hour and a halfter.

    Talia literally jumped up into Mark¡¯s arms as he and Alilia joined them on the balcony.

    ¡°How are you doing, my love?¡± Mark softly asked as he gently cuddled her, and she hugged him

    around his neck with desperate affection.

    ¡°Quite good, considering.¡± she murmured. ¡°I was able to keep it almostpletely out of my mind until

    you returned. But I sure missed you a lot.¡±

    ¡°Quite good indeed.¡± Mark chuckled as Alilia floated up and joined their hug. ¡°It wasn¡¯t that long ago

    when the curse would have tortured you horribly if you were that far away from me. And it was almost

    two hours.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯vee a long way since we¡¯ve been together.¡± Alilia smiled.

    ¡°Mmm, we have.¡± Mark agreed as he leaned in for a kiss, and they both gave it to him.

    ¡°You know, you have a room right in there.¡± Val giggled.

    ¡°Good point.¡± Mark chuckled, and disappeared with his wives.

    His children and Karz giggled together about it for a moment, then returned to their work until Povon

    called Karz home another two hourster. Then the three siblings went to sleep on the couches in the

    living room.

    They were up and Karz was back six hourster. They had a quick snack of juice and tarts as they got

    back to work, and worked for three more hours.

    Finally they paused, grinned at each other with satisfaction, had a joyous and proud group hug, and

    out into the world as they held the embrace. Then they sent it to the trantors.

    Val ordered a huge brunch of local Nine Valleys fare from the pce kitchens, which werergely

    automated and always open since the ce was now a hotel, and a very expensive and exclusive one.

    When the food arrived on a serving cart, they wheeled it over to their parents¡¯ door and magically sent

    the scents of the small feast wafting under the door for a minute.

    When they heard their parents stirring they giggled and wheeled the cart out to the balcony.

    Mark was out his door, still pulling his shirt on, before the children were finished serving themselves.

    His wives were right behind him, still casting to repair their appearances, and his, since he hadn¡¯t

    bothered straightening his hair or his clothes or even cleaning himself before he became fixated on

    eating.

    Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDra/ma.O(r)g!

    ¡°Good morning and thanks, we¡¯re starved!¡± Mark chuckled as he sat and started eating right from the

    cart.

    ¡°Good morning.¡± the children chorused with cheery grins.

    ¡°Good morning.¡± Talia returned as she smiled and fixed a te for Mark. ¡°How long have you been

    up?¡±

    ¡°About three hours.¡± Fire answered around a mouthful of steamed greens. ¡°We had a snack when we

    got up.¡±

    ¡°Where did you sleep?¡± Alilia asked as she sat with her te. The children hadn¡¯t bothered bringing out

    the table, they just ate with their tes on theirps and left their drinks on the cart within easy reach,

    so their parents did the same.

    ¡°On the couches inside.¡± Six answered. ¡°They were quitefy. We thought of getting another room

    here, but they¡¯re all upied, and then we thought of using Grandfather¡¯s house over there, but we

    couldn¡¯t ask him since he¡¯s in the time-bubble, and we didn¡¯t want to disturb you about it. Then we just

    fell asleep here while we were trying to decide between going back to Hilia or Heartwood.¡±

    ¡°As long as you slept.¡± Talia answered. ¡°I¡¯m d you stayed close. I didn¡¯t think about it, but I¡¯m sure I

    could feel that you were near, and I¡¯d have noticed if you left.

    ¡°I¡¯m keying the locks on Father¡¯s ce to you, except the door on his workshop, in case you ever want

    to stay there another time. I¡¯m sure he and Mother and Hilsith wouldn¡¯t mind, so long as you sleep in

    my and Dalia¡¯s old rooms. It would be polite to stay out of their bedroom and Mother¡¯s study, and I don¡¯t

    have the key to father¡¯s workshop anyway, but you can have the run of the rest of the ce.¡±

 Chapter 172

    Chapter 172

    Part 24

    ¡°Thanks. I doubt it¡¯ll be necessary though.¡± Val told her as she reached for a ss of juice. ¡°If we¡¯d

    have been awake enough to think straight, we could¡¯ve just brought our bed from Hilia, there¡¯s plenty of

    room for it in the living room here. But it was really okay. One nice thing about still being small is that

    the couches are plenty big enough for us, and they have to be some of the nicest, mostfy couches

    in the world.¡±

    ¡°They were wedding presents from the elves, like almost everything else here.¡± Mark mentioned. ¡°I¡¯m a

    bit embarrassed to say that I don¡¯t recall who gave them to us, but we got an enormous number of

    presents that night. It¡¯s all the very best elven quality and craftsmanship though, that¡¯s for sure.¡±

    ¡°The nice thing about elves is, they¡¯re patient.¡± Aliliaughed. ¡°If it took you five hundred years to get

    around to sending thank you notes for those couches, those who gave them would appreciate it just as

    much, and not consider the timing to be in any way inappropriate. They do expect that you¡¯ll get around

    to thanking each of them eventually, but they know you¡¯ve been busy since you were married.¡±

    ¡°We also don¡¯t have to thank them individually if they gifted us as groups, and most of the elves did so.¡±

    Talia pointed out with a giggle. ¡°So we only have about forty thousand thanks to send out or deliver in

    person. We¡¯ll get around to it after the war.¡±

    Just then a big group of gods appeared floating in the air outside the balcony, and Ne, First

    Goddess of Humans, moved to the edge of the balcony to address them.

    ¡°Your education spell is wonderful work, and it is of crucial importance right now.¡± she stated with a

    warm smile, letting her aura and her mood affect them. ¡°While wecked the creativity to think of doing

    such a thing, and weck your skill with automated spells and so could not have produced a better

    spell, nor done it in a shorter time, we do have some abilities that are still beyond any mortal levels of

    achievement. Thus we have relieved your trantors of their tasks, and have produced some three

    thousand, six hundred and fifty-seven trantions. They are urate in magic,nguage, and dialect.

    That is all thenguages and major variations spoken on our world now, and every new magic user on

    Keran can use one.

    ¡°So, if you are capable of epting such a huge transfer of information, we will return the tranted

    spells to you, so you can make them self-powering and send them out. It would be best if you did this

    now. As I¡¯ve said, this is of crucial importance, since almost no-one speaks Trade Common as their

    nativenguage as you do.¡±

    Val and her family Linked to ensure they had the capacity to ept the transfer, then she told Ne;

    ¡°Thank you, every one of you, for your quick work on this. I¡¯ll take the transfer now.¡±

    Ne gave her the thousands of versions of the huge andplex spell over a one-way Link that

    otherwise seemedpletely conventional. Val had to use some magic memory enhancements, but it

    turned out that she didn¡¯t need her family¡¯s assistance to assimte it all.

    ¡°This is really great work, as far as I can tell.¡± Val stated. ¡°As one would expect of your work, of course.

    We¡¯ll have to wait until the new students start using them before we really know how good all of it is,

    but I¡¯m pretty sure there won¡¯t be a problem.¡±

    She made the final modifications to the first trantion, then quickly crafted an automated spell to do

    the same for the rest. It took almost two minutes, and the gods waited patiently as she did so, while the

    rest of her family continued eating.

    ¡°All right, that¡¯s it. Here they go.¡± she announced as she triggered all the spells.

    Again, Mark shared his vision of theplex spells¡¯ casting. ¡°I can¡¯t get over how beautiful it looks

    when you do that.¡± he mused with a grin as he did so.

    ¡°Beautiful and wondrous indeed.¡± Ne smiled. ¡°We thank you for finishing the spell¡¯s crafting so

    quickly, and for attending to our request so promptly. There are already¡­ over eighty of the finest

    students who have proven capable of absorbing the entire Education through direct psionic learning,

    and have thereforepleted it. Make that one hundred and twelve, and more by the second.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s doing better than I thought it would.¡± Val stated as she monitored her spells¡¯ performance. ¡°Either

    more students are capable of direct psionic learning than I thought, or the spell is better at teaching that

    way.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re wee, Sister.¡± Six teased. ¡°I knew we¡¯d have some improvements to make to your psionics,

    and we did. See this part?¡±

    ¡°Yup, that¡¯s doing it alright.¡± Val grinned. ¡°That should increase the speed of learning for almost all the

    students, except the most psionicly deaf. It should bring the average learning time for the whole course

    down to less than a year. Good work. And thanks.¡±

    ¡°Nice to know you haven¡¯tpletely passed us in everything.¡± Fire giggled.

    ¡°Only magic, and you know it. I¡¯m falling farther behind you in everything else every day.¡±

    ¡°Yes, only magic, the most important skill there is.¡± Fire teased. ¡°That¡¯s how it is when you choose a

    specialty; you fall behind in everything else. That¡¯s why we¡¯re not choosing one. Besides, you¡¯re still

    advancing in everything else faster than almost anyone.¡±

    ¡°Children, your guests?¡± Talia prompted.

    ¡°Right, sorry.¡± Val said as she blushed and turned back to Ne. ¡°Thanks again for the help with

    trantions, I thought I¡¯d have to wait weeks for some of them.¡±

    N?velDrama.Org holds this content.

    ¡°We¡¯re d to help, especially since you didn¡¯t ask.¡± Ne told her.

    ¡°Oh? What difference does that make?¡± Fire asked.

    ¡°If a mortal asks us for help and we give it, some may consider it a religious transaction, and we¡¯re still

    concerned about avoiding that. We¡¯ll convince the stealthy Sylvan to see things our way eventually.

    Probably after enough evidence umtes to show that his Sylvan aren¡¯t advancing as fast as the

    rest of them. We¡¯re sure that will happen eventually, since we¡¯ve proven rather convincingly that devout

    religious devotion reduces the adaptability and effectiveness of mortals.

    ¡°We thank you again, we encourage you all to continue to produce such amazing and effective

    innovations, and we look forward to seeing you again soon. Farewell.¡±

    ¡°Farewell.¡± Val returned, and waved to the rest of the gods to show that she included them, and her

    family did the same.

    The gods departed, leaving a reflective silence in their wake.

    ¡°That¡¯s not something that will ever seem like an everyday urrence.¡± Mark quietly marveled.

    There was another pause, then Karz burst outughing. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you two kept the gods waiting

    while you engaged in a round of kissing each other over how great you are!¡±

    The girls had no ready response to that but to shrug and grin sheepishly and blush, thenugh with the

    rest.

    They and the world seemed to settle into a new routine; learning, training, and participating in exercises

    full time, and having fun or conducting research during their free time.

    In addition to eight hours of work per day on their own concerns, Mark and Talia spent two hours per

    workday talking to the citizens of Keran, and one hour on their beach talking to leaders, gods, and a

    few leading researchers. Alilia and their children usually apanied them, often with Karz and

    asionally with Povon and Kragorram as well.

    This made for eleven-hour workdays, but they all enjoyed everything they did together and they wasted

    no time on traveling, so they were content.

 Chapter 173

    Chapter 173

    PART 25

    A week after releasing the Education spell they participated in the first joint void exercise involving the

    militaries of every nation on Keran.

    It began in the void opposite the sun from the real demons where Mark and his family had tested their

    power. There they faced simtions of the demons¡¯ small rock world and every demon in it, all run by

    gods of Keran and The Triax. There was no way to know if the simted demons¡¯ strength matched

    that of the real ones, but they faced more than eleven billion demons in the exercise. Only a hundredth

    of them were greater demons, and there were only a handful of DemonLords.

    Only those with abat score of five thousand or less were allowed to fight unrestrained. Those with

    more power than that were allowed tomand, but were forbidden from using their own power in

    organizers that gave an expert fighter abat score of about fifty. No concentration of power or

    simcrums were allowed. Every soldier fought with his or her own power and their own bodies, along

    with whatever spelled items and equipment they could procure. They were still allowed to co-ordinate

    their forces with a Command Link, and they would certainly have been quickly ughtered without it.

    After fourteen hours of battle they had only defeated half the demons, and had destroyed less than a

    tenth of the tunnels and caverns.

    Then their enemy surprised them by Translocating to Keran, where they all started attacking two

    n-Holdings in a desert in the center of Kletiuk with abined area equal to that of Venak, and two

    sizable cities.

    The demons had their way of it in the beginning of the battle in the void, and Kerani losses were

    heavy. The Kerani were just adapting to the challenge and turning the tide when the battle moved to

    N?velDrama.Org holds this content.

    Kletiuk. There the demons initially dominated the battle again, half of which was aerial and half was

    among the houses, buildings, tunnels, and underground caverns of the dwarves¡¯ semi-subterranean

    cities.

    The battle¡¯s move to Keran did allow the Kerani to bring much of their non-void-qualified fighters

    into the fray, and those reinforcements were sorely needed.

    After another four hours the demons were losing badly again, so they retreated back to their rock in the

    void, where the battle continued in their tunnels and caverns for a final three hours.

    When it was done, most of Keran¡¯s forces, over half the total poption of the world, had been

    ¡®killed¡¯. But all the simted demons were dead. All the surviving void-qualified forces were so bone-

    tired that they were almost asleep on their feet, so reviews and evaluations of the exercise were

    postponed for ten hours.

    Mark and his family cheered like maniacs like all the rest when their victory was dered, but as soon

    as they arrived on the Royal Beach at Hilia and Sent their armor home their bodies and expressions

    drooped like gs when the wind dies. As the tension of battle and the brave face they presented for

    the troops drained from them, Mark sat down hard on the sand, almost letting himself drop, and leaned

    back on his arms with his legs spread, letting his chin fall to his chest and his eyes close. Val burst into

    tears and ran into Alilia¡¯s arms.

    Alilia picked up her crying daughter and sat with her on Mark¡¯s left thigh, and leaned exhaustedly

    against his torso. Talia sat on his right thigh with Fire on the left side of herp and Six on her right, and

    they all cuddled together. Both her children had tears rolling down their faces, but they kept their

    Karzy down on the sand curled around them and against them, Povon curled around him, and

    Kragorram curled around her. Dragons don¡¯t cry, but the same emotions were in in their behavior.

    asionally they gave each other or the small folk they encircled a gentle and reassuring caress.

    Finally Fire spoke, her voice still shaking and choked with emotion. ¡°That was absolutely horrible. The

    Triax were right, none of the simtions we ever fought before ever really fought like demons. So

    vicious. So horrible. There was a moment when they first got right in among us, and this demon had a

    sword it¡¯d taken from someone and it still had demon-fire and spells because it was using them when it

    had to. But when it killed the Sylvan right beside me it didn¡¯t use any of that. It exposed itself to

    considerably greater risk to get in close enough to grab her by the hair at the back of her head and sink

    its teeth into her lower jaw and throat and rip it all out. And it ate it, so the Healing just heals her up

    without it, which was pretty ugly. She was still physicallybat capable, but she was so traumatized

    by it that she couldn¡¯t fight anymore, and she just let the demon kill her a secondter. I was so

    horrified that I just looked at it for a moment, until it almost killed me and I snapped out of it.¡±

    There was silence for a few seconds, then Talia spoke. ¡°When we took Quewanak¡¯s training the first

    time, in a dream, we were still far below the five thousand limit. Even when we finished it we were.

    We¡¯vee a long way since then,rgely thanks to you children. They¡¯d have let us really fight today

    if we were still like that. But now¡­¡± She paused and shrugged. ¡°A lot of those I wasmanding would

    have given their teeth for a sword and shield with enough spells in them to give the power of fifty

    Smingan Journeyman Battle Wizards. I could see them looking on with envy as I fought. But I felt so

    heartbreaking, and the most frustrating thing I¡¯ve ever faced.¡±

    ¡°Truly.¡± Alilia nodded. ¡°This was the very first time in my life when I¡¯ve been in a training exercise, and

    found it extremely difficult to keep in mind that it was, after all, only an exercise. I failed to maintain my

    objectivity or to control my emotions on several asions. And that¡¯s putting it as politely as possible.¡±

    ¡°It seemedpletely real in Quewanak¡¯s dream training, except a minute or two between exercises.¡±

    Markmented. ¡°We really thought we were in battle. But there was always that slight air of unreality

    that even the most real-seeming dream has. And we never had to hold back. This wasn¡¯t like that at

    all.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not even sure how much of the exercise was real, and how much was simted.¡± Povon stated

    with a slight edge of anger. ¡°I don¡¯t think we were ever really in Kletiuk today. I think the organizers had

    uspletely fooled, including re-directing our Translocations without us realizing it. That¡¯s a bit scary,

    but that¡¯s gods for you, I guess. The pain of the injuries we took sure seemed real enough.¡±

    ¡°I falteredpletely!¡± Val sobbed. ¡°There was these two brigades of Sylvan, about a hundred

    thousand of them, and apparently their officers had lost their nerve and were refusing to follow orders

    while we were in Kletiuk. For some reason I was sent to straighten them out and lead them in this

    assault they were supposed to do.

    ¡°So there¡¯s this huge grain warehouse with all these distribution tunnels leading down with rails in them

    for carts of grain, and it was one of the primary defense points for the civilians of the city. The demons

    had breached the warehouse, and the dwarves had fallen back to secondary defense points at the

    ends of the tunnels where there were big grated iron portcullises and they could direct a lot of fire at the

    demons who were restricted by the narrow tunnels.

    ¡°We were supposed to retake the warehouse and kill all the demons inside there and in the tunnels

    before they could break through any of the portcullises and get loose among the civilians of the

    city.

 Chapter 174

    Chapter 174

    Part 25

    ¡°The warehouse was a huge stone dome half buried in the ground with no windows and only one

    entrance that wasn¡¯t a tunnel to the lower levels, and that entrance was just a tunnel from the building

    next door with big double doors at the end. We had more than enough assigned to it to beat the

    demons inside there, but only a few of us could get through the doors at once, and we couldn¡¯t just

    bring the warehouse down on them, because it would take too long to dig through it after, and the

    demons in the tunnels would probably breach the secondary defenses before we did.

    ¡°Everyone the Sylvan had sent down the tunnel to the doors so far had been ughtered by all the

    demons inside, and that¡¯s when they disobeyed orders to send any more in. They¡¯d formed a perimeter

    outside the tunnel and they were all trying to shoot arrows and whatnot and cast spells into the door,

    but the demons had it pretty well Shielded so they weren¡¯t killing many of them.

    ¡°I got there and exined that we had to get in there and kill those demons or we were going to lose

    the whole city and all the civilians in it. I came up with a n where we¡¯d breach the roof of the

    warehouse in three ces, because that was all I figured we could do without bringing the whole thing

    down, then we¡¯d rush through all four openings into the warehouse, and I ordered them to get to it.

    ¡°Theirmander tly refused, and he asks who the hell I am that he should have to listen to what I

    said, when I was obviously just a child. He also pointed out that we¡¯d probably lose twenty thousand of

    his Sylvan before this operation was finished, and I knew he was right.

    ¡°And suddenly it struck me, maybe he was right? Was I givenmand just because of my family and

    my power, both of which were of little use right then?

    ¡°I thought that there must be some of them who realized the necessity of doing what I was saying, and I

    scanned them to see if there were any who would speak up to support me. There were none. They

    were all right on the edge of either throwing themselves into the breach in a berserk and suicidal attack

    with no strategy, or just quitting the battle and running away. They¡¯d taken too much pain over too many

    hours, they¡¯d all have been dead a dozen times without my Healing spell, and the fact that they knew it

    was just an exercise wasn¡¯t enough to make the difference.

    ¡°We¡¯d been fighting for more than sixteen hours already then, and I was really hungry, and I really had

    to pee. I was angry and scared and tired, and I knew there were a lot of hours left in the battle yet.

    ¡°And I falteredpletely. I almost started crying standing there. In the middle of a battle, while I was

    supposed to be exertingmand, I called my mother. Somemander I am.¡±

    ¡°And all I had to do was cast a mild Tranquility on you.¡± Alilia pointed out with a smile. ¡°That was

    enough for your determination to ovee your doubts. You told them rather forcefully that you were

    Princess Valentia Longstrider of Hilia, that you were duly authorized tomand them by the military

    authorities of The Just Alliance, that you had abat effectiveness score of over two hundred and

    forty million with an intellect to match, and that while the stupid rules of this exercise prevented you

    from using that power against the enemy, no one had said that you couldn¡¯t use it to discipline some

    stupid and insubordinate troops, all of them at once if necessary. And they shut up and listened.

    ¡°And you enacted your n and led them in a costly but victorious fight to plug the breach into the city.¡±

    ¡°Yah.¡± Val giggled as she wiped her tears away and tried to get her mood back to normal. ¡°And I cast a

    little funnel of Force inside my underpants with a tiny Gate in the bottom to the ocean just outside this

    cove, and I had a nice pee right in the middle of the fighting. And after that I went and got something to

    eat.¡±

    ¡°Which you wolfed down in five minutes and got back into the war.¡± Alilia said with augh. ¡°You¡¯re an

    incredible little warrior andmander, and we¡¯re very proud of you, all of you. All you children were

    incredible today.¡±

    ¡°Seven-year-olds are allowed to have moments of weakness, you know.¡± Mark told her with a chuckle

    and a gentle caress to her cheek.

    ¡°And I want you kids to know something. Like all parents, we are determined, and have been since

    before you were born, that we were going to do everything in our power to keep you out of danger. But

    we knew that it might not always be possible, so we decided that we were going to do everything in our

    power to ensure that you could defend yourselves against anything, in case we couldn¡¯t be there to

    protect you. That¡¯s why we¡¯ve had you, or should I say let you, engage in all the military training you¡¯ve

    had.

    ¡°But know this and know it well; you are only seven years old, and there is no way I am going to allow

    you take part in any real battles like the one we fought today until you¡¯re at least sixteen years old,

    which is the minimum age for military conscription for humans. You¡¯re too powerful and valuable to our

    military effort to leave you outpletely, so you can float out in the void near the sun where the power

    is strongest, far from the enemy, and cast millions of automated attack spells to your heart¡¯s content.

    Which is where you¡¯re most valuable anyway. But we also have your personal and emotional

    development and well-being to consider, and I think that no seven-year-old should even have to go

    through the exercise we went through today, let alone the real version of it.

    ¡°If I had known what today was going to be like, I¡¯d have seriously considered keeping you kids out of

    it. I probably wouldn¡¯t have prevented your participation if you¡¯d insisted on it, but I¡¯d have considered it.

    ¡°Having a better idea of what closebat with demons is really like, there¡¯s no way I¡¯d allow you to

    face it in reality until you¡¯re old enough, unless it was absolutely andpletely necessary.¡±

    ¡°I agree. I¡¯m not doing that again.¡± Val stated decisively. ¡°We¡¯re goodmanders, but our leadership

    isn¡¯t so crucial that others couldn¡¯t have done it. I¡¯ll take part in the exercises for Strike Wizards and the

    ones with the gods, but not ones like today. As you say, I¡¯m only seven years old, and no one can make

    me do it. I¡¯d do it if they let me use all my power and not hold back, but not otherwise.¡±

    ¡°Me too.¡± Fire nodded as she wiped away fresh tears.

    ¡°Me three.¡± Six added with a giggle.

    ¡°You know Val,¡± Karz mused, ¡°Fire and Six have their ownmand style, but when you¡¯re leading

    troops it¡¯s almost like you¡¯re speaking for your parents.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± she asked.

    ¡°I¡¯ve noticed the same thing.¡± Povon agreed. ¡°When you¡¯re being encouraging you sound like a young

    female version of Mark, and when you¡¯re cracking the whip you sound just like Aliliamanding her

    elves.¡±

    ¡°Oh, well that¡¯s good then.¡± Val smiled. ¡°Of course, Karz¡¯mand style is exactly the same as

    Kragorram¡¯s.¡±

    ¡°I do try to emte Father exactly that way.¡± Karz chuckled. ¡°I like Mark¡¯s style, which seems firm but

    friendly, wise and decisive yet almost inappropriately casual. When he goes into battle it¡¯s like he¡¯s

    saying; all right everyone, lets go deal with this problem.

    ¡°Alilia has a somewhat regal and demanding expectation of obedience that¡¯s entirely suited to her, and

    her people respond to it eagerly since she¡¯s so decisive and her tactical judgment especially is

    amazing. She instantly knows to a soldier how much force she needs to deal with a problem with the

    N?velDrama.Org content rights.

    minimum of losses to her forces, and she sends that many and not one more.

    ¡°They both lead from the front and are inspiring fighters, even when limited as they were today.

    ¡°But when Father goes into battle, you know that he¡¯s determined to make the most valiant, brave, and

    noble effort against the forces of injustice that anyone has ever engaged in. I just love his old-

    fashioned, consciously and inspirationally valiant nobility, and the almost spiritual outlook he has

    toward his craft as a warrior andmander.

 Chapter 175

    Chapter 175

    Part 25

    ¡°Not to mention that his skill as a warrior is still absolutely breath-taking to me, and I¡¯ve been watching

    it all my life. His grace in battle is unmatched by any being I¡¯ve seen. If the organizers thought to limit

    him to the danger of fifty wizards, they failed. Father would be far more dangerous than fifty wizards if

    his sword was nothing but unspelled steel, even without his fire and ws and teeth. He must have

    butchered tens of thousands of demons today, or should I say, he sliced them with motions most

    efficient and artistic.¡±

    ¡°Your skill is exactly equal to mine, and at the rate you¡¯re improving, you¡¯ll best me before you¡¯re even

    fully grown!¡± Kragorramughed.

    ¡°How can his skill best yours when he copies your style exactly?¡± Povon teased. ¡°For that matter, our

    skills are yours, since we got them from you with the transference spell.¡±

    ¡°His skill may not best mine, but his size, strength, speed, tactics, and endurance surely will.¡±

    Kragorramughed. ¡°And long before he¡¯s reached half his full growth!¡±

    ¡°Now you¡¯re just exaggerating.¡± Karzughed, trying to be humble while basking in his parents¡¯ praise.

    ¡°Perhaps, but if so, not by much.¡± Kragorram assured him. ¡°You¡¯ll be the greatest dragon who¡¯s ever

    lived, I¡¯m sure of it.¡±

    ¡°One thing¡¯s for sure, Karz.¡± Fire smiled as she rubbed his hand. ¡°With the limitations we faced today,

    you must have killed a thousand times as many demons as me. I¡¯d have done better if I could swing a

    twelve meter sword too.¡±

    ¡°True, but I¡¯m a dragon, and among the dragons who fought today, my performance wasn¡¯t that

    exceptional, not like Mother and Father were.¡± Karz protested. ¡°I¡¯m as skilled as they are, but I¡¯m still

    pretty small for a dragon.

    ¡°Whereas anyone who hasn¡¯t seen you six fight before is in for a shocking experience, especially you

    three since you¡¯re so young and small looking. There was a giant who was killed today because he was

    standing there dumbfounded and saying holy crap as he watched you going through demons like a

    scythe through wheat. He didn¡¯t even notice the demons who tore his head off and ate it until it was

    happening.¡±

    They all got a chuckle out of that.

    ¡°Well, I have The Skills of Visinniria.¡± Fire shrugged with a grin. ¡°I wonder a little how good I¡¯d be

    Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDra/ma.O(r)g!

    without it, or how good any of us would be. But I don¡¯t really want to find out.¡±

    ¡°What I want to find out is how good it¡¯ll feel to go for a swim, eat a big meal, and go to bed.¡± Mark

    dered as he stood with his family in his arms, and waited for the dragons to get out of the way before

    walking into the surf with them.

    As they found, what he¡¯d envisioned felt very good indeed.

    Another week passed as they resumed their new routine, then they were visited at the Hilia cottage

    during a rainy afternoon by Amirgath and First Mauve.

    Despite the weather, Mark and his family were working on the patio, keeping dry under a big bubble of

    Force and enjoying the asional lightning strike and crash of thunder.

    The two gods of different worlds floated above and beside the patio, seemingly unaware that the

    bubble of Force was intersecting their bodies.

    ¡°Good day.¡± Amirgath began, and made a reasonable respectable shallow bow. ¡°Today we will

    Translocate the spheres of The Triax into a circr path around Keran. But it will be an exceedingly

    difficult project, and the greatest act of power ever attempted by the gods and mortals of Keran and

    The Triax.

    ¡°The difficulty lies not only in the power requirements, the extreme distance, and theplexity and

    speed of the motions of the objects involved. There is also the consideration that a Translocation

    requires aplete knowledge of every bit and part of what is being transported, even if only as a

    subconscious gestalt. Even the smallest of the worldlets of the Triax war fleet is half a kilometer wide

    and contains hundreds of millions of individuals, along with all their infrastructure, possessions,

    domestic nts, and livestock. It is also full of liquid of aplexposition that circtes with a

    aware of, and theirrgest vessel is some forty-three kilometers in diameter.

    ¡°Even with all of the gods of Keran and the gods and citizens and devices of The Triax, it is still such

    a titanic job that The Triax are hesitant tomit to it. We are therefore recruiting the power of the

    citizens of Keran. We ask that all the power of The Just Alliance be made avable to this effort, and

    we ask that the finest mortal psionicists and Translocatorse with us to the Triax worldlets to assist

    in the envisioning as well as the casting. Which is why we are here now; your group represents a

    concentration of psionic ability.¡±

    ¡°Actually, I¡¯m chagrined that I never thought of this before, but then, no one else thought of it either.¡±

    Mark told them. ¡°All of that is unnecessary now. We can move the Triax fleet here through Gates. As

    we said the other day when we advocated for a strike on the demons, we can cast immense Gates if

    we really work on it, way bigger than we need to bring the biggest of the Triax worldlets here. We can

    do a Gate that big without even using automated spells if we get close to the sun to collect power.

    ¡°A Gate has a power cost for its size and its distance, but once it¡¯s cast it¡¯s just a window between two

    ces. It costs the same in power whether nothing goes through it or entire worlds go through it, and

    there¡¯s no need to have any awareness of what¡¯s going through. In a lot of ways it¡¯s a lot simpler

    process, and even though it¡¯s a new spell-set, I¡¯m sure it¡¯s safer than Translocating things as big and

    that billions of very different minds are going to be able to Link or meld or whatever without a problem.¡±

    ¡°The only limitation,¡± Six volunteered, ¡°Is that you can¡¯t use a Gate to change the speed of something,

    unlike Translocation. Whatever speed the thing that¡¯s going in is doing when it enters the Gate¡¯s portal,

    it¡¯ll be doing exactly the same speed when ites out the other portal. You can use the alignment of

    the portals to decide the direction it¡¯ll be moving when ites out, but not the speed. So if the fleet

    needs to be doing a different speed to circle Keran than they¡¯re doing now, they¡¯ll have to speed up

    or slow down before they go through.¡±

    ¡°Not so!¡± Fire stated, speaking up as soon as the idea struck her. ¡°All that assumes that the Gate¡¯s

    portals are cast motionless rtive to Keran. Meaning you¡¯d have to get out ahead of them and cast

    the portal and wait for them to fly through it. But you can cast the portal moving with any speed you

    choose. You can make it simple by just flying along yourself at the speed you need to change The

    Triax¡¯s speed by. If they need to be going faster than they are now in order to circle Keran properly,

    then you just get out in front of them and fly toward them while you cast the portal. Your speed would

    be added to theirs when theye out, if the other portal is motionless rtive to Keran. If you cast

    the portal in front of them and moving away from them at less speed than they¡¯re doing toward

    Keran, theye out slowed down.

    ¡°You could even change their speed and direction by moving both portals of the Gate at the same time,

    but the math on that gets prettyplex, now that I think about it.¡±

    The suggestions seemed to render the two gods speechless for a moment, when in reality they were

    others¡¯ opinions, and waiting for consensus to be reached.

    ¡°We will have you do this thing.¡± First Mauve then proimed. ¡°Our vessels will need to be slowed. We

    will provide you with the necessary exact cement, orientation, and speed of the portals. We will

    begin the transfer with a very small vessel containing only a single mortal operator. If all goes well, we

    will transfer the fleet.

 Chapter 176

    Chapter 176

    Part 25

    ¡°And we thank you, for both the suggestion and the service.¡±

    ¡°d to be of service.¡± Mark grinned. ¡°We can have it done in a minute. After the work we did the other

    day, we¡¯re well practiced in casting the Gates.¡±

    ¡°I will provide you with the required information in fourteen minutes.¡± First Mauve informed him.

    ¡°Hmph.¡± Amirgath went as he tossed his head a bit. ¡°I had hoped that this would be a great

    aplishment that I would have a leading part in, but it will still be a great aplishment. The

    fourteen minutes will allow me to alert Keran to what is about to ur, so that we can properly

    wee our visitors to our neighborhood.¡±

    With that, both gods vanished.

    Mark¡¯s family smiled smugly at each other, then returned to the work they were doing. After all, fourteen

    minutes was too long to spend in anticipation when there was work to do.

    True to her word, First Mauve returned in fourteen minutes, with Visinniria.

    ¡°I¡¯m here to give you the position and speed information psionicly.¡± Visinniria exined. ¡°The Triax want

    to be sure you have it right and have it down, and so would prefer that you¡¯re given the information

    psionicly. Since psionicmunication between their gods and our mortals is still a problem, I¡¯ll be

    giving it to you and monitoring what you¡¯re doing for them, and facilitatingmunications.¡±

    She did so, and Mark¡¯s family Linked, considered and mentally rehearsed what they were about to do

    for a moment, and acted.

    Val, Talia, and Alilia Translocated to where they¡¯d collected power from the sun at sixteen times normal

    intensity, and cast vast collection fields. Fire, Karz, Povon, and Kragorram went to the void above

    Keran where the Triax fleet would emerge, to anchor the exit portal. Six and Mark Translocated out

    into the void farther than any mortal of Keran had ever been, beyond the orbits of the inner worlds, in

    the path of the iing fleet and moving toward the sun. Though still distant, the vessels of the Triax

    fleet already looked huge and impressive.

    Working together, they all cast the Gate with portals three hundred and twenty kilometers wide, just to

    bepletely safe. They let Visinniria know where it was and where its edges were.

    ¡°One moment.¡± Visinniria said as she appeared beside Six and Mark in the void. ¡°The Triax are

    confirming the orientation of the Gate by sighting the stars that are visible through it. It¡¯s an impressive

    bit of surveying, actually.¡±

    A momentter she reported; ¡°All right, everything looks good. Herees the small test craft.¡±

    A gray sphere about a meter wide approached the center of the Gate and passed through. Mark and

    Six had cast the Gate beside and in front of them as they flew toward Keran and let the fleet catch up

    with them, so they could watch the fleet going through. As soon as the little craft was through they

    could see it ze with increased reflected sunlight.

    On Amirgath¡¯s suggestion, the exit Portal had been located in The Triax¡¯s desired orbit in a ce where

    it was in direct sunlight, while above a part of the world that was in the darkness of a cloudless night, so

    that Keran¡¯s new and temporary moons would be easily visible to those on the ground below.

    Fire reported the arrival of the test craft above Keran, then The Triax reported through Visinniria that

    the test passage had beenpletely sessful, and that they were proceeding with the passage of

    the fleet.

    As it approached Six, Mark, and Visinniria, the fleet¡¯s great rtive speed became apparent, then

    suddenly all sixteen mighty vessels were through in far less than a second.

    ¡°All right, they report that everything is good.¡± Visinniria said with a big smile. ¡°You can end the Gate.¡±

    ¡°We might as well go through it first!¡± Sixughed, and then he and Mark became the first Kerani to

    use a Gate in the void.

    They emerged near Fire, Karz, Povon, and Kragorram, and were joined an instantter by Val, Talia,

    and Alilia, then they all had to elerate hard for a minute to catch up with the quickly-receding fleet.

    By the time they had caught up there were already thousands of Kerani in the void about the

    worldlets, many holding or casting great glowing banners that read; ¡®Keran wees The Triax!¡¯

    ¡°That was well done.¡± Visinniria told them with great sincerity. ¡°That was very, very well done, and we

    all thank you.¡±

    Despite all the Shielding and Void-Protections they were casting about themselves, she had no trouble

    giving each of them a divinely wonderful warm hug as easily as if they were all standing naked in air.

    Thousands of small craft emerged from the great Triax vessels and flew gaily but carefully among the

    Kerani, along with hundreds of Triax gods.

    Many of the elite who knew Mark¡¯s family appeared nearby, including First Mauve, some gods of

    Keran and other leaders of The Assembly. All the rest kept their distance with an almost elven

    decorum, though many waved and smiled when they were close enough to be seen doing so.

    Over an hour they floated there and watched the first celebration ever conducted in the void. The

    and conversation, feasts were served, billions danced and partied in clusters in a huge space around

    the fleet over three hundred kilometers wide.

    Finally Falgaroth and Somonik appeared quite close, a smiling human woman wearing the glowing red

    jewel of a professional Revealer appeared in front of them, and First Burgundy approached with a clear

    twelve meter sphere full of liquid and tworge mortal Triax, an aquamarine and a very light blue.

    ¡°Those in the sphere here are the two most senior mortal Triax.¡± First Burgundy stated. ¡°We would like

    to present you with gifts.¡±

    Visinniria began handing them two items each starting with Fire, who was closest at the moment, again

    unaffected by their protective spells.

    The little alien god continued speaking as she did so. ¡°We, the gods and mortals of The Triax and of

    Keran, present each of you with the first Orders of Merit awarded by The Keran-Triax Alliance, and

    they are Orders of Merit for Brilliance. Both of our peoples are very much safer and stronger because

    of your work today, and we all thank you.

    ¡°The ques are made by Keran, the medallions are made by The Triax. There is an energy field in

    the medallions that The Triax can read, and they read the same as the ques. More than thirty billion

    individuals from two worlds honor you, thank you, and celebrate you for your achievement.¡±

    ¡°We were honored beyond measure by the trust that all of your people ced in us.¡± Mark told him with

    a broad smile. ¡°And to be fair, each of the sorcerers of The People of Morning who crafted the Gate

    spell deserve one of these too.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right, and we¡¯ll see that it is done.¡± Somonik told them.

    ¡°So, I imagine that the joint Triax-Keran training exercises will be proceeding soon?¡± Mark asked.

    ¡°Yes.¡± First Burgundy told him.

    ¡°And am I right in assuming that The Triax have also been conducting simr exercises on their own,

    while waiting for their transfer here?¡±

    ¡°Always. Training is the key to safety and sessful warfare.¡±

    ¡°Good.¡± Mark nodded. ¡°We can exchange recordings of our recent exercises to facilitate the nning of

    our deployment.¡±

    ¡°That has been nned.¡± the Triax god agreed. ¡°I look forward to joining all of you in the next exercise

    for gods and other highly powerful individuals. It shall be held in five days and six hours, by Keran

    reckoning of time.¡±

    ¡°In two days and eighteen hours, there will be an exercise for Kerani mortals who are Strike Wizards,

    havebat scores greater than five thousand, or who can fight remotely with Simcrums and other

    methods.¡± Somonik informed them.

    ¡°We¡¯ll be there, at both of those.¡± Mark assured them.

    ¡°Well, now I want to work on getting ready for those!¡± Six said as he eagerly rubbed his hands together

    and smiled nastily. ¡°Can we get recordings of the gods¡¯ previous exercises?¡±

    ¡°Certainly.¡± First Mauve told them as she appeared at conversational distance. ¡°I will give them to you

    myself, as I did when Ist visited your beach.¡±

    ¡°Good. We can record that into a Revealing for further study.¡± Six nodded. ¡°Do you have any advice for

    now?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Bear in mind that the exercises of the gods assume that among the demons there will be

    thousands of DemonLords, and that they are as powerful as the worst we¡¯ve encountered. Some ofOriginal content from N?velDrama.Org.

    these are so powerful that they can eat a god, consuming the essence of the godpletely and

    enclosing it, if the god is weak enough.¡±

 Chapter 177

    Chapter 177

    Part 25

    ¡°Eat a god?¡± Val eximed. ¡°Aren¡¯t godspletely immortal?¡±

    ¡°A god who has been eaten is not dead. If the Demon Lord is subsequently killed, the god can escape.

    But it is definitely the worst experience that one of us can be forced to endure.

    ¡°Also bear in mind that even gods can be killed, if they are forced into a tear in reality or a copsed

    star of infinite density. There is no escaping from either of those for any thinking being, for only

    there. And the most powerful DemonLords are capable of causing tears in reality at will, though it costs

    them dearly. It is also risky for them, since they are as vulnerable to the tears as any other, but they are

    not very reasonable.

    ¡°Still, let there be no doubt; so long as the demons exist, none of us arepletely safe. They are

    incredibly hardy and resilient, and even the tiniest demon will eventually grow to be a terrible

    DemonLord if allowed to feed unchecked.¡±

    ¡°What do we really know about them, anyway?¡± Fire asked. ¡°I mean, have you ever been able to

    interrogate one? I know that we learned to understand a bit of theirmunication during thest

    demon war here, but I never heard that we really learned anything about where they came from and

    what it was like there, and how they came to be ravagers of the void.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Well we have been able to interrogate them, but we learned little from them that way.¡± First Mauve

    admitted. ¡°The concept of co-operation to evade torture is inconceivable to them. A captured demon

    will fight constantly to kill or escape until it seeds or is exhausted to the point ofplete immobility,

    and that is all. We have learned more by various psionic techniques that glean some meager

    information, and by spying out theirmunications.

    ¡°Here is what we have learned;

    ¡°Know that in its original state, a demon is an animal with no conscious self, it has no cares, no worries,

    no fears, only the instinctive nature to kill and consume. Theye from a world that is midway

    between an inner rocky world and an outer gaseous world in size andposition. It has a huge rocky

    core evenrger than Keran, and the pull of weight at the surface is many times that of your world.

    Everything there must be immensely strong simply to move about, and they move quickly and

    constantly. Their world also has vast oceans of alien liquids, and a very deep and denseyer of a gas

    that bears no resemnce to what you call air. The pressure at the surface is extreme.

    ¡°It is apletely hellish ce, with poles far colder than on either of our worlds, and an equator much

    hotter than ours. Still, life thrived there in incredible abundance, and all of it vicious and violent and

    intenselypetitive. There were thousands of kinds of life-forms there that were more dangerous

    individually than demons, and the first ancestors of the demons only survived because they were very

    adaptable and bred with incredible fecundity whenever possible.

    Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDra/ma.O(r)g!

    ¡°But like all races, the lucky and capable survive to breed while the unlucky and less capable die, and

    over time the demons developed considerable intelligence. This intelligence did not give them distinct

    personalities; they are a very uniform race in their thinking, if highly variable in their physical forms.

    Compared to us, their thinking is still very primitive in style, despite their intelligence. They have never

    developed any arts or entertainments, beyond killing and torturing and consuming. They have no

    loyalty or feeling of family ties, but they have a brutal practicality that allows their society to function in

    its basic way. The weak obey the strong, or they are punished or consumed.

    ¡°After hundreds of eons of existence with gradually increasing intelligence and a very slow domination

    of their world, the demons developed the ability to use a kind of magic. We have no idea how it works,

    but it appears to not be powered by the energy given off by stars, as the power of our mortals is. We

    deduce this since the demons¡¯ power appears unaffected by their distance from stars. Even in the deep

    void their power is undiminished.

    ¡°A few eons after they developed magic they had killed and eaten almost everything they could eat on

    their world, and most of them died off from starvation. They eat each other when there is no easier

    prey, but without other food sources, their numbers diminish quickly. When most of them were gone,

    the life of their world recovered somewhat, then they recovered and stripped it bare and died off again,

    and this became a cycle that was repeated many times over hundreds of eons. Each time the demons

    were reduced it was a winnowing that improved their race, as only the most tenacious and capable

    survived to breed.

    ¡°Eventually they attained the power to spread beyond their world, and began to ravage the void. Some

    wandering hordes still obey the most powerful DemonLords on their homeworld. Certainly the hordes

    operating in the void rtively close to their homeworld do so. Some other hordes have lost contact

    ¡°Their homeworld and their poption there have stabilized, not because the demons learned to live

    within their means there, but because the other native life-forms eventually developed into a few

    varieties that grow so quickly and ubiquitously and tenaciously that they thrive despite the constant

    consumption of a poption of demons that covers almost all of the ground and much of the seas.

    ¡°The five DemonLords who rule their homeworld are now very old, and very, very powerful. None of

    them could kill any of the others without being killed, and if one orders their horde to attack another¡¯s,

    those two hordes would certainly be decimated, and the other three ruling lords would ughter the

    survivors and the two lords that led them, and take their territories and power. Thus they have enjoyed

    a bitter stalemate for a few eons.

    ¡°We do not know where their homeworld is. We have studied their travel through the void and tried to

    deduce their initial point of origin, but it is impossible because they have been ravaging the void for so

    long that many of the wandering hordes have passed back and forth through this part of the gxy

    many times.

    ¡°Each horde tries to establish a hunting territory with enough life-bearing worlds that they can fly a

    repetitive route. They rarely stay on a world long enough to eat absolutely everything alive except that

    which is too small for them to see, and visit each life-bearing world every twenty to seventy million

    years. That is long enough for the life of most worlds to recover, building and growing anew from the

    tiny and few survivors the demons miss in their depredations. It is seldom long enough for new

    intelligent races to emerge, which keeps things easy for the demons.

    ¡°They almost never stay long enough to poison a worldpletely with their excrement and their

    breath and their very presence, until all life there ispletely exterminated, including the most

    invisibly tiny. The life of such worlds never recovers, though it is likely that new life would develop there

    in one to two billion years, if the conditions for it persist.

    ¡°And that is all we know of the demons, beyond what we have learned of them directly by fighting them.

    It is meager intelligence, and was difficult to get.

    ¡°When we learned of what had happened here over seven million years ago, we were very concerned,

    and still are. It was unheard of for us that a force of demons had arrived through a Gate, and had

    modified a few individuals from one of your races in order to create a new race that was obedient to

    them and more to their liking.

    ¡°We have encountered hordes of demons with more than enough power to be very dangerous to all of

    Keran and all of us here together, but we have never seen them do what the demons here did.

    ¡°It is worth noting that less than one world in ny-seven with intelligent life sessfully resists the

    demons¡¯ attack.

 Chapter 178

    Chapter 178

    Part 25

    ¡°We have also never before found the demons to wait so long before returning to a world where they

    had been defeated and driven off. We have found few cases where a world sessfully resisted the

    demons, and in all but one of those few cases the demons were defeatedpletely and killed to the

    demons have yet to return to the one world that drove them away without our assistance, other than

    this one, but that was rtively recent, and we have no doubt that they will go back there.

    ¡°They usually return to a world they have been driven away from in less than a million years, and

    always with far more power than they had the first time they were there. On three asions they have

    seeded on their second attempt in destroying a world and the outpost we left close by to protect it.

    On about half of the rest of their second attempts they were driven away again, and on the other half

    they were killed to thest. They have yet to return to a world where they have been defeated twice,

    but we think they will if they can, eventually. A world full of life is too great a prize for them to ignore

    indefinitely, and they hate to let one of their defeats stand unavenged.

    ¡°With all of these factors in the bnce, the nature of the demons we will soon face here is a worrying

    unknown.¡±

    Six bowed to First Mauve and told her; ¡°Thank you. It was bothering me being so ignorant of our

    enemy, and it feels good to know what is known, even if it isn¡¯t that useful right now.¡±

    ¡°I think it¡¯s time for us to be going home.¡± Mark announced with a smile. ¡°Thanks again for these

    awards, and be well until we meet next time.¡±

    Those all around returned his thanks and farewells, then Fire brought them home to Hilia at her psionic

    request.

    ¡°Well that was interesting.¡± Aliliamented as she stretched luxuriously.

    Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDra/ma.O(r)g!

    ¡°It was, especially when I was trying to have a serious conversation with a Triax god while my sister

    was acting like a clown!¡± Six stated as he gave Fire a yful shove on her shoulder.

    She simply went with it, turning his force into a graceful leap-roll-spring-pirouette sequence, and

    the difference that up and down make that far out in the void. But everyone was acting like they still had

    weight; keeping the soles of their feet or their bottom sides pointed toward Keran. And I wondered if

    it would be disorienting if I just slowly spun in random directions in the void, or just floated there with a

    different orientation than everyone else. It wasn¡¯t really, disorienting that is, but it was fun.¡±

    ¡°The fun part was watching Six trying to ignore you!¡± Karzughed.

    ¡°I love that you children can be so nonchnt about it all.¡± Kragorram smiled as he gave Karz an

    affectionate scratch on the back. ¡°But I want to thank you all for including me in the casting of the Gate.

    Moving the Triax fleet was in many ways the greatest act of magic ever achieved by any Kerani, and

    I¡¯m proud to have taken part.¡±

    ¡°Me too.¡± Mark chuckled as he put his arm around Talia and admired the impending sunset. ¡°But I think

    we¡¯ve been spending too much timetely being told how wonderful we are, and by each other as often

    as by everyone else. Let¡¯s try to avoid that for a few hours.¡±

    ¡°Well then, how would you all like to go hunting with me?¡± Kragorram offered in a sudden change of

    subject. ¡°It¡¯s an activity that dragons only share with their closest family andpanions, and we¡¯ve

    never hunted together, and it¡¯s time we did.¡±

    ¡°Besides, all three of us dragons are genuinely hungry.¡± Povon pointed out as she licked her lips and

    grinned. ¡°We¡¯ve had too many snacks with you small folk, and haven¡¯t hunted in weeks. We¡¯ll hunt

    something you¡¯ll find tasty, like wild cattle in the mountain valleys of western Debivin, and we¡¯ll save

    you the choicest parts and roast them to your liking.¡±

    ¡°That sounds fun!¡± Talia agreed. ¡°While you¡¯re roasting we can fetch the rest of what¡¯s needed for a

    good pic supper, and make an asion of it!¡±

    And so they did. The dragons hunted while the rest flew along and watched. They caught seven cattle

    without missing a strike, using only their inherent abilities.

    On a five hundred kilogram wild buffalo there is only two and a half kilos of choicest, tenderest,

    tenderloin roast, but one was all that was needed to feed Mark and his wives and children. As Povon

    promised, she roasted it for them to a perfect medium-rare condition with her own fire, and Talia and

    Alilia seasoned it with a careful dusting of herbs, spices, and sea-salt. Mark ordered the rest of the

    meal from a restaurant in Belinhome, Finitra, choosing some of his favorite dishes from his childhood.

    And it was all delicious.

    Some families might have found it incongruous to be rxing on a big nket and enjoying a summer

    night¡¯s cook-out beside three huge dragons who were tearing and crunching their way through seven

    fresh cattle carcasses, but Alilia unobtrusively blocked the smell of offal and entrails, and they paid no

    mind to the rest of it.

    When they were all finished they ally on their backs together and gazed up at the millions of stars for

    almost half an hour, then watched the sune up only an hour and a half after they¡¯d watched it

    setting in Hilia.

    The exercise for Keran¡¯s Strike Wizards, remote fighters, and most powerful spell-casters was much

    like the contest for the dragon-forts on Blenda. The Strike Wizards fought as if they were channeling

    the power of almost all the magic-users on Keran, but the multitudes whose power they cast were all

    simted by the gods.

    Surprisingly, the exercise for the most powerful mortals and the gods of both pantheons was not that

    dissimr. A Strike Wizard channeling the power of six hundred million Kerani could strike with as

    much raw power as the average god of Keran, after all.

    The use of the sun-Gate attack made a huge difference in the Strike Wizard¡¯s exercise, less so in the

    gods¡¯ exercise, but it still allowed the powerful Mortals who took part to be as destructive as the gods.

    In both cases they faced so many DemonLords that the enemy were able to vent the power of the

    sun¡¯s surface baking their rock long enough for them to Translocate out, and they were quick enough

    that it was difficult to target them individually.

    The goal of both exercises was to destroy all the demons and all the tunnels and passages in the

    nation-sized rock they inhabited, though the capabilities of the demons differed in each exercise. In

    both exercises the demons triumphed; they lost a smaller portion of theirbative power than their

    opponents and were still fighting strongly at the end of twenty-four hours of continuous simted

    warfare, at which time the exercises were ended.

    Three days after the first exercise they did with the gods, Mark¡¯s family were enjoying an early morning

    swim among the reefs outside the cove of The Royal Beach when the on-duty Assistant

    Communications Director of Hilia contacted Talia with a Speaking. ¡°Princess Talia, you have a visitor;

    Tan of The High People.¡±

    ¡°Send her down please.¡± Talia responded as she Translocated back to the beach, then informed her

    family.

    They joined her on the beach, where she was drying herself and re-arranging her hair.

    ¡°This is a bit strange.¡± shemented. ¡°Tan is only thirteen years old, a daughter of one of my

    mother¡¯s cousins. I only met her a few times so I barely know her. She wasn¡¯t from First Valley, I¡¯m not

    even sure where in The Nine Valleys she¡¯s from. She was quite talented though, especially in music

    and wizardry.¡±

    A young blond elven girl wearing sturdy traveling clothes ran onto the beach from the path to the

    Translocation circle beside the foot of the cliff. She ran over to within two meters of Talia and stopped

    as she looked around at the rest of them, appearing distraught and unsure what to do, not knowing if

    she should curtsey or follow some unknown royal protocol. ¡°Thank you for seeing me Princess Talia,

    I¡¯m Tan, do you remember me? I didn¡¯t know who else to go to!¡± she blurted in a panic.

 Chapter 179

    Chapter 179

    Part 25

    ¡°Of course I remember you Tan, you wore a pretty pink and white dress at my wedding to Mark

    when west met.¡± Talia assured her with a warm and reassuring smile as she held her arms out to the

    girl. ¡°Nowe give me a hug and tell me what¡¯s wrong. Start from the beginning.¡±

    The girl ran into her arms and hugged her tightly for a moment, then the story came out in a babbling

    rush. ¡°My mother and my aunts and my grandmother sent me to Bhia to buy diamonds to store spells

    and power in because there¡¯s none left to be had in any of the elvennds of Debivin nor in Finitra or

    northern Thon and they sent me because I¡¯m good at the Translocation and they were busy.

    ¡°But when I got to the diamond merchant¡¯s shop he was just sitting there in a chair like he was tranced,

    mumbling to himself and sometimes waving his hands a little and sometimes humming a bit in a very

    strange way. I waited for him to notice me, then I walked right up to him but he still didn¡¯t do anything,

    so I said; ¡®Excuse me, I¡¯d like to buy some diamonds?¡¯, and he just waved his hand and an obvious

    Illusion of a human woman appeared behind the counter and asked if she could help me. So I bought

    the diamonds and asked what was wrong with the merchant, and the Illusion said that it was just a

    casting of Valentia¡¯s Work Spell, and that it regretted that it was unable to answer my question.

    ¡°He was really making me feel very strange, so I cast Detect Spells on him, and sure enough, he was

    totally entranced by the scariest spell I¡¯ve ever seen! It was like a million spells, all of them changing all

    the time, and it was right into his mind! It was so strange that I couldn¡¯t figure out anything that it was

    doing! And it was so powerful that I got scared it was going to kill me for checking on it, so I nulled my

    Detect Spells right away, I only had it on him for a second but it made me pretty scared.

    ¡°So I went outside and flew down the street, and the spell had everyone! I mean everyone, everyone in

    the whole city! I got to a park and there were hundreds of humans there, all of them as entranced as

    the diamond merchant except the youngest children, who were being cared for by Valentia¡¯s Work

    Spells while their parents sat uncaring.

    ¡°One of the humans there was a city guard, and I knew he was on duty because he had all his armor

    and weapons on, and he was as entranced as all the rest, but I thought that I might get him to talk to

    me because he¡¯s a city guard and it¡¯s his duty to help people. So I asked him what was wrong with

    N?velDrama.Org content rights.

    everyone, but he justughed at me really nasty and said; ¡®Nothing. Don¡¯t distract anyone.¡¯ He said it

    like he was angry at me for asking him, then he went back to his mumbling. He never stopped staring

    nkly at nothing the whole time.

    ¡°I was getting really scared then, so I started looking around for someone who wasn¡¯t entranced,

    anyone at all. But it has everyone. Almost everyone is sitting and doing nothing, and those who are

    doing what¡¯s necessary, like eating or bathing or even sleeping, they do it in a daze, still mumbling or

    humming or waving their arms a little, most even when they¡¯re asleep.

    ¡°I went to the pce of the king of Bhia, and it was the same there. A guard spell at the gate checked

    my Marking for my identity and to confirm that I was sworn to justice, and that was it. The guards

    ignored me and just let me fly right in without a word. I went right into the king¡¯s private chambers, and

    all his guards and staff let me do it, all of them entranced and stupid. The king himself sat eating his

    supper, staring at nothing and waving his free hand in the air. I came right up in front of him, and he

    ignored me.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t know what to do. I¡¯d have gone to Prince Yazadril right away, but he¡¯s in a time-bubble, and

    Senior Wizard Theramin is off in the elvends of Felion somewhere. I couldn¡¯t think of anything else

    to do, so I came here and told you.¡±

    As Tan was telling her story, Mark¡¯s children were having trouble notughing out loud, as was Mark

    a bit, and only Talia¡¯s mild re of irritation over Tan¡¯s shoulder had prevented them.

    But as the elven girl finished her story, Val couldn¡¯t help but giggle.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay, nothing is wrong¡­¡± Talia assured her before Val interrupted her.

    ¡°Please let me handle this, Mother Talia.¡± Val smiled as sheid her hand on Tan¡¯s shoulder, then

    addressed the girl. ¡°The spell is mine, and it¡¯s not harming anyone, though I may have overdone it with

    the motivationalponents. Here, show me where the guard you spoke to is, and we¡¯ll settle it.¡±

    She Read Tan¡¯s surface thoughts as the girl recalled talking to the guard, then Translocated with

    her, taking her right out of Talia¡¯s arms.

    They appeared in the park in Bhia. The guard was still where he had been, sitting on a low wall near

    the center of the park. Val gave him a sharp palm strike on the shoulder of his armor, almost knocking

    him off the wall.

    ¡°Hey! What do you think you¡¯re¡­¡± he began in angry protest before Val cut him off.

    ¡°Just because you¡¯re busy studying doesn¡¯t mean you can be rude to visitors to your city, and you¡¯re

    still on duty!!¡± Val scolded him. ¡°Now tell this girl what you and all these people are doing.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s you! What an honor! I¡¯m¡­¡± the guard stammered upon recognizing her, then stopped as Mark and

    the rest of his family Translocated in around them, dragons included. He swallowed hard as he

    recognized them.

    ¡°Tell her!¡± Val demanded, stomping her foot a bit to add emphasis to her insistence.

    ¡°We¡¯re all learning to be wizards.¡± he stammered. ¡°We all got the power from The Transformation of

    Hilsith, and now Valentia¡¯s Magic Education is teaching us to use it.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry I was rude before, but I don¡¯t see how you could not know about this, so I thought you were

    just being rude about how elves don¡¯t need to do this. And the magic lessons are so fascinating, it¡¯s

    really irritating to be needlessly interrupted.¡±

    ¡°Oh!¡± Tan responded in surprise.

    ¡°There. I¡¯m Valentia, by the way.¡± Val said with a grin as she took Tan¡¯s hand and shook it. ¡°But I¡¯m

    called Val. I only use my full name when I¡¯m naming spells.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± Tan smiled as she shook in return.

    ¡°I thought so, but I wasn¡¯t sure.¡± Val grinned as she looked around at all the pre-upied people.

    A few of them had looked up and smiled when the group Translocated in, but then they went back to

    their studies. The guard, seeing that his attention was no longer required, had already returned to his.

    ¡°The Nine Valleys is obviously still pretty isted in some ways, or you¡¯d have known about this.¡± Val

    continued. ¡°There also must not be a single person in The Nine Valleys over the age of ten with less

    skill as a wizard than a Smingan Journeyman, or they¡¯d have gotten my Education spell too.¡±

    ¡°There isn¡¯t, not since they elerated everyone¡¯s magic schooling there.¡± Tan proudly told her.

    ¡°The Nine Valleys has always had the best wizards and the best magic schools of any nation on

    Keran, and we¡¯ve intensified everything since we learned of the demons. There wasn¡¯t even a single

    one of us who was weak enough to benefit from The Transformation of Hilsith.¡±

    ¡°Wow, that is impressive.¡± Val nodded with a raised eyebrow.

    ¡°Yup. And that¡¯s still so, even though we lost a lot of our best talent to Hilian service the night Mark

    married Talia. And it¡¯s sure not that we¡¯re not proud of the High People in Hilia¡¯s service, but when a

    nation with less than three thousand loses over a hundred of their best, it makes a difference.

    ¡°Anyway, I¡¯ve got to go home. I¡¯m runningte now, and my mother will be calling me any second now

    to see what¡¯s taking me so long.¡±

    ¡°Give her our fond regards.¡± Talia told her with a smile.

    ¡°I will.¡± Tan smiled in return, and gave her a quick spontaneous hug. ¡°And I¡¯m sorry for bothering you

    for nothing.¡±

 Chapter 180

    Chapter 180

    Part 25

    ¡°You did the right thing, considering what you experienced and not knowing about the Education Spell.¡±

    Talia assured her. ¡°If there truly had been a problem, you might have saved all these people by bringing

    word.¡±

    ¡°Thanks. Bye now.¡± Tan blushed, and was gone.

    There was a silence for a moment, broken only by the mutterings of hundreds of people all around

    them, then Mark spoke. ¡°Well, I¡¯ve done a quick check on everything in the city and they¡¯re all doing

    fine, everyone¡¯s well-fed and taking good care of themselves, beyond the reduction in their exercise

    and activity. The basics ofmerce are still flowing as they should. The parents study for twelve

    hours per day and care for their young for five, and the Work Spell seems to do a good job of

    babysitting, so even the children are all right.

    ¡°But I sure understand why Tan thought something was wrong here. This is very strange and

    spooky, the way everyone in the nation is like this.¡±

    ¡°Less than one in a thousand of this nation¡¯s people were wizards before Hilsith¡¯s spell.¡± Alilia mused.

    ¡°And the wizards they did have were generally poorly trained, which is why all of them at this moment

    are at the court of Prince Jaromer of Thon for further training.¡±

    ¡°Which exins why none of them were avable to notice Tan.¡± Mark nodded. ¡°Anyway, as weird

    as this is, it appears there¡¯s nothing that needs to be done here.¡±

    ¡°As you said, Sister, we may have overdone it a bit on the motivational aspects of the Education.¡± Fire

    ¡°Thanks.¡± Val grinned, and took ast look around. ¡°Well, I was only half done swimming, then there¡¯s

    breakfast, and then I¡¯d like to go over the deployments again.¡±

    ¡°Right.¡± Mark grinned, and brought them home.

    Three dayster the first universal-participation military exercise was held.

    Every civilian participated in attack drills that day, evacuating the surface and going to the deepest and

    safest bunkers and barracks, or reporting to their militias. Defenders stocked supplies, checked their

    fortifications, and manned them to repel invaders. All the new and as-yet untrained wizards supplied

    power to the Strike Wizards, and every fighter from every nation fought, as did the gods, all of The

    Triax, and most of their gods. All of the aquatic races were included, and for the first time, waves of

    tens of thousands of Kerani voidcraft rose from the shipyards of Serminak to join the fray. Beyond

    those in the time-bubbles, the only thinking beings who didn¡¯t participate in the exercise in some way

    were the Triax gods who were running it and two Kerani gods who helped them monitor it, and who

    made the announcement to Keran that it was about to begin.

    There had been a public deration made two days prior, to the effect that such an exercise would be

    held soon, and that all had best prepare for it. But no specific time had been given, there were no

    enemy had been given by the organizers, no muster had been called. Almost none of the militias¡¯

    personnel were at their duty posts.

    The only warning that it was about to begin was the unignorable psionic announcement that was heard

    by absolutely everyone; ¡°The first universal-participation military exercise and drill is about to begin.

    The attacks you are about to experience are not real. This is an exercise.¡±

    In the next moment, Keran and the worldlets of The Triax were attacked by billions of greater and

    lesser demons and thousands of Demon-Lords. They appeared above every major city, the

    DemonLords and greater demons holding the airspace and casting cataclysmic spells at bridges,

    dams, and other major infrastructure, while the lesser demons attacked the city and tried to breach the

    defenses to get at the nonbatants. They appeared in the oceans, surrounding and attacking the

    cities of the aquatic races. And their great nation-sized rock appeared in orbit around Keran on the

    same path as the Triax fleet and only a hundred and seventy kilometers ahead of them.

    ¡°I have the Command Link!¡± Somonik announced to all of Keran, his psionic ability boosted by

    Quewanak. In less than three seconds contact was made with First Aquamarine, The Triax God of

    Power and supreme militarymander of his people, and information as to the demons¡¯ deployment

    was gathered from all over Keran and was shared around to all themanders, areas of

    responsibility were assigned, and the forces of Keran deployed and began their counter-attack.

    In the void, titanic batteries of energy weapons were fired by the worldlets of The Triax at the demon¡¯s

    rock, where the attack ports of the demons returned fire with equal cataclysm. Millions of warcraft with

    crews of from one to thousands of individuals emerged from the Triax worldlets to battle the billions of

    demons who surrounded them.

    A great deal of the battling that day was between matched fighters; the gods and most powerful spell

    casters sought out the DemonLords, the Strike Wizards and remote fighters sought out the greater

    demons, while soldiers and militia were left with the lesser demons. But there were frequent asions

    where a god would find himself free of DemonLords long enough tounch a devastating strike against

    the lesser demons, likewise the DemonLords were able tounch asional sessful attacks

    against armies and civilians that killed hundreds of thousands at a time.

    Initially everyone fought the demons closest to themselves, but as the fortunes of the individual battles

    ebbed and flowed, some forces from areas that were doing well against the demons were transferred

    to ces that were not faring as well. Six and Kragorram¡¯s armada of voidcraft were soon assigned to

    helping The Triax in the void, where they were found to be most effective. Some of the smaller Triax

    craft were assigned to Keran as pin-point ground-attack forces, since their extreme-distance

    marksmanship was capable of killing a single demon from hundreds of kilometers away.

    As the day went on there were warriors from the aquatic races fighting in the air above Keran and in

    the void, and soldiers from the surface races fighting demons deep beneath the oceans. Units were

    assigned to wherever their unique abilities made them most effective, and by the time nine hours of

    warfare had passed, only a minority were fighting in the same ce where they¡¯d started. After twelve

    hours many of the allied forces were so mixed that they looked like a menagerie.

    Sometimes the sudden appearance of an alien-looking ally was so startling, and the variety of forms

    that the demons took was so many, that the only thing that prevented some allies from identally

    killing each other was the Command Link telling them who was friend or foe.

    Mark and his family didn¡¯t hold back. They fought as a team and unleashed all their power, they

    they resurrected themselves and each other on the frequent asions when they were killed. And

    while they were doing all that they had independent automated spells casting great collection fields

    near the sun and using the power tounch automated attacks against the demons.

    These independent demon-killers constantly duplicated themselves and umted, and eventually

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    they turned the tide against the demons. After eighteen hours it became obvious that the demons were

    losing, and an hour after that it was announced that they were all dead. Though a third of the

    poption of Keran were dead and half their structures were destroyed, and The Triax had lost a

    quarter of their poption and two of their worldlets, the allies were triumphant.

    For a very long minute, everyone manically celebrated the news of their victory. Then suddenly,

    everything was back to being as is had been just before the exercise was announced; everyone was

    hale and back at the locations they¡¯d been in then, and nothing had been destroyed.

    ¡°As some of you are now realizing, the exercise which was just concluded was psionicly simted, and

    only seven seconds passed in real time.¡± Pakdag the Debivinian war god announced to the Kerani as

    First Mauve announced the same to The Triax. ¡°You all fought exceptionally well. But be prepared for

    the next exercise, which could ur at any time. Your preparations in real life, orck of them, will be

    reflected in the exercise.

    ¡°Until then, be well.¡±

 Chapter 181

    Chapter 181

    Part 25

    Mark and his family found themselves in the Hilian throneroom where they¡¯d been when the exercise

    began, around them were the Hilians they¡¯d been talking to about the state of the nation and the lives

    of its people, and with them was Pakdag.

    The glowering human wargod wasted no time on niceties. ¡°You fought very well. You have shown us

    what you can truly do. But your casting of the independent attack spells served no part of providing

    useful training today, beyond your practicing to cast a great many of them while simultaneously fighting

    one battle andmanding a few more. I suggest you perform that practice on your own time, for if

    you attempt to use them in the next general exercise, you will find that they do not work.¡±

    With that he was gone.

    ¡°Huh.¡± Mark went as he shook his head a bit. ¡°Well I don¡¯t care if it was only seven seconds in real

    time, I¡¯m exhausted, mentally if not physically. I¡¯m going to bed.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll see youter.¡± Povon said, and the dragons vanished.

    Mark and his family walked up the many stairs to the cottage. They could have taken the ne Door,

    but for the first time, none of them felt like doing anything by magic. They bathed and dressed and

    brushed their hairpletely by hand, then went to bed.

    The next day Val automated The Skills of Visinniria and cast it on the poptions of Keran. It gave

    Visinniria¡¯s physical martial arts skills to every humanoid who was less skilled at physical fighting that

    she was, and it selected the best fighters from each of the non-humanoid races and gave their physical

    skills to the other adults of their races. But it made less difference than they¡¯d hoped, due to the fact

    that spellcraft was the dominant form ofbat on both sides.

    Four dayster, the next exercise was held. In that exercise, over what seemed like three days of

    warfare, the demons won. The worldlets of The Triax were destroyed first and forced down to fall onto

    the world below, causing apocalyptic damage. That left the demons free to concentrate on attacking

    what remained of Keran amidst the damage they¡¯d caused. All the cities andrger towns of Keran

    werepletely destroyed, as was half the wilderness and farnd and all the poption within it.

    The worldlets that fell into the sea ensured that coasts and the civilizations of the aquatic peoples were

    totally devastated. Every thinking mortal being was killed except the few who could restore or resurrect

    themselves when most of their bodies had been obliterated. Five Triax gods and two Kerani gods

    had been killed by a tear in reality, a Triax god was eaten by a DemonLord, and fifty-three gods from

    both pantheons were incapacitated by traumatizing psionic attacks.

    The organizers admitted afterwards that had it continued, the surviving gods and the few surviving

    powerful mortals would have eventually triumphed over the remaining demons. But that was

    considered to be a moot point once virtually all the mortals were dead, so they ended the exercise at

    that point.

    The exercises after that urred with regrity every two days, and the simted demons won about

    half of them.

    PART 26

    With a day and a half remaining before the time-bubbles were due to be opened, Mark and Talia and

    Alilia rose suddenly in the middle of the night and rushed into their children¡¯s room. They each picked

    up one of their children, sat on the edge of the bed and held them tightly, and quietly cried.

    Six was the first to speak as he was awakened by this. ¡°What? What is it?¡± he groggily stammered into

    Mark¡¯s shoulder, but Fire was already Reading their parents and sharing the results with him and Val.

    The Hiliani time-bubble had been opened early, again, with three years of internal time remaining. Their

    parents¡¯ minds had re-melded with the minds of the copies of themselves they¡¯d left in the time-bubble.

    What they were expressing now was the anguish they¡¯d felt at being separated from their children for

    thirteen years, and the joy of that separation¡¯s end.

    The three adults were so distraught that Fire ended her Reading as soon as she knew what was

    happening and that nothing was wrong, having been made extremely ufortable by her parent¡¯s

    uncharacteristic emotional turmoil.

    After a few minutes the three adults wordlessly exchanged children, then did it again a few minutes

    after that, desperately needing to renew their bonds with all three. It mattered not that their copies in

    the outside world had been with the children during thest few weeks. Even with their re-melding, that

    fact was irrelevant to the powerful emotions of the copies that had spent thirteen years away in the

    time-bubble.

    The children patiently epted and returned their parents¡¯ embraces, and did their best to project all

    the re-assuring love they felt.

    Finally Mark wiped his tears away and quietly rumbled; ¡°Let¡¯s get some tea and cookies, and we¡¯ll tell

    you all about our years in the time-bubble, and all your new brothers and sisters.¡±

    Still holding Fire, he stood and led them to the kitchen.

    ¡°I¡¯ll make the tea.¡± Val volunteered, but she did so by magic without moving from Talia¡¯s arms.

    Six fetched some snacks the same way.

    ¡°We really love you cubs, you know.¡± Mark began. ¡°If we¡¯d have realized how terrible it was going to be

    to be apart from you for so long, we¡¯d never have done it. I still can¡¯t believe how much I missed you. It

    just felt so wrong to be back on Hiliani, and back in the time-bubble, without you. It really hurt, like part

    of me had been torn away, and it feels so good to be with you again.¡±

    He paused, and gave his head a rueful shake.

    ¡°As to the rest of it, things sure didn¡¯t go as I expected in the time-bubble.

    ¡°The forty-four, that is your brothers and sisters, they didn¡¯t turn out like you three. The Volunteers are

    all well above average for elves in general, but if you want a vivid demonstration of the difference

    between their quality and Talia and Alilia¡¯s, it¡¯s pretty in in the difference between you three and the

    forty-four.

    ¡°They didn¡¯t start to use magic until they were between four and five, and I didn¡¯t mind that. They all

    seemed to get that almost at once, and I think they kind of brought it out in each other. They all got both

    wizards¡¯ and warlocks¡¯ power, though they use them as if they were one. If they get cut off from the

    source of either power, they can carry on with the other with reduced power, without having to

    consciously change how they¡¯re casting in any way. Only a few of them can even differentiate the two.

    None of them are as strong as any of you in elven wizardry, which I fully expected, but on the other

    hand, none of them are as strong as you in warlock power either, which I didn¡¯t expect.

    ¡°None of them developed psionics until they were six or seven, not even Ka¡¯s twins, and a few didn¡¯t

    get it until they were nine. I didn¡¯t mind that either.

    ¡°And while they failed to develop your early psionics and magic, they also failed to develop your early

    maturity and intelligence and work ethic. That was the part I minded. A lot.

    ¡°They came out exactly even; twenty-two boys and twenty-two girls.

    ¡°At first nce you might think they all take after me more than their mothers, since they all got my

    ck hair and blue eyes, every single one of them. On the other hand they all gotpletely elven

    ears and the finer elven facial features, though their faces are all pretty individual for half-siblings. From

    their growth so far, they¡¯ll range in size from as small as the smallest elves to bigger than I am, so

    they¡¯re not very uniform that way.

    ¡°Their most humanmon characteristic is their personalities, and I don¡¯t mean that in a good way.

    They seem to have all the worst aspects of the personalities of human children; they¡¯re stubborn,

    N?velDrama.Org content rights.

    mischievous, secretive, rebellious, obstinate tricksters.

    ¡°They prefer the most crude humor, and continue to think the same jokes and pranks are funny long

    after they¡¯ve palled for everyone else. For example, one of the first spells any of them learned to cast

    was one that they devised, that causes whoever the spell is cast upon to pass wind. I¡¯m sure that Fart

    spell was cast more times in thest ten years than all the rest of the spellsbined.

 Chapter 182

    Chapter 182

    Part 26

    ¡°They stick together like a pack of thieves, covering for each other and lying for each other constantly.

    They tly refused to swear a vow of justice on the Truthstone until I forced it on them when they were

    nine, because I simply couldn¡¯t stand having them constantly lying to me and I was tired of having to

    interrogate them psionicly all the time.

    ¡°They¡¯re willing to do almost anything in the name of ¡®just having fun¡¯. They bullied the other children in

    Homestead and picked fights with the Sylvan. They skipped their lessons and their chores at every

    opportunity. They¡¯re almost never angry and tend to take everything in stride with augh, including any

    discipline they might be subjected to.

    ¡°They haven¡¯t taken part in hardly any of themunity military training or exercises, or the ones we

    did with the Sylvan, because they won¡¯t follow orders and no one else wants to work with them.

    Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDra/ma.O(r)g!

    ¡°I¡¯ve spent more of my time being angry and arguing than a man should have to face in a millennium.

    Everyone argues with them, then everyone argues about what to do about them. I spent a lot of my

    time as forty-five people, one to keep each of them out of trouble, and one to enjoy life and get

    everything else of a practical nature done.

    ¡°Even my rtionship with Talia and Alilia has been strained at times.

    ¡°We just couldn¡¯t get through to them at all until two years ago, when I told them that we were never,

    ever going to let them leave Hiliani, even after the time-bubble opened, until they developed some

    maturity and responsibility. They thought we were bluffing, until I swore to it on the Truthstone. That

    finally got through to them. At twelve years and three months old, they¡¯re still not nearly as reliable as

    you are at seven, but at least now they¡¯re trying.

    ¡°I mean, don¡¯t get me wrong, I love them all to bits with all my heart, and if there¡¯d been only one of

    them it probably wouldn¡¯t have been much of a problem. If one of you three had turned out like that it

    wouldn¡¯t have been any harder than what any parent of a willful and precocious child faces. They¡¯re no

    worse than some of the kids I grew up with. But with forty-four of them at once, all egging each other on

    all the time, it¡¯s been a trial.¡±

    He paused for a moment for a sip of tea and a bite of a tart, and Talia smiled andid her hand on his

    arm.

    ¡°But at the same time¡­¡± she gently prompted.

    He smiled and swallowed. ¡°At the same time, The love of a child is always a wonderful, wonderful

    thing, and each of them is a unique and beautiful person. We¡¯ve had an incredible amount of fun with

    each and every one of them. Despite them often being brats and missing you three so much, Talia and

    Alilia and I have enjoyed a lot of really beautiful love in thest thirteen years.

    ¡°And the love I¡¯ve shared with the Volunteers is a constant blessing.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s hard not to love them.¡± Talia smiled.

    ¡°We had to, it was either that or strangle them from jealousy!¡± Aliliaughed. ¡°We couldn¡¯t keep them

    out of our home or out of our husband¡¯s bed, so we had to take them into our hearts!¡±

    ¡°Yes, it sure hasn¡¯t been all bad.¡± Mark smiled. ¡°We¡¯ve had a lot of love and a lot of happiness along

    with the problems.

    ¡°I suppose I shouldn¡¯t have made the forty-four out to be such incorrigible brats the first time I told you

    about them. They really are a lot better now.

    ¡°But right after re-melding and realizing what it¡¯s been like with you three for thest few weeks out

    here in the real world, it reminded me so strongly of what it was like raising you on Hiliani, and the

    contrast is so striking that I can¡¯t figure out for the life of me why they turned out so different from you,

    and all of them so simr in their attitudes.¡±

    ¡°And maybe you just needed to vent some frustration.¡± Fireughed.

    ¡°Maybe.¡± he agreed with a smile as he ruffled her hair.

    ¡°Where are they now? Still on Hiliani?¡± Val asked.

    ¡°No. Yazadril, Nemia, Dalia, and Bezedil came out with us, but the rest of the Homesteaders, especially

    Hilsith and her research team, didn¡¯t want to lose any of the three years remaining in the time-bubble

    before the scheduled opening. So we left and had the gods close it up again right away.

    ¡°Our other selves and the Volunteers are taking the forty-four on a tour around Keran. At their

    request, the first stop is Kraka for a day, and a night at the Dragon¡¯s View Inn.

    ¡°We told them they¡¯d get to meet you after we¡¯d had some time with you to reacquaint and enjoy being

    with you again.¡±

    ¡°Why did youe out of the time-bubble early, but with only three years left to go?¡± Six asked. ¡°Did

    the forty-four start to feel constricted in there, like we did?¡±

    ¡°They didn¡¯t feel constricted, but they did insist on it.¡± Mark told them. ¡°I¡¯ll let them exin it to you. To

    be honest, they don¡¯t do a very good job of exining it to us, but it has to do with you three.¡±

    ¡°Us three?¡± Fire asked with a mischievous grin. ¡°You know, we¡¯ve never been to Kraka. Let¡¯s go see

    what they¡¯re doing and ask them about it.¡±

    ¡°Not right now.¡± Talia insisted with a patient smile. ¡°You¡¯ve only had two hours sleep, and you¡¯ve been

    missing too much sleeptely. You can cover for it with Alertness spells and whatnot, but it¡¯s not good

    for you.

    ¡°Let¡¯s all go back to bed, and you can sleep with us. I¡¯m really looking forward to cuddling with you all

    for the rest of the night. We¡¯ll go meet your brothers and sisters in the morning.¡±

    ¡°All right.¡± Fire agreed, and was caught by surprise by a yawn.

    ¡°See?¡± Aliliaughed. ¡°Now off to bed, all of us.¡±

    They all snuggled up on the huge bed in the master bedroom, but the children didn¡¯t try to return to

    sleep immediately. Instead they waited patiently for their parents to fall asleep, asionally keeping

    each other awake with a gentle psionic nudge.

    When they were sure that the adults were deeply asleep, the three siblings deeply Linked, and carefully

    Read their parents¡¯ minds. Not wanting to intrude too deeply, yet wanting to know all of the truth of a

    matter, they worked with painstaking precision. They Read only the thoughts and experiences that

    directly concerned their forty-four new siblings, then carefully withdrew.

    ¡°We should have been there for them.¡± Six thought to his sisters. ¡°We could have dealt with this, we

    could have protected them from all that anguish. Being stuck in the time-bubble wouldn¡¯t have been

    that bad. We were selfish.¡±

    ¡°Who knew we would need to protect our parents from our brothers and sisters?¡± Val responded. ¡°But

    you¡¯re right. We didn¡¯t want to go back in the time-bubble and we refused to be separated from them,

    so we forced them to be separated from us. All the pain of missing us and being apart from us for

    thirteen years, that¡¯s our fault.

    ¡°I don¡¯t see what we can do to make it up to them for the hurt and anxiety we caused them, except to

    try to love them extra well, and make damn sure that it doesn¡¯t happen again.

    ¡°We¡¯ll stay real close to them for the next few years, they¡¯ll need that from us. The part of them that was

    out here with us for a few weeks is so smallpared to the part that was away for thirteen years, and

    we should give them ourplete devotion for at least thirteen years to make it up to them.

    ¡°And while there¡¯s little we can do to take away the anguish that the forty-four have already given them,

    we can make damn sure that they don¡¯t do it any more!¡±

    ¡°Right.¡± Six agreed. ¡°With what we just got from Father and Mothers, we can get a good Read on the

    forty-four from this distance. Let¡¯s go get ¡®em.¡±

    They spent half an hour taking a deep Reading of each of the forty-four, and another ten minutes to

    decide what they were going to do and formte a n. Then they acted.

    It was a beautiful tropical day in northern Kletiuk when they arrived in Kraka. The Hilian Volunteers and

    their forty-four children were sightseeing in sixteen groups spread out all over the ancient and

    abandoned city of the dragons, each group having a copy of Mark with it. Six, Fire, and Val joined the

    group that included copies of Talia and Alilia as well.

 Chapter 183

    Chapter 183

    Part 25

    They took a moment to admire the colossal and other-worldly architecture all around them, the

    magnificence of which was somewhat reduced by the bamboo and wicker walkways that had been

    installed to allow ess to non-flying tourists of the smaller races, as the dragons referred to them.

    Then they went to their parents for hugs.

    ¡°Life just keeps getting stranger.¡± Markmented with a grin as he picked Val up and returned her

    hug. ¡°I know for a fact that you three are asleep with us back on Hilia.¡±

    ¡°We weren¡¯t sleeping.¡± Val admitted with a grin. ¡°We took a few minutes to do some thinking first, then

    we cast our Multiple Simultaneous Manifestations. We designed it, but we¡¯ve never cast it before, and

    we figured that now would be a good time. And now that these copies are here, the copies of us back

    there are going to sleep. It¡¯ll be interesting to see how well-rested we are when we reintegrate

    tomorrow morning, Hilia time that is.¡±

    ¡°Well it¡¯s wonderful to have you with us.¡± Taliaughed as she picked Fire up and carried her on her

    right hip.

    ¡°You know all the Volunteers of course, but we¡¯d like to introduce you to your bothers and sisters.¡± Mark

    said with a grin.

    The Volunteers and their children that were with them had informed the rest of the trio¡¯s arrival, and all

    of them had joined them by Translocation as the three greeted their parents. There was plenty of room

    for them on the huge expanse of paving they upied between the Draconian buildings.

    As they now knew was his habit, Mark reintegrated his selves, rather than have multiple copies of

    himself appear within sight of each other. Having more than one of him in sight was somewhat

    disturbing, both to him and to whoever else saw it.

    ¡°We do know all the Volunteers, but we haven¡¯t seen them for a very long time from their point of view.¡±

    Fire smiled. ¡°So with all of your permissions, we¡¯d like to take a quick Reading of them to catch up on

    what we missed. Thank you.¡±

    The Volunteers realized that they¡¯d all been Read in a blink before they could decide whether they were

    giving their permission for it or not. Whether or not any of them would have protested it, events carried

    on before they had a chance to do so.

    ¡°And we don¡¯t need to be introduced to our brothers and sisters.¡± Fire continued. ¡°They know who we

    are, and we already know exactly who they are, and we¡¯re going to take a moment to get to know them.

    Be right back.¡±

    In the next instant she Translocated all of her brothers and sisters some three kilometers across the

    city to the interior of thergest building there, she Sent all the tourists who were in it outside, and

    mmed the giant doors shut with a mighty use of Force. She held them all floating in the air in the

    center of the massive nine-sided space as the mighty boom reverberated, then the look of the ce

    suddenly changed.

    The forty-four looked around and at the three in their midst in confusion.

    ¡°Let¡¯s ce things how they are.¡± Fire said with a nasty smile, and Translocated them all again. Now

    she, Val and Six floated on one side of the center of the space, facing across an open area between

    them and the forty-four, who all faced in the same direction looking back at them.

    Original content from N?velDrama.Org.

    ¡°We shouldn¡¯t be in the midst of you, because we¡¯re not part of you yet.¡± she told them. ¡°Whether we

    ever will be will be decided here in the next few minutes.¡±

    She paused for a moment, and the two groups took each other¡¯s measure.

    The forty-four were as alike as Sylvan in having their father¡¯s ck hair and blue eyes and their

    mothers¡¯ elven features, but they ranged in height from sixty centimeters to two meters. Their

    subjective age of twelve years was still obvious in all their appearances and their child-like builds, and

    only a handful were showing the first signs of puberty.

    None of them were afraid or angry, some were primarily curious, some were belligerent, some were

    eager for the obvious challenge that the three they faced were offering.

    ¡°We should have changed out of our pajamas, and into our most intimidating armor.¡± Val privately

    chuckled to the twins with her. ¡°These clothes are functionally appropriate to this climate, but they¡¯re

    not helping us make a strong first impression.¡±

    Six silently agreed, and spoke. ¡°We¡¯re in the council chamber of Kraka. This is where The Ny-Nine,

    ruling council of the dragons, met to deliberate. This is also where First Burgundy brought our father,

    Talia, and Hnam at the end of Zarkog¡¯s Chase, when contact was first made between Keran and

    the Triax. This ce was chosen then, as we choose it now, because it¡¯s the most psionicly secure

    location on Keran. The Ny-Nine liked to keep their deliberations private, and it¡¯s doubtful that any

    gods or mortals outside here can tell what¡¯s happening in here now, especially considering the other

    spells we¡¯ve cast here. We¡¯ve cast our own proofs against eavesdropping, and we¡¯ve cast the interior

    of the hall with a Reverse-Stasis field. Those who¡¯ve already been in here will note that the floor and

    the dome were not mirror-reflective as they are now. That¡¯s the field.

    ¡°We¡¯re not sure if it¡¯s safe to touch it, which is why we have us all Levitated up here.

    ¡°It basically works the same as a time-bubble, but with far less energy efficiency, and a far greater time-

    expansion factor. It¡¯s pretty simplepared to a god-spell like a time-bubble, we can spare the power,

    and we want the time. If it takes us a week to settle things in here, less than a second will pass out

    there, and no one from out there is going to interfere.

    ¡°Now the fact is that you¡¯ve been acting like spoiled brats since you were old enough to understand

    your origins. You push the limits of your vows of justice as far as you can at every opportunity. As our

    father told us, your behavior, while selfish and inconsiderate in the extreme, is still within the normal

    range for children your age.

    ¡°But that¡¯s not good enough. It¡¯s not good enough for this family. We bear great responsibilities; to lead

    and to protect and to provide an example for all who look to us for those things. And it¡¯s not good

    enough for the situation we find ourselves in; engaging in frantic preparations for war with the demons

    while everything in every part of every society is in the midst of rapid upheaval.

    ¡°Your behavior, and more importantly your thinking, is going to improve. You¡¯re going to take

    responsibility for the results and consequences of your actions.

    ¡°Beyond that, we¡¯re going to administer some punishment for the wrongdoing you¡¯ve done.

    ¡°But in order to determine how much punishment you truly deserve, we had to know why you did it in

    the first ce.

    ¡°You weren¡¯t born psionic like we were, and your psionic privacy was always respected as it is in elven

    families. Your parents never once Read you deeply without your permission, and you never gave it to

    them. Father was forced to interrogate some of you psionicly in order to find out which one of you had

    done something and what exactly had happened, but he never looked beyond that to find out why

    you¡¯d done it. You guard your privacy like you were Sylvan, and resist Linking with any outside your

    group like Sylvan too. They did their best to talk to you about it, and trusted you to be honest about it,

    but you never were. That was a mistake on their part.

    ¡°But we¡¯re not your parents, and we¡¯re not as considerate as they are anyway. We tend to be a bit more

    practical. So we¡¯ve Read you for everything you¡¯ve ever thought or experienced, and we know you

    rather well. Absolutely andpletely, in fact.

    ¡°Your origins were never kept from you. You knew as soon as you could understandnguage that

    Quewanak made Yzell remove the contraceptionponents of the spells she cast on your mothers to

    allow them tofortably have sex with our father, causing you all to be conceived without our parents¡¯

    knowledge or permission. That¡¯s why you were raised in such unusual circumstances, and why our

    father chose to make as many copies of himself as he needed to to give you all the time and attention

    you each deserved as his children.

 Chapter 184

    Chapter 184

    Part 26

    ¡°While we admire our parents¡¯ honesty in wanting you to know that they never tried to hide it from you,

    knowing you all as we do now, it was obviously a mistake to tell you that when you were so young. It

    was also something that they weren¡¯t proud of, so having done their duty in telling you, they didn¡¯t bring

    it up after that. That was another mistake.

    ¡°We know that all of the problems with your behavior stem from two things.

    ¡°The first and most important is your attitude that ¡®they never wanted us anyway¡¯. You think; ¡®Why

    bother listening to our parents when they ask us to do things, when they never wanted us anyway?

    Why bother doing chores, doing your lessons, having a work ethic? They never wanted us anyway.

    Why not just have fun and do whatever we want? They never wanted us anyway. We¡¯re just a problem

    to them, and we have been from the start.¡¯

    ¡°You don¡¯t even talk about it among yourselves, but that attitude has poisoned every part of your

    thinking. You all stick together like some persecuted minority, because you¡¯re the ones they didn¡¯t want.

    It was already ingrained in you long before you became psionic, so you never shared yourselves

    except with each other, and not much of that. Because of that, you lost the chance to truly know

    anyone else, including your parents, and your psionic development has been stunted.

    ¡°But you¡¯re going to learn something, and learn it the hard way; being unnned is not the same thing

    as being unwanted. You were always wanted, your mothers especially had desperately wanted to have

    you for years before it became possible for them to do so. You were only unwanted to the extent that

    you made yourselves unwanted with your own despicable behavior.¡±

    ¡°In fact, because of your origins, your parents have bent over backwards to be there for you on your

    demand, the second you ask for them, no matter what. They spoiled you rotten in every possible way,

    and that was a big mistake.

    ¡°Your co-fathers among the Volunteers love you like you were their own, but you choose not to believe

    it because they¡¯re not really your fathers, and our father Mark was always there for you individually and

    on demand anyway, so you didn¡¯t need your co-fathers. And it¡¯s them that you¡¯ve hurt the most.

    ¡°The second part of your problem was us.

    ¡°Our parents didn¡¯t want to make you feel bad about the fact that we¡¯re far more capable than any of

    you, so when they talked to you about us, they tended to avoid that fact, and just talked about the good

    times we¡¯d had. They tended to not talk about us very much for the same reason.

    ¡°You chose to believe that they avoided talking about us because they were trying to hide the fact that

    they like us better. Of course our mothers do like us better, but your mothers like you better too, that¡¯s

    just natural. Our Father likes us better too, but not because of us, rather because your abuse of his

    trust and his love has ensured that he likes us better, because he likes you less. But he loves each one

    of you just as much as he loves any of us.

    ¡°You think that another reason our father prefers us over you is because he loves our mothers more

    than he loves yours. In the beginning that was true, but not since you were born. Our father was

    determined to love them equally, to be fair to them, and they all love him so genuinely and so much that

    it was easy for him to return their love. We¡¯re all capable of giving and enjoying an infinite amount of

    love, our only limitation is time, and Father has made sure to give lots of his time and attention to all of

    our mothers, the same as he did for you and for us. He¡¯s never going to be able to give any of them up,

    even long after all of you are grown and out on your own, and our mothers are perfectlyfortable

    with that, because they love your mothers too, and all of you.

    ¡°On the other hand, we know a lot of your parents among the Volunteers were less discreet about us

    than our parents. We know that the Volunteers have held us up to you as examples, and that you know

    from them and others in Homestead that we are in fact far more capable and mature than you. It¡¯s not

    fair, and we didn¡¯t ask for it to be that way, but there it is.

    ¡°Some of you think of us as your older brother and sisters, and you wanted to preserve that, so you

    wanted out of the time-bubble before you grew too far beyond us. There¡¯s no danger of that happening,

    but it¡¯s a nice sentiment.

    ¡°Some of you think that since you¡¯re subjectively twelve and we¡¯re subjectively seven that you must

    have grown beyond us already, especially as a group, and you wanted out of the time-bubble so you

    could prove it. You¡¯re about to find out how wrong you are.

    ¡°Some of you look up to us, some of you idolize us, but none of you are making any effort to actually be

    like us.

    ¡°Lots of you resent us, and a few of you think you hate us, but you don¡¯t. Fire and I have been in the

    mind of an insane Sylvan who wanted nothing more from life than to torture us to death, and we know

    what real hate is.

    ¡°As Father told us, all of you have improved a lot in thest two years. But none of you have changed

    because you¡¯ve developed an admirable character, or because you choose to behave honorably, or

    because your feel any guilt or responsibility for what you¡¯ve done. You only improved because you

    didn¡¯t want to be restricted to Hiliani for the rest of your lives, and because you realized that you¡¯re not

    going to be able to keep getting away with so much crap forever, and because your vows of justice

    force you.

    ¡°Now, your punishment and rehabilitation is going to take two or three steps.

    ¡°The first will be corporal punishment. It will show you where you stand in rtion to us, and satisfy our

    personal sense of justice. No one hurts our parents as much as you lot have without answering to us

    Original content from N?velDrama.Org.

    for it, not even our own brothers and sisters!

    ¡°Each of us three is going to give each of you a good hard blow to the face. Block it if you can, and if

    you want to strike back at us, feel free to do your worst.¡±

    Before he¡¯d even finished speaking the forty-four had already Linked, cast group and individual

    Shielding, and attacked with a maelstrom of spells while many of them yelled things like; ¡°You can¡¯t tell

    us what to do!¡±

    When the first wave of non-lethal spells failed to prate the trio¡¯s Shields, they attacked with lethal

    spells and all their power, which was considerable. Were it not for the Reverse Stasis field, which was

    practically invulnerable, the huge building would surely have been destroyed around them, along with

    much of the surrounding area. They yelled their defiance as they cast, and attacked as a mob with little

    co-operation. They failed to prate the Shields of the trio, who smugly floated there and absorbed it

    without counter-attacking.

    Suddenly the attack of the forty-four diminished to almost nothing.

    ¡°Ah. As some of you now realize; the Source, raw wizard¡¯s power, and the warlock¡¯s source all fail to

    prate the Reverse Stasis field.¡± Fire chuckled nastily. ¡°Now you¡¯re almost out of power. I¡¯m

    surprised you realized it in time to maintain your Shields.

    ¡°Now try to block me as I kick you in the face.¡±

    She cast a small floor of Force to stand on, then executed a perfect spin kick in mid-air with a lightning-

    quick motion. As it reached it¡¯s apex, every one of the forty-four reacted as if she¡¯d kicked them in the

    face, crying out and putting their hands on the impact points.

    ¡°My turn.¡± Val dered with a grin, and executed a quick roundhouse right punch that effectively hit

    every one of the forty-four in the face but not on their hands, despite the fact that many of them were

    still covering their faces.

    Six used a vicious clubbing downward and diagonal blow that was equally effective, despite the fact

    that the forty-four were trying every defensive technique they could think of.

 Chapter 185

    Chapter 185

    Part 26

    What they didn¡¯t realize was that the blows of the trio were purely psionic. The motions of the punches

    and the kick were merely for show, and though the recipients thought they felt the stunning impacts and

    pain of the blows, none of it had really happened. Therefore none of them were injured, or even

    bruised.

    The forty-four were now weeping without exception, though some of them were still angry and defiant.

    ¡°Now we¡¯re going to give you some Readings.¡± Val announced both verbally and psionicly, to be sure

    she was heard over the beaten children¡¯s crying.

    ¡°The first Reading you¡¯re going to get is our father. Since we left the time-bubble we¡¯ve started to keep

    a bit more to ourselves, and everyone has a few things they keep secret, even from their families. But

    before we left the time-bubble we shared our minds with our parents with almost no restrictions, and

    they did the same for us. We¡¯re all still pretty open about most things. For the first time, you¡¯re going to

    truly know our father. You¡¯re going to know what he¡¯s really like, and how much he loves you, and how

    hard he¡¯s tried to do right by you, and how much you¡¯ve hurt him.

    ¡°Then each of you is going to get a Reading of your mother, and the other mothers and fathers among

    the Volunteers who love you like you were their own. They didn¡¯t give their permission, but we Read

    them pretty deep, and we don¡¯t think they¡¯ll mind when they see what a difference it makes. Again,

    you¡¯ll know what they¡¯re truly like deep down inside, and the depths of their love and their pain.

    ¡°Then, just to keep things fair, and hopefully to inspire you to be a bit more like us as concerns your

    honor and your work ethic, we¡¯re going to give you our Readings.

    ¡°You won¡¯t get everything in any of these Readings; some things are private, and you¡¯re not

    responsible enough to know the spell techniques, not even the few you¡¯re capable of using, and you

    sure don¡¯t have the capacity yet to absorb extra levels like all the information we¡¯ve gotten from

    Readings of others. But you¡¯ll know all our personalities, and why we do what we do.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re pretty sure that knowing all that,¡± Six continued, ¡°And feeling it with the full emotional transfer

    thates with good quality Readings, will allow you all to see the errors of your ways, your attitudes,

    and your thinking.¡±

    ¡°And you better hope it works, because if it doesn¡¯t were going to improve your behavior directly by

    performing surgery on your brains.¡± Fire added a nasty little smile.

    With that, the three began forcing the Readings into the brains of the forty-four. They took their time

    and made sure they didn¡¯t overload anyone with the huge torrent of sense perceptions, thoughts, and

    emotions, but the forty-four were the finest young psionicists on Keran with the exception of their

    three siblings, who were in another league. The entire process only took a bit more than an hour.

    When they were done the forty-four were still crying uncontrobly, only now it wasn¡¯t from pain, it was

    from an overage of remorse and regret and love. Some of them desperately wanted to hug the three,

    who allowed them to do so and returned their embraces.

    ¡°Now that you¡¯ve shared your parents¡¯ minds, many of you will feel an urge to do the same for them; to

    show them how much you truly love them and how sorry you are for being such a bunch of little shits.¡±

    Fire told the crying children. ¡°Take our advice; do yourselves a favor and resist the temptation for a year

    or two. Show them how you¡¯ve changed with your behavior instead. Let yourselves get some decent

    living and loving and thinking under your belts before you show them what you¡¯re really like. It¡¯ll work

    out better for everyone if you do.¡±

    ¡°And by the way, you should know this; we love you. Wee to the family, and to the outside world.¡±

    In the next instant she removed the Reverse Stasis field, Translocated the tourists who had been in the

    council chamber back to their ces in it, and Translocated all of her brothers and sisters and herself

    back to the exact ces they¡¯d been in when she¡¯d Translocated them away.

    They¡¯d been gone far less than a second in real time, but their parents and the Volunteers knew for

    sure that something had happened, since the forty-four were still crying uncontrobly, and each of

    them rushed to whoever was the closest of their many parents and hugged them tight.

    ¡°We¡¯re back!¡± Fire giggled. ¡°Told you we¡¯d be right back.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with them?!¡± Mark asked in confusion as he held the two crying children who had rushed

    into his arms.

    ¡°Remorse.¡± Val stated with satisfaction. ¡°They¡¯ve seen the truth, and it has changed them.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll give you all some time together.¡± Six smiled. ¡°But you should find their behavior much improved,

    and you shouldn¡¯t need to be multiple people hardly at all anymore. They¡¯ll still call on you when they

    really need you or they miss you and want to just spend some time with you, but they won¡¯t call on you

    just to waste your time and to validate their own self-importance anymore, which was the majority of

    the times they called for you.

    ¡°Tomorrow, we think you should give us responsibility for their supervision, their training, and their

    N?velDrama.Org content rights.

    behavior, at least for a while. Assign them to our militarymand. It should do them good, and you

    can trust us to keep them corralled. You and the Volunteers here could use a vacation from them for a

    while, for a few hours a day at least.¡±

    ¡°Oh! Well that¡¯s considerate of you, thank you!¡± Balen said, speaking for the Volunteers, still off-bnce

    by the sudden change in the children all around her.

    ¡°It¡¯s our pleasure.¡± Six told her with a bow and a smile. ¡°But for now we¡¯re still pretty tired, and our work

    here is done. We¡¯re going to reintegrate back at Hilia and get some more sleep.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll see you all tomorrow. Love you!¡± Val called with a smile and a wave to all around, and they were

    gone with no further ado.

    They awoke the next morning to the murmur of many voices quietly talking outside.

    Mark woke first, sat up, and stretched luxuriously. He threw the curtains open with a bit of Force, letting

    the brightness of a clear tropical morning light up the room.

    This roused the other five in the huge bed with him.

    ¡°I¡¯m the only one of me there is right now.¡± he rumbled with a grin of satisfaction. ¡°It¡¯s been so long, I

    can¡¯t tell you how good it feels.¡±

    ¡°Mmm, me too!¡± Alilia smiled.

    ¡°Me three!¡± Taliaughed.

    They shared a round of good mornings, hugs, and kisses, then performed a fast grooming with the aid

    of spells, and dressed in summer casual wear.

    They walked through the cottage, and the three adults reveled in the familiar andfortable

    surroundings that a big part of them had missed for so long.

    They emerged into the sunlight on the patio to find it and the highest twowns upied by their three

    dragons and the Volunteers, who were finishing brunch and chatting.

    ¡°We saved you a ce.¡± Povon said from the big table where she, Karz, and Kragorram were gathered,

    the dragons being in roughly human-sized Simcrums.

    Yazadril, Nemia, Dalia, Bezedil, and Sheramiv shared an adjoining table.

    The forty-four were already finished eating, and were sitting quietly together on the lowestwn doing

    their lessons.

    Mark, Talia, and Alilia gaped at them with raised eyebrows for a moment.

    ¡°It¡¯s pretty amazing, isn¡¯t it?¡± Balen quietly asked with a grin as she indicated her children with a slight

    head motion. ¡°I don¡¯t know what these three did with them, but it¡¯s like a miracle!¡±

    ¡°Damn!¡± Mark whooped with a huge grin. ¡°I¡¯m so happy I could just¡­¡± Suddenly there was one of him

    standing beside everyone else there, including Stripe and Scout. ¡°¡­hug everyone here!¡± all of him

    finished, and proceeded to do so. He took his time with it, saying good morning and I love you to

    everyone as he embraced and cherished each of them, glorying in having them all together for the first

    time.

    Then he became one again on the patio where he¡¯d been before he multiplied, and shivered a little as

    he grinned. ¡°Wow. That¡¯s a lot of love at once when you reintegrate from it.¡± he reported.

    That drew a round of chuckles from the rest.

    Six, Fire, and Val gave hugs and greetings to everyone at Yazadril¡¯s table, then they sat down to eat.

 Chapter 186

    Chapter 186

    Part 26

    There was a lively conversation as those who had been in the time-bubble filled the rest in on what had

    happen within it, while those who had remained outside reciprocated with news of thetest

    happenings on Keran and in the new training programs.

    The Volunteers rted how their ns to form eleven households with eleven group rtionships had

    not turned out as they¡¯d envisioned. Instead it seemed that once they weremitted to loving each

    other, being lovers, and raising their children together, all of them had be much closer than they

    had already been. Their loves and rtionships had spilled over between their households, perhaps

    triggered by the closer, loving rtionship they all now shared with Mark. At this point, the bonds

    between some of the Volunteers were stronger than others, but there was some truth to the idea that all

    eighty-seven of them, including Mark, Talia, and Alilia, shared a single group marriage.

    Upon hearing that, Fire had asked with a giggle; ¡°So does that mean we should consider all The Hilian

    Volunteers to be our co-parents too?¡±

    ¡°You certainly can if you want to.¡± Zayobod told her with a grin. ¡°But I¡¯m not sure it would really be that

    wise, since it¡¯s debatable whether we¡¯re really any more mature than you three, even after we¡¯ve been

    parents for thest dozen years! Your aplishments since you left the time-bubble are entirely

    astonishing, not least being the change you¡¯ve made in our children.¡±

    ¡°More mature than you?¡± Valughed. ¡°Some ways yes, some ways no. We like to think that we¡¯re

    intellectualists; we believe that our intellect should guide our behavior, rather than our emotions, and

    our intellects are good enough to make mature decisions. But we do still feel the emotions and instincts

    of children our age, and we¡¯re not perfect at being intellectualists.¡±

    ¡°None are!¡± Yazadril chuckled. ¡°I¡¯ve been an intellectualist for eight millennia, and I still asionally find

    myself behaving emotionally in ways that I wouldn¡¯t have chosen intellectually.¡±

    ¡°Hmm. I never thought of it in those terms.¡± Povon mused. ¡°It¡¯s certain that I wasn¡¯t an intellectualist

    before I met Mark, and I am now, and there¡¯s no doubt that I¡¯m better for it. Though like most, I¡¯m often

    not that good at it. But are we really intellectualists? I use my intellect to decide what I should do, but

    the goal is still happiness and emotional fulfillment.¡±

    ¡°Exactly.¡± Mark nodded. ¡°We use our emotions to decide what we want over the long term, and use our

    intellects to decide how to achieve it in the short term. Our intellects are just a tool, like our physical

    strength. They don¡¯t really provide any motivation for our behavior.¡±

    As they were talking, Kimran had made his way up from the lowerwns, pausing a few times along the

    way to give a quick hug to his mother and a few others of his co-parents. He was both one of the

    group.

    ¡°Excuse me.¡± he said with a smile after reaching the head table and waiting for a pause in the

    conversation. ¡°Brother, Sisters, we found a lot of diamonds on Hiliani, just like you did, mostly in the

    same ground you found yours in. These are the best three, and we want you to have them.¡±

    He ced a handful of fine gold chain with the stones glinting among them on the table equidistant

    between Six, Val, and Fire, and let the three choose for themselves as he continued. ¡°They¡¯re all pretty

    equal in value; one¡¯s a bit bigger but has a bit less rity, and one has a tiny w, but you have to look

    at ¡®em pretty closely to tell which is which. We cut and polished them ourselves, we made the chain

    from gold bar stock and did the mounting, and spelled it all to make them as indestructible as possible,

    but we¡¯d done all that before. This morning before breakfast we charged ¡®em up with as much of our

    power as they¡¯ll hold, and we put our best spells in ¡®em. Our stuff isn¡¯t allplex and weird like yours,

    but we¡¯ve had some good creative and innovative moments over the years, and we¡¯ve been developing

    some of them for a long time.

    ¡°And, we put a little message in them. Whenever you put them on, you¡¯ll hear all of us quietly say;

    thank you.¡±

    ¡°Why thank you, to all of you!¡± Val grinned as she put hers on.

    Fire looked to the forty-three faces smiling up at her from the lowestwn, and asked Kimran with a

    smile; ¡°I assume they¡¯re all listening psionicly? If so it¡¯s well done; I can¡¯t detect it at all.¡±

    ¡°Not psionicly.¡± Kimran told her with a slightly smug smile. ¡°They¡¯re using Felia¡¯s Listener, which just

    focuses sound from a bigger area onto the listener¡¯s ears. You can use it any time you have line-of-

    Original content from N?velDrama.Org.

    sight to the target, and sometimes when you don¡¯t, up to several kilometers away. It¡¯s a lot stealthier

    than using psionics because there¡¯s no way for the target to know they¡¯re being listened to. It¡¯s one of

    the spells in the diamonds, so you can try it if you want.¡±

    ¡°Well thank you, to all of you.¡± Six told them as he put his on. The chains had no sps, but were easily

    long enough to go over their heads. ¡°It¡¯s very considerate of all of you, and very nice.¡±

    ¡°You deserve a lot more than that.¡± Kimran stated, a bit ruefully. ¡°You were right, we were stuck in a

    way of thinking that we should¡¯ve grown out of when we were five, but we hung onto it because we¡¯re

    all too damn stubborn for our own good. We were ungrateful brats with no honor, and you fixed all that.

    It was no fun at the time, but it sure feels good to be past it. And to see the truth of things.¡±

    ¡°It was no trouble.¡± Fire grinned. ¡°It had to be done, and I for one had a lot of fun doing it!¡±

    Kimran grinned at her as he waved a hand toward the three nes. ¡°How appropriate. Six picked

    the bigger one that¡¯s a bit more opaque, and you picked the one with the tiny w.¡±

    ¡°Appropriate indeed!¡± Fireughed. ¡°Val picked the one that¡¯s just perfect! She¡¯s too nice to have

    enjoyed yesterday as much as me, but then she¡¯s always been the charming one.¡±

    ¡°Better make that; ¡®almost always¡¯!¡± Alilia chuckled.

    ¡°Anyway, thank you, all of you.¡± Fire told them as she put her ne on and heard the message.

    ¡°And you¡¯re wee.¡± she added with a grin as she started auditing the spells the stone contained.

    ¡°We¡¯ll start your new training program as soon as we¡¯re done eating.¡± Six announced as he buttered a

    sweet and spicy bread roll. ¡°As you learned from us yesterday, the big exercises have been pretty

    horrifictely, and you guys are pretty unprepared for what it¡¯s gonna be like. You¡¯re twelve, so you

    have the right to refuse to take part, but you¡¯re not going to. The exercises are just psionic and they¡¯re

    over in less than a minute in real time, and you will fight. Besides, we never know when the war is

    going to be real, and not an exercise. I can¡¯t picture you choosing to not fight when people are really

    dying and you have enough power to make a big difference.

    ¡°One thing is certain; courage is not your problem, you¡¯re almost foolhardy in your attitude toward the

    risk of dangerous situations. You¡¯re just undisciplined, and you haven¡¯t really explored the limits of what

    you¡¯re capable of, especially as a group.

    ¡°Sometimes a number bes a name, as I well know, and sometimes a number bes a title that

    transcends it¡¯s original meaning.

    ¡°The Six of Hilia, for example. Another good one is The Ny-Nine, rulers of Draconia.

    ¡°The Sixty-Six of Hilia, winners of the tournament held here for Father¡¯s seventeenth birthday, are

    already well-known as one of the best military units of their size on Keran. Their fame and their pride

    in their name is such that they¡¯ve kept it as the name of their unit, even though they now number one

    hundred and twenty-eight, having epted the finest of their applicants into their ranks. This has led

    some of the other forces to mistakenly refer to them as The Sixty-Sixth, thinking it¡¯s short for The Sixty-

    Sixth Hilian toon or some such thing, but that¡¯s beside the point.

 Chapter 187

    Chapter 187

    Part 26

    ¡°The forty-four of you are already a very distinct group due to your cohesiveness and your abilities as

    warlocks, and it¡¯s our intention to keep you together as a military unit. Your number will be your

    collective name and title, as it already informally is. We further intend that when your training is more

    the most formidable unit of its size in all of The Just Alliance!¡±

    This brought a proud cheer from the forty-four and some of The Volunteers as well, and Six let it go on

    for a few seconds before he finished. ¡°Now you¡¯d better get your weapons and armor ready and

    checked. We¡¯ll be finished eating pretty soon.¡±

    ¡°Yes Sir!¡± Kimran said as he grinned and gave a snappy salute. As he Translocated back to his group,

    the others couldn¡¯t decide whether he was being sarcastic or not.

    When they were finished eating, the Governors gathered beside Mark, went to one knee, and bowed

    their heads in respect.

    ¡°Father,¡± Six stated as they raised their heads and met his eye, ¡°We¡¯ve been assuming a lot. You still

    haven¡¯t formally given us permission to take militarymand of our brothers and sisters, or to name

    their unit or perform their training as we¡¯ve said. We do most respectfully ask your and Mother¡¯s

    response to our request.¡±

    ¡°Oh you just go right ahead!¡± Markughed as he ruffled Six¡¯s hair a bit. ¡°I¡¯m so pleased with your

    results with them that I almost don¡¯t care what you did to get them!¡±

    ¡°If it¡¯s something that we wouldn¡¯t approve of, I¡¯ll happily remain ignorant, I think!¡± Taliaughed.

    ¡°We just let them get to know us some, and let them know all their parents as we know our parents.¡±

    Six shrugged with a grin.

    ¡°And we made them think we hit them in the face a few times, but we didn¡¯t.¡± Fire giggled. ¡°Not really.

    But it was really funny.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Well that doesn¡¯t sound too excessive.¡± Mark chuckled. ¡°You children run along and y now, be

    good and stay safe and stay out of trouble.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Father.¡± The children chorused together, then giggled uncontrobly before Translocating

    downhill to the lowestwn.

    All of The Forty-Four were ready and waiting, their armor and weapons cleaned, polished, and oiled.

    ¡°All right, first things first.¡± Six announced as the Governors appeared among them. ¡°This is Karz, and

    he¡¯s one of us. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve heard of him. Show them what you really look like, Karz.¡±

    Karz assumed his natural dragon form and struck a proud pose on thewn, and emphasized it with a

    huge st of me.

    ¡°Next is the basics, or what are basics for our family, anyway.¡± Six continued. ¡°Our parents never gave

    you The Skills of Visinniria or The Healing of Valentia, because you were too hard to control as you

    were without them. We¡¯ll give them to you now, along with the bestbat spells we have that you can

    use.¡±

    The Governors cast, and The Forty-four reeled for a moment as they assimted the massive influx of

    spells. As soon as they¡¯d steadied, Six continued. ¡°After today¡¯s activities each of you will be evaluated,

    and will receive individualized training to correct your personal weaknesses and to build on your best

    talents.

    ¡°For now we¡¯re all going to the firing range at Focus Mountain to work with what we¡¯ve just given you.¡±

    With that, all forty-eight of them vanished.

    A few seconds passed, then Kalem was heard toment; ¡°Suddenly this seems like the most

    peaceful spot in the universe. This is the first time I¡¯ve feltfortable with taking my mind off those

    cubs of ours since they were born.¡±

    ¡°Amen!¡± Balenughed as she raised her ss, and they all raised their sses and drank to it like

    she¡¯d proposed a toast.

    That night, as they were getting ready for bed, Mark asked how things had gone with the training.

    ¡°They¡¯re twelve.¡± Fire firmly stated with a bit of a frown. ¡°That¡¯s the main thing about The Forty-Four.

    They¡¯re very intelligent and capable for twelve, and of course they¡¯re all exceptional magic users for

    twelve, and they¡¯re doing their best to improve as fast as they can. But still. Their personalities and

    behaviors and attitudes are still typical of twelve-year-olds, whether human or elven. Somehow, I

    expected more from them that way.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Well not everyone can be you, you know.¡± Talia teased, and they said their good-nights.

    The next day all twenty-seven of the time-bubbles on Keran reached the end of their nned

    duration, and were deactivated by the gods.

    Mark and his entire family went back to Hiliani to wee its residents back to the outside world. They

    took part in many of the happy reunions and enjoyed a huge cook-out prepared for the asion by the

    residents of Homestead, most of whom nned to stay there rather than move back to their homes

    from before the time-bubble. One of the mostmonly-heardments was; ¡°My! You look so young

    since the Transformation!¡±

    Perhaps the most poignant reunion was that of Hilsith with Yazadril and Nemia. They had only been

    separated for three years from Hilsith¡¯s viewpoint, and for a day and a half from Yazadril and Nemia¡¯s,

    but Hilsith had found their separation to be much more difficult than she had expected. It was very

    unlike her, but she cried like a baby with relief and love when she again held them in her arms.

    After spending an hour and a half there, they went to the ins of Xervia to re-acquaint with Sran

    and Equemev and their extended family, including their son Fran. He was now just as big as Sran,

    and more than mature enough to associate with dragons without being unduly disturbed by it.

    The Six of Hilia were reunited with the greatest of joy, and they embraced and nuzzled one another

    with smiles and tears of happiness on their faces. The absence of the unicorns had been sorely felt in

    the subjective years they¡¯d been separated, and they all promised each other to do what they could to

    prevent such a lengthy separation from ever being repeated in the future.

    Soon after they arrived in Xervia, word came that an important Revealing had just been made

    avable, so Equemev cast it above the grass hundreds of meters high to be seen by all in the area.

    It was Hilsith and her international team of Healers and wizards, including representatives of the

    aquatic races and the gargoyles, posed as a smiling group portrait on the beach in Hiliani. Hilsith made

    a happy but brief announcement: ¡°We are sessful! Variations of the spell set known as Hilsith¡¯s

    Transformation are now applicable to every race on Keran who can benefit from them! As of now,

    every member of every race can use magic and avoid death by aging! Already automated versions of

    the new spell sets are saving the lives of the elderly of the races represented here with me! It is our gift

    to all of Keran, and we are honored to give it!¡±

    Her whole team and everyone else on the beach around them gave a huge cheer, then the Revealing

    ended.

    It was great and happy news, if of little personal relevance to the unicorns and their guests.

    ¡°It looks like Hilsith wanted to avoid having her news spilled again.¡± Val teased as she gave Fire a little

    tickle on her ribs. ¡°She was more prompt with her announcement this time.¡±

    ¡°Yes, and you¡¯d better get to work!¡± Fire teased in return. ¡°Now you need another seventy or so

    different trantions for your Magic Education!¡±

    N?velDrama.Org content rights.

    ¡°Or I could delegate that to my staff!¡± Valughed. ¡°Of course, first I¡¯d have to recruit a staff, but that

    wouldn¡¯t be too hard.¡±

    ¡°Bah! Our staff is your staff, silly!¡± Six assured her with a one-armed hug. ¡°And we have plenty of staff.

    Technically, all of The Sylvan Nation are avable to Fire. And besides, with what you¡¯ve done for the

    worldtely, there¡¯s no end of others who¡¯d be d to do you any favor you could ask.¡±

    ¡°I know, I was just being silly.¡± Val assured him with a giggle. ¡°I actually anticipated that Hilsith¡¯s team

    would be sessful, and arranged for the rest of the trantions to be done as soon as the first set of

    tranted Educations were sent out and working. The new ones are already starting to work with their

    new students.¡± She tilted her head to the side a bit as she considered her monitoring spells. ¡°In fact,

    one of the Kag and two of the Southernmost are already finished. They have a few good psionic

    learners among them, that¡¯s for sure.¡±

 Chapter 188

    Chapter 188

    Part 26

    ¡°I should¡¯ve known.¡± Fire chuckled, and considered the herd of young unicorns who were joyously

    running past. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s go fly with Fran and his friends! No flying higher than a unicorn¡¯s head,

    and if you get stuck by a horn you¡¯re a loser!¡±

    The Governors with Karz in elf-guise and all of The Forty-Four were soon ying a very fast and wide-

    ranging game of tag with the young unicorns, and their Flying needed to be skillful indeed to match the

    supernatural running abilities of their new equine friends.

    They were having so much fun that the adults all joined them a few minutester, and they all yed

    for almost three hours.

    They paused for a meal as the sun set, and when they were all finished eating Alilia invited everyone to

    her invitation, so she had to limit their flight to one of the most sparsely-popted areas of her nation,

    well away from the congestion of Heartwood and the other cities. The forest she chose was just as

    beautiful as Heartwood, and the trunks and branches of the gigantic trees there were just as amusing

    as an obstacle course. A few of the younger unicorn colts needed their parents¡¯ help with their Flight

    spells, but they were soon gaily galloping on invisible ground high up in the branches with all the rest,

    as unicorns do when in flight.

    Alilia¡¯s precautions to prevent congestion were partially thwarted, for as soon as word spread that there

    were unicorns flying with their Princess¡¯s family in their northern forests, a great many of the forest

    elves of The People of Life joined them.

    When there were so many flying madly about that it was looking increasingly dangerous, Alilia cast an

    automated self-replicating spell that gave every flyer there the deep and soft Shielding that they¡¯d used

    thest time they flew together, but remained dormant until it detected an imminent collision.

    ¡°Hah!¡± Aliliaughed as she confirmed that theplex spell was working as intended. ¡°I¡¯ve learned a

    few things from our children, that¡¯s certain. I¡¯ll call that Alilia¡¯s Safety Shielding.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re it!¡± Fire crowed as she flew past and gave Alilia a sharp p on her rump, and the chase was

    on again.

    Later on, on a whim, Kragorram and Povon followed Karz¡¯ example and assumed humanoid

    Simcrums for the first time. Kragorram appeared as an elf as tall as Mark, with long and flowing

    crimson-red hair and a goatee. Povon appeared as an elf two meters tall with silver hair and blue eyes,

    with facial features that looked a lot like Alilia¡¯s.

    Mark, Talia, and Alilia, amused by the transformation in their dragon friends¡¯ appearances, reciprocated

    by assuming Simcrums of dragons for the first time. They each took the color of their hair; Mark was

    ck, Alilia was silvery-white, and Talia was light blond. They kept their normal sizes though, so as to

    not further congest the airspace.

    There wasn¡¯t a single flyer enjoying the air there that failed to sleep the satisfying sleep of the happily

    exhausted when next they retired.

    The next day they all returned to training. The Governors delegated all of their activities and duties in

    Serminak, and concentrated exclusively on training The Forty-Four. Three dayster they moved to

    family training that included all forty-nine children including Karz and Fran, and all ny-one of their

    parents.

    For a week after the opening of the time-bubbles, there were norge-scale exercises held. The many

    advances and breakthroughs discovered by researchers in the time-bubbles were examined by all the

    others, and the effort to integrate all of the new knowledge was begun.

    On the seventh day after the time-bubbles opened a meeting of The Assembly of The Just Alliance was

    held. It had been officially announced the day before.

    When Mark and his entire immediate family arrived at The Hall, they found that it was bigger than it had

    ever been, and was already half full. With his wives, co-husbands, and children, and their beloved

    dragons and unicorns and their children, they numbered one hundred and forty. A ce had been

    reserved for them right beside the low central stage,plete with ornate chairs and small side tables.

    ¡°You¡¯ll notice that every one of Keran¡¯s gods are personally in attendance,¡± Alilia quietly noted, ¡°As

    well as a sizable contingent of The Triax¡¯ gods.¡±

    ¡°Yah, well, we know what this is all about, don¡¯t we?¡± Mark mused. ¡°So their attendance isn¡¯t all that

    surprising.¡±

    ¡°Are you ready, my love?¡± Talia asked him with a look of quiet concern.

    ¡°Surprisingly, I am.¡± Mark nodded with a warm smile. ¡°Are you?¡±

    ¡°I am. I lead where you follow.¡± she confidently assured him.

    ¡°As do I.¡± Alilia added as she caressed his shoulder.

    He picked them both up and ced them in hisp and hugged them, disregarding decorum.

    As the gigantic room slowly filled, the rest of their extended family arrived, including Caria and all their

    kin from Hiliani. Those hadn¡¯t been seated so close to the center, but they made their way over and

    exchanged warm and loving greetings.

    The parents and siblings of Equemev, Sran, Povon, and Kragorram all came by to do the same.

    None of them except Tithian had ever met any of Mark¡¯s family before, so there were many

    introductions to be made.

    The rulers they knew or were acquainted with came by, sometimes by themselves, sometimes in

    groups, sometimes with a few of their staff. All gave warm and very respectful greetings.

    Finally the room was almostpletely full, including the window holding back the aquatic section, and

    everyone quietly took their ces in anticipation of the meeting soon being called to order.

    ¡°This is strange.¡± Mark quietlymented. ¡°It¡¯s almost like I¡¯m at my own funeral or something.¡±

    ¡°Everyone here knows that they probably just had theirst chance to speak to us as mortals.¡± Alilia

    nodded. ¡°It¡¯s a strange situation, all right.¡±

    ¡°Maybe it wasn¡¯t.¡± Mark said with a sly little smile. ¡°Theirst chance to speak to us as mortals, that is.¡±

    ¡°How do you mean?¡± Povon asked.

    ¡°You¡¯ll see soon.¡± Mark smiled as Somonik appeared on the stage, standing over the Truthstone of

    Falgaroth.

    ¡°Let it be known; the time-bubbles are ended, and all is well on Keran!¡± the ancient white dragon

    pronounced, and the huge assemge gave him a good-natured cheer in response.

    ¡°Those in the time-bubbles produced and raised almost a million more children than they would have in

    real time, and they produced many new works of creativity and brilliance.¡± he continued.

    ¡°The application of Hilsith¡¯s Transformation to the rest of the less-magical races, including its use by the

    Kwetkerthok, has already been announced by Hilsith and her team. Though the gargoyles were already

    a highly magical race with several innate magical abilities, they were unable to use spells of any sort

    and were still vulnerable to aging. No more.

    ¡°Further exciting discoveries were made in every time-bubble that was cast.

    ¡°To present the discoveries made in the Seblik time-bubble in Kletiuk, I am proud to introduce Master

    Spell-Monger Benchakup¡­¡±

    For more than two hours the researchers of the time-bubbles presented brief summaries of their

    discoveries, then Somonik called for a twenty-minute recess.

    ¡°There were a lot on interesting things in all of that, but nothing that¡¯s really decisive right now.¡± Fire

    mused privately to her family. ¡°The findings in basic research will eventually bring big changes and new

    techniques, but most of them won¡¯t produce any practical applications for years yet. And the new

    practical applications they came up with give us many new techniques for doing things we already

    N?velDrama.Org holds this content.

    knew how to do, basically, but I don¡¯t think any of it really gives us any major new advantages over the

    demons.¡±

    ¡°The time-bubbles were a gamble for Keran that cost us little and paid off handsomely.¡± Kragorram

    opined. ¡°Each of those things they just announced may not be much on their own, but they add up to a

    great deal. When you add in the discoveries that were made by ourselves and others in the Hiliani

    bubble, it was a decisive and profitable stratagem indeed.

    ¡°Not to mention that almost all of the extra children who were raised to adulthood in the bubbles were

    born to parents who were among the most outstanding members of their races, and so they give us a

    greater advantage than their numbers alone might suggest. You and your siblings are prime examples

    of that.¡±

    ¡°True.¡± Val privately giggled. ¡°But I can still think of several more amusing uses for thest two hours of

    my life.¡±

    ¡°You showed admirable patience, my young love.¡± Alilia told her with a smile. ¡°You didn¡¯t even

    fidget.¡±

 Chapter 189

    Chapter 189

    Part 26

    ¡°Neither did any of The Forty-Four.¡± Six noted, with a proud grin and a quick fist-clench to the pack of

    twelve-year-old siblings under hismand. ¡°You showed some fine discipline there, brothers and

    sisters.¡±

    ¡°Yah, at this rate we¡¯ll make diplomats and academics of you yet!¡± Firemented with a quietugh.

    ¡°You¡¯ll be able to withstand a veritable infinity of boring speeches!¡±

    Meec, the smallest of The Forty-Four, appeared standing directly in front of Fire, and snapped an

    exaggerated salute along with a click of her boot-heels before standing rigidly to attention. ¡°Yes Sir

    Commander Fire Princess Helemia Ma¡¯am!¡± the tiny warlock yelled in a piping voice that sounded three

    years old, saluted again with an even-more ostentatious motion, and disappeared back to her seat

    amidst theughter of her toon-mates.

    ¡°And don¡¯t you forget it!¡± Fire yelled back with a yful grin.

    ¡°You know, I¡¯m almost entirely sure that she was being sarcastic that time.¡± Six stated with apletely

    straight face, which drew another round ofughs.

    ¡°True, but as long as she¡¯s disciplined and respectful, I¡¯ll let it pass.¡± Fire returned.

    ¡°Besides, Meec is far too cute to get mad at anyway!¡± Val giggled.

    ¡°You take that back!¡± Meec yelled in mock-anger from her seat near the back of their section.

    ¡°I won¡¯t and you can¡¯t make me!¡± Valughed back.

    ¡°No?!¡± Meec demanded, appearing before the Governors again with her tiny fists on her hips. ¡°Well

    if you don¡¯t, I¡¯ll put a million copies of this all over Keran!¡± she stated as she cast a quick Illusion of a

    formally executed and framed painting. It showed Val with one finger in her mouth and a bashful,

    infantile expression on her face, her hair in dozens of braids each secured with a big pink bow of

    ribbon, wearing a toddler¡¯s-style fuzzy pink dress ented with dozens more big pink bows, sitting

    cross-legged on a huge pile of fluffy pink stuffed animals. It was a parody of the clich¨¦ style of formal

    portraits that many human parents had painted of their babies, and it was the most magnificently tacky

    and tasteless overdose of cuteness that anyone there had ever seen.

    ¡°No! I give up, take it away!¡± Valughed as she turned her head and raised her hands in mock-horror.

    ¡°I take it back, you¡¯re not cute at all!!¡±

    ¡°And don¡¯t you forget it!¡± Meec triumphantly crowed, and went back to her seat as the Illusion

    vanished.

    As the chuckles continued, Talia mused; ¡°You know, there are very few artists who could produce such

    a detailed and original picture from their own imagination in such a short time. That was actually very

    impressive.¡±

    ¡°Thank you Mother Talia!¡± Meec called from her seat.

    ¡°And she¡¯s quite attentive!¡± Talia added with a smile as she stood.

    ¡°Use the privacies if you have to.¡± she advised the children. ¡°I¡¯ll be right back with some snacks and

    drinks.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll help you carry them Mother Talia!¡± several of The Forty-Four called out, so she took them with

    her.

    All too soon as far as Mark was concerned, the recess was over and the meeting resumed. As he

    suspected would be the case, it was the gods rather than Somonik who appeared on the stage to

    resume the proceedings. Falgaroth, Visinniria, Ne, and Amirgath waited a moment to be sure they

    had everyone¡¯s attention, then Falgaroth Spoke.

    ¡°Markhan Reginus Longstrider the Fifth, Prince of Hilia, Lord of Serminak, key to the imminent nexus of

    Keran, Key to The Just Alliance, the time hase for you to take your ce among our pantheon.

    ¡°It will be the very first time that the timing of the Ascension of any god was known in advance, it will be

    the first time that an Ascension can be directly witnessed by any other god or living mortal, and we ask

    that all of the Keran-Triax Alliance be allowed to observe and to share in this miraculous process.

    ¡°Are you ready?¡± the big blue unicorn god concluded.

    ¡°I¡¯m not and I am.¡± Mark responded with a grin as he stood at his seat.

    ¡°I see.¡± Falgarothmented with a snicker and a yful toss of his voluminous mane. ¡°Would you

    care to exin that?¡±

    Mark cast Multiple Simultaneous Manifestations, and a copy of himself appeared on stage among the

    gods.

    ¡°I¡¯m not.¡± The copy that was still with his family stated as he resumed his seat.

    ¡°And I am.¡± the copy on stage grinned.

    He paused, and his grin faded as his mood became more serious. The gods left the stage to him as he

    spent a moment in gazing at all his friends and everyone in all the generations of his extended family,

    and basking in theirplete confidence in him.

    Then he spoke in a quieter tone. ¡°All this time I¡¯ve been afraid of bing a god, afraid of losing my

    mortality, or so I thought. Really, I¡¯ve been afraid of losing my individuality, afraid of losing my

    personality and not being me anymore, and being someonepletely different.

    ¡°So as you can see, I¡¯ve cast the Multiple Simultaneous Manifestations spell that was invented by The

    Governors, and this one of me will try to be a god. Hopefully I won¡¯t mess it up and kill myself in

    front of absolutely everyone, or worse.

    ¡°If it works I¡¯ll evaluate whether I¡¯m still the same person in the fundamental ways that are important to

    me. If I am, I may try to reintegrate with my still-mortal self over there, if it¡¯s still even possible to do so.

    ¡°If it¡¯s not, or if we decide that it¡¯s not advisable for some other reason, we¡¯ll remain two separate

    individuals; one mortal and one god, and the god will take a new name and an appearance different

    enough to prevent confusion as to who¡¯s who. Our lives will separate to some extent, and we¡¯d be

    two different people.

    ¡°This will allow me to keep mymitment to the gods, while still keeping my present identity and

    fulfilling my responsibilities as a parent. I have a lot of children right now, and for various reasons they

    asked to be released from the time-bubble early, so they¡¯re still dependent children to one extent or

    another. They deserve my parenting for as long as they want it. But the gods have said that they¡¯ve lost

    the urge to have and raise children, and I can¡¯t risk losing my ability to raise children while I still need it.

    ¡°Hence this somewhat unusual solution. If it all works, I¡¯ll offer it to every one of my Candidates who

    have the ability to cast the Multiple Simultaneous Manifestations spell while they¡¯re still mortal. But not

    all of them can do that. Most will have to choose between mortality and divinity.

    ¡°To be honest, while I recognize that bing a god will change my fundamental nature in some way,

    I don¡¯t want it to change my personality in any way, and I don¡¯t want to have to be twopletely

    separate people in order to fulfill my obligations. When I designed my Ascension process, I did my best

    to make sure that I¡¯ll still be me when it¡¯s finished, and I hope that when I¡¯m done I do find that I¡¯m still

    me, and that the mortal me and the god me can reintegrate back into one person.

    ¡°Right now we¡¯re Linked at every level, and he¡¯ll record the entire experience. He¡¯ll share some of it

    with all of you, but will probably share all of it with none of you. This is dangerous knowledge whether it

    works or not, and who gets how much of it will be decided after. All of you will be able to see it, and to

    experience it with every sense and passive scan you have. But only he will be Linked with me while it

    happens, and I¡¯ll make sure that none of the rest of you can Read me psionicly while it happens. These

    are also safety precautions in case it all goes wrong somehow. I won¡¯t be casting any Shielding around

    me so as to not impede the observations of the researchers and gods among you, but I ask that both

    pantheons be prepared to Shield me or Translocate me with the shortest possible notice, in case I

    explode or something.¡±

    He held his hand palm up and the Truthstone containing the God-Spell appeared in it with a blue sh.

    He looked at it a moment, looked out at his family again for almost ten seconds, then shrugged and

    said; ¡°Okay; here it goes.¡±Original content from N?velDrama.Org.

 Chapter 190

    Chapter 190

    Part 26

    He closed his eyes and concentrated, and activated the spell sequence. First it released a vast amount

    of raw power he¡¯d stored in the stone. He held the power without casting it, feeling its improving effect

    on his intellect. He began gathering more and more power, and used every technique they¡¯de up

    with to prevent it from cooking his brain or otherwise harming him. As he followed the instructions and

    automated steps in the stone, every increase in power gave him new understanding and new ideas on

    how to continue the process.

    Then he was finished all the steps in the stone and relying on the new ones he was inventing as he

    went along. In a moment of sudden inspiration he walked to his left and stood on the top of the great

    Truthstone of Falgaroth itself that shallowly protruded through the stage, and began to draw power

    from it, both through his feet and through the small extension stone in his hand.

    He cast a vast collection field, nearer the sun than any they¡¯d cast before, and had it send him its

    power through the Translocation medium in a novel new way, then began expanding the field even as

    he castpletely new ones with different frequencies that collected new kinds of power.

    Then it ceased being something he was doing, and it became something that was happening to him

    faster than he could control it, whether he wanted it to or not.

    A bright light was shining from his body with increasing energy until he was barely visible within it, and

    he began a long, low growl that rose in pitch and volume with the intensity of the process until he was

    roaring at the top of his lungs. The tension in his muscles increased, along with the tightness of his grip

    on the small Truthstone.

    Suddenly reality itself shifted within the volume of his body, and at the same moment the small

    Truthstone was shattered and crushed in his grip, and a pulse of arcane energy was released that

    everyone there felt as it passed through them in an almost instantaneous wave.

    They cried out with the wonder of the sensation, their voices joining his amidst the otherwise silent

    transformation, but it seemed to have no other discernable effect.

    He fell silent. The light he was producing gradually faded. All was still for a moment as he stood on the

    Truthstone with a handful of blue gemstone gravel. He appeared to be the same as he had been before

    he began.

    The gods who had left the stage when he began returned, along with Glup of The Zurb, and they

    examined him.

    ¡°You are almostpletely unlike any of us of The Pantheon of Keran.¡± Amirgath eventually

    pronounced. ¡°You are unlike Glup of The Zurb. You are unlike the gods of The Triax. But there is no

    doubt whatsoever that you are a god, or at least a new kind of being with equivalent capabilities.¡±

    ¡°All hail Mark, first of The New Gods Of Keran!¡± Visinniria proudly proimed as she drew her sword,

    saluted him with it, and held it high.

    This brought a huge roaring cheer from everyone there. They let it go on for a few seconds, then

    Amirgath raised his hand for silence, and got it.

    ¡°What say you, Mark?¡± he asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s very strange.¡± Mark stated in wonder. ¡°It¡¯s very beautiful, and awesome, and amazing, but it¡¯s still

    very strange. As far as I can tell, in all the important ways, I¡¯m still me.¡±

    He looked to his mortal self at the edge of the audience and asked; ¡°What do you think?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re still me.¡± mortal Mark dered with a grin, then closed his eyes for a second. ¡°But I can¡¯t

    reintegrate us with the spell. Can you do it?¡±

    ¡°I think I can, but give me a moment to consider it. Hmm. I¡¯m definitely a lot more intelligent than I was,

    and my awareness is so much better that there¡¯s noparison. But I think it¡¯s my subconscious mind

    that¡¯s improved the most. I need a moment to try to take stock of the differences and explore my new

    abilities.

    ¡°Our spections were right; once you get to the end of the Ascension, divinity almost seems to take

    on a life of its own. I can do everything I did with magic with god-power instead, and a lot more, without

    consciously casting any spells, just by wanting it to happen. I want an apple and I¡¯ve got an apple,¡± he

    said as one appeared in his hand, ¡°And I couldn¡¯t say how it got there, or where it came from, or what

    it¡¯s made out of. If I want it gone, it¡¯s gone, and that¡¯s all there is to it. It¡¯s apletely intuitive process.

    And I have no idea where the power for ites from.

    ¡°I can sure see why the gods couldn¡¯t express the process to mortals, because I can¡¯t either. The part

    of the Ascension I had in the stone was about a third of it, and it was already tooplex to even

    remember myself, let alonemunicate it to anyone else. Then I came up with another third of it that

    would be even harder to exin, and thest third of it happened on it¡¯s own without my conscious

    control or understanding.

    ¡°Now¡­ Yes, if I want to, I can still ess the warlocks¡¯ source and cast conventional spells.¡± he said

    as he cast Restore on the small crushed Truthstone. ¡°And, I can now fully ess regr wizards¡¯

    power as well, or ess the Source directly as unicorns and gargoyles do. And, I can ess three¡­

    No four other kinds of power thate from the sun, including transducing regr heat and light into

    magic.

    ¡°And, I can not be.¡± he said as he disappeared, but his voice continued speaking anyway. ¡°I can

    He reappeared and grinned. ¡°I guess that proves that I really am a god now.

    ¡°I still love my wives and kids, and I still have the same attitudes and feelings about every issue, but I¡¯m

    definitely not the same.

    ¡°I do feel a new responsibility towards every mortal on Keran, as the gods said I would. And I do now

    share their feeling that gods should never directly rule over mortals. It¡¯s just not fair, somehow.

    ¡°And so, I swear on the Truthstone of Falgaroth that as soon as the war with the demons is over, I¡¯ll

    give up my rule of Hilia and Serminak, and my role as Key to The Just Alliance. But until then, things

    will remain as they are in that respect, to help insure our victory over the demons.

    ¡°For the same reason, I will take part in The Tournament of Governors for the rule of Keran. To be

    honest, I don¡¯t think that being a god will make much difference in how high I¡¯ll ce. Before today, I

    could already have duplicated most of my new divine abilities by other means, including the increased

    intelligence and awareness. And as it¡¯s been said before, being a god doesn¡¯t really give me any new

    intellectual creativity or wisdom, which are crucial qualities for a leader.

    ¡°One thing that hasn¡¯t changed is the slightly disconcerting feeling of ipleteness thates with

    being separated into more than one manifestation, so I¡¯m going to reintegrate. I don¡¯t know how I¡¯m

    going to do it, but I¡¯m pretty sure I can anyway, just by wanting to.¡±

    With that the Mark at the edge of the audience disappeared, and the one on the stage grinned. ¡°And

    thus it is so.¡± he pronounced.

    Then there were three of him standing there, then only one again. ¡°Actually, you don¡¯t get that

    disconcerting feeling when you multiple manifest with god power. Good to know.

    ¡°Now, I suppose I should get on with the Ascension of the other Candidates to be New Gods. Now that

    I¡¯ve Ascended, I can tell there¡¯s more Candidates than I previously thought, almost twice as many

    actually, including the ones that were in the time-bubbles.

    ¡°But I can also see that some of the Candidates are going to refuse divinity for now, having had some

    time to think about it. In most cases, it¡¯s because their wives and children aren¡¯t Candidates, and they

    don¡¯t want there to be such a huge gulf between them. I understand that, and it¡¯s fine. You don¡¯t have to

    ept divinity until you¡¯re ready, though I expect that many of you will change your minds once warfare

    with the demons begins. Protecting your families with every avable advantage will be more

    important than rting to them as equals.

 Chapter 191

    Chapter 191

    Part 26

    ¡°Every Candidate will be closely examined by me before I make them divine, and I may not choose to

    do it for some of them. They don¡¯t need any special qualities to qualify, but they can¡¯t have any bad

    qualities that I think would make them a problem once they have divine power.

    ¡°There are many who deserve to be first, for many reasons, but there was never any doubt in my mind

    who I would choose.

    ¡°Talia my love,e and join me.¡± he smiled as he held his hand out to her.

    She Translocated to him, and ced her hands in his.

    He smiled a little wider as he picked her up and cuddled her small body in his arms, then he closed his

    eyes, Linked with herpletely, and led her down the path he¡¯d chosen. It was over in a blink, with

    only a quick sh of bright light.

    He released her, and she floated standing in the air with her arms held out to her sides, threw her head

    back, andughed in giddy ecstasy.

    Visinniria and Heklivmalgiso, until that moment the only elven gods, appeared on either side of her and

    touched her hands.

    ¡°Wee to the family, Little Sister.¡± Heklivmalgiso pronounced with the biggest and happiest grin that

    anyone had ever seen him wear, and the two elven gods hugged Talia with great joy.

    ¡°Alilia my love,e and join us.¡± Mark invited, and held his hand out to her. She hugged him around

    his neck as he cast upon her and with her, and a momentter it was done.

    ¡°We¡¯ll run out of room on the stage soon.¡± Amirgath grinned. ¡°So we¡¯ll leave you to it.¡±

    As the gods, Talia, and Alilia left the stage, Markmunicated privately.

    ¡°Yazadril and Nemia, you¡¯re both Candidates to be New Gods.

    ¡°Hilsith, you¡¯re not. I know the gods said you were a Candidate for Divinity when we first met them, but

    you¡¯re not a candidate for my process. I¡¯m sorry, and you may be in the future, but for now you¡¯re not.

    ¡°Do the three of you want some time to make decisions?¡±

    ¡°No!!!¡± Hilsith insisted with a big smile. ¡°It matters not that I won¡¯t join them in divinity right now, I trust

    that they¡¯ll love me just the same, and I refuse to hold them back! I know they would both refuse it for

    my sake, and I will not allow it! Especially since I know for certain that Yazadril wants this very very

    much!¡±

    ¡°Then that is how it shall be.¡± Mark told them as the three joined him on the stage. ¡°Hilsith, I promise

    that I¡¯ll do my best to help you achieve Candidacy, and constantly monitor you for it, and help you

    Ascend as soon as you reach it.

    ¡°Yazadril, Nemia, take my hands and prepare yourselves.¡±

    With Hilsith between them and an arm around her each, they reached out to Mark with their other

    hands. A second after he held them, it was done with a quick, bright sh.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Yazadril told him in a distracted manner, both he and Nemia seemingly struck with awe.

    ¡°Thank you, a million times thank you. This is by far the most wondrous thing that¡¯s ever happened to

    me.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s pretty good all right.¡± Nemiaughed. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t it¡¯s say better than falling in love with you or

    birthing my daughters. But it¡¯s better than anything else.

    ¡°And Hilsith, we love you even more.¡±

    As they left the stage, Mark privatelymunicated again.

    ¡°Povon, you¡¯re a Candidate. Kragorram, you¡¯re not a Candidate, but you¡¯re very, very close to being

    one. The work and learning you¡¯ve done with the rest of us have done you a lot of good. I¡¯m pretty sure

    that if I help Povon Ascend first, then between the two of us we can bring you to full Candidacy, and

    then I can make you a god.¡±

    ¡°Then by all means, proceed!¡± Kragorram urged him. ¡°I was not on yourst list of Candidates at all,

    and I very much want to join Povon in this, so I will take any chance to do so that you can give me.¡±

    ¡°All right. Povon, here we go.¡± Mark told them, and a few secondster both dragons had Ascended.

    Sran and Equemev were next. Though Sran had not been one of Mark¡¯s Candidates before he

    went into his people¡¯s time-bubble in Xervia for sixteen years, he was now, and Mark was soon done

    with both of them.

    As the unicorns were leaving the stage, every one of Keran¡¯s old gods jumped a bit like they¡¯d been

    poked in the ribs by surprise.

    ¡°By all the stars above!¡± Heklivmalgiso eximed as he appeared floating above and before Yazadril,

    Nemia, and Hilsith. ¡°How did you do that?!¡±

    ¡°We did nothing!¡± Yazadril proimed. ¡°She did it all herself, I assure you!¡±

    ¡°Hilsith, you have be a goddess!¡± Heklivmalgiso dered in amazement. ¡°But you are not one of

    The New Gods as Mark and your two lovers here are! You have Ascended in the conventional way, and

    you are exactly the same in nature as Visinniria and myself! How have you done this?!¡±

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m Yazadril and Nemia¡¯s Healer, and I love them, so I watch out for them.¡± Hilsith told him in a

    somewhat distracted manner. ¡°When Mark was giving them the Ascension, I wasn¡¯t Linked with them,

    but I was Reading them as thoroughly as I could. But I wasn¡¯t really paying attention to that. I had all

    my diagnostic spells running on them, and with the improvements I¡¯ve made in thosetely, they act

    like aplete Reading, only of the body rather than the mind.

    ¡°Where anyone else might have been paying attention to the changes in their minds or to the energy

    that was exchanged and was acting on them, I was mostly paying attention to the physical changes

    happening in their bodies, in fine detail.

    ¡°Then after it was over, part of my attention was on them and what was happening here, but part of my

    attention started corrting the Reading to the diagnostics, noting what changes were happening in

    their bodies when changes urred in their minds and their powers, and vice-versa.

    ¡°Then, I somewhat remember that as we got back here and Nemia was kissing me, in the back of my

    mind I thought something like; ¡®Well that makes sense, but why not just do it this way¡­¡¯

    ¡°And then it just happened. I¡¯m afraid that¡¯s really all I can say about it. Then you were here yelling

    about the stars above.¡±

    ¡°And we are overjoyed that you have joined us!¡± Heklivmalgiso dered as he came down to the floor

    and hugged her. ¡°Furthermore, I am satisfied with being vindicated in choosing you as a Candidate for

    Divinity when we first met. As I said then, your Ascension was dependent on Mark¡¯s, and on Yazadril

    and Nemia¡¯s.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± she told him as she returned his hug.

    Then she looked into Yazadril¡¯s eyes, then Nemia¡¯s, and held her hands out to them. ¡°I still love you

    both just as much. And that¡¯s a great relief, because I am not the same person I was a few minutes

    ago. Not in personality, not in outlook, not at all.¡±

    ¡°Pshaw, all the parts of you that matter to us are still the same.¡± Nemia assured her. ¡°You just feel

    different, that¡¯s all. And it¡¯s very beautiful.¡±

    ¡°Part of me wants the three of us to just go somewhere private.¡± Yazadril told them. ¡°Somewhere we

    can just explore the differences in ourselves and in our love, and the differences between the two kinds

    of gods that we¡¯ve be.

    ¡°But Mark is still conducting the Ascension of Candidates, and given what¡¯s happened here so far, I

    think we would be wise to give it our undivided attention until he¡¯s finished. Who knows what else will

    happen here today?¡±

    ¡°That is serious truth.¡± Heklivmalgiso agreed. ¡°But do try to memorize what you experienced as you

    Ascended, each of you. The knowledge could be of incalcble value in the future.¡±

    ¡°We have done so to the extent that we are capable, and stored the memories securely.¡± Yazadril

    assured him.

    ¡°Excellent.¡± Heklivmalgiso nodded. ¡°We will soon take time to examine the information in detail. Until

    then¡­¡±

    He turned to the stage, and bowed. ¡°Mark, I apologize for the interruption. Please continue.¡±N?velDrama.Org holds this content.

 Chapter 192

    Chapter 192

    Part 26

    Mark did so. Dalia and Bezedil were next.

    Then came Somonik, Grakonexikaldoron, Empress Emeroth, and Emperor Osbald, who all announced

    that they would give up their rule or membership in ruling councils as soon as the war was over.

    Next was Overlord Senchak. He stood still on the stage with Mark for nearly a minute after his

    Ascension, and everyone silently waited with him. Suddenly he announced; ¡°I am abdicating. It just

    doesn¡¯t sit right with me to continue to rule as Overlord, not even for so much as another day.

    ¡°Immediately after this meeting, the Lords of the ns of Kletiuk will meet in The Arena of Government

    of Overn Beijur. A new Lord of n Beijur will be chosen, and a new Overlord of Kletiuk. I will

    nominate my son Senchasi for both positions. He is only twenty years younger than I am at the age of

    one hundred and ny-two, and he is very experienced. Since I became Overlord of Kletiuk, he has

    acted as Lord of n Beijur. I believe he is the most capable and well-trained leader that Kletiuk has.

    ¡°But there are many fine Kleti who could lead our people and do it well. Even if another n bes

    Overn, the transition will happen quickly and cleanly, with little disruption in our operations or our war

    preparations. Kletiuk will continue to do her duty to The Just Alliance, and to the Keran-Triax

    Alliance.¡±

    With that he left the stage, and Mark moved on to his next Candidate. In general, he worked with the

    Candidates who were national leaders first, then councilors and militarymanders, then civilian

    senior wizards or sorcerers, then other citizens.

    A few other leaders abdicated, including Princess Pimall of The Warm People. Like Senchak had done,

    she assured the world that the transition of power among the pr elves wouldn¡¯t be lengthy or

    disruptive. The rest stated that they¡¯d abdicate after the war.

    None chose to use Multiple Manifestations.

    None of the leaders refused divinity, and only one of the senior magic users did so. But as Mark worked

    his way down the ranks of his Candidates, a few more refused it, and the lower they were in rank in

    society, the greater the likelihood that they would refuse. In all, twenty-six refused. He disallowed none

    after examining them.

    After the first hour only seventeen Candidates had Ascended, and thirty-one more after the second

    hour. But by then almost everyone there began to get a bit bored with the proceedings. The Candidates

    formed a queue at the edge of the stage and Mark began to take much less time with them. Near the

    end, one was ascending every few seconds then clearing the way for the next, and they were all done

    before he¡¯d been at it for three and a half hours.

    Thest Candidate in the line was one Dieb Selzeamtik. As Karz had pointed out when they¡¯d originally

    checked Mark¡¯s first list of Candidates and their shallow Readings, she was a four-year-old dwarf from

    Original content from N?velDrama.Org.

    a n of ordinary shepherds, with no apparent unusual abilities, no unusual training or influences, and

    no wizardry in her family for their entire recorded history.

    Mark smiled at her as she stepped up and said in Kleti; ¡°Dieb, there¡¯s never been a god who was a

    child, and I don¡¯t intend to change that now. You¡¯re not the only child who¡¯s a Candidate, though you

    are the youngest one, but none of you will be gods today. If you did you¡¯d be a god, but I don¡¯t

    think you¡¯d keep growing. God or no, in many ways you¡¯d be stuck as a four-year-old child for the rest

    of eternity, and I don¡¯t think that would be right. You only have to wait a few years before you¡¯re grown,

    andpared to the many eons that you¡¯ll be a god, that¡¯s not very long to wait.¡±

    ¡°Or maybe I¡¯ll be killed by the demons next year, and lose my chance at it.¡± Dieb quietly stated with a

    peculiar intensity, and shook her head. ¡°No. You will Read me, all the way, and keep it private. Then

    you¡¯ll make me the Kleti Goddess of Serenity. Anyone can see that we need one.

    ¡°Besides, if you think about it, you¡¯ll see that you can be a child anytime you want, even though you¡¯re

    grown, because you¡¯re a god. When I¡¯m a goddess I¡¯ll be able to be grown-up in every way, any time I

    want, just by wanting to. And you know it.¡±

    Mark raised an eyebrow and Read her, then raised both eyebrows in amazement and Read her again

    as thoroughly as he possibly could with his new divine abilities. Then he took her hands and attended

    to her Ascension without another word.

    When it was done she smiled at him, then calmly walked back to her seat. Like Mark, she spoke not

    another word, and he watched her go with a bemused smile until she reached her chair.

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s it for today, I guess.¡± he told the gathering. ¡°We¡¯ll see you soon.¡±

    ¡°Wait.¡± Pakdag said as he appeared on the stage beside Mark. ¡°Before you go, know this;¡± The human

    war god turned to the assembly and announced; ¡°The Tournament of Governors will be held one week

    from today, and it will be held here; in The Hall of The Just Alliance. We will call for the registration of

    teams in three days. We wish all of the participants the best of fortune.

    ¡°Immediately after the oue of the tournament has been announced, The Assembly of The Just

    Alliance will convene here to consider the results, and to decide whether the winners of the tournament

    will be given the power to rule Keran until the war is over.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Pakdag.¡± Mark told him. He bowed to the assembly, then took his immediate family home

    to the Royal Beach on Hilia.

    ¡°That is as weird as it gets.¡± Val stated with a shiver. ¡°No Translocation, no Gate, no detectable spell

    cast or energy expended at all. We were there, then suddenly we¡¯re here, and that¡¯s it.

    ¡°I feel like you must have felt when you encountered magic for the very first time, Father.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s pretty strange all right.¡± Mark chuckled as he sat on the sand against a log and rxed.

    ¡°Everything feels so vibrant and new. Every sensation is so bright and sharp.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s amazing.¡± Talia grinned as she spun pirouettes in the air. ¡°I wonder if we¡¯ll still get hungry, or want

    to sleep, or use the privacy?¡±

    ¡°We will if we want to, and we won¡¯t if we don¡¯t.¡± Aliliaughed as shey down on her side on the

    warm sand, pillowed her head on Mark¡¯s leg, and closed her eyes. ¡°It¡¯s good that I swore to justice on

    The Truthstone, or I¡¯d be viting all of your privacies right now. The awareness of everyone and

    everything is so exquisite, and without the vow I might have Read everyone in the world by now, just

    because I wondered what they were thinking.¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡± Mark went as he looked around at his huge family around him. ¡°I realize now that the only

    reason it felt ufortable to multiple manifest before was because of the safety features the

    Governors put into their spell to ensure that our copies would always want to get back together. For

    mortals, it might be a sensible precaution. Without it, once two copies have been separated for a while

    their survival instincts might make each of them want to survive on their own.

    ¡°But there¡¯s no risk of it now for us, that¡¯s for sure, and our loves need some hugs.¡±

    Suddenly there were dozens of him hugging all his still-mortal wives, husbands and children.

    ¡°I know it¡¯s not fair that you aren¡¯t Candidates.¡± he murmured to each of the Volunteers and The Forty-

    Four. ¡°But there¡¯s a good chance that you will be in the future, and we¡¯ll do our best to help you reach it

    sooner, if that¡¯s what you want.

    ¡°I know you fear that this new difference between us will harm our love and our rtionship somehow,

    and I swear that it won¡¯t.

    ¡°We have changed a lot, and it¡¯s sudden, but it¡¯s actually less change than I went through in the first

    week after I met and married Talia, when I discovered my magic and learned to use it and became

    Prince and Key. We¡¯re different, but we¡¯re still the same in all the ways that matter, and we still love you

    just as much.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re Candidates, aren¡¯t they?¡± Meec asked, indicating The Governors with a head movement.

 Chapter 193

    Chapter 193

    Part 26

    ¡°Yes they are, but they¡¯ve chosen to wait for divinity until they grow up.¡± Mark told her, and made sure

    the rest heard it. ¡°They recognize the value of the mortal state of being. Believe me, as wonderful as

    this is, I still wish I hadn¡¯t had to do it yet. I sure didn¡¯t feel finished with enjoying life as a mortal yet,

    and now I can¡¯t go back. I can decide to have a mortal body and ignore all my new characteristics, but

    there¡¯s no fooling yourself about not being the same.¡±

    ¡°We think they¡¯re so much better than us because they shared your mindspletely for seven years.¡±

    Kimran stated. ¡°If we hadn¡¯t been so stupid and we¡¯d shared with youpletely when we first

    developed psionics, we¡¯d have shared your minds for seven years by now too, and we¡¯d be just as

    good as they are.

    ¡°They said we should wait until we¡¯re better before we shared ourselves with youpletely, but none

    of us want to wait. We know we haven¡¯t been very nice, but you already know that, and I don¡¯t think

    we¡¯re really any worse inside than we showed you we were with our behavior.¡±

    ¡°All of us want to share ourselves with all of our parents.¡± Meec told him. ¡°And we want to do it from

    now on, as much as we can.

    ¡°And I want to say this again, all of us do, to all of you; I¡¯m really sorry I¡¯ve been so stupid and bad.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s okay, we forgive you.¡± Mark smiled. ¡°We won¡¯t share with youpletely; there were a few

    things we never shared with them either, and it¡¯s not safe to share the new aspects of us that we just

    got. But we¡¯ll share as much with you as we shared with them, and that¡¯s almost all of it.

    Then he, Talia, and Alilia built a deep Link between themselves and the Volunteers and their children,

    establishing it slowly so it wasfortable for everyone.

    There were many tears shed over the next few minutes due to the profound sharing of selves and love

    and pain and regret.

    The Mark that was still sitting with the Governors waved them over and into his arms. ¡°You lied to

    them.¡± he chuckled, a bit sadly. ¡°You didn¡¯t want them to share with us right away because you didn¡¯t

    want us to realize how badly we messed up when we were raising them. Thanks for trying to protect us

    from that, but we deserve to know.¡±

    ¡°You were just way too nice for your own good, and theirs.¡± Fire shrugged, cuddled into the crook of his

    left arm. ¡°Sometimes the ends really do justify the means. Sometimes a kid deserves a spanking, and

    sometimes you have to vite your dependent children¡¯s privacy in order to know what you have to do

    to help them.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re a god now.¡± Val smiled as she brushed away a tear that was trickling down his cheek. ¡°You

    don¡¯t have to cry if you don¡¯t want to.¡±

    ¡°True.¡± he smiled. ¡°But I still want to be the kind of person that cries when I feel emotions that would

    trigger it. If we suppress our emotions, or our natural expression of them, pretty soon we won¡¯t even

    think like people anymore.¡±

    ¡°I think crying is still a healthy expression of emotion for us.¡± Talia quietly stated. ¡°But I can see myself

    suppressing some of the horror of battle. At least in the heat of the moment, if not afterward.¡±

    ¡°How much ability do you think you¡¯ve gained in terms of yourbat effectiveness score?¡± Six asked,

    a bit ufortable with the conversation and ready to change the subject.

    ¡°A lot.¡± Mark told him with a smile and a cuddle. ¡°I can still do everything I did before with magic, and a

    lot more. Plus everything I can do with god power, plus the ability to do a lot more at once due to better

    awareness and multitasking ability. At a guess, I¡¯d say my score should be at least triple what it was.

    I¡¯m kind of looking forward to the next exercise just to test it.

    ¡°Sitting here now, it seems like I could do absolutely anything, just by wanting it to happen.¡± Povon

    mused. ¡°But obviously there are limits to both our power and our mental abilities to use it. And since we

    have no idea how it works, we really have no idea yet what our limits are. We could be equal to the

    other gods, or far less, or far more.

    ¡°As you say, it will be good to test it.¡±

    ¡°I have one test for it right now.¡± Mark stated with a sudden frown. ¡°Join me in this; I want to make sure

    it works right the first time.¡±

    He shared a thought with the other new gods present as he manifested another of himself to stand

    alone on the beach. Talia, Alilia, Povon, Kragorram, Equemev and Sran joined their will with his. He

    considered asking Yazadril, Nemia, Hilsith, Dalia and Bezedil to assist as well, and realized that they

    were busy with their own affairs in First Valley. Somonik and Grakonexikaldoron were upied in

    Xervia. He decided that if those present couldn¡¯t do what he wanted, adding more was unlikely to make

    a difference.

    He mentally asked Falgaroth and Visinniria what had been done by the pantheon to apprehend and

    hold The Sylvan God of Stealth, and they told him. They considered the information carefully.

    Then he and those assisting him searched for Quewanak, found him, and forced him to appear before

    them.

    The small green dragon god was unperturbed by this. ¡°Congrattions on your Ascensions. I hope that

    we can put aside our differences and resume the great friendship we shared before.¡±

    ¡°Oh, we can put aside our differences, all right.¡± Mark sternly told him. ¡°But first we deal with your

    crime.

    ¡°As you predicted, I have absolutely no regrets about having these forty-four children, and neither do

    their mothers, but that is absolutely irrelevant. I enjoy making love with my wives more than anything

    else in life, but if you held a knife to my throat and forced me to do it at your whim, it would still be a

    crime against me.

    ¡°You know damn well that what you did to us was wrong, even if you did it to achieve a just goal. Your

    most reprehensible crime was against Yzell, by making her think that she was the one that did the

    crime, even if for a short time.

    ¡°Now you said that if I still wanted you to be punished at this time that you would endure it. I do still

    want you to be punished, and I will do so now. We¡¯ll make sure you endure it, just in case you change

    your mind.¡±

    The seven new gods forced their will on Quewanak, and forced him to maintain a physical

    manifestation, which obviously rmed him greatly. Then Mark grew six meters in a second and

    punched him in the face with a right hook, breaking both of the dragon¡¯s jaws on the left side. Then

    they prevented him from Healing it or changing his manifestation for thirty seconds, which seemed like

    an eternity of pain to his divine senses. Despite his best efforts to be stoic, he whined and cringed a bit.

    ¡°We¡¯ll put this past us, and you¡¯ll never vite anyone¡¯s rights like that ever again, no matter how much

    benefit maye of it.¡± Mark growled. ¡°There¡¯s always a just way to get what you want, if you look for it

    hard enough. Our friendship will resume if you want it to. But not today.

    ¡°Begone.¡± he finished as they released their prisoner, who promptly vanished.

    ¡°Well, it seems that there are ways for gods to contest with one another without breaking reality.¡± Mark

    stated with satisfaction. ¡°Thanks for your help with that by the way; I couldn¡¯t have held him by myself.¡±

    ¡°We couldn¡¯t have held him at all if we¡¯d Ascended before the time-bubble.¡± Talia smiled as she ruffled

    Fire¡¯s hair a bit. ¡°New gods or not, it would have been impossible without the psionic warfare

    techniques we developed with you on Hiliani. Quewanak may be fairly new to divinity, but he¡¯s still a

    league above the Sylvan God of Stealth.¡±

    ¡°Thank you Mother!¡± the Governors chorused together, then giggled like the children they sometimes

    were.Original content from N?velDrama.Org.

 Chapter 194

    Chapter 194

    PART 27

    In the following days, life returned to some semnce of normal.

    The Forty-Four spent much of their time training, most of the rest with their parents in the Volunteers,

    and less with Mark and Talia and Alilia. This had little to do with thetter¡¯s new divinity and much to do

    with the children¡¯s need to make things up to their mortal parents, especially their co-fathers. Who they

    were physically with at any given time made no difference to their activities anyway, since they spent

    much of the time Linked with each other and with all of their parents. There love grew ever deeper and

    more profound because of this. Their parents took over their training and conducted most of it by direct

    psionic learning along with simultaneous physical drills.

    The progress of the Forty-Four elerated even more than it had under the Governors¡¯ tutge. It was

    not fast enough for them to catch up with the development of the Governors, since those four were still

    working hard and advancing quickly, but they were no longer falling behind.

    The New Gods didn¡¯t urinate or defecate, and they only slept if one or more of their children wanted to

    sleep with them, but beyond that their behavior was not that much different.

    Making love was just as enjoyable, and often far more so. This was also true of eating, ying, and all

    the other pleasures of life.

    Mark, Talia, and Alilia found that the sexual aspect of the curse were still with them, though they could

    eliminate it if they wanted to. They realized that they didn¡¯t want to.

    Sometimes they just yed with their new powers. They found that if they wanted to, they could be

    anything they wanted to be at the moment, whether it was dragons or gargoyles or any other life form.

    Unlike when using Simcrums or even Shapeshifting, they could now find out what it was like to truly

    be a member of any other race, to feel like them and think like them in their ownnguage, and they

    tried many of them. Being Kag was especially entertaining due to their attitude that everything in life

    was an act of artistry, including their many acts of violence and warfare.

    On the third day after the great Ascension the call came for teams to register for the Tournament of

    Governors at The Hall of The Just Alliance, and be vetted by the old gods who were the tournament¡¯s

    organizers. Mark and his family duly attended and registered as two teams; one under his leadership,

    and one co-led by the Governors.

    The Governors¡¯mand team included everyone they were most used to working with on Hiliani. All

    of the prominent citizens of Homestead, the elders and most talented youth of the Hiliani Sylvan, Ria,

    and Quewanak were all listed on their team.

    Over a hundred teams registered, and only a handful were judged by the gods to be unqualified to

    participate. At the end of the day the list ofpetitors was released to the public.

    N?velDrama.Org content rights.

    ¡°Here¡¯s a surprise.¡± Sixmented as they went over the list at supper that night. ¡°Father, your team is

    listed as you and ¡®others¡¯. Why are your team members not listed?¡±

    ¡°Not my doing.¡± Mark shrugged with a grin. ¡°I told the organizers who was on my team, I didn¡¯t ask

    them to keep it secret, and they chose to list it that way.¡±

    ¡°Oh. So who¡¯s on your team?¡±

    ¡°Oh, us of the Six, Alilia, you four, and others.¡±

    ¡°What others?¡± Fire pressed.

    ¡°I¡¯d rather not say.¡± he told her with a smile and a wink.

    ¡°Oh I see!¡± sheughed as she reached over and gave him a p on his shoulder. ¡°Well just go ahead

    and be that way! We¡¯ll still beat you anyway!¡±

    ¡°Probably.¡± he agreed, and she wasn¡¯t sure if he was being serious or not.

    The Governors assumed that when they were off doing their own preparations for the tournament,

    Mark and his team also prepared. But the fact was that he spent no time or effort at all on preparing for

    the tournament specifically. He judged that leading his nations andmanding them in battle-training

    was preparation enough.

    The four youths found that they no longer needed Quewanak¡¯s assistance toplete the training they

    wanted to do, so they attended to it themselves. They spent five long days investigating the military

    capabilities of Keran and The Triax, including the specifics of every fighting unit and their equipment,

    the records and abilities of thousands of key personnel, the state of readiness of every civilian

    poption and their infrastructures, and all the sources of necessary supplies and their chains of

    distribution.

    On the sixth day they gathered supplies in their bedroom on Hilia, then spent twelve subjective weeks

    there in Reverse-Stasis fields. They familiarized themselves with as much of the information at their

    disposal as was practical. They gamed through hundreds of scenarios, and did their best to anticipate

    everything that the demons might do, and to develop contingency ns for every possible eventuality.

    They didn¡¯t prepare for the tournament on the day before it was due to be held. They felt as prepared

    as they could be, and they wanted to be mentally fresh and rested for the tournament.

    They yed instead, and convinced the rest of their family to join them, which was as easy as asking.

    It no longer seemed strange to spend a day traveling the world and enjoying meals and activities on a

    Hilian schedule, regardless of what time of day or night it was wherever they happened to be at the

    time.

    In the morning they flew with the elves in the forests around Heartwood, then had lunch at Homestead

    on Hiliani. In the afternoon they went swimming with the Selkies of Loch Crotia in Xervia, then went

    flying again, this time with the dragons and Sylvan of Serminak through the volcanic mountains in the

    south-east of that continent.

    In the early evening they feasted and partied and fought in the challenge circles with the Sylvan of

    Hiliani, on the beach at the first trainingmunity the Governors had built there.

    They ended their night with dancing, snacks and drinks at Norka¡¯s Pce of Refreshment in Latrel,

    Sming, which was still Mark and Talia¡¯s favorite public house. Like all of the more famous such

    establishments, it was now open every hour of the day or night to amodate international travelers.

    They were joined there by Nek and Reen and the other Smingans they knew from Hiliani.

    In the early morning they had a leisurely breakfast as they all did a quick review. The Forty-Four and

    The Volunteers wished their family¡¯spetitors well before they left, then they were at The Hall of The

    Just Alliance at the appointed time, which was before the sun rose in Hilia.

    The only people present were the team leaders and their seniormanders, the organizers,

    professional Revealers and news-mongers, and a few service personnel.

    The teams were as varied as the poption of Keran, and every race was represented. A few teams

    contained members of only one race, but most were mixed-race teams. As was expected, many teams

    were led by rulers or other senior politicians, but others were led by groups of senior military

    least one member from each of those professions.

    There was only one team that had only one member, and that was Zarkog. He¡¯d done himself up for

    the asion, resuming the appearance he¡¯d worn when he was Dragon-Lord of Serminak. Each of his

    and his ws, eyes, eyebrow ridges, teeth, and the outlines of the bones in his wings were all gold. He

    was huddled with Amirgath at the edge of the room, and everyone else was giving him a wide berth.

    Yazadril approached with a wide grin on his face and a parchment copy of the team lists in his hand. ¡°I

    hold a record of some distinction, I think. While I haven¡¯t chosen to lead or co-lead a team, I have been

    invited to participate as a member of sixty-one different teams! No one else has been asked to be on

    as many teams, or even half as many!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re actually on sixty-two teams then.¡± Mark told him with a smile. ¡°Your name isn¡¯t listed as such in

    the program, but you¡¯re on my team too.¡±

    ¡°Even better then!¡± Yazadril chuckled. ¡°I don¡¯t suppose you¡¯ll be telling me who else is on your team?¡±

    ¡°You suppose correctly.¡± Mark responded with a smug little smirk.

 Chapter 195

    Chapter 195

    Part 27

    ¡°Most of us are on multiple teams, if not as many as you are, Father.¡± Talia told him as she gave him a

    kiss on the cheek. ¡°Even the kids here are on nine different teams, including their own and Mark¡¯s, and

    Mark is on twenty-six.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Alilia asked as she detected the Governors casting on themselves.

    ¡°We¡¯re casting a modified version of the brain-charging spell we came up with in the brainstorming

    session.¡± Val exined. ¡°The one we¡¯ve been using just charges us up enough to figure out whatever

    we want to figure out at the time. This one keeps us almost fully charged all the time, then goes to full

    boost when we need it. It¡¯s a little less safe but it¡¯s still pretty good that way, and we won¡¯t take the

    chance that we¡¯ll fail to realize it when we need to be smarter.¡±

    ¡°Ah.¡± Alilia smiled, and was distracted by events before she could respond further.

    Pakdag appeared on the stage, his archaic armor shining, and spoke as if every word was a grand

    This belongs to N?velDrama.Org.

    announcement. ¡°Be wee, contestants and news-carriers, to the greatest and most momentous

    tournament ever held on Keran; The Tournament of Governors!

    ¡°A random drawing has been held to decide the order of the contest. The order number of each team

    has been added to their entry in the official team listing.

    ¡°In fifteen minutes the tournament will begin. The leaders of the first team will step upon the stage

    within a circle of elder gods. They will allow those gods to cast upon them, and they will begin the

    scenario. Every team will face exactly the same scenario, and no team leaders will be permitted to

    disclose what urred during their y until all the teams have yed and the results have been

    announced. Since some people are serving as supporting team members on more than one team, no

    supporting team members will remember their experiences as such until after the tournament is

    concluded, to prevent their y on one team from affecting their y on another.

    ¡°As we have done with the recent training exercises, each team¡¯s y will be conducted in a simted

    psionic reality, and will only require a few seconds in real time. At the beginning of the scenario the

    team leaders will believe that they have already won this tournament, and that they nowmand

    Keran. They will notmand The Triax, and will need to co-operate with them as we do now.

    ¡°Everything within the orbit of our star¡¯s outermost will be simted in the scenario, as close to

    reality as we are capable of making it. Each team will face exactly the same foes. The behavior of all

    the people of Keran who are not team members will be simted based on a Reading of them that

    will be taken just before the tournament begins, and that same Reading will be used for every team¡¯s

    y. The behavior of The Triax and most of the behavior of the demons will be simted by gods of

    The Triax.

    ¡°I swear by my vow on The Truthstone of Falgaroth that we will conduct the tournament with the

    highest possible fidelity and with absolute impartiality. Almost every god we have will be participating in

    conducting the tournament or actively monitoring it, including most of the new gods. Our work with

    them has shown that the contestants who are new gods will be subject to the scenarios in every way

    exactly the same as mortals are, so long as they are sincerely permitting it. They will believe, as every

    contestant will, that it is not a tournament, and not an exercise. They will be convinced that what they

    are experiencing in the scenario is reality. In this way will their true character and abilities be revealed.

    ¡°After every team has yed there will be a ten minute break, during which the pantheons of The

    Keran-Triax Alliance will review the results and decide upon the twelve teams who led us most

    effectively. We will then present and announce the twelve best teams in reverse order, with a short

    Revealing of the highlights of each of their performances.

    ¡°We will not announce or even decide upon the cing of the teams that do not ce in the top twelve.

    We know that every team will do their best for Keran, and none of them deserve to be rankedst. It

    will be enough for them to know that they were not in the top twelve.

    ¡°After the tournament is over they will all be free to discuss their performances, and will be provided

    with a detailed Revealing of their y in the tournament. Since such a Revealing may well require

    several years to review in its entirety in real time, they will be provided with a sub-spell that allows the

    content to be easily advanced to any reference point the viewer might request.

    ¡°Please be ready to take your ces in the circle promptly when called.

    ¡°Good fortune to you all.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re going forty-sixth.¡± Val noted as she checked her list.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be fifty-seventh.¡± Mark stated as he did the same.

    Soon the leaders of the first team to y were called to the circle; led by the gnome King Wosea of Enj

    and the giant Emperor Baltar of the Empire of Eskangir in Felion. In four and a half seconds their y

    was finished, and they left the stage as the leaders of the next team were called.

    The cing of the team leaders in the center of a circle of gods was purely symbolic. Every member of

    each team was cast upon by the tournament¡¯s organizers as their leaders were cast upon, no matter

    where they were. As it turned out, some supporting team members weren¡¯t even present in the hall, but

    it mattered not.

    They joined the scenarios of the teams they¡¯d been asked to participate in as subordinate members,

    and the psionics of the gods were so sophisticated that none felt mentally fatigued by the end, not even

    Yazadril, who experienced many decades of simted warfare.

    In less than half an hour the call came; ¡°The forty-sixth team to y; the Governors of Hiliani, please

    take your ces in the circle.¡±

    They took their ces on the center of the stage and joined hands, though it was a bit awkward since

    Karz was his full-sized self, and they Linked deeply.

    The elder gods cast upon them.

    ¡°¡­And so, with these scepters of office, we dere you the Governors of Keran, fully empowered to

    respectfully intoned as he handed each of the four a gleaming gold scepter, then bowed to them.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Six said for the four of them as they gave a deep bow to the Assembly.

    ¡°We¡¯ll waste no more time.¡± he stated decisively as they straightened. ¡°We¡¯ll attack the demons as soon

    as possible, and begin nning for it right now. Mobilize our forces and have the civilian poptions

    move to their defensive positions. Inform The Triax, and ask theirmanders to join us here

    immediately.¡±

    In less than an hour they were ready, andunched an all-out assault on the demons¡¯ distant vessel

    with all of their gods, all the gods of The Triax, and all the avable power of the mortals of Keran

    wielded by fifty-two of their finest Strike Wizards, including The Governors and most of their team.

    The demons defended their colossal irregr rocky vessel with hecious energy and refused to yield

    any of it. Whenever the Gate-to-the-sun attack was cast on their stone void ship, they Translocated it

    forward in its path almost immediately by a little more than its length, just enough to escape the attack.

    They also responded by vastly increasing their speed toward Keran. After six hours half the mortals

    were relieved, both the Strike Wizards and those in the Command Link with them who supplied their

    power and defenses, and the fight continued thereafter in two ovepping shifts. Other than that, the

    running battle continued continuously without letup or pause for almost two full years. As it came within

    the orbits of the inners early in the second year, the forces of the mortal Triax and the Kerani

    void-vessels joined the fight.

    Still the demons fought on, and as they approached the orbits of Keran¡¯s moons they began

    Translocating millions of greater and lesser demons to the surface of the world to raise havoc among

    the defenders, while DemonLords began attacking the mother-ships of The Triax. However, none of

    those vessels werepletely lost before the demons were finally exterminated.

    As all of The Keran-Triax Alliance began celebrating the final victory, reality shifted and the four stood

    again within the circle of gods, their y in the tournament at an end.

 Chapter 196

    Chapter 196

    Part 27

    The time it took for each team¡¯s y was noted by some in attendance, and they ranged from three to

    twelve seconds, with one exception; when Mark was called, he stood on the stage for almost sixteen

    minutes.

    Though they were forbidden to discuss their y, it was often apparent from a team leader¡¯s

    expression and bearing whether they thought they had done well or poorly. Many were obviously

    displeased with their result. The duration of their y seemed to bear no rtion to their opinion of

    their performance. Mark seemed satisfied but no more than that, despite the extraordinary duration of

    his turn.

    The most interesting turn for those observing was that of Zarkog, who yed seventy-first. About

    halfway through the nine-second duration of his turn, every god in attendance, whether old or new,

    suddenly became aware that he had joined them in divinity.

    He and the organizers refused to discuss it, and he seemed to show no emotional reaction at all after

    his turn.

    In just less than an hour the tournament wasplete, and thousands began arriving in the hall to

    spectate the announcement of the winners.

    ¡°You think you did well?¡± Fire asked her father as servers began circting among the contestants with

    trays of snacks and beverages.

    ¡°I think so. And you?¡± he responded with a smile and an affectionate squeeze of her shoulder.

    ¡°We did okay. The demons¡­ Sorry. Can¡¯t talk about it yet.¡± she finished in irritation, and flew off in

    search of a server with snacks that she liked.

    Karz assumed his elven Simcrum and took off after her.

    Six and Val stood holding hands, thinking over their turn, as Mark stood with his wives in his arms and

    waited patiently.

    Finally Pakdag took to the stage again, and a huge Revealing of him was cast above him. He had

    everyone¡¯s attention almost immediately.

    ¡°This has been a great and momentous asion, as you will soon see. In many ways, the y of each

    team in The Tournament of Governors was very simr to the full-participation military exercises that

    have been held recently. The crucial difference being that everyone in the tournament scenarios were

    convinced that it was reality.

    ¡°The behavior of many people in a given situation in an exercise was essentially the same as their

    behavior in a simr situation that they thought was real. But many other people behaved quite

    differently. Some had less true courage than they¡¯d shown in exercises. Almost everyone was less

    willing to sacrifice for victory, and less willing to sacrifice the safety of their families and friends in

    particr, when they thought the danger was real.

    ¡°But in some cases, those who were faced with all the horror and intensity of true warfare transcended

    themselves. They exhibited new levels of valor and honor andpassion and ability, even beyond the

    best they had shown in the exercises. This is true of the members of the twelve teams who were most

    sessful today.¡±

    He paused for a moment to indulge in a slight smile of deep satisfaction, then continued. ¡°The

    challenge posed in this tournament was a worthy one, and not easy. Every team who took part was

    limiting our losses to eptable levels. Two out of every three teams sufferedplete defeat, which

    in this case entails the loss of every Kerani and Triax life without exception. The remainder, some

    eight teams, defeated the demons but lost the majority of our poptions and property, including the

    destruction of most of the surface and seas of Keran.

    ¡°Though we will assign no numerical ranking to the result of any but the best twelve, the records of

    each team¡¯s performance will be publicly avable. By makingparisons between the various

    records, which will be studied in detail in theing days, we will be able to identify specific practices

    as being more or less effective, and our overall ability will be greatly increased thereby.

    ¡°Now, to the results.

    ¡°Thus far the tournament has been spectacr to those who have participated as organizers and

    contestants, while being quite uninteresting to those who have been spectating. Now all will see some

    of what has urred.

    The giant Revealing above him split into two, with the top half showing a diagram of the void around

    their sun out to as far as the demons¡¯ rock, with Keran and the demons¡¯ rock highlighted, and the

    bottom half showing various views of what he was describing.

    ¡°In twelfth ce, the team led by Overlord Senchasi of Kletiuk andposed of twenty-six of the elite

    of his race, including his father Senchak of the new gods who consulted withoutmanding, and

    fourteen members from other races.¡±

    Pakdag waited a few moments while every dwarf in attendance cheered and congratted each other

    with fierce back-pping hugs amidst enthusiastic apuse from everyone else, and Senchasi made

    his way to the stage with a huge grin on his bearded face, waving his ornate battle-axe in the air and

    pumping his fist in triumph. Above him the Revealing showed Senchasi making speeches to vast

    gatherings, then other vast gatherings celebrating victory over the demons.

    ¡°Let it be known;¡± Pakdag stated to Senchasi as the dwarf joined him on the stage. ¡°Though your team

    ced twelfth, yours was still a valiant and victorious effort, and we know that even if every other

    leader on Keran were to perish, you and your team would still provide us with admirable and effective

    leadership. The fact that your magnificent y only gave you the twelfth ce is a tribute to the depth

    of our leadership resources on Keran.

    Pakdag turned back to the audience as he continued speaking. ¡°The y of Senchasi¡¯s team was an

    interesting experiment in what Keran would be like if dwarves ran the world. Their race¡¯s inherent

    exuberance was infective throughout the popce under their leadership, and contributed to a high

    state of morale in trying times.

    ¡°Their team¡¯s military aggression was rated as moderate.¡±

    Above him the diagram of the void showed the travel of the demons toward Keran as thes

    revolved around the sun, then the locations of battles, while personal views of those battles were

    shown below it.

    ¡°They waited almost two years, until the demons were well within the inners, before they

    attacked. They made good use of the time. Most significantly, by the time they attacked the demons,

    most of those who have received The Transformation of Hilsith hadpleted Valentia¡¯s Magic

    Education, and were qualified Journeyman ss wizards at least. This provided them some advantage

    in theter stages of the war when demons were attacking Keran, over those teams who were more

    aggressive.¡±

    Pakdag spent ten minutes in total in presenting and discussing Senchasi¡¯s team¡¯s performance, and

    allowing Senchasi a few moments to acknowledge and thank his team members for their contribution to

    their achievement. He spent the same amount of time with each of the other top-twelve teams, so the

    entire presentation of the results of the tournamentsted a few minutes more than two hours.

    ¡°In eleventh ce; the team led by King Wosea of the gnome kingdom of Enj and Emperor Baltar of the

    giant Empire of Eskangir!¡± Pakdag announced, and when those worthies had made their way to the

    stage, he said; ¡°King Wosea, though your team was officially led by yourself and Emperor Baltar, I think

    you would both agree that at every important moment of your contest, you were the true leader of your

    team. And, though there were other teams led by both gnomes and giants, as well as a team led by

    This belongs to N?velDrama.Org.

    gnomes exclusively, we who have judged this tournament agree that you disyed the best of gnomen

    leadership, and showed the rest of us what is great about your race. The gnomes have always been

    secretive and opaque to the other races, but you showed the world their true nature, and even some of

    us of the old gods learned much of value of the fundamentals of gnomen character and behavior from

    your performance.

    ¡°Because of your small size and meager physical strength as individuals, yours is a race that only

    seeds throughplete co-operation, and through a fierce solidarity. You inspired all of Keran

    with those qualities, and it stood us in good stead under your leadership.

    ¡°Your team was judged to be the second-least aggressive in the tournament...¡±

 Chapter 197

    Chapter 197

    Part 27

    Pakdag went on to discuss and disy their showing in more detail, then announced the next cing.

    ¡°In tenth ce; the team led by Empress Emeroth of Verzaclon!¡± Pakdag dered.

    Hisments to her were; ¡°As was the case with thest team, your performancergely defined the

    best of your race to the rest of us. Though your team was notposed of giants exclusively, and

    yours was not the only team with giants among their leaders, we consider your performance to

    exemplify the epitome of Shiganzhu leadership. You also prove the worth of meritocracy, and of

    deciding leadership by tournament, which you have faced on numerous asions. As you said at the

    first Assembly of The Just Alliance, there are others who have ced higher, but you have proved that

    you could lead us to victory, and do it well.¡±

    Much to the surprise of almost everyone there, the ninth ce was taken by a team led by Most

    Respected Grandfather, of the Southernmost.

    ¡°Yours is a race that is still almostpletely unknown to the rest of Keran,¡± Pakdag told the great,

    sleek, many-tentacled mollusk. ¡°It is therefore somewhat surprising that they would follow you as

    fervently as they did during your test. But yours was by far the most transparent leadership in the

    tournament; you became known for making calm, well-reasoned decisions, and for exining to

    everyone at every opportunity exactly what was going on in the war, in every way. You exined every

    decision to the public, and they all felt that they understood what was going on with the war, and what

    was being asked of them, and why, at every stage of the conflict. This led to good morale and

    exceptional confidence in your leadership.¡±

    Just as surprisingly, eighth ce was won by First Expeditionary Zoobweeb, (roughly tranted), of the

    Kag. The venerable fish and his people¡¯s somewhat spiritual concept of warfare as an art form had

    been very popr under his leadership, and many of the ancient martial arts of the other races from

    the age of religion were revived during his leadership. With him as theirmander, Keran had

    waged a horrific war with the demons whilergely maintaining a strangely detached serenity.

    Seventh ce went to Zarkog. There was little cheering as he appeared on the stage to ept his

    presentation, and he seemed uncharacteristically subdued.

    ¡°Zarkog, you began this tournament as a mortal, and finished it as one of us; a god, and of the new

    style. There is no doubt that you were the single most capable mortal on Keran, and now that you

    are a god, you are among the most capable beings of any kind. But you did not win, because as

    capable as you are, there were teams with more members who were collectively more capable than

    you.

    ¡°The fact that you did so well while making everymand decision yourself is amazing, but it is many

    times more amazing when it is considered that your leadership produced the worst morale among both

    our civilians and our military of any team in the tournament. No one doubted your brilliance or the

    quality of your military and administrative decisions, but no one liked you except some of the Sylvan

    and dragons who served under you when you were Lord of Serminak. And even among them, as

    N?velDrama.Org holds this content.

    among everyone else, the most popr pastime during your tenure wasining about you in

    humorous terms.

    ¡°You were one of the teams that were most aggressive, attacking immediately as soon as you had the

    authority tomand it. You were one of only two teams who were sessful with that strategy,

    though you initially over-extended in hopes of a quick victory, and had to revert to a purely defensive

    strategy for a time until your forces had recovered somewhat.¡±

    When Pakdag had finished hismentary of Zarkog¡¯s performance he indicated that the gigantic

    dragon should speak, though Zarkog had no team members to acknowledge.

    Though he now had the speed of thought of a god, he still seemed to take a moment to choose his

    words carefully. Curiously, he had changed his voice to a simple and pleasant baritone. ¡°I thought that I

    couldmand everything myself, but I found that it was beyond even me. No single mortal has the

    mental capacity to grasp every aspect of a war involving many billions of fighters with sufficient detail in

    real time. After two years of warfare I was forced to face that fact; that I was failing, and that in order to

    seed without giving up solemand, I would need to increase my capabilities considerably. I used

    my authority to procure the Readings of those who achieved divinity on the day Prince Mark ascended,

    and the Reading of Povon gave me what I needed. I became a god, and I quickly discovered many

    things.

    ¡°In order to be cruel it is necessary to avoid empathy, and to avoid any real awareness of what those

    who are suffering are experiencing. I was cruel for most of my life, and even swearing to justice on

    Falgaroth¡¯s stone did not erase the core of cruelty in me.

    ¡°But when I became a god, while stillmanding our world in warfare with the demons, I could no

    longer ignore the suffering of others that the demons were causing us. I was simply far too aware of it,

    as I had be so intimately aware of everything, it seemed. To be a god and to consider even

    cursorily any mortals who are suffering, is to be intimately aware of what it feels like to them. Even if

    one cares nothing about them, a god cannot ignore how horribly they are feeling, and I couldn¡¯t avoid

    knowing how desperately I wished to avoid feeling such suffering myself. And then, for the first time, it

    became truly important to me to try to avoid having anyone suffer so, particrly those who were my

    responsibility.

    ¡°I realized that I was failing in many ways, and I publicly apologized for my arrogance, and began

    asking many others to contribute tomand decisions.

    ¡°I now know that their help was based only on the Readings taken of them before the tournament, and

    not on their active participation as the members of the other teams participated, and that their advice

    was therefore most likely a bit less astute for it. But while I was in the scenario that was not apparent.

    There is no doubt in my mind that I would have failed to defeat the demons without their contributions,

    which were crucial.

    ¡°I am very different now. I¡¯m just as d that I didn¡¯t win the tournament, as I now have no desire to

    rule. No parent should enve their children, and no god should rule over mortals. We should always

    offer leadership, and never takemand. We must lead by example, and mortals must always have

    the freedom to refuse our advice. That should be obvious to everyone, or so it now seems to me.

    ¡°My congrattions to my fellow finalists. I offer my wholehearted effort to our alliance, and my sincere

    loyalty to whoever is chosen to lead us against the demons.¡±

    With that he vanished. The audience, surprised by the change in him, gave him a warm round of

    apuse.

    ¡°In sixth ce; the team of Emperor Osbald of Thon!¡± Pakdag announced.

    "Osbald¡¯s team was the secondrgest, and the second most diverse. None-the-less, his leadership

    was characterized by the human traits of adaptability and a quickness of action and decision-making

    that seems almost sudden to many other races. His steady and determined leadership produced good

    morale, and his administration was fanatically supported by the human poption, who are the single

    most numerous race on Keran."

    Then came an announcement that seemed to excite the crowd a bit more than the others had; ¡°In fifth

    ce, the team of The Governors of Hiliani!¡±

    ¡°Oh well. Fifth isn¡¯t too bad, I guess.¡± Fire smiled as they epted quick congrattory hugs from their

    parents.

    ¡°You¡¯re still young children, and among the most qualified to lead the world!¡± Kragorramughed as he

    hugged his son. ¡°Fifth is a lot better than not too bad!¡±

    ¡°Yah, we did beat a lot of really good teams.¡± Six mused with a smile.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go get our glory.¡± Val said with satisfaction, and Translocated them to the stage.

    ¡°I must say,¡± Pakdag grinned, ¡°Though you proposed this tournament, and you have disyed

    incredible abilities in the recent training exercises, most of us still didn¡¯t expect such an impressive

    performance from such young people as yourselves.

 Chapter 198

    Chapter 198

    Part 27

    ¡°Your leadership was unshakably positive and optimistic, you endeared yourselves to the people of

    every race to a surprising degree, and you inspired them. Unsurprisingly, the youth of Keran were

    your strongest supporters.

    ¡°Yourmand was characterized by very quick and inventive thinking, wise delegation of duties, and

    one of the most aggressive military strategies of any team.

    ¡°You attacked almost immediately with gods and Strike Wizards. You correctly evaluated the enemy¡¯s

    strength within a few hours, and knew that a quick and sudden victory was not in the offering. By

    carefully and gradually deploying, you fought a tenacious and continuous battle with the demons

    almost all the way to Keran. Doing so denied your people as much time to develop their capabilities

    as they had under some of the more patient teams, but that was bnced because you fought an

    effective war of attrition, and by the time the demons were close enough to attack Keran, there were

    fewer of them than in any other team¡¯s scenario. Another fact is worth noting; until the demons reached

    the inner worlds and you attacked them with the warships of Keran and the Triax, not one single life

    was lost among our alliance.¡±

    He went on to outline their war in greater detail as the Revealing above disyed it, then concluded

    their presentation.

    ¡°Know that the cing of the final teams wasrgely decided by how many of our people were killed,

    how much of Keran¡¯s surface and oceans were destroyed, and how much destruction of The Triax¡¯s

    major vessels urred.

    ¡°All of the top five teams, including yours, had very simr results. All of you lost less than one in two

    thousand persons in achieving victory. The differences in the second through fifth ced teams¡¯ results

    were so slight that they might justifiably be attributed to random chance.

    ¡°You came very, very close to achieving outright victory in this tournament. The teams who ced

    ahead of you include many members of long-lived races with many millennia of experience, and you

    have almost matched them.

    ¡°You should take great pride in your achievement, for it is incredible in the estimation of any thinking

    being.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Six said for his team, and they were given an enthusiastic ovation by everyone there as

    they bowed first to Pakdag, and then to the gathering.

    Fourth ce was won by the team led by Prince Jaromer of Thon andposed of the elite of the

    elven race, along with select members from other races. Third ce was taken by a team led by

    Tithian and others of the Senate of The People of Morning, and included the elite of the other Xervian

    races from The Grand Council of Xervia, and a few from other races. Second ce went to the team of

    Somonik and some of The Ny-Nine, with a few members from every other race.

    Despite their diversity, each of those teams was dominated by the character of their leader, and of their

    leader¡¯s race. All three enjoyed strong support and good morale. All three of their races were well-

    known to be devastating in warfare, which helped their poprity. The elves and the unicorns were

    also globally popr and trusted due to their consistent records of just behavior and non-intervention

    with other races. While dragons weren¡¯t nearly as well-liked as those two races, Somonik¡¯s personal

    appeal as a great leader with a record of many millions of years of just behavior, self-sacrifice, and wise

    decision-making overcame his team¡¯s lesser overall poprity.

    The close simrity in those three teams¡¯ results were unsurprising once it was realized that they had

    yed with very simr tactics and strategies. All three had been among the most conservative and

    least aggressive teams, patiently building their capabilities and biding their time until the most

    opportune moments to strike. In point of fact, they had all used the same strategy that The Keran-

    Triax Alliance actually nned to use against the demons in reality. The differences in theirmand

    styles and abilities, and the differences in peoples¡¯ response to them, were not great enough to make a

    significant difference to the oue.

    This text is property of N?/velD/rama.Org.

    ¡°Now, regarding the winning team; I do believe that a bit of suspense is in order.¡± Pakdag finally said

    with an uncharacteristically mischievous little chuckle as the great Revealing began diagramming and

    showing highlights of the best performance.

    ¡°The victory was convincing,prehensive, and decisive. Almost every criteria by which such a

    ¡°As I¡¯ve said;pared to all the rest of the teams, the best five were distinct in having much lower

    totals of friendly casualties and damage. But even among the best five, the winning team stands out by

    having allowed only three-fifths of the casualties suffered under the second ce team, which was led

    by Somonik.

    ¡°The morale and spirit of our militaries and civilian poptions were significantly better under the

    winning team than under any other leadership.

    ¡°The effectiveness of all our fighters and the productivity of our civilians were better under the victorious

    team than under any other.

    ¡°Your tournament champion¡¯s performance allowed the least damage to our infrastructure and homes,

    and more was built during the performance than was destroyed, so we ended with more than we began

    with.

    ¡°Simrly, our champion allowed the least damage to the wilderness and waters of Keran, and more

    natural life was nted and sown by us in previously devastated or desert area than was destroyed by

    the demons over the same time. Some of what the demons did destroy was already fully reimed

    even before they were defeated. By this process of constant remation, our champion was prepared

    to deal with a lengthy demon-war on Keran while reducing the chance that the life of our world would

    be killed off around us by the demons before we finished fighting them. Our victory in the winning

    scenario was swift enough that this precaution was unnecessary, but the point is still worth noting.

    ¡°That was one of the moremon and surprising downfalls among the teams who suffered defeat, by

    the way; they allowed so much of the life of Keran to be killed off and poisoned while they were

    fighting the demons that our world became unsurvivable. More of our mortal poptions then died from

    poisoning or thirst or starvation than were killed by the demons.

    ¡°But during the finest of today¡¯s performances our poption actually grew, for more were born than

    were killed.

    ¡°The tournament-winning strategy was both cautious and aggressive, and involved waiting until the

    demons showed the first signs of readying to attack us. Every possible moment was used to improve

    our forces before we acted, trusting that we were always improving our military capabilities more

    quickly than the demons were, and therefore every moment of dy before attacking them improved

    the probability that we would be victorious. That was the cautious part.

    ¡°When our champion¡¯s observers finally reported the first signs of the demons¡¯ engagement

    preparations, the enemy were only some three million kilometers from Keran. That is only twice as

    far as Elbin, our furthest moon. At that point we were led against the demons in an all-out attack of

    absolute dedication andmitment. All of our gods, all of the gods of The Triax, all of our vessels, all

    of The Triax vessels, all of our mortals, all of our power. All were deployed against the demons in a

    simultaneous attack that was both thergest single deployment executed in the tournament, and one

    of the most well-coordinated. Nothing was held in reserve, absolutely nothing. And that is aggressive

    indeed. The demons were destroyed to thest within a month, three-quarters of them on the first day

    of hostilities, and only a meager portion of them ever made it to Keran.

    ¡°My fine fellow citizens of The Keran-Triax Alliance, I proudly give you the champion of The

    Tournament of Governors,mander of the winning team, Keran¡¯s greatest Leader; Prince Mark of

    Hilia!¡±

    Mark found himself letting out a huge sigh of relief, and chuckled at himself a bit upon realizing that

    he¡¯d been holding his breath from the suspense for many minutes without difort.

    The huge room erupted in cheering and apuse as every one of Mark¡¯s family and friends who were

    present tried to hug him and congratte him at once, and seeded to one extent or another.

    After about nine seconds of that Aliliaughed and loudlymanded the rest; ¡°Enough! Let the man

    im his due before we smother him!¡±

    They let him go, but he held onto Talia and Alilia. ¡°You two areing with me.¡± he dered with a

    grin, and carried them to the center of the stage as the ovation continued all around them.

 Chapter 199

    Chapter 199

    Part 27

    He ced a huge hand under each of his wives¡¯ petite bottoms and held them to each side with

    outstretched arms as he gracefully bowed to the crowd and went to one knee in each of the four

    cardinal directions, and they posed proudly and prettily with perfect bnce as they sat on his hands

    while he did so. Finally he held them close again and gave Pakdag a respectful nod.

    ¡°Congrattions on your victory in The Tournament of Governors.¡± the war god told him with a grin.

    ¡°Would you care to speak about your performance?¡±

    ¡°I would.¡± Mark smiled, and turned to the audience. He waited while Pakdag held his hands up to

    request silence from the crowd, and eventually they quieted to hear his speech.

    ¡°Since my marriage to Alilia, Hilia and The People of Life are formally allied. And since Alilia generally

    behaves like I¡¯m the leader in our marriage, some have said that I now rule The People of Life. But

    legally that¡¯s not the case. I¡¯m not the ruling Prince of The People of Life. And though I think they trust

    me, and trust my vow of justice, I¡¯m sure that they don¡¯t want me to be their Prince. They much prefer

    the present situation.

    ¡°Alilia is still their ruling Princess, they trust her long and excellent record of looking out for their

    interests, and they want her to continue her rule, even if she delegates all of the duties of her office.

    They want her to continue looking out for their interests as her highest priority.

    ¡°They know that there¡¯s almost no chance that our vows of justice on The Truthstone of Falgaroth will

    fail, and they know that there¡¯s almost no chance that The Just Alliance will fall, but they feel secure in

    knowing that even if all that happens and everyone else turns against them, Alilia will still be looking out

    for them, still acting as a buffer between them and the rest of the world, if necessary.

    ¡°I think that¡¯s true of everyone else too. They all like The Just Alliance and The Keran-Triax Alliance,

    but most are d that their nations are not ruled by either of those alliances. They¡¯re d that the final

    word on what happens to them and to their nations still rests with their own well-known and well-trusted

    rulers, who are of their own race and their own nation.

    ¡°Even with our vows of justice, every one of our races and nations have been stabbed in the back too

    many times over our world¡¯s long history to feel fullyfortable with giving any outsider deciding

    control over us.

    ¡°That¡¯s one of three guiding principles behind my strategy in the tournament today.

    ¡°The second was that I wanted to prove the worth of the status quo. In the scenario I was given

    absolutemand of The Just Alliance, but I didn¡¯t exercise it. I continued as I¡¯ve been doing;

    This belongs to N?velDrama.Org.

    delegating almost all of the duties of ruling Hilia and Serminak to those with the appropriate skills for it,

    and offering suggestions to The Assembly of The Just Alliance in my role as Key as I saw fit.

    ¡°There were a few asions where I tookmand of fighters of other nations in a rtively small

    section of the battle for a limited time, but almost all the time I left the presentmand structure and

    political state of Keran exactly as it is. Prince Yazadril of The High People stayed on as Supreme

    Commander of The Militaries of The Just Alliance, and every ruler or ruling council of every nation

    continued to reign as they have. I see no reason to upset the existing order on Keran, and I think my

    performance in the tournament helps prove that point. I¡¯m sure that our high morale and effectiveness

    was partially due to the fact that our nations were still independent and no political upheaval took ce.

    ¡°My third guiding principle was inspired by the rules of the tournament itself. They state that only

    dered team leaders could exercise overallmand, and only supporting team members could

    provide creative advice to the leaders or have independentmand of parts of the military delegated

    to them. Everyone else would just follow orders as best they could.

    ¡°But the gods themselves have made it clear to me in the past that creativity is one of our most crucial

    resources, so I decided to make sure that my team had as much creativity as possible.

    ¡°Furthermore, I was sure that every person would be more effective and have better morale if they

    retained their independence. Even the most dedicated soldier who¡¯spletelymitted to following

    orders wants to have the freedom to disregard orders and act independently if it bes obvious that

    it¡¯s the smartest thing to do at the time. Sometimes the soldier on the scene knows things that aren¡¯t

    obvious to hismanders, and he doesn¡¯t have time to consult them. He also wants to be able to

    make suggestions and know that his suggestions will be passed up the chain ofmand to the

    appropriate level, and given serious consideration.

    ¡°Some of you have spected that my turn took so much longer than anyone else¡¯s because the

    duration of my scenario was longer. But it onlysted about four and a half years subjectively, which I¡¯d

    guess was about average.

    ¡°Since the tournament ended, everyone here has remembered that you were on my team. But what

    you here may not realize is that everyone else on Keran was also on my team. I asked the gods to

    make absolutely everyone in the whole world a supporting member of my team, and they had to run my

    scenario with all twelve billion or so of us actively participating. That¡¯s why my turn took so long in real

    time.

    ¡°That¡¯s why I won, more than anything else.

    ¡°And that¡¯s how things will be run in real life from now on. It¡¯s actually how things are run already, but I

    want everyone to be aware of it.

    ¡°Every one of you, of every race and every nation, is an independent thinker with intelligence and

    creativity that you can contribute to our cause. Every suggestion that you make will be passed up the

    chain ofmand to the people who are responsible for whatever you¡¯re suggesting about, and given

    serious consideration. None of you are ves to yourmanders or your orders, and none of you will

    be disciplined for disobeying any order if you can give a reasonable justification for doing so.

    ¡°You are all on my team. More truthfully, you are all on our team.

    ¡°There are no losers here today, because absolutely all of you, including every one of the other

    contestants, can truthfully say that you were an active member of the team that won The Tournament of

    Governors!

    ¡°And most important of all, you are all part of the team that will defeat the real demons, and bring an

    age of paradise to Keran!¡±

    The crowd had spontaneously started to cheer about thirty seconds before he was finished, and by the

    time he spoke thest word they were so loud that they only heard what he was saying because he

    willed it to be so, and insured it with his new god-power with almost no conscious consideration.

    ¡°Damn, that was the best speech ever!¡± Taliaughed as she hugged his neck.

    The crowd went wild and roared with almost manic enthusiasm.

    They were so exuberant that Pakdag didn¡¯t bother with speaking over them. He simply grinned and

    held his hand high, and an ornate oval que of gold on pure white ivory about thirty centimeters high

    appeared in it. The great Revealing above magnified it so much that all could read the words that were

    engraved on it, dering Mark the winner of The Tournament of Governors, and listing the specifics of

    his achievement.

    The crowd roared even louder as they read it, then even louder yet as Pakdag handed it to Mark, who

    set Talia on his shoulder to free a hand and then waved the que overhead as he yelled out his

    victory with wordless joy.

    The delirious ovation went on for a minute or so, until Markughed and spoke over them. ¡°Well, since I

    won the tournament without changing the leadership of Keran, I guess the Assembly doesn¡¯t need to

    meet to discuss it. We¡¯re due for some lunch, so thank you, to all of you, and we¡¯ll¡­¡±

    ¡°We disagree.¡± Grakonexikaldoron pleasantly stated as she, Somonik, Tithian, and Senchak appeared

    on the stage, all of them grinning. ¡°All the members of The Assembly of The Just Alliance are present,

    and we dere that this meeting of The Assembly is now in session.

 Chapter 200

    Chapter 200

    Part 27

    ¡°Let the record show that Markhan Reginus Longstrider the Fifth; Ranger of Finitra, Knight of The High

    People, Prince of Hilia, Lord of Serminak, Key to The Just Alliance, and key to the imminent nexus of

    Keran, has won The Tournament of Governors! His is the best leadership we have avable. We now

    propose that he be elevated to the position of Ruling Governor of The Just Alliance until such time as

    the demons have been defeated.¡±

    ¡°Now just a minute¡­!¡± Mark protested, but Somonik just over-rode him.

    ¡°Let the record show that one is against the proposal, being Mark, seven have abstained from dering

    an opinion, and the rest are in favor. The proposal has passed.¡± The white dragon god happily

    dered.

    ¡°Now just hold on here!¡± Mark growled as he set his wives down. ¡°I mean, what the hell are you doing?!

    I just proved that we¡¯re all better off with independent nations!¡±

    ¡°True, but that¡¯s irrelevant.¡± Grakonexikaldoron dismissively stated, still grinning. ¡°In your scenario, all

    of the crucial elements were your doing. Immediate remediation of destroyed wilderness and poisoned

    water was your suggestion, and you debated masterfully in order to convince The Assembly to allocate

    the resources. The same is true of the overall battle-strategy; waiting until the demons were preparing

    to deploy, then attacking with every resource. It was almost entirely your doing. The speeches you

    made were crucial to maintaining morale and informing the populous of the state of things, and the

    people followed you, specifically you, Mark, regardless of whether or not you had any legal political

    authority over them.

    ¡°The same situation exists on Keran today.

    ¡°Your insistence that you don¡¯t lead Keran and that your brilliant wisdom is simplymon sense are

    very humble and noble and charming, and we don¡¯t want you to change in any way. But at the same

    time, you¡¯re not fooling anyone. You already lead Keran, and this is just a formality and a token of our

    appreciation.

    ¡°Now, you need a token of office. I know you won¡¯t want anything too ostentatious, so I¡¯ve made up this

    ring, and I think it¡¯s rather nice. You¡¯ll notice it has the symbol of The Just Alliance on it. And since I

    think you might be reluctant to wear it, I¡¯ll just put it on you myself.¡±

    With a move as quick as thought, she reached out and slipped it onto his right middle finger.

    ¡°I won¡¯t wear it, and I¡¯m not epting the position.¡± Mark bluntly stated as he tried to take the ring off.

    ¡°You can¡¯t take it off, since myself and at least fifty other new gods want you to keep it on.¡± she

    chuckled. ¡°In order to remove it, you¡¯d need to develop or recruit more will or more power than we

    have, and frankly, you won¡¯t be able to find enough to help you.

    ¡°Furthermore, the proposal has already passed, so you can¡¯t refuse it. We refuse your refusal.¡±

    ¡°Then I¡¯m abdicating!¡± he yelled, starting to lose his temper as he failed to remove the ring. ¡°And let me

    take this damn thing off! It¡¯s a crime to force me to wear it!¡±

    ¡°Is the ring ufortable or inhibiting of your movement in any way?¡± she pleasantly asked.

    ¡°Well, no, it¡¯s perfectlyfortable, but¡­¡±

    ¡°Then it¡¯s not unjust to force you to wear the insignia of the rank that you so obviously deserve.¡± she

    patiently insisted. ¡°As Falgaroth, who now guides all our morality, would agree. Right Falgaroth?¡±

    ¡°Right.¡± Falgaroth agreed with a whinnyingugh as he momentarily appeared on stage, then vanished

    again.

    ¡°There, you see?¡± Gran continued. ¡°And we refuse your abdication.¡±

    ¡°Let the record show that all except Mark are in favor of refusing his abdication!¡± Somonikughed. ¡°No

    abstentions, one against!¡±

    ¡°Now hold on!¡± Mark said as he momentarily gave up on removing the ring. ¡°Before you said that seven

    had abstained, and now you¡¯re saying that no one else voted against refusing my abdication! Show me

    one person who abstained and then changed his mind!¡±

    Gvetwa, first god of the Sylvan, appeared on stage wearing his cockiest grin and his most arrogant

    stance. ¡°I changed my mind, and so did Amirgath.¡±

    ¡°Well by all that¡¯s sane, why?!!¡± Mark demanded, trying hard to not lose his temperpletely.

    ¡°We abstained because we didn¡¯t see any point to it, really.¡± Gvetwa informed him. ¡°And we changed

    our minds because it¡¯s so much fun watching you squirm about it.¡±

    Then he vanished.

    ¡°Damn it, this is ridiculous!¡± Mark yelled.

    ¡°Yes it is, deliciously and wonderfully so.¡± Tithian agreed withughter in her mind and a toss of her

    mane.

    Mark took a deep breath and conquered his anger, but still spoke with great determination. ¡°Look. This

    is absolutely futile, because it¡¯s not going to make any difference at all. I don¡¯t care if you dere me

    emperor of all of reality, I¡¯m still not going to do one single damn thing any different than I would have

    otherwise!¡±

    ¡°Exactly.¡± The gold dragon goddess giggled. ¡°We wouldn¡¯t have it any other way. You won¡¯t do anything

    as Governor until you really have to, and then you will. That¡¯s why we love you, you know. Part of it

    anyway.¡±

    Alilia couldn¡¯t help but giggle, and Mark looked to her and Talia with surprised realization. ¡°Hold on, you

    two are members of The Assembly! You mean even you two voted against me?!¡±

    ¡°Of course!¡± Talia giggled as she floated up and kissed him on the tip of his nose. ¡°We¡¯re almost all

    monarchists at heart, you know. Councils are a fine thing for preventing the tyranny of a single despotic

    sovereign, but we prefer a wise and noble ruler who can get things done without arguing about it all

    year. And when we have a monarch who really inspires us and who truly deserves our adtion, it¡¯s a

    N?velDrama.Org holds this content.

    wonderful thing to give it to him.¡±

    ¡°Remember on the first day we met, when you asked Yazadril how elven Princes were chosen?¡± Alilia

    teased as she hugged his left thigh and smiled up at him. ¡°He said; Generally, if most everyone thinks

    you can do the job then you¡¯re stuck with it, whether you like it or not!

    ¡°And sometimes that¡¯s just the way it is. Just humor us my love. It¡¯ll make us happy.¡±

    ¡°If you ept it, and then use your authority to over-ride the vote of The Assembly and abdicate, we¡¯ll

    just vote to reinstate you again.¡± Granughed. ¡°We¡¯re prepared to be quite stubborn about it. Enough

    of us to carry the vote, anyway.¡±

    He stared at her a moment, and finally shrugged as he shook his head and smiled in surrender. ¡°All

    right fine.¡±

    ¡°Good citizens,¡± Somonik grandly dered, ¡°I give you Markhan Reginus Longstrider the Fifth; Ranger

    of Finitra, Knight of The High People, Prince of Hilia, Lord of Serminak, Key to The Just Alliance, key to

    the imminent nexus, and Governor of Keran!!!¡±

    Mark grinned and shook his head as the audience roared again, then just spoke over them.

    ¡°Thank you all very much. I suppose I¡¯m quite ttered, now that I think about it, and so I¡¯ll ept this

    temporary andpletely honorary honor. I give you all my permission to party like Sylvan adolescents

    in my honor if you so choose, but try to keep the adtion to a minimum. We¡¯ll probably join you here

    The crowdughed and cheered like drunken fools as he took his family home.

 Chapter 201

    Chapter 201

    PART 28

    ¡°Surprise!¡± thousands of happy voices yelled as the group arrived on the patio at Hilia.

    ¡°Well its not really a surprise of course, but thanks!¡± Markughed.

    ¡°Hey, nice ring Mark!¡± Hnam teased.

    The scene was amazing. There was a huge banner along the roof of the cottage that read;

    ¡®Congrattions Prince Mark!¡¯ A huge feast wasid out on twelve big tables that took up most of the

    patio. It seemed that all the citizens of Hilia and everyone else Mark knew were picking on the

    shallow volcanic slopes around the cottage and its grounds. All of the males of The Volunteers and

    about half of The Forty-four were scattered about thewns, and the female Volunteers and the rest of

    their children were arriving rapidly.

    ¡°Lunch is served!¡± Sheramiv announced with a grin as she indicated the feast with a wave. ¡°Though I¡¯m

    surprised that you still get hungry, my Prince!¡±

    ¡°I do though!¡± Markughed as he took a huge tter and began wandering among the tables as he

    loaded up with the dishes that caught his fancy at the moment. ¡°We¡¯ve decided that we¡¯ll keep as many

    of our mortal attributes as is practical, and having decided it, it¡¯s so, without having to think about it

    anymore. And in this case I¡¯m sure d we did, for when ites to food, hunger truly is the finest

    sauce!¡±

    He stopped for a moment and turned to survey his domain and everyone there. ¡°Thanks foring

    everyone!¡± he called.

    ¡°Where were you?¡± Fire asked as Balen appeared beside her.

    ¡°I was off alone with Mark.¡± Balen replied with a deep blush. ¡°I mean we weren¡¯t¡­ You know¡­ Not this

    time anyway. But Mark still makes time for us whenever we want to be with him, and we all wanted to

    be with him as we watched the Revealing of the tournament today. Us girls of The Volunteers anyway.

    The guys don¡¯t seem to care about sharing him as much, they just like to be with him, so there was

    only one of Mark here with all of them and some of the kids while he was off in Xervia with you. But the

    rest of us had him to ourselves, so to speak.¡±

    She paused as she gazed at Mark with profound and pure adoration. ¡°It¡¯s so beautiful. You know, when

    he¡¯s alone with me, he¡¯s a little bit different than he is at any other time, because he¡¯s with me and he¡¯s

    reacting to me, and he makes an effort to be exactly the Mark that I want him to be. I know there¡¯s only

    one of him, but I still feel like my Mark loves me most of all.

    ¡°He was cuddling with me as we watched him do that beautiful bowing thing with Talia and Alilia on his

    hands, and I knew millions of girls all over the world wished they could be one of them at that moment,

    and I had tough because I have it even better than Talia and Alilia. They¡¯re still used to him being

    only one person, so they share him all the time. It would never ur to them to ask him to be two of

    him, one for each of them, like he is for me.¡±

    ¡°Well for one thing,¡± Fireughed as she chose from a gigantic fruit disy, ¡°Mother and Alilia love

    each other almost as much as they love him. To them, they¡¯re an inseparable trio, so they don¡¯t miss

    having him to themselves.

    ¡°And for another thing, you and the other Volunteers are pretty crazy about him, and I mean that

    literally. You were nuts to let Alilia Compel you about it for no reason. I don¡¯t know how much of what

    you feel for him is due to the Compulsion and your vows, and how much you¡¯d have felt for him

    anyway, but that much devotion for anyone isn¡¯t natural.¡±

    ¡°I was absolutely in love with him before my vows and the Compulsion.¡± Balen smiled. ¡°And I sure

    understand how it would seem weird to you, the way we feel about him. But you have no idea what it¡¯s

    like to be someone who has no greatness that suddenly gets exposed to true greatness. When I first

    met him he couldn¡¯t even use magic yet, he had no possessions or property, he ruled no one, he didn¡¯t

    even have a home untilter that night. But even then his greatness shone around him like a

    lighthouse, and I was swept away in it.

    ¡°Don¡¯t get me wrong, I know I¡¯m a formidable person in many ways and I have no problem with my self-

    esteem or anything, but Mark¡­ Well you¡¯ll just never understand, because you have your own

    greatness. You¡¯re not quite up to his level yet, but still, you have no idea what it¡¯s like to meet someone

    who is so unbelievably more amazing than you are that you be¡­ Well, devoted, as we of The

    Devoted are to Mark.¡±

    She paused and considered Fire, and cocked her head as she smiled. ¡°You¡¯ll have to face the other

    side of the problem, as he has. You already have beauty and greatness and fame. You may not realize

    it, but I can guarantee that right now there¡¯s thousands of boys, and more than a few men and women

    and girls, who arepletely devoted to you. They know that there¡¯s almost no chance that they¡¯ll ever

    even get to meet you, but they can¡¯t help how they feel about you. And any regr people who¡¯ve

    never heard of you who are suddenly and intimately exposed to your greatness, as I was when I first

    met Mark, will have no defenses prepared against the overwhelming emotions that you¡¯ll produce in

    them.

    ¡°I was absolutely defenseless to Mark¡¯s charisma. Five minutes before I met him I hated him, and when

    I first saw him I tried to make him look stupid at his own wedding. And then he turned to me and his

    eyes met mine and he took my hand, and he made me feel so wonderful that I was lost in him. And I

    wouldn¡¯t have it any other way. My life is paradise now, and I have you and Six and Val to thank for it, in

    many ways. You gave Mark the Multiple Manifestations spell, and that gave me my very own Mark. And

    Quewanak¡¯s meddling, of course.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re weird.¡± Fire dered with augh. ¡°Wonderful and adorable, but weird.¡±

    Balenughed. ¡°Hey, you¡¯re all of those too, my fine little warlock!

    ¡°You want to hear something truly weird? I feel sorry for you, I really do. I pity you and Val and my own

    daughter and all the rest of Mark¡¯s female blood rtives, because you¡¯re the only female humanoids

    in the whole world who will never be able to fall in love with him as I have, and who will never, ever be

    able to be his lover, as I am.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right, that¡¯s truly weird!¡± Fireughed. ¡°But as long as it makes you so happy, I approve

    wholeheartedly.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Balen murmured with another little blush. ¡°I¡¯m somewhat surprised at how important it is

    to me, now that I¡¯ve heard you say that. Some of us worried, you know. Your mother and Alilia are

    legitimately married to Mark, and we hoped that you wouldn¡¯t think we would do anything to harm their

    rtionship or their love. We¡¯d never do anything that could hurt Mark in any way.¡±

    ¡°Stop, please stop!¡± Fireughed as she held her open palm and her now-full te between Balen¡¯s

    face and herself. ¡°I¡¯m overdosing on sentimentality here!¡±

    She lowered her te and smirked. ¡°You¡¯d better eat fast, because when I¡¯m done eating I¡¯m going to

    cast a challenge circle and call you into it, and spank you good! Just to harden you up a little!¡±

    This text is property of N?/velD/rama.Org.

    ¡°Oh, you think?¡± Balenughed. ¡°Well I¡¯ll tell you what: If you¡¯ll remove The Skills of Visinniria, and I

    mean all the skills you¡¯ve gained from others using her Transference spell, not just the ones you got

    from her, I¡¯ll dly do the same and take you on in purely physicalbat!¡±

 Chapter 202

    Chapter 202

    Part 28

    ¡°Done!¡± Fireughed, and the two shook on it with their free hands. ¡°And by the way,¡± she continued as

    they made their way to an open space on the second-highestwn with their lunch, ¡°You¡¯re probably

    right about how many devoted fans we have, and how devoted they are, and you¡¯re right that I never

    thought about it before. But I¡¯m not going to let any of them be as devoted to me as you are to my

    father. I¡¯d never allow an uncontrolled Compulsion of loyalty to me to be cast like Alilia did, though to be

    fair to her there was no predicting what you and the others of The Volunteers did then. That was pretty

    crazy, but now that it¡¯s happened once we know to watch out for it.

    ¡°Father¡¯s love-life is soplex it¡¯s mind-boggling, and while he seems to be making it work, I¡¯ll never

    risk going through that. I may have elven blood, but it¡¯s my human blood that seems to rule that way. I¡¯ll

    love one man, and no other. I¡¯ll share myself with him, and no other.¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡± Balen went with a sly smile as they sat down on thewn to eat. ¡°You almost sound like you

    have him picked out already.¡±

    Then she saw the stricken expression that suddenly appeared on Fire¡¯s face. ¡°Hey, I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t

    mean to¡­¡± she said, and trailed off as she realized that she didn¡¯t know what she was being sorry for.

    There was a very long and strained silence that passed between them as both of them seemed caught

    in the gaze of the other, then Fire¡¯s face hardened with determination.

    She¡¯d been casting to subtly ensure the privacy of their conversation from the ears and minds around

    them without giving it very much consideration, but now she ceased that, and spoke in such a sharp

    tone that it drew the attention of all around her. ¡°I have, I do have him picked out already, and I am

    absolutely sick of hiding it!¡±

    She set her te down and stood. ¡°It isn¡¯t easy being seven and having many of the feelings of adults,

    you know! Especially since in many ways I¡¯m still seven, and I still have many of the normal feelings of

    seven-year-olds! And we don¡¯t know what the hell everyone expects of us, we don¡¯t know how much

    adult behavior the world will ept from us, so we hide what we think everyone else might not ept,

    but to hell with that! To hell with anyone who won¡¯t ept me for what I really am! To hell with anyone

    who won¡¯t ept the love I share with others!¡±

    She rose above thewn and floated three meters in the air, and suddenly her tightly-controlled power

    was obvious to almost everyone there as it gathered with the intensity of her emotions.

    The big gathering fell silent as she drew their attention, and she emanated such a palpable aura of

    danger that many there discreetly cast defensive spells around themselves and the loved ones they

    were with.

    ¡°I don¡¯t give a crap anymore about anyone who¡¯s so mind-locked into their old-fashioned and obsolete

    attitudes that they might disapprove of my life-choices! I¡¯mying the truth bare in front of the whole

    world, and I¡¯m doing it right now!¡±

    This text is property of N?/velD/rama.Org.

    She turned in the air with a sudden motion and met the eyes of Karz, who was still on the patio. ¡°I

    dere right now, before everyone, that Karzog is my destined love, the first love of my life, the man

    I¡¯m going to marry! It doesn¡¯t matter that he¡¯s a dragon and I¡¯m a half-elven, half-human warlock! He¡¯s

    an elf for me whenever I want him to be one, and I¡¯m a dragon for him whenever he wants me to!¡±

    ¡°You just speak your heart girl!¡± Balen called to her in enthusiastic encouragement.

    Fire suddenly assumed the dragon Simcrum that she¡¯d previously worn only for Karzog, with almost

    the same coloring as her normal body.

    ¡°I love you Karz, I¡¯m dering it to the world and I don¡¯t care who knows it, and if anyone has any

    objections about it I will deal with them most severely!¡±

    Karzog Translocated the twenty-one meters that separated them and hugged her with both arms, both

    legs, both wings, his sinuous neck and his tail. She did the same to him, which made for a visually

    confusing tangle of dragon-limbs.

    Mark appeared in the air beside them and dered in a determined tone; ¡°I approve of their love

    wholeheartedly. Any who disapprove had better not let me hear about them speaking of my daughter¡¯s

    love-choice in impolite terms, or they will face my immediate and personal disapproval.¡±

    Povon and Kragorram appeared in the air above them, and Povon dered; ¡°We stand with Karzog

    and Fire and Mark in this. There is no practical reason why Fire and Karzog should not share a deep

    and profound love, and it¡¯s been building since she was born. They¡¯re of different races, but that¡¯s

    irrelevant. Let none disparage them, or face our wrath.¡±

    In a few fractions of a moment they were joined in their deration by Talia, Alilia, Six, Val, all of The

    Volunteers, all of The Forty-four, Sran, Equemev, Yazadril, Nemia, Hilsith, Dalia, and Bezedil.

    It was a strange moment. All of them knew that it was a public deration, and that many of the

    thousands watching would have shared their experience with the rest of the world. A moment of

    absolute stillness ensued. It seemed they waited to see if any would appear to dispute them, but none

    did.

    Mark moved to address Karz, and to look him in the eye. ¡°You¡¯re still young, and your love has many

    stages to go before you¡¯re ready for marriage. But we still recognize the profound depth of the love that

    you and Fire share. We, being Talia and Alilia and myself, already think of you as our son-inw, and

    the son of our hearts.¡±

    ¡°The bond you share with our son has been bringing us all closer for a long time.¡± Kragorram dered

    to Fire. ¡°It¡¯s a big part of why we all feel like family; Povon and I and your parents, and all of our

    children. It seems that sometimes the differences in our races are the least of the differences between

    us, and all of those differences pale in significance to the simrities and love that unite us. You are the

    daughter of my heart and you always will be, whether your rtionship with Karzog flourishes or fails.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, thank you all so much.¡± Fire dered as she hugged Karzog in mid-air. She shared a quick

    thought with him, and then they were their humanoid selves; she in her natural form, and he in the

    elven Simcrum that was the only humanoid form he ever assumed.

    They hugged tightly; she and Karz, and the rest of the gathering couldn¡¯t help but cheer with joy at the

    obvious and profound love that they shared, and the relief they felt with the end of secrecy and the

    sharing of their love with everyone.

    ¡°This is our marriage.¡± she murmured as she hugged him, while knowing that it wasn¡¯t private. ¡°Or

    actually our engagement, I guess. It¡¯s not legal or binding, but it¡¯s our deration of our love to the

    world. We¡¯ll have a binding ceremonyter in Las Valley when we¡¯re both adults, but that¡¯s a

    different thing.

    ¡°Ours may not be the first love that ever urred between two who are of such different races as you

    and I, but it¡¯s the first publicly acknowledged inter-racial rtionship between such disparate lovers as

    us. And we haven¡¯t even reached puberty or be sexual yet. At this stage, whether we ever have

    children is irrelevant to me. Any child that we decide to love as our own is our child, be they elven or

    human or dragon or anything else. If we choose to fulfill our potential and be gods, we might be

    able to truly have children together, but I don¡¯t see how it could be possible in any other way. And it

    doesn¡¯t matter.

    ¡°Perhaps in the future there will be Kag who fall in love with gnomes, simply because the gnome they

    love is so beautiful and wonderful that they can¡¯t help themselves. Unicorns may love giants, humans

    may love Triax, Mer may love gargoyles.

    ¡°All of them are depending on us, my love. They are depending on us to make their love socially

    eptable. They are depending on us to make it an everyday urrence for anyone to love anyone

    else in any way they choose, regardless of the differences between them.¡±

 Chapter 203

    Chapter 203

    Part 28

    ¡°We will not fail their trust.¡± Karzog quietly dered. ¡°I love you, you are my destined love, and no

    amount of social pressure could make me renounce you. If everyone else in the entire universe

    condemns me for it and strives to prevent it, still I will be with you, and love you with all that I am.¡±

    There seemed to be a long moment of serenity after their derations, then Fire resumed her ce on

    thewn beside Balen with Karz still in her arms.

    Soon everyone who¡¯d risen to support them resumed their ces, except Val. She floated three meters

    in the air, rxed with her eyes closed and her hands sped behind her, and remained silent until she

    knew that her solitary intransigence had drawn everyone else¡¯s attention. Still she waited as the sense

    of expectation built around her, until she knew that several who watched her were about to inquire

    about her intentions.

    ¡°I feel the same as Fire.¡± she quietly stated. She paused again for a few more seconds, then threw her

    head back and held her fists high and shouted it out to the world. ¡°I FEEL THE SAME AS FIRE!!!¡±

    ¡°Say it, Sister!¡± Fire called in encouragement as she shook her fist overhead in solidarity.

    But Val wasn¡¯t ready to just blurt it out yet.

    ¡°When I was still an unborn baby floating in my mother¡¯s womb, I was all alone, but I didn¡¯t care

    because I didn¡¯t realize it. I still only had about as much mind as a mouse then.

    ¡°Then another mind touched mine, literally, psionicly, and he loved me so much it just filled me

    destined love, and he was mine, and we were destined to be married someday. Of course I couldn¡¯t

    understandnguage yet so I didn¡¯t know about the prophesy, and no one told me until a few weeks

    ago. But deep down inside, I¡¯ve always known.

    ¡°Then another mind joined us, and it was Fire. A little while after that there was another mind with us,

    and it was Mother. And their love was so wonderful.

    ¡°I soon forgot about sharing minds with Fire and Mother, and I don¡¯t really remember anything else that

    happened up until I was almost seven months old. But I never forgot that very first moment when

    another mind first joined mine, and the wonderful love he felt for me.

    ¡°Since then our love has only grown, in so many ways, and I really hate having to keep it secret when

    we haven¡¯t done anything wrong. Just having to keep it secret all the time sometimes makes me feel

    like I have done something wrong, even though I know I haven¡¯t.

    ¡°No one can judge us about this, because we¡¯re not like anyone else who¡¯s ever lived. No one ever fell

    in love with anyone else the way I fell in love with him.

    ¡°So today I¡¯m telling the secret. But I¡¯m not worried that anyone is going to bother us about it, because

    I¡¯ll be monitoring everyone, and if anyone is bothered or upset in any way by our love, I¡¯m going to

    make them forget about it. And that¡¯ll be it for that. I can do it too. I can make everyone forget they ever

    knew about it, except the gods and maybe the top twenty psionicists outside my family. And if any of

    them are bothered by it, they better not bother us about it, or I swear I will make them pay for it!

    ¡°Our love was against some oldws of some races, because of possible problems with the children we

    might have. But our love isn¡¯t against the newws, the justws, that have been emced since The

    Just Alliance was formed, and there¡¯s absolutely zero chance that there¡¯ll be any problems with our

    children if we even decide to have any, because we know, actually we are, some of the best Healers

    who have ever lived.¡±

    She paused, a bit embarrassed by her own long-windedness about it, and said; ¡°Any way¡­¡± She

    shrugged and smiled, and turned to him as she held her hand out to him. He was in her arms and

    hugging her tightly in a blink. ¡°I love you Six. I love you every way there is, and someday I¡¯ll be your

    wife.¡± she proudly dered.

    ¡°As I love you.¡± he returned with deep sincerity.

    ¡°And we support their love in any way they want it to be.¡± Mark dered as he appeared with them and

    hugged them both.

    Everyone gave them a cheer, though it wasn¡¯t as enthusiastic as the one that Fire and Karz had gotten,

    until Fire psionicly growled to everyone there; ¡°You¡¯d better cheer as loud for them as you did for us, or

    you¡¯ll get a punch in the face.¡± Their enthusiasm immediately improved, and there wasughter mixed

    with it.

    Val and Six couldn¡¯t help butugh themselves, and then Fire and Karz and all of their parents were

    hugging them and each other as well.

    Original content from N?velDrama.Org.

    They finished eating and enjoyed the celebration there for another two hours, then all of Mark¡¯s family

    went with him back to The Hall of The Just Alliance to enjoy the party there for a while. They spent the

    rest of the day touring the world, enjoying the huge parties that were happening everywhere in honor of

    the new Governor, simply because he¡¯d suggested it.

    In three weeks another set of time-bubbles began running all over Keran, including under the seas in

    the territories of the aquatic peoples. There were thousands of them this time, all bigger than the first

    ones, and they held many more people. Almost all the gods helped in casting them, including the new

    gods.

    Mark and his family remained outside these time-bubbles, along with half of Keran.

    The main reasons for casting them were to elerate the training of many of the new wizards, and to

    raise many of the new children. Due to Zarkog¡¯s breeding programs there were still huge numbers of

    very young Sylvan and dragons in Serminak, and there had been a recent baby boom among every

    race in the world. It was decided that the portion of the poption who were young children was much

    higher than was optimal during a major war, and this situation was corrected in the time-bubbles while

    they ran. Bubbles containing dragons ran for eighty-one internal years, to allow for baby dragons to

    finish growing uppletely, while the rest ran for twenty-four internal years. The ones with dragons

    ran at a higher rate of timepression, and they all opened a month after they were cast in real time.

    A great deal of power and attention was saved in casting them because they weren¡¯t hidden this time,

    so there were colossal and imprable ck domes scattered all over Keran for a month.

    No more time-bubbles were cast after that second set finished running. Much of the poption had

    been segregated in the bubbles, and entire societies had grown apart from each other.

    It seemed that the entire world was already almost as prepared to fight the demons as they could get,

    so they avoided the use of any more time-bubbles to allow all the popce to grow back together

    again, and the training schedule was gradually reduced to a part-time activity for everyone who didn¡¯t

    choose a military career.

    All of the improvements that had been discovered in Warding and Shielding were applied to every

    settlement on Keran. Mark and his family and the gods and the other senior magic users had all

    spent a great deal of time finding those with unknown and hidden talents, revealing those talents, and

    training those who had them. Advanced training inbat and magic beyond the Journeyman Battle

    Wizard level were offered to everyone who had the capacity to take advantage of it, and much of that

    training was done psionicly or in small Reverse-Stasis fields, or both, and was aplished quickly.

    Emergency-response spells were crafted and emced around most poption centers that would

    cast a time-bubble around the whole ce in case of absolutely overwhelming attack. The defensive

    time-bubbles would only change the passage of time inside them by a slight amount, but that was still

    enough to make them indestructible to any outside force, and they automatically ceased when the

    danger had passed.

    It soon seemed that absolutely everything that could be done to prepare for war had been done. Life

    went on as the world waited in increasing anticipation.

 Chapter 204

    Chapter 204

    Part 28

    Four and a half months after The Tournament of Governors, in the middle of the night in Hilia, a frantic

    psionic call was sent out that was heard by the entire world. It came from Zarkog.

    ¡°They have stopped! The demons have stopped! Emergency Command meeting! Prepare for an

    attack!¡±

    So strident was his call that almost all of The Assembly of The Just Alliance along with their senior

    ¡®attack¡¯.

    ¡°How do you know they¡¯ve stopped?¡± Somonik immediately asked. ¡°None of the other astronomers

    have reported anything.¡±

    ¡°And why is it such a problem?¡± Gvetwa added.

    ¡°I know they¡¯ve stopped because the frequency of sunlight reflected from an object that is approaching

    is higher than one that is still in rtion to us, and theirs has dropped in pitch by an amount consistent

    with their having stopped!¡± Zarkog barked in anger, still Speaking psionicly to have it done as quickly as

    he could and save as much time as possible, his fear almost palpable in the air.

    ¡°And it is a problem for two reasons; the first is that the deceleration was absolutely instantaneous, and

    the second is that there was no deceleration energy expended at all as far as I can detect! The

    momentum of an object that size moving as quickly as it was represents a colossal amount of energy!

    Since they didn¡¯t stop by countering their momentum with an opposing force, they must have

    transduced and used that energy somehow! That is enough energy for apletely devastating attack!

    The energy is equivalent to their mountain-range-sizedir impacting Keran at undiminished

    inteary speed!!!

    ¡°We must attack them now, before theirs strikes us!!¡±

    ¡°I agree!¡± Mark psionicly barked as he cast the Command Link. ¡°Activate the civil defenses, evacuate

    the nonbatants to the safe locations, and let¡¯s hit them with everything we can use at this distance,

    This belongs to N?velDrama.Org.

    right now! And let¡¯s get some information on them while we¡¯re at it!¡±

    ¡°We will seek information as our first priority.¡± First Mauve volunteered on behalf of The Triax.

    Everyone took Mark¡¯s words as an order, and a blinkter the great room was almostpletely

    empty.

    All the gods of the grand alliance appeared around the demons¡¯ nation-sized rock and all but nine of

    The Triax gods attacked it with everything they had. In a fraction of a second it was absolutely

    destroyed in a single zing sh of light, even before the Strike Wizards had Translocated in.

    ¡°What the hell just happened?!!¡± Povon demanded in confusion as she instinctively fanned the rapidly-

    expanding cloud of rock powder away with her wings. ¡°It couldn¡¯t have been that easy, could it?!¡±

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t.¡± Mark growled in anger, having already received First Mauve¡¯s report. ¡°Everyone get back to

    your defensive positions immediately, and get ready! We¡¯ll exin when we¡¯re back.¡±

    In the next moment they were fully deployed all over Keran and in the void and moons above it.

    ¡°There were only a rtive few greater demons left on their vessel when we arrived.¡± First Mauve

    reported from her people¡¯srgest vessel, Speaking only to the members of The Assembly and the

    pantheons. ¡°We had time to Read them thoroughly. Part of why they had been left there was for that

    very reason, so that they could be Read by us, and we would be filled with fear when we learned the

    truth. And I am indeed filled with fear. They knew they were about to die, they knew they had been

    sacrificed, and I am certain that their memories were not false. Some information was withheld from

    them so we could not learn it from them, such as the location of their homeworld in rtion to here.

    ¡°The demons¡¯ leadership judged us well; they left just enough demons in the rock to ensure that we

    would choose to destroy it rather than just killing the demons and preserving the rock for further

    examination.¡±

    She paused, as if choosing her words carefully. ¡°We hoped that this was a wandering horde who did

    not know that demons had been defeated here on Keran some seven million years ago. We hoped

    they were not a punitive expedition sent from their homeworld to punish Keran for their defeat here

    before. We thought that we had hidden my people here from their sight, and we thought that they could

    not spy out our nning and preparations from such a distance.

    ¡°We were wrong on all those counts. These demons were indeed sent here by their homeworld, and by

    every wandering horde that the homeworld controls or maintains contact with. They know of their

    defeat here before and they intend to destroy Keran, but that is not their primary purpose.

    ¡°The demon homeworld has be aware that The Triax are hunting and killing them all over this part

    of the gxy. They are taking the threat we pose to them very seriously, and these demons are their

    response to us. Their primary purpose is to erase The Triax from the voidpletely, wherever we may

    be. And they have brought enough power to do it.

    ¡°Our situation is worse than grim.

    ¡°The demons know almost everything about us, and everything we¡¯ve nned, somehow. They

    certainly know all that has been disclosed to the public at any rate, and that is almost all of our

    nning, so our further nning must be done under a state of military secrecy. We regret that;

    secrecy is always less healthy than openness, but it must be done.

    ¡°We don¡¯t think they have spied us out closely enough to gain the specifics of our methods; the new

    spell techniques that have been developed on Keran, and the new Triax technologies that have been

    inspired by what we have learned from you. We still have many weapons that they cannot yet counter.

    ¡°As Zarkog surmised, the energy of their vessel¡¯s momentum has beenrgely used as an attack

    against us, which will surely strike us within the next few hours. The demons who were left as sacrifices

    were not informed of the nature of the attack.

    ¡°The rest of the momentum was used to power Gates, which the demons used to evacuate their

    vessel. They are hidden somewhere in the region of your star, preparing their next attack in case their

    first one should fail to destroy us all. I doubt that such was their original n, but they have learned

    enough of us to know that we are far stronger than they expected us to be. Despite their strength, they

    are being very cautious. Though they are many and powerful, there are still billions of ces on your

    star¡¯s worlds, moons, and other objects where they could hide from us. Even if we detect them as soon

    as we examine their location, it may still take a considerable time to examine all the possible locations.

    And they may be able to hide from us so well that detecting them may require a very careful

    examination of their refuge.

    ¡°The hundreds of millions of demons who were psionicly detected aboard the vessel were only its crew.

    Its cargo was millions of DemonLords, all traveling in aatose state, all packed in like beans in a jar,

    as you would say. Many millions of them. They are all awake and active now.

    ¡°We have never even imagined having to face a force so strong.

    ¡°We have already sent our thirty-three fastest gods to warn The Triax homeworld and our other

    colonies and war fleets, and to ask them to send help. We can only hope that some of us still survive

    when they finally arrive, and that they are enough.¡±

    Not the end.

    This story continues in Chaos of a Demon War ¨C Book Three of The Nexus of Keran.

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